The Lewitzki Collection

The private Africa Collection from the art dealer Robert Lewitzki, Celle

Auction in Würzburg:
Saturday, 12 November 2022 — 2 pm

Preview:
Paul Gallery, Munich
29 and 30 October — from 10 am to 5 pm

Auction house Würzburg
9 until 11 November — from 10 am to 5 pm

Catalogue order

Please note current changes to the corona regulations.

Robert Lewitzki (73) is an antiques dealer in the best classic sense. Since the 1970s he and his wife Ulrike have been running the art trade in a beautiful historicism building on Brandplatz in the middle of Celle‘s old town.

He came to traditional African art relatively late. It was not until 1995 that he began to collect sub-Saharan works - for himself, purely privately, „and without commercial interest“, as he put it in 2001 when his private collection was shown publicly for the first time in the Albert König Museum in Unterlüss: figures and masks of all „the Ethnicities important to him“ (Celler Zeitung, 06/30/2012), including the antelope mask of the Guru (Ivory Coast) with provenance Hans Himmelheber (Lot 42)

Robert Lewitzki is not fixated on specific societies and cultures. For him, the central focus is on provenance and a view that has changed over the years and through intensive literature studies towards what he called a “more sophisticated formal language”.

He finds these works at the major international fairs and auctions and in the Brussels and Paris galleries, such as the impressive guardian figure: iconographically a classic of Fang art, it is characterized by a stylistically powerful design language (Lot 53).

Today, the Robert Lewitzki Africa Collection is one of the most artistically exquisite collections. Many years and trips to the art centres later, it was presented again in 2012 in the Museum Schloss Bomann in Celle. A large part of the exhibits from that time, very selected pieces, are now on offer.

Gabun / Kamerun, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

Gabon / Cameroon

Provenance:
Martien Coppens, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany

Gabon, Fang - Ntumu, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

Gabon, Fang - Ntumu

Provenance:
Galerie Flak, Paris, France
Coll. Borsi, Luxembourg (acquired before 2000)
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany

D. R. Congo, Songe / Luba, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

D. R. Congo, Songe / Luba

Provenance:
Belgian Colonial Collection
Ana Ricart, Barcelona, Spain
David Serra, Barcelona, Spain
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany

D. R. Congo, Yombe, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

D. R. Congo, Yombe

Provenance:
Colonial Collection, Liège, Belgium
Paul Gilman, Liège, Belgium
Alain Guisson, Brussels, Belgium (1990)
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany

Côte d'Ivoire, Guro, Western Vavoua, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

Côte d'Ivoire, Guro, Western Vavoua

Provenance:
Hans Himmelheber, Heidelberg, Germany
Ernst Heinrich, Stuttgart, Germany (1950)
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany

Indonesia - Borneo, Dayak, Africa Collection Robert Lewitzki, Celle

Indonesia - Borneo, Dayak

Provenance:
Francine Maurer (deceased 2006), Paris, France
Kim Redlich, Düsseldorf, Germany
Lempertz, Brussels, 30 March 2006, Lot 25
Robert Lewitzki, Celle, Germany