Constructions of Value through Primitivism and Authenticity in African Art Auction Catalogues, 2000–2020 Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

This dissertation examines auction catalogues published in conjunction with sales of the historical or classical arts of Africa at auction houses in Paris and New York between 2000-2020. I argue that the varied approaches to presenting African art visually and textually in African art auction catalogues reveal a persistence of ideas that center the circulation of African art within European and North American contexts. These ideas, including standards of authenticity predicated on the object’s history of “traditional” use in an imagined culturally isolated context prior to foreign contact, are partially indebted to standards set during the formation of African art markets in Europe and North America in the early twentieth century. I also find subtle changes to these approaches that reflect a universalist attitude that simultaneously elevates the significance of African art as fine art while further aligning it with Western conceptions of art and artmaking. Using concepts from Arjun Appadurai, I describe how these catalogues foreground the cultural biographies of African art objects after their removal from the African continent, including histories of circulation and display through private and public collections in Europe and North America, as well as the social histories of these objects as loci of artistic fascination from European and North American modernist artists, compared with the possible original meanings and functions of these objects in the context of their production and use on the African continent.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction — 1

Chapter One: Authenticity Untangled — 36

Chapter Two: Hubert Goldet and Arts Premiers in Paris — 62

Chapter Three: From Shadow into Light: Arts Primitifs: Collection Vérité — 100

Chapter Four: Sotheby’s New York and the Power of the Universal Masterpiece — 132

Chapter Five: Christie’s New York and the Enduring Legacy of “Primitivism”  — 176

Conclusion — 225

Appendix I: Approaching Auction Catalogues through the Digital Humanities — 242

Appendix II: Tables — 253

Bibliography — 261

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Art History
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Art History
Stichwort	art auctions value African art authenticity art reception auction catalogues art markets art history primitivism
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi, Emory University
Committee Members	Megan O'Neil, Emory University Kristin Phillips, Emory University Constantine Petridis, Art Institute of Chicago

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