PARIS.- Christie’s will present the sale The Hilde & Dieter Scharf Collection: Ode to African Sculpture, to be held in Paris on June 16. Bringing together fifty exceptional works, this auction continues the tradition of landmark African art collections presented by Christie’s in recent years.

“... my first acquisition. With it, I had entered terra incognita. My curiosity was piqued. What had begun as a search for clues now refused to let me go..” -- Dieter Scharf in Heymer, K. et Thompson, J., Sehen lernen. Eine Sammlung afrikanischer Figuren, 1999,

Over the course of three decades, Hilde and Dieter Scharf assembled a rare and deeply personal collection that pays tribute to the creative power of African artists. Rich in form and striking in diversity, the sculptures they chose embody the very essence of figuration in African art.

A grandson of renowned Berlin collector Otto Gerstenberg, Dieter Scharf was raised in a world steeped in art. This early familiarity with visual language naturally encouraged his deep and lifelong passion for collecting.

Having collected Symbolist and Surrealism for his own collection for twenty-five years, his first acquisition of African art marked a turning point—an awe-struck discovery of an unfamiliar artistic continent and a dawning awareness of the need to "learn how to see." With discernment, curiosity, and the unwavering support of his wife Hilde, he sought out the leading dealers of his time, explored a wide array of styles, and built a collection that is as coherent as it is exceptional.

The Scharf collection of African sculptures was published only once in its entirety, in 1999, in the book Sehen lernen. Eine Sammlung afrikanischer Figuren, co-authored by Dieter Scharf and his daughter Julietta. Long kept away from public view, the collection now emerges as a discreet yet rigorous extension of the aesthetic universe Scharf patiently constructed throughout his lifetime as a collector.

Much like the Symbolist and Surrealist works he admired, these African sculptures engage with the invisible, the unknown, and the power of dreams, while grounding their visual language in the human figure. African art thus became a natural continuation of Hilde and Dieter’s aesthetic journey.

Nestled in the heart of Berlin, facing the majestic Charlottenburg Palace since its 2008, The Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg stands as a cultural jewel dedicated to the visions that have shaped the history of Western art over two centuries.

The collection’s origins lie in the passion of Otto Gerstenberg (1848–1935), a prominent Berlin insurance executive. Gerstenberg's legacy endured through his daughter Margarethe Scharf, and later through his grandsons, Dieter and Walther Scharf both of whom continued to collect. Today Julietta Scharf continues to evolve the interpretation of the original collection through her role as President of the Foundation, which hosts two special exhibitions each year alongside the permanent collection.

As Jean Fritts, internationally renowned African art specialist, notes in the introduction to the sale catalogue:

“The Scharf Collection can be viewed as a dialogue with the invisible, an exploration of metamorphosed forms, and a celebration of the dreamlike power of the image that animated Hilde and Dieter’s entire work as collectors.”

This collection is distinguished by several major ensembles of African statuary in which artist’s explore the human form:

Foremost is the Dogon corpus, represented by six sculptures of striking intensity. Captured in moments of suspended movement, they celebrate the formal power of the ancient sculpture of Mali’s cliff regions.

West Africa is further highlighted with a Baulé figure from Côte d’Ivoire, attributed to the “Master of Essankro.” Formerly part of the Paul Guillaume collection, it was exhibited in Paris as early as 1923.

Gabonese art is represented by a series of three Fang sculptures, one an imposing figure from the former Frank Crowninshield collection, exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum in 1937, and a Kota reliquary figure from the Georges de Miré collection, shown at the landmark 1930 Galerie Pigalle exhibition.

One of the most superb examples of Congolese art is the magnificent Yombe maternity figure attributed to the Master of Kasadi, one of only 6 examples attributed to this master carver. With its astonishing formal precision and almost supernatural realism, this masterpiece was first presented in 1937 by F. Olbrechts and more recently featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s acclaimed 2016 exhibition Kongo: Power and Majesty.

The majestic Luba figure—an undisputed masterpiece of Central African art, is emarkable for its commanding and elegant presence. This sculpture can confidently be attributed to the same artist as another full standing figure, now in the collection of the British Museum.

Christie’s will celebrate this exceptional collection with a beautifully produced catalogue enriched by numerous scholarly contributions, alongside a dedicated exhibition focused on the celebration of the human form, on view from June 12 to 16.