On May 11, 2022, PIASA will hold an exceptional auction in Paris dedicated to African-related artistic scenes. Among the lots presented, a major work by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, "Homme sur Terre" dated 1983, is to be remembered.
"In Africa, when a man is born, one is content to know that he is born, and one does not try to count the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, quarters, years, centuries, even millennia of his birth. Africa has nothing to do with the short or long time of life. When I was born, my parents knew that I was born, and for them the only reality of life was in this assured birth." F. Bruly Bouabré
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré is one of the most important artists of the continent. Born in Côte d'Ivoire at a time when one's birth date was more a matter of deduction than of fact, he passed through the twentieth century as a witness of the times of men and those of the gods.
If the great revelation of March 11, 1948 is foundational in the work of Bruly Bouabré, it is an inquisitive spirit and the mind of a fine observer of the world who receives it. His love of humanity and his desire for a harmonious cohabitation between the people of earth are also, those of a war veteran marked by the horrors of the First World War. We can add to this an analytical spirit, an interest in classification systems and systemic surveys, all key traits of the personality of this exceptional artist, today honored in an important retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Homme sur Terre (Man's Journey on Earth), 1983, is the oldest and most important work by the artist ever presented at auction. This drawing, which predates by six years the landmark exhibition Magicians of the Earth, which will contribute to the international discovery of Bouabré's work as early as 1989, brings together in a single image the different themes that will be explored by Bouabré in the following decades. The central figure, probably a self-portrait, bears the mark of enlightenment in the bright light emerging from his mind, a sign of the revelation he has just received. His status as a chosen one anointed by knowledge, gives him the authority of the throne on which he sits, flycatcher in hand, a mark of leadership in several African cultures.
Around him are various symbols: the elephant, the national emblem of Côte d'Ivoire, known for its legendary memory; the elephant is indeed the one who remembers, like Cheik Nadro (Bouabré's name as a chosen one). A flag with the colors of Côte d'Ivoire anticipates the flags series to follow, which are among the most recognizable of the artist. We find the theme of war, that of rituals, the reference to the personal history of Bruly Bouabré: a mud hut, perhaps from his native village of Zépréghué, in the Bété country, a people to whom he will offer like Prince Sejong in Korea, a written language.
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré
Homme sur Terre (Man's Journey on Earth), 1983
Estimate: 30 000 / 40 000 €
