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| 2/21/2011
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Admin - Source newsdaily.org
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On 13 May 2011 Sotheby’s
will offer The Robert Rubin Collection - one of the most important
collections of African art to have appeared on the  international market
in recent years. Mr. Rubin (1934–2009) was a founding trustee of the Museum for African Art
in New York and a major figure in the field. As a collector, he sought
out only the finest examples from each region and tribe available at the
time he was collecting. His highly selective collection of
approximately 50 works reflects his extraordinary taste and discernment.
Among the many highlights is a Dogon Nduleri Male Ancestor Figure by
the Master of the Slanted Eyes, the companion to a female figure in the
collection of the Musée du Louvre in Paris . The dramatically carved
legs and knees of the elongated figure contribute to the dynamic rhythm
of the sculpture (est. $800,000/1.2 million). The collection is
estimated to bring more than $4 million. Prior to the exhibition and
sale in New York , highlights will also be shown at Sotheby’s Paris from
12th –- 15th April 2011.
Robert Rubin first started to collect African art in the late 1970s.
He sold his textile business in the early 1980s and turned his focus to
expanding his African Art Collection. With new-found time and resources,
he was able to take advantage of the increasing visibility and
appreciation of African Art. New York was spearheading a shift in
perception – for the first time art museums started to show African Art,
marking a move away from the traditional anthropological museum
setting. In 1978 the collection of former Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller was given to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and was housed
in the expansive new Rockefeller wing which opened in 1982. Two years
later in 1984, the Museum of Modern Art was to hold the groundbreaking
exhibition ‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art.
A group of influential dealers and collectors helped to create an
exciting moment in the field, and Mr. Rubin was fortunate to work
closely with many of these important figures. A new appreciation for
African Art in the 1970s and 80s helped to bring the highest quality
works onto the market. Those years are now widely recognized as a
‘golden age’ for African Art collecting in America. The appearance of
major works on the market coupled with Mr. Rubin’s refined eye helped
him assemble a true connoisseur’s collection, selecting the best example
from each category. It is particularly fitting that the Rubin
Collection reenters the market during a period where interest in African
Art is at an all time high. Since 2006, the opening of new museums,
important exhibitions and the sale of several esteemed collections, have
helped to reinvigorate the interest and appetite for African Art, with
new collectors in South America, Asia and the Middle East.
Robert Rubin’s knowledge and connoisseurship extended well beyond
African art. Coming from a family of collectors, his wide-ranging
artistic interests included paintings, sculpture and many other forms of
fine and decorative arts. Mr. Rubin was an assiduous museum visitor,
investigating and studying any piece that caught his eye with enormous
passion. He used this broader artistic education to appreciate the
various forms and materials used in African art.
Robert Rubin was a founding trustee of the Museum for African Art in
New York which opened in 1983 and is due to move into its new purpose
built space on Manhattan’s ‘Museum Mile’ in the fall of 2011. Mr. Rubin
was a major figure in the formation of the museum, and used the skills
gained in his successful business career to help it become one of the
world’s major African art museums over the past 25 years. He traveled
to Africa several times with the museum, which helped inform and deepen
his understanding of the works in his collection.
Highlights
One of the major highlights from the sale is a Baule Male Ancestor
Figure from Ivory Coast, the finest example of this type to appear at
auction in recent memory (est. $600/900,000). It was created by a master
carver whose attention to detail is unsurpassed in African art. The
unusually large (24 in) piece is of exceptionally high quality. It
boasts impressive provenance and has also been widely published,
including in the prestigious L’Art Negré by Pierre Meauzé in 1967.
A small but refined Boyo Power Figure from the DRC also has notable
provenance having once been in the collection of Ruth and Ernst Anspach
and French sculptor Arman Arman (est. $60/90,000). The surface of the
figure boasts a wonderful patina, attesting to decades of ritual
practice in which the piece would have been used.
A Yombe Maternity Figure from the DRC is one of the finest
sculptures from the Western Congo ever to have appeared at auction. The
masterpiece has been widely exhibited and was formerly in the collection
of Philippe Guimiot in Brussels (est. $150/250,000).
An exceptional Eastern Congolese, Possibly Lega, Ivory Mask from the
DRC is one of only two examples known in this style (est.
$100/150,000). The mask, which was carved from the bottom part of a
large tusk, has a deep golden patina with red and white multi-layered
encrustation. The sculpture was probably made for a senior member of the
secret Bwami society amongst the Lega in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
One of the most iconic works in the collection is a Songye Male
Power Figure which is encrusted with copper nails, each of which
represents a magical charge (est. $150/250,000). The striking artwork
was featured on the cover of Wild Spirits – Strong Medicine: African Art
and the Wilderness, in 1989 and has been exhibited widely including in
Primitivism in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1984.
A highly cubistic Mano Male and Female Couple from Liberia
represents an idealized ancestral couple. It is executed in an extremely
rare style and is the only known pair of such figures to survive (est.
$200/300,000).
An expressionist Bembe Reliquary Figure is the only known example
made with a cloth body and wooden head (est. $150/250,000). The fabric
body wraps ancestral relics to form this striking abstract figure. The
figure has been widely exhibited including at the National Museum of
African Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where it was one of the star
pieces in the critically acclaimed Eternal Ancestors: Art of the Central
African Reliquary exhibition in 2008. |
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