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Objects

African art on Instagram

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As I unfortunately do not have as much time to blog as before, I was happy to recently discover a new outlet to document my adventures in the wonderful world of African and Oceanic art by creating an Instagram account. You can find it here (username: brunoclaessens). Instagram is a free photo-sharing app that you can install on your smartphone. It lets you share pictures (which you can easily manipulate to make them look better) with the world and allows you to follow or discover people with the same interests as you. The African art community on Instagram has been growing steadily these last few years – you would be surprised who has an account – but I’ll let you discover them yourself. Personally, I try to post daily and it can be anything, from the ex libris of Jacques Kerchache to sneak previews of objects in forthcoming sales. Most pics are geotagged, so you can see where they were taken – which can be also be an excellent way to discover more photos from a specific location (for example, at the Rietberg Museum). Users can also add hashtags (a type of label preceded with a #) to facilitate the traceability of their pictures. For example, I didn’t had the time to go to Frieze Masters this year, but searching on #FriezeMasters2016 I still got to discover what was on view (at least if it was photographed, properly labeled and shared) – but as the (new) saying goes, if it’s not on Instagram, it did not happen 🙂

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As you can see, with the proper effects it’s easy to create some wonderful shots. Below some more of my recent posts..

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Categories
Auctions Collectors

Seward Kennedy’s Cabinet of Curiosities to be sold by Christie’s London

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On 22 November 2016, Christie’s London will be selling Seward Kennedy’s Cabinet of Curiosities info). This eclectic collection includes a group of African and Oceanic ‘curiosities’ as well; starting with lot 144, a very nice Zande shield from D.R. Congo. You can browse the catalogue here. Below a nice portrait of the man (click to zoom).

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Categories
Auctions News

Victor Teodorescu joins the African and Oceanic Art Department of Christie’s

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I’m very happy to announce that Victor Teodorescu has joined the African & Oceanic department of Christie’s Paris. You might heard the name, as he worked for the African and Oceanic art department of the German auction house Lempertz for the last 5,5 years; since 2012 becoming the co-head of their annual sales in Brussels together with Tim Teuten. In fact, Victor, who has a master’s degree in both philosophy and art history, started his professional career in 2009 at Christie’s Belgium – so he’s back where it all began. Victor will reinforce our growing department, with me continuing to share my time between France and Belgium, Susan Kloman, our International director based in New York, and Pierre Amrouche, consultant. Victor is a welcome addition to our strengthening team, and I look forward to his contributions to our department’s continued success.