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Robert Zigler
I trace my interest in African art to exposure to the sculpture of Archipenko and Lipshitz and the painting of Picasso and Duchamps when I was a child. I also remember having liked designs that I encountered in some of the exhibits at the 1936 Chicago World's Fair. In middle age, I began to create wood sculpture using regular straight chisels, flat files, and knives that almost force a carver to employ methods and shapes similar to those used in Africa. In later years, I lived and worked in Ghana and Burkina Faso (West Africa) where I was involved in a number of USAID projects. In Ghana, I bought artifacts that I liked without plan or purpose. In Burkina Faso, I decided to build a collection with examples from each of the eighteen major ethnic groups that live within the borders of the country. As a result, during my three years in Burkina Faso, my collection significantly increased in both size and quality. My house in Ouagadougou was full from wall to wall.
Upon return to the United States, Ray Silverman, whom I had met in Ghana, arranged for a donation of more than forty pieces from my collection to Michigan State University Museum. Since then, nine other schools and institutions have received similar contributions. My donation philosophy is quite simple. The collection must be used in an educational setting, in a museum or classroom, where, for instance, a mask can be worn, touched, and studied by students. My gift is, in effect, a "teaching collection" that unites the hands, eyes, and minds of two continents in a most satisfying and meaningful way.
Collector / Donor Statements
Virginia Artis . Nancy and George Axinn . Marsha MacDowell and Kurt Dewhurst . James Ellison . Robert Glew . Suzanne Miers . Simon Ottenberg . Barbara Porter-Spaulding . Raymond Silverman . Neal Sobania . Robert Zigler
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