Ndoma Baoule portrait mask, Ivory Coast Wood with brown to black patina H. 25 cm - L. 16 cm Provenance : - According to family tradition, acquired on July 1, 1937 at the Maurice de Vlaminck sale, Etude Alphonse Bellier, Hôtel Drouot (lot 27 ?) - Transmitted by descent Under a combed headdress with fine vertical strands, this Ndoma mask has a high forehead, decorated with three seed-shaped scarifications. The supple line of the eyebrow arch seems to protect the closed gaze, the eyelids delicately curved. The straight yet soft line of the nose is punctuated by small wings. Below, the mouth opens onto tiny teeth, whose design responds to both the sober lateral scarification in the lower part of the cheeks, and to the treatment of a schematic beard, on the periphery of the cheeks. Like two purely ornamental elements, marked by sober geometric traguses, the ears slightly overhang the gaze, and are two semi-circles that overflow the whole face. The vigorous internal carving hollows out the eyes and the mouth area into three distinct areas, with a fairly large wall at the edge of the work. A black lacquer, partly preserved, gives the composition its color. Described in the literature as portrait masks, the Ndoma masks are intended above all to celebrate an ideal image that obeys the Baoule canons of human beauty, both aesthetically and morally. With a calm expression, closed eyes, closed on an interiority, the recollection. (...) Imposing a code, a human arrangement to the chaos of nature. (Alain-Michel Boyer, Baoule, Editions 5 Continents, 2008, page 69, 70). The remarkable alliance of the polished surfaces of the forehead and cheeks, the delicacy of the features combined with the strength that emanates from this mask with its contained intensity, make it a very beautiful example of the type. A passionate "discoverer" with Matisse and Derain in the early days of the 20th century of what was then called "Negro art", the Fauvist artist Maurice de Vlaminck lived surrounded by African and Oceanic productions. It was through what he describes as a real shock, in a café in Argenteuil, that a statuette with powerful lines from Africa appeared to him. He was the first artist of his time to acquire a work of this origin, and if unlike Picasso for example, this discovery was not integrated into his own work, it became a real passion. In the course of the misfortunes he encountered, Vlaminck was led to resell certain pieces of his collection. In 1937 in particular, under the hammer of Maître Alphonse Bellier, there was an important sale mixing Western and African works. The description of the mask that we are presenting today, and the dimensions given in the catalog, allow us to consider its presentation as lot 27 at the sale of July 1, 1937. It has never since left the family home of its original purchaser. Addendum We have not been offered access to the archives of Charles Ratton, the expert of the sale we are interested in, despite requests that have remained unanswered. Expert : Emmanuelle MENUET, member of the SFEP. +33 06 70 89 54 87 [email protected]