"BRUNEAF" BRUSSELS NON EUROPEAN ART FAIR jUNE 9TH-12TH 2005
Bruneaf's New President: Patrick Mestdagh with Wife Ondine
The Sablon district is highly concentrated with a large number of Tribal Art dealers who have permanent gallery headquarters in that area. Visiting dealers from the USA and other countries rent out space from local merchants for the special six day long event. A good number of the local dealers have their own galleries on Rue de Minimes and elsewhere. Visitors to Bruneaf can likely see about 70 percent of the show by simply walking into the galleries with the yellow Bruneaf flags. Not all galleries have flags. Some galleries have outdoor carpets which say Bruneaf so it is advisable to refer to the map on the back of the Bruneaf Catalog since it can be easy to miss or overlook various galleries.
Jolly Hotel Du Grand Sablon
Rue Sainte Anne
Attendance was somewhat down this year. The reason seemed to be that there was at least 15 million euros in tribal art being auctioned in Paris at the same time which apparently kept some collectors from attending. Nonetheless, people were still buying.
This year Wayne Heathcote participated in Bruneaf and exhibited some of the best oceanic material in the show.
The most significant tribal piece in the whole show was from Indonesia. It was a rare and important monumental Nias stone "Adu" ancestor figure offered by Rabier Cy Art located on 8-10 rue des Minimes. The figure was in dramatic light in a downstairs stone basement and its presence immediately got your attention! Unfortunately no photographs were allowed of this piece. The price of the figure seemed to vary widely depending on when and who asked the price. The quoted prices varied from $450,000 euros to $700,000 euros. It sold towards the end of the show to an unknown buyer for an undisclosed sum.
View from the Second Floor of Kevin Conru's Spacious Gallery
Kevin Conru's Gallery with an important woven Sennit Fijian Spirit House on the Table and a Fang Torso on the Mantel
Kevin Conru's Gallery cont. with a rare Nicobar Island Figure on the Right
Skulls seems to be popular with collectors this year. Francios Coppens said that he sold at least twelve skulls both Dayak and Oceanic. In African Art, there were very few pieces that were priced over 30,000 euros and subsequently few, if any, masterpieces.
Bruce Frank in this Gallery on 15 Rue Ernest Allard. This was Bruce's first year at Bruneaf. Bruce said that sales were strong and he even sold his featured piece in the Bruneaf Catalog which was a 19th c. Northern Nias Ancestor figure from the collection of Dr. Edmund Muller
Mia Van Bussel's Gallery on 28 rue Sainte Anne. Her large New Guinea Papuan Gulf fiber mask featured in the center
Yann Ferrandin (Gallery Valluet-Ferrandin) on 14 Rue Guenegaud
Tad and Sandy Dale in their gallery on 48 Rue de Rollebeek. The gallery featured a warm color pallet which showed off the art well. Tad reported having a very successful show selling a large number of pieces! Sales included an Ngbaka figurative Harp, a New Guinea Canoe mask featured in Tribal Art Magazine and a number of African pieces to friends of the noted Brussels collector Willie Mestdagh to name a few.
Serge Schoffel in this permanent gallery on 47 Rue des Minimes. Serge always has a great mix of high quality African, Oceanic and Indonesian Art. That Maori Figurative post on the upper left pedestal was extremely nice and priced at $30,000 euros.
Joshua Dimondstein in this spacious gallery on 58 rue des Minimes. It finally caught Joshua alone when he was not busy wrapping purchases from clients.
Leonardo's gallery was constantly packed with people. He is seen talking with a preeminent collector of human skulls in a baseball hat. John Giltsoff (center) with pink sweater. Leonardo permitted a photo of this Vili skull shown below. It was one of the more unusual pieces to be found at Bruneaf
A fascinating African Vili Over modeled Skull from the Congo
Cafe life in the Sablon
Anytime is a good time for a beer in Brussels. Tad Dale and Michael Auliso at the landmark Cafe' Leffe. Tad's gallery is seen in the background
Alain Naoum in his second floor gallery on 77 rue Lebeau standing next to an expressive Songye figure in the Beneki style with turned head from the collection of Mert Simpson New York
Jo De Buck in his permanent gallery on 43 Rue des Minimes. That figure on the far left is a rare Palau female figure from Micronesia
Also going on in conjunction with Bruneaf was this "Les Antiquaires des Grandes Civilisation" show. This exclusive show had guards in the entrance scanning each person entering and exiting. Basically there was ancient art and paintings for sale and few if any pieces were priced under $60,000 euros! American dealer William Siegal from Santa Fe New Mexico had a Mayan mask with etched writing on the back priced at 1,000,000 euros.
