« When, after the London museum , the Louvre museum will receive the Negro art, it will not find its complement, but its principle.»
(Lucie Cousturier quoted by Félix Fénon in « Surveys of the distant arts: will they be admitted to the Louvre, Bulletin of artistic life, 1920)
Recollection is the recognition of this principle which makes it possible to apprehend both the physical processes of the works and the processes of cultural and artistic capturing
which surround them. Because of their fascination with the Western world, discoveries of these « distant arts » were mainly apprehended under the prism of the influence they had on the great artistic movements of the 20th century.
Dimitri Fagbohoun engages a reflection that transcends the borders previously defined to open new perspectives.It is this work of memory, this return to oneself which is at the heart of the artist’s work and which testifies to his initial intention: to define a corpus of masterpieces of African Art from the traditional universe and now recognized as ‘classical’ in order to reclaim.
Through various medium, Dimitri Fagbohoun creates an intimate but eloquent speech affirming the power of artistic language. Between filiation and legacy, Recollection thus invites the viewer to a deep journey, but whose scope is undoubtedly universal. A journey that translates subtly the evolution of function, form, use and ultimate value of the work of art.
Text from: Pierre Mollfulleda
African and Oceanic Art I Paris
Traduction by Galerie Felix Frachon
