The Heinz Kolerski collection. Part II

On the 11th of November 2017 we will be auctioning the second part of his considerable Africa collection, which remained family-owned until the death of his wife Magdalene last year.

Auction in Wurzburg:
Saturday, 11 November 2017 starting at 2 pm 

Preview in Wurzburg:
Wed 8 until Fri 10 November from 10 am until 7 pm 
Sat 11 November from 9 am until 1.30 pm 

 

Figur "blolo bla", Côte d’Ivoire, Baule
Speaker's staff "okyeame poma", Ghana, Ashanti
Bark-cloth painting "morumba" / "pongo", D. R. Kongo, Ituri

 

Heinz Kolerski (1936-2012)

 

Heinz Kolerski was a collector par excellence. About himself and collecting he once wrote: »Since my childhood, I have been obsessed with collecting«. He even collected photographs, including 500 works - from modern art to contemporary art. In African art, however, he saw his own culture rooted.

 

Living room in Kolerski's house

 

“Yes, we live with our things. They are part of our lives, that have also shaped us and,
as our life has changed, the collecting has also changed.”
[Heinz G. Kolerski, correspondence, 2008]

 

 It is now five years ago when he died at the age of only 75. After the first part of his collection, which was also auctioned in our house in November 2013, the present offer with about 60 works forms the second, and thus final, part of his Africa collection. Until the death of his wife Magdalene last year, the collection remained family-owned.

They are mainly works from West and Central Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon and DR Congo), such as the very beautiful, detailed and elaborately carved Baule figure from a former French collection, that finally got to his collection over Helmut Zake and Manfred Magin.

 

Côte d’Ivoire, Baule,
Beautiful "blolo bla"-figure
Wood, H: 30 cm

Provenance:
French Collection
Michel Gosse, Caen/Paris
Helmut Zake, Heidelberg
Manfred Magin, Weinheim (1972)
Ketterer, Munich, 1988, Lot 170
Heinz Kolerski, Fellbach