In 1917, Paul Guillaume and Guillaume Apollinaire published this luxurious work, which included a text written by each each, a series of high-quality photographs, and a brief description of each object accompanied by the names of their owners – Jos Hessel, Ambroise Vollard, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, etc. In his preface, “About Negro Art”, Apollinaire emphasizes the album’s value as a statement, saying it “has the virtue [...] of being the first where anyone has taken the trouble to underline not the ethnic nature of the “negro” statues, but their beauty, which has already captured the interest of both artists and art-lovers”. Sculptures nègres was one of the first art books on African art ever to be published.
© Musée de l'Orangerie / Patrice Schmidt Sophie Crépy
Album containing 24 photographs, with a foreword by Guillaume Apollinaire and an essay by Paul Guillaume, Paris, 1917, 63-copy edition
Photographs pasted on card, 14 3/4 x 10 13/16 in. (37.5 x 27.5 cm)
DOCOR 2011.0.1
Read the digitized version of the Sculptures Nègres album online