Discovered - Tribal Treasures from European Collections
published: 2012, May 7
PRIVATE COLLECTION
PAUL MIßNER, STUTTGART (1889-1958)
Dr. Augustin Krämer, the first Director of the Linden Museum, summoned the young Paul Mißner from Dresden to work as a restorer in Stuttgart in 1911. The new museum building, named after Karl Graf von Linden[1], had just opened after taking just eighteen months to build.
This was the start of a lively museum career for Mißner which involved conserving the well-documented collection of around 60,000 objects for which the former industrial building had proved too small [2]. He was also involved with developing the extensive colonial exhibition of 1928 in Stuttgart. This was followed by a difficult era financially because the museum distanced itself from National Socialist cultural policies and was able to prevent a takeover by the power holders. Following the outbreak of war, Mißner helped to transport a large proportion of the museum’s collection to safety. When the museum went up in flames in September 1944, most of the larger objects, original boats and large masks were destroyed[3].
Paul Mißner worked for the museum for over 40 years. In 1954 Mißner’s retirement was formally endorsed by the museum Chairman and former State Minister for Culture and Education, Dr. Theodor Bäuerle, the following charming words were offered in recognition of his work: “[…] Over the decades, he mended, reconstructed and reassembled indigenous houses, patched up broken containers and vases, prepared fabrics and masks […] He is as familiar with the Inca empire as he is an African village […]”. [4]
More than 50 years after Mißner’s death, his private collection of high quality ethnographic objects is now being dissolved: these are museum-quality items all well-maintained and complete with the old, very early inventory numbers of Dr. Augustin Krämer’s collection. Krämer, a German navy doctor, anthropologist and ethnographer, used his private collection in his lecturing at the Institute of Ethnography at Tübingen University (1919 – 1933) and later bequeathed parts of the collection to the university as well as selling, exchanging and giving away some of the items or doublets as gifts – including to P. Missner – which is why many items are still found in private collections today. Hans Himmelheber, Krämer’s best known student, remained in regular contact with Krämer. Documents in the archives of the Institute of Ethnography at Tübingen University indicate that some of the Oceania items from the Mißner collection were originally acquired from Hans Himmelheber, then purchased by Augustin Krämer before being part of the Mißner collection. The numerous notable items include a very detailed small ancestral figure from the Sepik people (lot 85), collected by Krämer. A female mask from the Makonde group with a lip plate, decorative tattooing based on a wax-like substance and long eyelashes made from real hair (lot 102) is characterised by its refined features and subtle craftsmanship.
Three inventory numbers (including an old collection sticker) refer to a head rest for a married couple: L.1./47 Zulu double wooden head rest from the Zulu Kaffirs of the Transvaal Republic in S. Africa, O. Staib 1876 (lot 110).
[1] Karl Graf von Linden (1838-1910), sponsor and chairman of the private founding association for business geography, the 'Württembergische Verein für Handelsgeographie und Förderung Deutscher Interessen im Ausland e.V.’, founded in 1882 in the trading room of the Stuttgart trade hall.
[2] Prof. Dr. Inés de Castro, Director, press release to mark the 100th anniversary of the Linden Museum.
[3] Linden Museum, Stuttgart, history of the establishment at www.lindenmuseum.de
[4] Stuttgarter Nachrichten, edition 266 of 13.11.1954
PRIVATE COLLECTION
SEPP ARNEMANN, HAMBURG (1917–2010)
“If we’re going to collect something – let’s make it Africa” - Marion and Doris Arnemann recall the start of the collection by their father, German caricaturist and humorist Sepp Arnemann and his friend, Ulrich Klever [1]. “So why don’t we just do it?” That was in 1960 when both were seeking a new challenge. They had good powers of observation and a distinct passion for collecting from birth and these
skills were also in the nature of their jobs. Marion and Doris Arnemann know that their father had a fascination with all things exotic since his childhood. As a child he brought home the paper used to package oranges and lemons from Cologne’s fruit sellers because it featured
images of far-away lands.
