Stroll through an ephemeral, open-air museum: the 22nd edition of the Parcours des mondes, the world’s largest fair dedicated to (non-European) primitive arts, opens on Tuesday, September 5 in Paris with an increasing number of dealers from the five continents. Open to the public free of charge, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris, this edition will include the sale of a Chukchi amulet from Siberia, a Fang statuette from Gabon and a Dakini mask from Tibet.

“Today there is a better reception of African art,” said Yves-Bertrand Debie, the director of the show, to AFP. “It is much better worked, we see many exhibitions and, overall, the public’s gaze is much more educated in the specifics of this art. “Today, if we look strictly at the market, we are a bit in a dip”, however, believes collector David Lebard, who remains convinced that “these works will come back into fashion”.

A “trough” linked to the context of restitutions? In December 2022, Berlin returned to Nigeria twenty-two bronzes of the former kingdom of Benin, looted during the colonial era. In 2021, Paris had returned to Benin twenty-six works from the royal treasures of Abomey, looted in 1892 by French troops.

Fifty-eight dealers and collectors

“There is no reluctance on the buyers’ side”, assures Yves-Bertrand Debie, who cites the “historic” example of the Michel Périnet collection (1930-2020). A collection of African and Oceanic art which soared to 66 million euros in 2021 in Paris, in just 61 lots. A world record for the specialty.

This year, 58 renowned dealers (and collectors), specializing in the arts of Africa, Oceania, the Americas and archeology, will meet until Sunday, compared to 42 in 2022. A figure roughly equivalent to that of 2019, before the health crisis, where they had been 64 gallery owners.

“We have gone through several crises, including, undoubtedly, that linked to Covid-19 which has strongly affected us”, analyzes the director of the show, who sees in this edition that of “rebound”. This year, out of the sixty collectors, nearly half are French. In total, eleven countries from five continents will be there, such as Australia, America and Finland, says its president, who specifies that the second most represented country will be Belgium.