Fremde Götter
Pablo Picasso once said that he only realized "what painting is really about" when he saw the African masks at the Paris Musée d'Ethnographie. The exponents of the Expressionist artists' group "Die Brücke" also derived inspiration from the collections of the ethnological museums for their own carvings and turned their studios into exotic refuges. However, in their quest for an ecstatic natural state they often overlooked the fact that these objects of tribal art especially are based on strict design principles. The Dadaists liked to present themselves at times as "wild" mask wearers and sneered at the habitus of the European man of culture. The Surrealists saw the art and myths of Oceania as media for exploring hidden realms of the unconscious mind. This interest in and reception of the art of "indigenous peoples" not only provided a formal alternative to bourgeois tastes but was also a symptom of a deep-rooted longing for a life reform. Rudolf Leopold felt that the art of so-called "primitive" ethnicities was a priori Expressionist. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that his collection comprises more than 200 rare ancestral figures, dance masks, weapons, architectural sculptures and other extraordinary works from carvers from Africa and Oceania.
