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The mask, hammered down at auction for €547,500 (USD $648,000) at a recent Christie's sale in Paris, has become the second most expensive Dan mask ever sold at public auction, second only to another Paul Guillaume provenanced Dan mask, sold at Christie's in 2014 for €721,500 (USD $850,500).

Although not credited in the Christie's catalogue, Entwistle sold this extraordinary 19th century mask not once but twice, initially to the New York collectors, Marc and Denyse Ginzberg, and later to another private American collection. Its provenance reads like a who's who of collecting in the field of African art - Paul Guillaume, Ralph Nash, Hubert Goldet and, of course, the Ginzbergs.

The mask has been widely published and exhibited in countless historic exhibitions, from the Exposition de L'Art indigène des Colonies Françaises et du Congo belge, held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris in 1923-24 and organized by André Level, to the seminal show Negro Art, held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1935, organized by James Johnson Sweeney, and for which it was famously captured by Walker Evans in the especially-commissioned study portfolio for the show. More recently, it was displayed in the show Likeness and Beyond, Portraits from Africa and the world, held at The Centre for African Art, New York, and at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, both in 1990.

The hypnotizing mask is a remarkable achievement in volumetric balance and the artist has managed to counter great expressive force with profound interiority. The downcast eyes convey a meditative gaze that's reiterated in its introspective energy by the median ridge flowing from the top of the forehead through the mid-brow and continued along the nasal ridge.

The arched eyebrows convey an unparalleled level of direct engagement with the viewer and the striking mouth, with its full, sensuous lips is held mid-utterance to capture a moment held between inhalation and exhalation as in the expression of a mantra.

The deangle mask formed a central role in the circumcision camp of Dan culture and was known as a ‘joking or laughing masquerade’ on the basis of its benign, perhaps somewhat feminine, countenance; the role of the deangle masquerader was, fundamentally, to amuse and joke, especially with the women in the village, of whom they request food for the boys secluded in the circumcision camp.[1]

Christian Elwes

I had the good fortune to meet Jean-Paul Barbier early in my career, when he was a valued client, and the greater good fortune to become his friend late in my career, which coincided with some of the last years of his life. For a young dealer in the early 70s Jean-Paul was a figure whose presence could not be ignored: not only was he a passionate collector but he also projected a glamour that has probably never been surpassed in the world of tribal art. He was intelligent and cultured, but also handsome, charming and witty; he was an active buyer but also an adventurer who went into the field himself in search of knowledge as much as art.
 
Our relationship was kickstarted in 1973 by a great Torres Straits mask from Saibai Island, once in the collection of the Melbourne Aquarium in Australia. A fire had decimated the aquarium’s collection of oceanic art and natural history but the mask was miraculously spared and sold off in the aftermath of the conflagration. It was subsequently acquired by an eccentric local collector and gardener in whose hillside shack it slumbered cheek by jowl with a collection of bonsai trees until discovered by my then girlfriend, Bobbie Nochimson, later to become my wife and, following our divorce, my life-long business partner and friend.
 
Jean-Paul knew little about us and was doubtless unimpressed but he immediately recognised the rarity and aesthetic mastery of the mask and had the courage to acquire it for a record price. Motivated as he was as much by intellectual curiosity as by a love of beauty, he always tried to create meaningful dialogues between the objects he owned, at times representative matrices illustrating particular cultures and at others bridging great cultural divides. So it was not surprising that the mask was soon accompanied by a great tortoiseshell mask from Mabuiag Island and a superb Saibai drum, creating a triumvirate of Torres Straits masterpieces.
 
While the passing of years is so often a cause for regret, it does sometimes have the merit of bringing its survivors closer together. So when in the early part of this century our tribal paths intersected again, we found that we had miraculously become part of the same generation. This was the cue for a friendship that deepened over time and was nourished by a shared interest in poetry. Jean-Paul’s knowledge of French poetry is legendary – but he was also extraordinarily well versed in the English canon and we were able to share Shakespeare, Keats and Poe. Shortly before he died, we had planned a poetry weekend at his house in Ramatuelle, Provence, but nature and his declining health decided otherwise. So when the latest volume of his monumental encyclopaedia of 16^th century French poetry arrived on my desk some months after he passed away, I heard his distinctive chuckle: I’m not done yet, it seemed to say.

J’ai eu la chance  de rencontrer Jean Paul Barbier au début de mon activité, alors qu’il était un client précieux, et la chance plus grande encore de devenir son ami plus tard dans ma carrière, ce qui a coïncidé avec les dernières années de sa vie. Pour un jeune marchand au début des années 70, Jean Paul était une figure qu’on ne pouvait ignorer: il n’était pas seulement un collectionneur passionné, mais il émanait aussi de lui un glamour qui n’a probablement jamais été surpassé dans le monde de l’art tribal. Il était intelligent et cultivé, mais également beau, charmant et spirituel ; c’était un acheteur actif mais aussi un aventurier qui allait lui-même sur le terrain, en quête de connaissance autant que d’art.

Le coup d’envoi de notre relation fut donné en 1973 par un superbe masque du Détroit de Torres de l’île de Sabai, qui avait fait partie des collections de l’aquarium de Melbourne en Australie. Un feu avait décimé la collection d’art océanique et d’histoire naturelle de l’aquarium mais le masque avait été miraculeusement épargné et vendu suite à l’incendie. Il fut par la suite acquis par un collectionneur local excentrique qui était également jardinier et dans la cabane duquel, au flanc de la colline, il a sommeillé côte à côte avec une collection de bonsaïs jusqu’à ce qu’il soit découvert par ma petite amie de l’époque, Bobbie Nochimson, qui devait devenir ma femme puis, après notre divorce, ma partenaire de travail et amie pour la vie.

Jean Paul savait peu de choses sur nous et n’était sans doute nullement impressionné – mais il a immédiatement reconnu la rareté et la maîtrise esthétique du masque et a eu le courage de l’acquérir pour un prix record. Motivé comme il l’était par la curiosité intellectuelle autant que par l’amour de la beauté, il a toujours essayé de créer des dialogues signifiants entre les objets qu’il possédait, parfois des matrices représentatives illustrant des cultures particulières et parfois en reliant de grandes divisions culturelles. Il n’est donc pas surprenant que le masque ait rapidement été rejoint par un grand masque en écaille de l’île Mabuiag et un superbe tambour de Saibai, créant un triumvirat de pièces majeures du Détroit de Torres.

Si le passage des ans est si souvent un motif de regret, il a parfois le mérite de rapprocher ceux qui y survivent. Ainsi, lorsque le début de ce siècle vit nos voies tribales se croiser à nouveau, nous constatâmes que nous appartenions désormais par miracle à la même génération. Ce fut le signe d’une amitié qui s’est approfondie au fil du temps et a été nourrie par un intérêt partagé pour la poésie. La connaissance de Jean Paul dans le domaine de la poésie française est légendaire – mais il était également extrêmement compétent dans le canon anglais, et nous avons pu partager Shakespeare, Keats et Poe. Peu de temps avant sa mort, nous avions projeté un week-end dans sa maison de Ramatuelle, en Provence, mais la nature et sa santé déclinante en ont décidé autrement. Ainsi, lorsque le dernier volume de sa monumentale encyclopédie de la poésie française du XVIe  siècle arriva sur mon bureau quelques mois après sa disparition, j’entendis son gloussement caractéristique, qui semblait dire « je n’ai pas encore terminé.

Crédit: Tribal Art magazine. Special Issue #7 Musée Barbier-Mueller. 40 ans de rayonnement.