Guro Mask, Buafle, Ivory Coast

Wood, Pigments, H. 35cm

Provenance:

Han Coray, Zürich, before 1928

Exhibition:

Afrikanische Kunst und ihre Beziehung zur Hochkultur – Sammlung Coray, Museum für Völkerkunde München, 1931

Price:

On request

Han Coray was one of the first collectors of African sculpture in Switzerland. In 1916, he organised the first Dada exhibition, for which Paul Guillaume lent a Baule sculpture. Tristan Tzara was also deeply involved in the exhibition, which made art history. It was at this moment that Han Coray became a collector of African art, and alongside Barnes, one of Paul Guillaume‘s most active clients.

Under Guillaume‘s influence, Coray continued to actively collect until 1928, when financial problems resulted in the confiscation of his collection by the Schweizerische Volksbank. In 1940, the Völkerkundemuseum Zürich acquired the entire collection, keeping about a quarter of the works and selling the rest to selected  private and public collections.