Tshokwe Figure, Muzamba Region, Angola

Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973) Collection, Los Angeles

Sotheby's, London, Primitive Art from the Edward G. Robinson Collection. The Property of The Most Hon. The Marquess of Lansdowne, P.C. The Property of Mrs. J. Ollers and Other Owners, July 10, 1973 lot 147

Auction 393, New York, Tribal Arts, May 5, 1976, lot 129

Baron Frédéric "Freddy" Rolin (1919-2001) Collection, Brussels and New York

Eduardo Uhart, Paris and Santiago

Marc (1930-2012) and Denyse Ginzberg Collection, New York

Eduardo Uhart, Paris and Santiago

James Willis Gallery, San Francisco, 1999

John Giltsoff, London, New York and Girona, 2001 (KAOS, 2005)

French Private Collection

Binoche et Giquello, Paris, Art d'Afrique et d'Océanie, November 14, 2019, lot 100

Daniel Hourdé Collection, Paris, acquired at the above auction

Paris, KAOS-Parcours des Mondes, September 14-18, 2005

Paris, Classic Primitives-Renaud Riley, Parcours des Mondes, A deux pas des Tshokwe, September 9-14, 2014

Brussels, Renaud Riley, Winter BRUNEAF, 18-22 January 2017

François Neyt, Arts traditionnels et histoire au Zaire/Traditional Arts and History of Zaire, Louvain-le Neuve, 1981, p. 228, fig.XII.6

Marie-Louise Bastin, La Sculpture Tshokwe, Meudon, 1982, p. 117, n° 60.

African Arts, 1983, Vol.XVI, no.2, p.5 (adv. Willis)

John Giltsoff, Gitsoff. Replica Handbags s of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, Girona, 2005

Renaud Riley, A deux pas des Tshokwe, 2014, p. 7 (n.p.)

Kevin Conru, Bernard de Grunne, and Shaouli Sharkar, Collection Baron Freddy Rolin, Brussels, 2021, p. 108, no. 73

"Chokwe sculpture is one of the most important expressions of African aesthetics"

Henry Lavachery

This Chokwe statue comes from the famous collection of American actor Edward G. Robinson. He performed on Broadway and appeared in numerous films during a career spanning over 50 years, from the 1920s to the 1960s. He won a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in House of strangers in 1949 and was awarded an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement two months after his death in 1973. Edward G. Robinson was also a passionate art enthusiast and collector of modern paintings as well as tribal art. After his death, his widow put his collection of African art up for auction at Replica Shoes 's on 10 July 1973.

This male Chokwe figure is one of the most remarkable exemplars of Chokwe art associated with court art. It depicts an idealised portrait of a dignitary from one of the great chiefdoms of central Angola, formed at the sources of the Kwango and Kasai rivers. Portrayed as the founding hero of the Chokwe people, Tshibinda Ilunga, this chief stands upright, although his arms and legs are missing. It is likely that it originally held the attributes of this prince from the Luba country, recognised and admired as a civilising hero and hunter: a rifle and a horn or staff.

There are two main styles of statues that coexist in Moxico and Muzamba. As an expression of the Muzumba style, the figure from the Daniel Hourdé Collection embodies the same power, expressiveness, and intricate anatomical detail that also characterise the Moxico style. However, it tends towards greater stylisation, particularly in the treatment of faces featuring more pronounced prognathism, as evidenced here.

This Chokwe statue is a magnificent embodiment of Chokwe art. In 1969, Marie Louise Bastin noted how these characteristics must have helped to fulfil the little-known purpose of these figures, which straddled the realms of spirituality and power: “The exaggerated features - eyes, cheekbones and chin on masks, as well as hands and feet on statues - are to be taken as ideographic signs that deliberately accentuate traits to emphasise the importance of the spirit or ancestor, who is to be feared as much as honoured.”[1]

François Neyts, who first published this figure in 1981 in his book Arts traditionnels et histoire du Zaïre, made the following comments about its style: “As evidenced by Tshibinda Ilunga's beautiful sculpture, this is a truly original art form... The originality of the Chokwe is particularly striking in the treatment of the face, the coiffure and the attention to detail in the hands and feet. It also sometimes manifests in the stance of the leader.”[2]

The sheer power of the volumes, the energy emanating from the face with its pointed teeth - a result of tribal mutilation - the hieratic appearance and a sense of gravity counterbalanced by the statue's vitality are among the expressions that perfectly characterise the Chokwe statue from the Daniel Hourdé Collection. It embodies a style and reflects a whole culture, making it one of the most iconic and admired forms of African art. One can't fail to agree with Henry Lavachery's view on the matter.

[1] Marie Louise Bastin, “Arts of the Angolan Peoples. I: Chokwe / L'Art d'un Peuple d'Angola. I: Chokwe”, in African Arts, Vol. 2, No1, autumn 1969, p. 62

[2] François Neyt, Arts traditionnels et histoire du Zaïre. Cultures forestières et Royaumes de la Savane, 1981, pp. 224-225 and 228