What started out as something spontaneous and natural changed when Arnemann and Klever sought advice from the Hamburg-based gallery owner, Boris Kegel-Konietzko. This had a great impact on Arnemann’s style and he purchased his initial items almost exclusively from the gallery between 1960 and 1966 such as the small and very delicate ‘tugubele’ figure of the Senufo people (lot 141) or
the equally refined mask of the Pende group (lot 150). Also listed during these years are items which he obtained by exchanging objects with the Museum of Ethnography in Hamburg. One of these items is the antelope dance crest from the Bamana people of Mali (lot 125), once in the collection of Leo Frobenius (1873 – 1938). From 1966, Arnemann increasingly began to purchase from galleries and auctions across Germany as well as in Europe. “When going on holiday, he would always look at the telephone book first to scout out any art dealers, exhibitions and museums,” his two daughters remember. They experienced their father’s years of collecting from the outset, having been 11 and 12 at the time.
Beauty, grace, refinement – aesthetic values were always at the forefront of Arnemann’s acquisitions. This is particularly evident in the small amulet figure of the Baule people: it is just 6.5 cm tall yet impresses with its exquisite grace and enchantment (lot 133).
Arnemann completed his collection in 1986.
[1] Ulrich Klever, 1922 - 1990, a German non-fiction author and journalist; author of ‘Bruckmann’s Handbuch der afrikanischen Kunst’ (Bruckmann’s handbook of African art), Munich 1975; also foreword and collaboration in ‘Ibeji’ by Gert and Mareidi Stoll, Munich 1980.
PRIVATE COLLECTION
DR. RICHARD RÜEGG, ZÜRICH (1923 – 1986)
The Swiss psychiatric consultant travelled across the Africa continent from the 1950s with his partner and colleague Dr. Gertrud Droz (1920 – 2011); their travels took them in particular to West Africa and to Kenya as well. These journeys were followed by study trips with psychoanalyst Paul Parin[1]. Encounters are also documented with René Gardi, the Swiss travel author, photographer and film-maker whose travels in Africa took them to far-flung locations in the southern Sahara and northern Cameroon.
Rüegg’s years of intensive collecting are documented by numerous sales receipts from 1979 onwards. In just three years, he acquired most of his objects from auctions at Sotheby Parke Bernet and Christie’s. Only a few items in this time were obtained from galleries and art dealers.
When he died in 1986 at the age of just 63, his collection encompassed around 50 greatly select objects, primarily from West Africa, such as a woman carrying a bowl from the Mende people (lot 160) which Sir Rory Baynes of the Royal West Africa Frontier Force brought from Sierra Leone between 1912 and 1914. The only object from Gabon features a reliquary figure from the Kota people (lot 198) with very finely worked metal plating in brass and copper sheeting. Once belonging to the Samuel Dubiner Collection, this item was exhibited in 1960 and 1961 at the Tel Aviv Museum in Jerusalem as well as in Tokyo and auctioned at Christie’s in London in 1980. A strikingly decorated caryatid stool from the Luba people Lot (199) bearing the collection number ‘718. C. W. 10.’ of Willy Claes (Antwerp) was featured in the exhibition on Congo art in Antwerp in 1937 and was publicised here. Rüegg acquired the piece in 1979 from Sotheby’s in New York along with a very delicate and exceptionally well maintained (as shown by photographs from the field) Malagan 'tatanua’ mask (lot 157). It was collected in situ before 1910 and was once part of the significant Africa and Oceania collection held by German artist Klaus Clausmeyer (1887-1968). This oceanic item was a solitary piece in Rüegg’s collection.
[1] Parin, his wife Goldy Parin-Matthèy and Fritz Morgenthaler carried out psychoanalytical investigations in West Africa and became internationally renowned for developing the field of ethnopsychoanalysis.
OBJECTS FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Some 40 objects have been acquired from a private European collection for non-European art and were obtained by the collector himself, an artist, in West Africa during the 1950s and 60s. His fascination also extended to the artwork of Oceania and ancient America. He was close friends with Charles Ratton and sold him some of his pieces over the years.
After more than 50 years, this collection is now on the art market again and includes a Bobo mask from Burkina Faso (lot 210) from Pierre Loeb’s collection (1897 – 1964) which was auctioned off by Loudmer & Poulain at the Parisian ‘Arts Primitifs’ auction of 1977. Like this mask, the entire collection reveals the collector’s distinct feel for the raw and expressive.
