Rietberg Museum at African Antiques

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Museum Rietberg Zürich

Museum Rietberg Zürich

Gablerstrasse 15
8002 Zurich
Switzerland

Tel. + 41 (0)44 206 31 31
Fax + 41 (0)44 206 31 32

curator: Lorenz Homberger, Member of the International Council of Museums, Deputy Director and Curator for African Art of the Rietberg Museum in Zurich

Gu mask, Ivory Coast, c. 1900 Rietberg Museum The African collection of the Museum Rietberg, which owes its beginning to the patron Eduard von der Heydt, ranks among the most important in Europe. Von der Heydt was touched, as were the artists of the avant-garde, by the artistic expression of this so-called "primitive art." Since the early 1920s he purchased masterpieces from West and Central Africa from the Parisian art trade – with the advice of leading scientists.

Reflecting Eduard von der Heydt's taste, the sculptures in the Museum Rietberg represent the quiet, dignified, and introverted element of African art. Only a few pieces exhibit aggressive, grotesque, or frightening features. The most important groups of works include sculptures from the Dogon region in Mali, masks and figures from the Ivory Coast, particularly from the Senufo, Guro, Dan, and Baule regions, 17th century bronzes of the royal capital Benin in Nigeria, world-famous masks from the grasslands of Cameroon, sculptures from the Fang region of Gabon, and important figures and masks from the Luba, Songye, and Vili regions of the Congo.

related article : Fake Gabun ! by Lorenz Homberger . Contrary to the temptation! An appeal for a new dialogue among museums and collectors, scholars, and dealers

related books: Treasures from the Rietberg Museum Author: Helmut Brinker by H., E. Fischer. Asia House Gallery 1980 176 pages, 124 b/w and 12 color photographs of objects from South and Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Cloth cover

Die Kunst der Senufo: Museum Rietberg Zürich, aus Schweizer Sammlungen