Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art

ANTHONY JP MEYER Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art 17 Rue des Beaux-Arts Paris 75006 France Tel. (+33) (0)1 43 54 85 74 Fax (+33) (0)1 43 54 11 12 e-mail: ajpmeyer@aol.com webpage: www.galerie-meyer-oceanic-art.com TEFAF Stand 233

Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art celebrates 24 years of fine Tribal Art in 2004. Since 1986, the year in which I decided to devote myself exclusively to Oceanic Art I have learned much about the works of art and their collectors. I also learned much about myself and I discovered that deep down I am a collector and furthermore that my collection of Oceanic Art is my gallery. The publication in 1995 of my book ”Oceanic Art“ (Koenemann Verlag, Cologne) was a major result of this intense learning process. Being a dealer in Oceanic Art allows me to constantly add new pieces to the collection, to explore new sources, to develop my knowledge and refine my eye. Those works of art which are sold remain in my memory and I enjoy them with true pleasure in the collections of their new owners. Often I manage to buy them back after several years, only to sell them on again to another amateur. This is the life of the object - I am only the temporary guardian of the piece before it is transmitted to the following owner. The intense pleasure of a newly acquired work of art carries me onwards towards the horizons of observation, research, and comparison; a feverish and fascinating job. After the initial rush of the acquisition I begin the research. I open books which I have not looked at for several months and the volumes pile up on the desk open to interesting pages. I photograph the piece from all angles, and gradually I take in its force, the plastic expression, the patina and the material. The myth of ancestor, the power that it contains and the power that it gives me. Why did the artist use this or that color, what was the function of the object, whom did it represent, how was it used? And of course, what village, tribe, island group did it come from, when was it collected, by whom, and where did it go from there and finally, how did it come to me? And this never stops; sometimes the information or the inspired understanding comes to me only months or years later. And then the process starts again for there is always another piece on the horizon, just waiting to be swept up. Anthony JP Meyer Member of the Chambre Européenne des Experts d’Art Member of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires