This 9½in (24.5cm) painted wood and metal crest in the form of a head from the Baki peoples of Cross River State, Nigeria will be one of the lots on show at the Galerie Bernard Dulon, resident dealer on the rue Jacques Callot. The head has a provenance to Rose and Alain Dufour, Ramatuelle, acquired in the 1970s and the Patrick et Béatrice Caput collection, Paris. The price is around €20,000-30,000.
Image copyright: Vincent Girier Dufournier
In early September the streets around the Saint Germain des Prés and Beaux Arts quarters of Paris will once again be thronged with tribal art enthusiasts.
It is time for the annual Parcours des Mondes, the city’s longstanding gallery-based, cross-continental celebration of ethnographic art from Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Asia.
One of the five Asian art specialists showing works at the Parcours is the Galerie Mingei based on the rue Visconti, which specialises in Japanese art and also has a special focus on the art of basketry. Among the pieces on show in the gallery for this year’s event is this lacquered wood Shishimai mask. It measures 9½ x 11 x 8½in (24 x 28 x 22cm), is dated Tenbun 9 (1540) and is priced around €22,000-28,000.
Image © Michel Gurfinkel @ Mingei Gallery
New this year to the Parcours will be Showcase, which gives six new younger dealers the opportunity to show a selection of their stock in two dedicated exhibition spaces.
Overall, more than 50 participants take part in this edition, from September 5-10 – the usual mix of resident dealers with shops in the area and guests from elsewhere in France, Europe and beyond who take space in other local galleries to show their exhibits.
The gallery Pascassio Manfredi on the rue Visconti specialises in south-east Asian art, particularly works from the Indonesia and the Philippines. Among the pieces on show for the Parcours will be this shield from Kalinga, Luzon, northern Philippines. It measures 4ft x 13¼in (1.23m x 34cm) and is priced at €10,000.
Image © Vincent Girier Dufournier @ Galerie Pascassio Manfredi
The vast majority focus on tribal artefacts but additionally there are two antiquities specialists and five dealers in Asian art.
This wood and pigmented Okuyi mask from the Punu peoples of Gabon is one of the pieces that resident dealer Galerie Flak will be showing on the rue des Beaux Arts for the Parcours. The 10½in (27cm) high mask, which is dated to the late 19th/early 20th century, has a provenance to the collection of Octave Mariani (1885-1976) acquired in Mbigou before 1923, passing down by descent; the collection of Bernard Dulon Paris acquired 2014 and the collection of Béatrice et Patrick Caput, Paris, acquired in 2015. At the Parcours it will be priced in the region of €150,000-200,000.
Image: © Galerie Flak © Danielle Voirin
On a theme
Themed exhibitions and selections of new acquisitions combine to offer plenty of choice, from African masks and statues to Polynesian shields and Pre-Columbian pottery.
Among this year’s themed shows is Adventure and Erudition at the resident Galerie Meyer Oceanic and Eskino Art. It will focus on the theme of exploration and the history of collecting, examining how European enthusiasts for the unknown acquired artefacts from other civilisations and how they were absorbed into European culture.
This Maori treasure box dated to the beginning of the 19th century or earlier will be shown by the US dealer Michael Hamson Oceanic Art at the Galerie Amida on the rue Jacques Callot for the Parcours. The 16¾in (42.5cm) long carved container has a provenance to Dr Jan Olof Ollers of Stockholm and to a 1973 auction at Sotheby’s in London. It is priced at €40,000.
Image copyright: Michael Hamson Oceanic Art
The Art of Aboriginal Australia and the Papuans of the Torres Straits will be on show at resident dealer Voyageurs & Curieux while The Ancient Art of Siberia, focusing on Shamanist artworks, will be the object of an exhibition by the Grusenmeyer & Woliner Gallery from Brussels.
Masks featuring abstract, realistic, zoomorphic and a range of other types and styles will be the themed exhibition at Abla & Alain Lecomte’s Gallery while the Franck Marcelin Gallery will have two themed shows, one devoted to Eskimo and Polynesian objects and the other to around 30 works from Papua New Guinea.
Pictured here is a taste of what the exhibitors will be offering.
More information can be found at parcours-des-mondes.com