... and finally something for smiling
PAUL MIßNER, STUTTGART (1889-1958)
Dr. Augustin Krämer, the first Director of the Linden Museum, summoned the young Paul Mißner from Dresden to work as a restorer in Stuttgart in 1911. The new museum building, named after Karl Graf von Linden[1], had just opened after taking just eighteen months to build.
This was the start of a lively museum career for Mißner which involved conserving the well-documented collection of around 60,000 objects for which the former industrial building had proved too small [2]. He was also involved with developing the extensive colonial exhibition of 1928 in Stuttgart. This was followed by a difficult era financially because the museum distanced itself from National Socialist cultural policies and was able to prevent a takeover by the power holders. Following the outbreak of war, Mißner helped to transport a large proportion of the museum’s collection to safety. When the museum went up in flames in September 1944, most of the larger objects, original boats and large masks were destroyed[3].
Paul Mißner worked for the museum for over 40 years. In 1954 Mißner’s retirement was formally endorsed by the museum Chairman and former State Minister for Culture and Education, Dr. Theodor Bäuerle, the following charming words were offered in recognition of his work: “[…] Over the decades, he mended, reconstructed and reassembled indigenous houses, patched up broken containers and vases, prepared fabrics and masks […] He is as familiar with the Inca empire as he is an African village […]”. [4]
More than 50 years after Mißner’s death, his private collection of high quality ethnographic objects is now being dissolved: these are museum-quality items all well-maintained and complete with the old, very early inventory numbers of Dr. Augustin Krämer’s collection. Krämer, a German navy doctor, anthropologist and ethnographer, used his private collection in his lecturing at the Institute of Ethnography at Tübingen University (1919 – 1933) and later bequeathed parts of the collection to the university as well as selling, exchanging and giving away some of the items or doublets as gifts – including to P. Missner – which is why many items are still found in private collections today. Hans Himmelheber, Krämer’s best known student, remained in regular contact with Krämer. Documents in the archives of the Institute of Ethnography at Tübingen University indicate that some of the Oceania items from the Mißner collection were originally acquired from Hans Himmelheber, then purchased by Augustin Krämer before being part of the Mißner collection. The numerous notable items include a very detailed small ancestral figure from the Sepik people (lot 85), collected by Krämer. A female mask from the Makonde group with a lip plate, decorative tattooing based on a wax-like substance and long eyelashes made from real hair (lot 102) is characterised by its refined features and subtle craftsmanship.
Three inventory numbers (including an old collection sticker) refer to a head rest for a married couple: L.1./47 Zulu double wooden head rest from the Zulu Kaffirs of the Transvaal Republic in S. Africa, O. Staib 1876 (lot 110).
[1] Karl Graf von Linden (1838-1910), sponsor and chairman of the private founding association for business geography, the 'Württembergische Verein für Handelsgeographie und Förderung Deutscher Interessen im Ausland e.V.’, founded in 1882 in the trading room of the Stuttgart trade hall.
[2] Prof. Dr. Inés de Castro, Director, press release to mark the 100th anniversary of the Linden Museum.
[3] Linden Museum, Stuttgart, history of the establishment at www.lindenmuseum.de
[4] Stuttgarter Nachrichten, edition 266 of 13.11.1954
PRIVATE COLLECTION
SEPP ARNEMANN, HAMBURG (1917–2010)
“If we’re going to collect something – let’s make it Africa” - Marion and Doris Arnemann recall the start of the collection by their father, German caricaturist and humorist Sepp Arnemann and his friend, Ulrich Klever [1]. “So why don’t we just do it?” That was in 1960 when both were seeking a new challenge. They had good powers of observation and a distinct passion for collecting from birth and these
skills were also in the nature of their jobs. Marion and Doris Arnemann know that their father had a fascination with all things exotic since his childhood. As a child he brought home the paper used to package oranges and lemons from Cologne’s fruit sellers because it featured
images of far-away lands.
