PARIS.- Created at the initiative of tribal art dealers from the district of Beaux-Arts/Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the spring of 2014, Paris Tribal is to be held this year from 9 to 11 April 2015.

The first edition was well received by the public and found its place in the landscape of events devoted to tribal art: French, European and American collectors were all present for this new occasion, proving that Paris is recognised as a pivotal centre for this specialty.

This year, some twenty galleries have chosen to participate in the event, which is to combine exhibitions around themes as well as exceptional pieces.

All fields of tribal art are to be covered, including arts from Africa, America, Asia, Indonesia and Oceania.

Here, masks are to be found alongside shields, clubs face ancestors, locks and amulets echo drums, reliquary skulls, sceptres and spatulas intersect and form an endless inventory where ritual works become works of art paying lively tribute to the history of our origins.

Paris Tribal, a tour around 20 standard-setting galleries: Aethiopia, Galerie Bacquart, Galerie Alain Bovis, Galerie Olivier Castellano, Entwistle, Galerie Flak, Indian Heritage, Galerie Kanaga, Galerie Cédric Le Dauphin, Pascassio Manfredi, Galerie Meyer, Galerie Noir d’Ivoire, Lucas Ratton, Galerie Philippe Ratton, Galerie SAO, Galerie Pablo Touchaleaume, Galerie Renaud Vanuxem, Voyageurs & Curieux, Librairie Fischbacher and Librairie Mazarine.

Highlights

AETHIOPIA
Historically, whether in Africa or Asia, man has needed to store the liquids required for life. Essential to the social and ritual links between men, the container of choice for alcohol was Korean pottery, an art recognised throughout the Asian continent.

Known as "Korean stoneware" and used by all social categories, the shapes, sizes, finishes and nuances of the covering of these pieces of pottery developed over the centuries thanks to the technical progress of their renowned potters.

The five pieces presented within Paris Tribal date from the 9th and 12th centuries.

GALERIE BACQUART
Exhibition “Bambara Locks, a private collection”
Known as kanbarabara, literally "door protrusion", these locks are both functional and the subject of great artistic creativity, featuring fauna (lizard, crocodile, turtle, etc.) and anthropomorphic figures.

Carved by village blacksmiths, they were intended for notables. Women received them as a gift on the occasion of their marriage or the birth of a child.

These locks are thus often a symbol of fertility and a happy marriage.

This collection of seventeen locks was put together by a private collector around twenty years ago and has since been carefully preserved.

GALERIE ALAIN BOVIS
Exhibition “Materials” from 9 April to 9 May 2015
The Alain Bovis gallery is organising a thematic exhibition showing contrasts and oppositions between materials, from rough textured ritual patinas to those known as “telephone” patinas, with a selection of art objects from Africa and Oceania, punctuated by works from Indonesia and the Himalayas.

INDIAN HERITAGE
Exhibition “The Himalayan Tale” From 9 to 25 April 2015
Mountain spirits, good fairies and menacing ogres, the tale and its characters have crossed time and continents, from the confines of the Himalayas up to ourselves.

With masks and statues from Nepal and India, the gallery is to show a selection of objects evoking fantastic stories.