- 93
STATUE, LEGA, RÉPUBLIQUE DÉMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO |
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 EUR
bidding is closed
Description
- wood
- haut. 21 cm ; 8 1/4 in
Statue, Lega, République Démocratique du Congo
Provenance
Christie's, Londres, 29 juin 1994, n° 122
Collection Tomkins, New York (inv. n° TC 5), acquis lors de cette vente
Collection privée, États-Unis
Collection Tomkins, New York (inv. n° TC 5), acquis lors de cette vente
Collection privée, États-Unis
Literature
Carrie, "Victor Teicher ou la passion harmonieuse", Tribal Art, Hiver 2003, p. 99
Condition
Please contact the department : Pierre Mollfulleda pierre.mollfulleda@sothebys.com / 01 53 05 53 15
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Personnage symbolique majeur, Sakimatwematwe (« Sieur Nombreuses-têtes ») s’inscrit au cœur de la philosophie enseignée par l’association initiatique du Bwami. Enonçant l’omniscience de ses plus hauts initiés, les statues à son effigie comptent parmi les expressions les plus rares et emblématiques de l’art Lega. L’association initiatique du Bwami, qui structure et fédère les différents groupes Lega, se pose en garant du pouvoir moral, politique et juridique. Son éthique est graduellement transmise à travers les objets sacrés d’initiation masengo, à l’apogée desquels se distinguent les grandes figurines en bois appartenant collectivement aux initiés ayant atteint le plus haut échelon du grade suprême, les lutumbo lwa kindi. Chacune de ces effigies exprime, à travers un personnage et son exégèse, un concept essentiel du Bwami, révélé au postulant lors de l’initiation.
« Sakwimatwematwe est l’initié de haut rang qui voit dans toutes les directions et remarque ce que les autres ne perçoivent pas. Il possède une connaissance supérieure ; […]. Il voit et sait des choses invisibles et inconnues des autres. Il applique son sens de la justice en tant qu’arbitre entre les jeunes et les anciens, les hommes et les femmes, les initiés et les non-initiés, le bien et le mal » (Biebuyck, The Art of Zaire, vol. II. Eastern Zaire ,1986, p. 86 ; et Lega. Ethique et beauté au cœur de l’Afrique 2002, p. 126). Surpassant les codes moraux individuellement véhiculés par les autres personnages, Sakimatwematwe résume à lui seul le pouvoir et la sagesse de l’initié du grade suprême : « maître du monde de la forêt » (nenelubanda) ; « poutre maîtresse d’une maison » (Biebuyck, La Sculpture des Lega 1994, p. 33).
Les statues sculptées à son effigie sont excessivement rares. Leur corpus se résume à une quinzaine d’œuvres, dont sept sont conservées dans des musées américains (Dallas Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Buffalo Museum of Science, Menil Foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, Fowler Museum at UCLA, National Museum of African Art- Smithsonian Institution). Leur découverte tardive et leur rareté s’expliquent par l’importance souveraine de Sakimatwematwe en tant que symbole ultime de l’unité du Bwami et de l’autorité des membres constituant sa plus haute instance et recouvrant, au sein d’un clan majeur, plusieurs villages et lignages.
Chaque figurine Sakimatwematwe traduit dans sa conception aussi surréaliste que complexe, la vision hautement personnelle de l’artiste à qui elle était commandée, et « dont il ne comprenait ni la destination ni la signification. A partir de là, il pouvait laisser libre cours à son imagination stimulée par la tradition locale à laquelle il appartenait (Biebuyck, idem, p. 45). Si presque toutes tendent à l’abstraction géométrique et se résument à quatre visages, ici l’artiste a choisi d’humaniser la figure légendaire, en enracinant dans une silhouette anthropomorphe la sidérante arborescence des têtes.
S’impose enfin la prégnance de l’œuvre, née du contraste entre la densité des motifs et l’épure des visages « en cœur », qu’accentuent les aplats de kaolin ponctuant les nuances brun orangé de la patine. Tandis que cette profonde patine d’usage témoigne des nombreuses cérémonies au cours desquelles elle passa de mains en mains dans le cercle des grands initiés, le sectionnement volontaire d’une neuvième tête émergeant autrefois du bas du dos rappelle le rôle des objets majeurs d’initiation dans la transmission, au sein du Bwami, de l’histoire des clans composant le peuple Lega.
