African

African art is regional before it is anything else. The continent holds hundreds of traditions with separate materials, separate functions and separate ideas of what a carving is for — a mask that dances, a figure that holds something, a cloth that records a lineage. Grouping them comes from the European market, not from the makers, and it is worth remembering that the category is a collector's convenience.

The aesthetic is functional and material. Wood is carved for use and wears where it is handled; cloth is woven in patterns that carry meaning; metalwork is cast by lost wax in workshops that have run for centuries. The surfaces that collectors value — patina, wear, residue — are evidence of use, which is the opposite of the European preference for untouched condition.

Provenance is the whole argument here. Objects left Africa in large numbers during the colonial period, and the difference between a documented collection history and none is the difference between a market and a problem.