Olbrechts

Olbrechts. 1899-1958
In search of Art in Africa

Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958) in Search of Art in Africa.
Edited by Constantine Petridis, 2001
Antwerp: Ethnographic Museum
ISBN 77069-01-1
pages 327

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Find below the description of the exhibition the Olbrechts book was made for:

Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958)
in Search of Art in Afrika
7th December 2001 - 28th April 2002

… a journey in search not of gold or ivory,
nor of ebony or radium, but of that which perhaps will
make Africa more famous than all these riches …
its art and artists. (Olbrechts 1940)

The Belgian scholar Frans Olbrechts had a huge influ-ence on the study of African art. He may be regarded as the ‘spiritual father’ of the Ethnographic Museum.

Olbrechts was one of the first to describe and exhibit African art as art, rather than purely as ethnographica.
His fieldwork among various Native North American peoples and his travels in West Africa made him realize that the art of non-Western cultures could only be understood properly when studied in situ.

Two important ‘Antwerp’ events are at the heart of the present exhibition: the ‘Congolese Art’ exhibition held in 1937–38 in the City Festival Hall on the Meir, and the ‘Ivory Coast Expedition of Ghent University and the Antwerp Vleeshuis Museum’, which was undertaken in 1938–39 with the support of a number of Antwerp patrons. Throughout the exhibition runs the theme of Olbrechts’s interest in the personality and work of the African artist.

Of the more than 1500 Congolese works of art Olbrechts assem-bled
in the Antwerp City Festival Hall, 72 have now been chosen from various Belgian museums and private collections.

Some of these rare and aesthetically outstanding works have not been exhibited since 1937–38.

The expedition to Côte d’Ivoire is illustrated in this exhibition by a large number of masks, sculptures, utensils and jewellery, acquired in situ in 1938–39 by Olbrechts’s students Pieter Jan Vandenhoute and Albert Maesen during their fieldwork among the Dan, Wè and Senufo. These well-documented objects are placed in their original context by means of hitherto little-known photographs and films made during the expedition.

Olbrechts at African Antiques

Olbrechts. 1899-1958 In search of Art in Africa

Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958) in Search of Art in Africa. Edited by Constantine Petridis, 2001 Antwerp: Ethnographic Museum ISBN 77069-01-1 pages 327

Olbrechts. 1899-1958
In search of Art in Africa

Frans M. Olbrechts (1899-1958) in Search of Art in Africa.
Edited by Constantine Petridis, 2001
Antwerp: Ethnographic Museum
ISBN 77069-01-1
pages 327