In a photograph taken in 1934, she poses in an astrakhan coat, hugging two African masks, a guru (west-central Ivory Coast) and a fang (Bantu ethnic group), whose peaceful expressions contrast with his severe face. Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965) then got ready to go by boat to the United States where her cosmetics brand and beauty salons were developing, and she did not fail to take with her some of the works “of negro art ”, as they said at the time, taken from his collection.
This photo is presented, among many others, in the exhibition devoted by the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac to the passion of the business woman for African art. Sixty-four pieces among the 400 or so extra-Western works in his collection are shown in an elegant setting, accompanied by photos retracing the extraordinary life of the woman who is today considered to be the first “self-made woman” “
Pretty features
The eldest of eight siblings in a modest Jewish family in a suburb of Krakow, the young Chaja is distinguished by a voluntary and independent character. To escape an arranged marriage, she left Poland at the age of 24 for Australia with, in her luggage, jars of face cream made by a pharmacist in her neighborhood. These pots will make a fortune: in a country where women expose themselves to the sun at the risk of burning their skin, the woman who now calls herself Helena has the idea of developing a trade in moisturizing and protective care products. The success was such that she soon opened her first salon in Melbourne, followed by others in New York, London or Paris. His slogan : “Beauty is power”. In 1908, she married Edward William Titus, American journalist and collector met in social evenings. It is he who introduces her to the painter and sculptor Jacob Epstein who will guide her in her discovery of African art and form her gaze.
What strikes you when you discover the pieces presented is their aesthetics: masks and heads with soft lines, materials worked so as to best express their beauty and power, silhouettes seducing with their grace. The wearing of this female Mossie statuette, from Burkina Faso (late XIXe– early XXe century), is elegant, the attitude dynamic, the stylized forms evoke cubism. The prettiness of the features of this Ngontang mask-helmet (Gabon, XIXe century) with four faces inscribed in a heart shape is accentuated by the white color, that of spirits.
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