What started out as something spontaneous and natural changed when Arnemann and Klever sought advice from the Hamburg-based gallery owner, Boris Kegel-Konietzko. This had a great impact on Arnemann’s style and he purchased his initial items almost exclusively from the gallery between 1960 and 1966 such as the small and very delicate ‘tugubele’ figure of the Senufo people (lot 141) or
the equally refined mask of the Pende group (lot 150). Also listed during these years are items which he obtained by exchanging objects with the Museum of Ethnography in Hamburg. One of these items is the antelope dance crest from the Bamana people of Mali (lot 125), once in the collection of Leo Frobenius (1873 – 1938). From 1966, Arnemann increasingly began to purchase from galleries and auctions across Germany as well as in Europe. “When going on holiday, he would always look at the telephone book first to scout out any art dealers, exhibitions and museums,” his two daughters remember. They experienced their father’s years of collecting from the outset, having been 11 and 12 at the time.
Beauty, grace, refinement – aesthetic values were always at the forefront of Arnemann’s acquisitions. This is particularly evident in the small amulet figure of the Baule people: it is just 6.5 cm tall yet impresses with its exquisite grace and enchantment (lot 133).
Arnemann completed his collection in 1986.
[1] Ulrich Klever, 1922 - 1990, a German non-fiction author and journalist; author of ‘Bruckmann’s Handbuch der afrikanischen Kunst’ (Bruckmann’s handbook of African art), Munich 1975; also foreword and collaboration in ‘Ibeji’ by Gert and Mareidi Stoll, Munich 1980.
PRIVATE COLLECTION
DR. RICHARD RÜEGG, ZÜRICH (1923 – 1986)
The Swiss psychiatric consultant travelled across the Africa continent from the 1950s with his partner and colleague Dr. Gertrud Droz (1920 – 2011); their travels took them in particular to West Africa and to Kenya as well. These journeys were followed by study trips with psychoanalyst Paul Parin[1]. Encounters are also documented with René Gardi, the Swiss travel author, photographer and film-maker whose travels in Africa took them to far-flung locations in the southern Sahara and northern Cameroon.
Rüegg’s years of intensive collecting are documented by numerous sales receipts from 1979 onwards. In just three years, he acquired most of his objects from auctions at Sotheby Parke Bernet and Christie’s. Only a few items in this time were obtained from galleries and art dealers.
When he died in 1986 at the age of just 63, his collection encompassed around 50 greatly select objects, primarily from West Africa, such as a woman carrying a bowl from the Mende people (lot 160) which Sir Rory Baynes of the Royal West Africa Frontier Force brought from Sierra Leone between 1912 and 1914. The only object from Gabon features a reliquary figure from the Kota people (lot 198) with very finely worked metal plating in brass and copper sheeting. Once belonging to the Samuel Dubiner Collection, this item was exhibited in 1960 and 1961 at the Tel Aviv Museum in Jerusalem as well as in Tokyo and auctioned at Christie’s in London in 1980. A strikingly decorated caryatid stool from the Luba people Lot (199) bearing the collection number ‘718. C. W. 10.’ of Willy Claes (Antwerp) was featured in the exhibition on Congo art in Antwerp in 1937 and was publicised here. Rüegg acquired the piece in 1979 from Sotheby’s in New York along with a very delicate and exceptionally well maintained (as shown by photographs from the field) Malagan 'tatanua’ mask (lot 157). It was collected in situ before 1910 and was once part of the significant Africa and Oceania collection held by German artist Klaus Clausmeyer (1887-1968). This oceanic item was a solitary piece in Rüegg’s collection.
[1] Parin, his wife Goldy Parin-Matthèy and Fritz Morgenthaler carried out psychoanalytical investigations in West Africa and became internationally renowned for developing the field of ethnopsychoanalysis.
OBJECTS FROM A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Some 40 objects have been acquired from a private European collection for non-European art and were obtained by the collector himself, an artist, in West Africa during the 1950s and 60s. His fascination also extended to the artwork of Oceania and ancient America. He was close friends with Charles Ratton and sold him some of his pieces over the years.
After more than 50 years, this collection is now on the art market again and includes a Bobo mask from Burkina Faso (lot 210) from Pierre Loeb’s collection (1897 – 1964) which was auctioned off by Loudmer & Poulain at the Parisian ‘Arts Primitifs’ auction of 1977. Like this mask, the entire collection reveals the collector’s distinct feel for the raw and expressive.
... and finally something for smiling