A major symbolic figure, Sakimatwematwe ("Lord of the many heads") relates to the very essence of the philosophy taught by the secret initiation society of the Bwami. Emphasizing the omniscience of its initiates of the highest rank, statues in his likeness are amongst the most rare and emblematic of expressions in Lega art.
The initiatory society of the Bwami, structured and united the various Lega groups and secured the moral, political and legal power. Its ethics are gradually conveyed through sacred masengo initiation objects, at the peak of which stood the large wooden figures collectively owned by the initiates who had reached the highest echelon of the most superior rank: the lutumbo lwa kindi. Each of these effigies expresses, through a figure and its exegesis, an essential concept of the Bwami, revealed to the applicant upon initiation.
“Sakimatwematwe is the high initiate who sees in all directions and notices things that others do not. He has a surpassing knowledge; [...] He sees and knows things unseen and unknown to others. He applies his sense of justice as an arbiter between young and old, men and women, initiates and laymen, good and evil" (Biebuyck, The Art of Zaire, vol. II. Eastern Zaire, 1986, p. 86; and Lega. Ethique et beauté au cœur de l’Afrique 2002, p. 126). Above and beyond the moral codes individually conveyed by the other figures, Sakimatwematwe alone sums up the power and wisdom of the initiate of the highest rank: "master of the forest world" (nenelubanda); "pillar of a house" (Biebuyck, La Sculpture des Lega 1994, p. 33).
Statues carved in his likeness are exceedingly rare. Their corpus comprises only fifteen pieces, seven of which are held in American museums (Dallas Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Buffalo Museum of Science, Menil Foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, Fowler Museum at UCLA, National Museum of African Art- Smithsonian Institution). Their late discovery and rarity indicates the paramount importance of Sakimatwematwe as a symbol of Bwami unity and of the authority of the members of its highest instance, who presided within a major clan over several villages and lineages.
Each Sakimatwematwe figure conveys through a design that is as surreal as it is complex, the highly personal vision of the artist from whom it was commissioned, a vision "of which he understood neither the destination nor the meaning. From that point on, he could give free rein to his imagination stimulated by the local tradition he belonged to" (Biebuyck, idem, p. 45). Although they almost all tend to geometric abstraction and encompass four faces, in this piece the artist has chosen to humanise the legendary figure, by embedding the astonishing arborescence of the heads within an anthropomorphic figure.
The piece draws its elemental presence from the contrast between the profusion of the patterns and the pared down aspect of the “heart-shaped” face, emphasized by the kaolin punctuating the orange-brown shades of the patina. While this deep patina of use attests to the many ceremonies during which it was passed from hand to hand within the circle of high initiates, the deliberate severing of a ninth head emerging from the lower back evokes the role of the major initiation objects within the Bwami as tools to aid transmission of the history of the clans within the Lega people.
« Sakwimatwematwe est l’initié de haut rang qui voit dans toutes les directions et remarque ce que les autres ne perçoivent pas. Il possède une connaissance supérieure ; […]. Il voit et sait des choses invisibles et inconnues des autres. Il applique son sens de la justice en tant qu’arbitre entre les jeunes et les anciens, les hommes et les femmes, les initiés et les non-initiés, le bien et le mal » (Biebuyck, The Art of Zaire, vol. II. Eastern Zaire ,1986, p. 86 ; et Lega. Ethique et beauté au cœur de l’Afrique 2002, p. 126). Surpassant les codes moraux individuellement véhiculés par les autres personnages, Sakimatwematwe résume à lui seul le pouvoir et la sagesse de l’initié du grade suprême : « maître du monde de la forêt » (nenelubanda) ; « poutre maîtresse d’une maison » (Biebuyck, La Sculpture des Lega 1994, p. 33).
Les statues sculptées à son effigie sont excessivement rares. Leur corpus se résume à une quinzaine d’œuvres, dont sept sont conservées dans des musées américains (Dallas Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Buffalo Museum of Science, Menil Foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, Fowler Museum at UCLA, National Museum of African Art- Smithsonian Institution). Leur découverte tardive et leur rareté s’expliquent par l’importance souveraine de Sakimatwematwe en tant que symbole ultime de l’unité du Bwami et de l’autorité des membres constituant sa plus haute instance et recouvrant, au sein d’un clan majeur, plusieurs villages et lignages.
