LONDON.- From 9 October to 12 December 2025,
Ordovas presents Dialogues, an exhibition exploring the influence of non- Western art on 20th and 21st century movements; a topic about which opinions have been tested, revised and expanded over recent decades.
Juxtaposing major works of Western art with those from Africa and Oceania, the exhibition looks back to the turn of the 20th century when artists including Ernst, Giacometti and Picasso first encountered masks and sculptures from these areas. The works provoked deep curiosity and appreciation, and inspired them and their contemporaries to pioneer a new movement in art. A selection of contemporary works reflects the inspiration and the conversations that the study and appreciation of African and Oceanic art continue to encourage to this day.
Leading highlights include an important Eastern Iatmul figure from Papua New Guinea on loan from the Fondation Beyeler; a portrait executed by Pablo Picasso in 1906 — a hugely pivotal year — which was formerly in the collection of Gertrude Stein; and a work by Adam Pendleton selected specifically for the exhibition by the artist.
In presenting this exhibition, Ordovas is pleased to collaborate with Jean Fritts, an independent advisor and former International Chairman African & Oceanic Art at Sotheby’s, and her former colleague, Pierre Mollfulleda who was head of the department in Paris. A fully illustrated catalogue includes a specially commissioned essay by Philippe Peltier, Conservateur general honoraire du patrimoine at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris, who contributed to the catalogue for the landmark exhibition “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern which opened at MoMA in 1984.
Dialogues includes three works from that pivotal exhibition which opened forty years ago under the direction of William Rubin, the legendary scholar, curator and collector. These include the Eastern Iatmul figure from Papua New Guinea on loan from the Fondation Beyeler and formerly in Rubin’s personal collection; a Mahongwe Kota reliquary figure from Gabon which comes from a private French Collection; and a mask of the Bamana peoples, Mali, which was displayed at the time alongside works by Max Ernst. Widely recognised as one of the most significant exhibitions and catalogues to address the dialogue between Western art and African and Oceanic art, this show prompted widespread discussion and debate around cultural identity. In subsequent years, multiculturalist thinking and alternative perspectives have led to fast-evolving ideas and opinions around the resonance and importance of works of art from Africa and Oceania, which continue to inspire artists today.
A major work of Western art is Nu debout by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) which was created in 1906 — a crucial year for the artist in which he was heavily influenced by encounters with Iberian and African art, and in which he began to redefine figurative representation, culminating in his masterpiece Les demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907, and the subsequent invention of Cubism. Formerly in the collection of Gertrude Stein, and featuring in a photograph of her taken by Man Ray, it was subsequently owned by the celebrated collectors Walter P. Chrysler Jr. and Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block. Previously shown at the Art Institute of Chicago (1963), National Gallery of Art in Washington (1967) and MoMA in New York (1970–71), it was most recently included in Picasso 1906: The Turning Point at the Museo Reina Sofía (November 2023 to March 2024). It relates directly to the painting Nude with Joined Hands, from the same year, which is now in the collection of MoMA.
Tête aux grands yeux by fellow Spaniard Julio González (1876–1942) is on loan from the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany. The artist moved to Paris at the turn of the 20th century where he first encountered African masks, absorbing their influence into his work. This head was created from forged welded iron circa 1930 during a pivotal four-year period when the artist was collaborating with Picasso. In 1934, Max Ernst (1891-1976) spent the summer with with the sculptor Alberto Giacometti in the Swiss village of Maloja. The following year, he conceived Les asperges de la lune, a standing sculpture inspired by a West Papuan carving of a male and a female pair which belonged to the artist’s dealer, Jacques Viot. The plaster original was acquired by MoMA in 1937; this exhibition includes an edition cast in bronze in 1973-74 under the direction of the artist.
Contemporary works include Untitled, 2021, which has been selected for the exhibition by Adam Pendleton (b.1984), a central figure in contemporary American painting whose works explore social issues such as racism, colonialism and black identity; and Orange is the New Black, 2016, by David Hammons (b.1943), the legendary and elusive African American conceptual artist whose work addresses issues of race and class. This sculpture is a faux African mask that the artist has covered in orange acrylic paint.
Further works of art from Africa and Oceania include an important Fang reliquary figure from Gabon previously included at major exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum (1937), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2007–08) and the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (2010 / 2017-18); an Adouma mask, also from Gabon, formerly owned by Frank Crowninshield (1872–1947), legendary editor of Vanity Fair; and a Mbole figure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo formerly in the collection of Georges Stoecklin (1937-1997), and last exhibited at the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller (1990–91).
