#pigozzi

L’ultima ricamatrice: ogni storia è un ricamo, o un rammendo

da redazione “L’ultima ricamatrice” di Elena Pigozzi è un emozionante romanzo che racconta di una nobile arte tramandata di generazione in generazione, quella del ricamo, e di una donna anziana, Eufrasia, che trasmette la sua saggezza a una più giovane, Filomela. Ambientata in un piccolo borgo senza nome e senza tempo, l’opera narra di una ricamatrice che ha preso in consegna, con passione e…

See on Scoop.it - Art africain contemporain

Le MoMA de New York vient d’annoncer la donation par Jean Pigozzi, l’un des plus grands collectionneurs d’art africain, de 45 œuvres d’artistes de premier plan, dont des sculptures de Romuald Hazoumè et de Bodys Isek Kingelez, des peintures de Chéri Samba et de Moke, des photos de Seydou Keïta et de Jean Depara et des dessins mystiques de l’Éthiopien Gedewon.

  Selon le galeriste André Magnin, qui a constitué en quelque 400 voyages l’essentiel de la collection de Pigozzi, « cette donation est fantastique pour l’Afrique et les artistes africains, et pour les plus de 20 années de recherche sur un continent dont on ne connaissait alors aucun artiste à l’exception de quelques Sud-Africains comme Kentridge ou Marlene Dumas. » Certaines personnalités hors norme connaissent ainsi une forme de consécration en Amérique, dont l’Ivoirien Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (1923-2014)."

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“When I started, everyone thought that I was an idiot. But now many museums - like Pompidou, Tate, Metropolitan in New York, Los Angeles County Museum - they all want to do shows from my collection,” explains French-born Italian collector Jean Pigozzi in 2016, reacting to the rise in popularity and interest in Contemporary African art. At sixty-four years old, Pigozzi has amassed over 10,000 works of Contemporary African art with a particular focus on artists who live and work in sub-Saharan Africa. Pigozzi’s collection is different from other collections of Contemporary African art (such as the Zeitz collection) which include works by artists who may not be currently living and working in Africa and which feature artists from all different parts of the continent. What is not different, however, is Pigozzi’s desire to help African artists to share their stories with the world. Although his collection does not have a permanent museum or location where it can be shown altogether, the works are frequently on loan to prestigious museums internationally and featured in exhibitions worldwide. 

Pigozzi was an artist before he ever became an art collector; he discovered photography at a young age as a way to capture the world around him and express himself without extensive writing, which he struggled with due to dyslexia. Growing up in what he calls a “typical European bourgeois” household, the young aficionado regularly attended art museums with his mother, and his parents even had a modest collection of Impressionist works. It was not until the 1970s, when he attended Harvard University in the United States, however, that Pigozzi exposed himself to art that was more avant-garde. Pigozzi recalls spending weekends in New York visiting MoMA, the Whitney, and galleries downtown. Pigozzi found the art around him fascinating: “It was all so exciting,” he said. “This was the time of Conceptual Art and Minimalism; Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt.” His first purchase was a small Sol LeWitt drawing. At age twenty one, Pigozzi inherited his father’s fortune and became wealthy enough to enjoy a life of leisure dedicated to following his passions - including his burgeoning interest in art - wherever they led him.

In 1989, Pigozzi discovered Contemporary African art when he attended the well-known, yet controversial, exhibition Magiciens de la terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The exhibition, which is seen as one of the major turning points for the art world’s globalization, featured works by more than 100 artists from 50 countries, half of which were so-called “non-Western.” Upon seeing the show, Pigozzi was struck by the creativity of the African artists whose works were featured. Pigozzi was not able to purchase the works in the show, which included those by now relatively more well-known Contemporary African artists Bodys Isek Kingelez and Chéri Samba, because they were owned by a French television station. However, Pigozzi was introduced to André Magnin, who helped curate the show, and he became Pigozzi’s advisor as he began to collect Contemporary African art. Most of the works that the collector has acquired were purchased directly from the artists themselves, and many of them were discovered by Magnin through his journeys into Africa scouting for artistic talent. 

While Pigozzi himself has never been to Africa, he remains committed to meeting and talking with the artists whose work he collects, finding collectors who do not do so to be more vulnerable to the tall tales sometimes told by art world professionals when trying to make a sale. Among the 71 artists listed on Pigozzi’s collection website, only some of them have been featured in gallery or museum shows - lending itself well to the interpretation that Pigozzi enjoys discovering new artists. Pigozzi has been credited for essentially launching the careers of artists in his collection who do have more art world visibility. For instance, journalist Tess Thackara argues: “Without Pigozzi’s patronage, it’s easy to imagine that [Kingelez] would never have made it onto the MoMA’s walls; the high-profile collector has undeniably brought visibility to Kingelez’s work and played a crucial role in its preservation.” 

