The Refined Eclecticism of Marc Blanpain’s African Art Collection
In 40 years, Belgian banker Marc Blanpain brought together classic works of Non-European art, including unique pieces, which makes this sale exceptional.
Estimate: €20,000/30,000
In the 1980s, about 10 works were stolen from Marc Blanpain’s collection of Greek, Hellenistic, Etruscan, Roman and Asian art, which had a strong emphasis on terracotta. Had it not been for this traumatic event, he probably would not have set his sights on traditional African art. Inconsolable, he turned the page and stopped buying. That is when he met and became friends with Jean-Paul Barbier, who introduced him to Nok, Djenné, Bankoni and other African terracotta sculptures in the cellars of his Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva. The flame was relit, the wheels began turning and Mr. Blanpain got in touch with an old university friend, Pierre Dartevelle, now a well-known antique dealer in Brussels. He bought all his pieces from him or from auction houses, heeding his Swiss friend’s advice for the first five years: “As soon as I spotted something I liked, I’d send him pictures of it (front, back, two profiles) to get his opinion,” he writes. That is how he trained his eye. He also read many books and made his way forward, guided in part by his ongoing interest in terracotta, as several lots from the December 6 sale illustrate: a Djenné-Jeno seated figure (Mali), scientifically dated to between 1030 and 1270 (€30,000/50,000), an Igbo maternity figure, (Ntekpe) from Nigeria that had belonged to Jacques Kerchache (€10,000/15,000) and a Bankoni male statue (Mali), dated to between 1224 and 1474 (€10,000/15,000). Standing human figures are rare in terracotta statuary, suggesting that the Bankoni work may have been used in old initiation rites. But Mr. Blanpain’s curiosity did not stop there. He explored African art more generally, sensitive to certain striking pieces, such as a Ijebu-Yoruba bronze ritual face bell (Omo) from Nigeria (€20,000/25,000), a Kongo ivory royal scepter from the Democratic Republic of Congo (€40,000/60,000) and a wooden Chokwe statue from Angola (€50,000/70,000). “Stylistically, it belongs to the Muzamba school,” notes Belgian dealer Bernard de Grunne. A string of workshops between Angola and Congo interpreted the epic of the great Chokwe hunter and civilizing hero Chibinda Ilunga with pieces that always feature the same characteristics, like oversized hands and feet as well as finely carved joints and nails.”
Estimate: €80,000/120,000
The Most Striking Pieces
There are fewer than 150 objects in the Blanpain Collection, and just 71 are up for sale. “The most important ones are there,” says Mr. de Grunne, who after a nearly 10-year hiatus away is back on the job as an auction expert in Paris. He knows Mr. Blanpain and his works very well, having exhibited some of them at the Banque générale du Luxembourg in 2005. Mr. Barbier paid tribute to his friend in the catalog, whose cover features the Luba cup-bearer (€80,000/120,000): “Marching to the beat of a different drummer, listening only to his heart, Marc gives in to impulses that it would be nice to see more often. The proof is this admirable Bongo head that many connoisseurs would hesitate to buy: the style is so unfamiliar.” The head (€20,000/30,000) is one of the works that Mr. de Grunne finds most interesting because it is the most destabilizing. “This astonishing, moving, mysterious, fascinating object has an incredible presence, a sort of inexplicable naturalism in the art from this part of Sudan,” he says. The realism and the sculptor’s attention to the now-fragmentary figure’s eyes, which seem to be gazing inward, heightens the emotion. The object is unique, like the monumental Mungambua Basikasingo bust from the Democratic Republic of Congo (€40,000/60,000): a human figure with a triangular mask descending to the lower abdomen. “When Marc bought it 25 years ago,” says Mr. de Grunne, “no one had really ever seen anything like it. I talked it over with him, and upon further research, found another, smaller one and a larger one. The iconography mixes different influences and styles.”
Estimate: €20,000/30,000
A New Life
Mr. Blanpain is turning the page. After living with all these objects, first in his bank’s offices, then at home, at 86 he has decided to part with them. The fun of sharing and friendly competition with his friends is no longer possible: Mr. Barbier died in 2016, Mr. Dartevelle in 2022. The time has come to let these objects touch other collectors’ hearts and see how the market will react. “I think this is a very solid, interesting, refined and eclectic collection, with classic works like Fang, Bambara and Luba statuettes, but also unusual and very well chosen items,” Mr. de Grunne concludes.
Friday 06 December 2024 – 16:00 (CET) – Live
Salle 2 – Hôtel Drouot – 75009 Paris
Giquello
