Pierre Redouin
Le Souffle des Esprits: Auction of his collection of African art

From this long familiarity with the continent emerged a deeply personal collection, shaped by encounters, observation, and knowledge gained in the field. Masks, ancestral figures, reliquaries, fetishes, ritual sculptures, objects of power, and reference works make up this deeply personal collection, a significant portion of which was published in Le Souffle des Esprits: Sacred Art of the Ogôoué Basin, released in 2012 by Éditions de l’Amateur.

A collection of African art assembled over more than twenty years of travel

Pierre Redouin’s collection is closely tied to his life story.
An engineer by training and a graduate of the École du Louvre, his professional career led him to travel throughout sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty years. From this long familiarity with the continent emerged a collection enriched by encounters, the observation of artworks, and knowledge gained in the field.

Pierre Redouin, collector and connoisseur of African art

Beyond simply gathering objects, the collection reflects a consistent interest in the forms, symbols, traditions, and ritual functions associated with the works. This approach explains the collection’s particularly iconographic and documentary nature: the sculptures and objects gathered by Pierre Redouin are considered both for their artistic qualities and for the cultures, beliefs, and customs to which they are linked.

More than 200 lots of art from Central and West Africa

The auction offers a broad overview of artistic expressions from Central and West Africa through more than 200 lots.

• Masks

• Ancestor figures

• Reliquaries

• Fetishes

• Ritual sculptures

• Objects of power

• Reference works and documents

Fang, Punu, Mbédé, Kuyu, Tsogo, Nzébi, Galwa, Songye…

The traditions of the Fang, Punu, Mbédé, Kuyu, Tsogo, Nzébi, Galwa, Songye, and many other peoples are represented here, offering a remarkable diversity of forms, faces, and artistic languages.

Two Iconic works of central African Art

A Rare Vili Autopsy Board: Between Funeral Ritual and the Search for the Invisible

Among the unique works in the auction is a 20th-century Vili autopsy board. As part of the funeral practices described in the lot description, this type of object served as a support for the ritual examination of the body when a death was considered suspicious or premature. The nganga would then seek to determine, according to the group’s beliefs, whether the death could be attributed to an act of witchcraft, to dikundu, or to the violation of a clan taboo. The object was thus part of a protocol designed to symbolically understand the causes of death, preserve the memory of the deceased, and enable the performance of funeral rites. Its glass eyes, interpreted as a symbol of the ability to “see the invisible,” enhance the expressive power of this sculpture.

The Kwèlé ekuk mask, the pinnacle of abstraction in African art

Another major work in the collection, the Kwèlé ekuk mask with “enveloping horns,” offers a remarkable example of the stylization characteristic of certain art forms from the Ogôoué Basin. Its heart-shaped face, covered in white kaolin and framed by enveloping horns, combines human and animal references within a single sculptural form: the face may evoke that of a man or an antelope, while the horns recall both the animal and the braids of a woman’s hairstyle. Used in the context of the bwete rite of passage, the mask served, in particular, to manifest a protective and benevolent presence within the village. Through the symmetry, simplicity, and balance of its forms, this work pushes the representation toward an almost geometric abstraction, while symbolically uniting the human, animal, and plant worlds.

Le Souffle des Esprits: From Book to Collection

The strength of this collection lies above all in its rich iconography, documentary content, and decorative elements. It reflects the perspective of a man fascinated by the forms, symbols, and artistic traditions he encountered during his years in Africa. A significant portion of the collection was published in 2012 in Pierre Redouin’s book, Le Souffle des Esprits: Sacred Art of the Ogôoué Basin, by Éditions de l’Amateur.

This volume builds on that work through the photographs of Hadrien Redouin, a former assistant to William Klein and later to Yan Morvan, which lend the works a particularly powerful presence.

The Pierre Redouin Collection is supplemented by works from other private collectors

Several works from other private collections round out the catalog.
United by a shared passion for African art, these works extend the narrative presented by the Pierre Redouin collection and further broaden the panorama of traditions, customs, and artistic expressions featured in this auction.

This auction invites you on a journey through the forms, faces, and imaginations of Central and West African art.

“Le Souffle des Esprits”: The collection of Pierre Redouin and others
Auction on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 2:30 p.m.