Arte negra

Galleria Il Sestante, via della Spiga 3, Milano

Exhibition of more than forty works of African art selected by Franco Monti and presented at the Galleria Il Sestante in Milan. The event was part of a broader cycle of exhibitions devoted to the so-called “primitive” arts—not only African, but also Pre-Columbian and Oceanic—which Monti organized in various private exhibition spaces starting in 1957. In that same year, he inaugurated the exhibition Arti Primitive in his own venue, the Galleria Franco Monti, while the subsequent shows were hosted in other private galleries (including, besides Il Sestante, the Galleria Milano and the Galleria dell’Ariete, among others).

The Sestante exhibition was not accompanied by a catalogue; however, several photographs taken on the occasion were published in issue no. 365 of Domus (April 1960), showing Dogon sculptures depicting male and female figures, as well as a number of masks displayed on the walls.