When he talks about his motives for collecting the art that he does, Pigozzi never talks about financial viability, stability or even potential to produce any sort of profit. In fact, Pigozzi believes that anyone viewing his collection through a financial lens would see it as a “mistake,” with his most valuable paintings being worth $100,000 at maximum, according to the collector - a small amount of money compared to the millions of dollars that Warhol’s and Basquiat’s achieve at auction. But, Pigozzi does not view his works through a financial lens, explaining that while his choice of category may not make sense of a collector interested in making a long-term profit off his works, it makes sense for Pigozzi because he feels he occupies an interesting and unique niche within the art world.

Artworks from The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC), which is what Pigozzi calls his collection, have been featured in what one might argue to be every important exhibition of Contemporary African Art in major art institutions in 2018, including Romuald Hazoumè at Gagosian, Park & 75, New York; Platform: Barthélémy Toguo: The Beauty of Our Voice at the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York; and Bodys Isek Kingelez: City of Dreams at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. All of those exhibitions have gotten major press coverage, including mentions or full articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME, and Forbes. 

In terms of his plans for the future, Pigozzi has expressed a desire to contain his collection within one place and make it available to the public without having to be dispersed among various museums. “It would be sad if 30 years of work disappeared, and the 10,000-strong collection was dispersed,” Pigozzi laments. Yet, Pigozzi realizes that he may not have the resources to put all of his art in one place right now - at least not in a place that he himself funds. “If I [were] Bill Gates,” he says, “I would build a museum. But I’m not Bill Gates. So, I’m open to suggestions,” Pigozzi discloses in an interview with an implied sense of humor. In the meantime, viewing sublime works from Pigozzi’s collection, like the imaginative Bodys Isek Kingelez’s utopian city sculptures at MoMA, is not a bad option for those of us interested in unveiling the stories that Pigozzi readily makes available to the art-viewing public.

Jean Pigozzi and Chéri Samba, Paris, 2002. Source: Les Initiés: un choix d’oeuvres (1989-2009) dans la collection d’art contemporain africain de Jean Pigozzi, Fondation Louis Vuitton, 2017.

Photo at top: Jean Pigozzi.  Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jy-ggtttZQ.

Bibliography:

Artforum. “Jean Pigozzi to Build Foundation for Contemporary African Art.” April 26, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.artforum.com/news/jean-pigozzi-to-build-foundation-for-contemporary-african-art-68078.

Baumgardner, Julie. “Inside the World’s Largest Collection of Contemporary African Art.” Artsy. October 12, 2015. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-inside-the-world-of-jean-pigozzi-the-tech.  

Buffenstein, Alyssa. “Investor and Celeb Photographer Jean Pigozzi Is Searching for a Home for His African Art Collection.” artnet News. April 27, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/jean-pigozzi-foundation-contemporary-african-art-938897.

Caacart.com. “Artists.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/caacart-artists.php. Caacart.com. “Exhibitions.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/caacart-exhibitions.php.

Caacart.com. “Home.” Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/.

Christie’s. “The Insider’s guide to Contemporary African art.” February 15, 2018. https://www.christies.com/features/The-insider-guide-to-Contemporary-African-art-8887-1.aspx.   

Delson, Susan. “In the Hamptons, This Artist Builds the Boat And Serves the Coffee.” The Wall Street Journal. July 26, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-the-hamptons-this-artist-builds-the-boat-and-serves-the-coffee-1532617982.

Edwards, Natasha. “Jean Pigozzi’s Massive Collection of African Art.” Surface. November 30, 2015. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/20151130jean-pigozzis-massive-collection-of-african-art/.

Friedel, Julia. “Magiciens de la Terre.” Contemporary And. August 12, 2016. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/magiciens-de-la-terre/.    

Harris, Gareth. “Venture capitalist Jean Pigozzi plans foundation to house contemporary African art collection.” The Art Newspaper. April 26, 2017. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/venture-capitalist-jean-pigozzi-plans-foundation-to-house-huge-contemporary-african-art-collection

Meistere, Una. “Jean Pigozzi.” Independent Collectors. July 19, 2016. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://independent-collectors.com/collectors/jean-pigozzi-arterritory/.

Pigozzi, Jean. “Jean Pigozzi: The Collecting Life.” Caacart.com. June 2005. Accessed November 4, 2018. http://caacart.com/about_jp_en.php.     

Press, Clayton. “Romauld Hazoumé, Gagosian, Park & 75, New York.” Forbes. September 23, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/claytonpress/2018/09/23/romuald-hazoume-gagosian-park-75th-new-york/#5227dbdf3b58.  

Schwendener, Martha, Will Heinrich, and Jillian Steinhauer. “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week.” The New York Times. September 13, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/arts/design/what-to-see-in-new-york-art-galleries-this-week.html.   

Shapiro, Eben. “At MoMA, a Genius Finally Gets His Due.” Time. June 28, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018. http://time.com/5324720/body-isek-kingelez-moma/.  

Smith, Roberta. “Fantastical Cityscapes of Cardboard and Glue at MoMA.” The New York Times. May 31, 2018. Accessed November 4, 2018.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/arts/design/bodys-isek-kingelez-review-moma.html.