NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2021

African arts gifted to New York’s MoMA
REVIEW
IT is an indication of the increasing
value, both aesthetic and monetary,
that is being attached to the
contemporary art originating in Africa. It
is a value that has long been recognised by
the Italian-born collector Jean Pigozzi who
has built a collection of more than 10,000
paintings, photographs and sculptures from
sub-Saharan Africa over the past three
decades.
Pigozzi (“my friends call me Johnnie”)
describes his collecting as an obsession.
“Some people are obsessed with alcohol,
some with food, some with sex,” he
says. “I’m obsessed with contemporary
African art.” It is an obsession that began,
almost by chance, when he visited the
George Pompidou Centre and viewed the
Magiciens de la Terre exhibition in 1989
and was immediately struck by the African
works on display.
He tried to buy the entire exhibition
but was rebuffed. But he did meet the
exhibition’s curator, André Magnin with
whom he subsequently collaborated to
build his collection. While Magnin clocked
up the air miles in Africa to find new
works, Pigozzi took care of the business
side.
Pigozzi, who describes himself as a
businessman (although others attach the
Jean Depara (Congolese, born Angola 1928-1997). Les musiciens (The Musicians). 1975. Gelatin silver print,
printed later, 19 11/16 × 23 5/8″ (50 × 60 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. CAAC-The Pigozzi
Collection. Gift of Jean Pigozzi, 2019. Photo courtesy The Museum of Modern Art.
moniker of a ‘High-Society Photographer’
– and an early pioneer of the ‘celebrity
selfie’) had the good fortune to inherit the
Simca automobile fortune, sold for many
millions to General Motors. Using that
fortune, and the money he has earned from
some astute investments in technology, he
has built the world’s greatest collection of
contemporary African art.
He has long had the ambition to build
a museum to hold this collection, but as
yet it’s an unrealised dream. Perhaps his
decision this summer to donate 45 works
to the gift of African art in the museum’s
history.
The stunning gift includes works by
Romuald Hazoumè (Republic of Bénin)
and Bodys Isek Kingelez (Democratic
Republic of Congo), painters Moké and
Cheri Samba (both from the DRC), and
photographers such Seydou Keïta (Mali)
and Jean Depara (DRC).
Given the size of New York’s African
diaspora and the number of visitors that
MoMA attracts from around the world,
this is a gift that is guaranteed to keep on
giving.
Stephen Williams
AB
Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). U.N.
1995. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials,
35 13/16 × 29 1/8 × 20 7/8″ (91 × 74 × 53 cm), irreg.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. CAAC-The
Pigozzi Collection. Gift of Jean Pigozzi, 2019. ©
2019 Estate Bodys Isek Kingelez / Photo: Maurice
Aeschimann. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection
Chéri Samba (Congolese, born 1956). Water Problem. 2004. Acrylic on canvas,53 1/8 × 78 3/4″ (135 × 200 cm).
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. CAAC-The Pigozzi Collection. Promised gift of Jean Pigozzi, 2019.
Photo courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection
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