Chaque figurine Sakimatwematwe traduit dans sa conception aussi surréaliste que complexe, la vision hautement personnelle de l’artiste à qui elle était commandée, et « dont il ne comprenait ni la destination ni la signification. A partir de là, il pouvait laisser libre cours à son imagination stimulée par la tradition locale à laquelle il appartenait (Biebuyck, idem, p. 45). Si presque toutes tendent à l’abstraction géométrique et se résument à quatre visages, ici l’artiste a choisi d’humaniser la figure légendaire, en enracinant dans une silhouette anthropomorphe la sidérante arborescence des têtes.
S’impose enfin la prégnance de l’œuvre, née du contraste entre la densité des motifs et l’épure des visages « en cœur », qu’accentuent les aplats de kaolin ponctuant les nuances brun orangé de la patine. Tandis que cette profonde patine d’usage témoigne des nombreuses cérémonies au cours desquelles elle passa de mains en mains dans le cercle des grands initiés, le sectionnement volontaire d’une neuvième tête émergeant autrefois du bas du dos rappelle le rôle des objets majeurs d’initiation dans la transmission, au sein du Bwami, de l’histoire des clans composant le peuple Lega.
A major symbolic figure, Sakimatwematwe ("Lord of the many heads") relates to the very essence of the philosophy taught by the secret initiation society of the Bwami. Emphasizing the omniscience of its initiates of the highest rank, statues in his likeness are amongst the most rare and emblematic of expressions in Lega art.
The initiatory society of the Bwami, structured and united the various Lega groups and secured the moral, political and legal power. Its ethics are gradually conveyed through sacred masengo initiation objects, at the peak of which stood the large wooden figures collectively owned by the initiates who had reached the highest echelon of the most superior rank: the lutumbo lwa kindi. Each of these effigies expresses, through a figure and its exegesis, an essential concept of the Bwami, revealed to the applicant upon initiation.
“Sakimatwematwe is the high initiate who sees in all directions and notices things that others do not. He has a surpassing knowledge; [...] He sees and knows things unseen and unknown to others. He applies his sense of justice as an arbiter between young and old, men and women, initiates and laymen, good and evil" (Biebuyck, The Art of Zaire, vol. II. Eastern Zaire, 1986, p. 86; and Lega. Ethique et beauté au cœur de l’Afrique 2002, p. 126). Above and beyond the moral codes individually conveyed by the other figures, Sakimatwematwe alone sums up the power and wisdom of the initiate of the highest rank: "master of the forest world" (nenelubanda); "pillar of a house" (Biebuyck, La Sculpture des Lega 1994, p. 33).
Statues carved in his likeness are exceedingly rare. Their corpus comprises only fifteen pieces, seven of which are held in American museums (Dallas Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Buffalo Museum of Science, Menil Foundation, New Orleans Museum of Art, Fowler Museum at UCLA, National Museum of African Art- Smithsonian Institution). Their late discovery and rarity indicates the paramount importance of Sakimatwematwe as a symbol of Bwami unity and of the authority of the members of its highest instance, who presided within a major clan over several villages and lineages.
Each Sakimatwematwe figure conveys through a design that is as surreal as it is complex, the highly personal vision of the artist from whom it was commissioned, a vision "of which he understood neither the destination nor the meaning. From that point on, he could give free rein to his imagination stimulated by the local tradition he belonged to" (Biebuyck, idem, p. 45). Although they almost all tend to geometric abstraction and encompass four faces, in this piece the artist has chosen to humanise the legendary figure, by embedding the astonishing arborescence of the heads within an anthropomorphic figure.
The piece draws its elemental presence from the contrast between the profusion of the patterns and the pared down aspect of the “heart-shaped” face, emphasized by the kaolin punctuating the orange-brown shades of the patina. While this deep patina of use attests to the many ceremonies during which it was passed from hand to hand within the circle of high initiates, the deliberate severing of a ninth head emerging from the lower back evokes the role of the major initiation objects within the Bwami as tools to aid transmission of the history of the clans within the Lega people.