Now this was an interesting experience. Heading slightly outside of the planned excursions, I ventured into the Barakat Gallery in Mayfair. After speaking to the owner of the gallery, Mr. Fayez Barakat, and hearing a wonderful anecdote about a meeting with Picasso, I was invited into his basement. Rather than run in fear, I decided to take him up on the offer and was greeted with an incredible collection of African artefacts, densely sprawled around the room. Honestly, I think I have found the Holy Grail of mask collections here and my future home - this was only furthered by the claims by Mr. Barakat that he is the owner of the largest collection of African masks in the world. The week is barely half way gone and this will no doubt be the highlight of my travels.
To elaborate on the Picasso anecdote, I was told that a young Mr. Barakat, eminent art collector at the time, encountered the legendary artist one day in his father's gallery. Pablo Picasso had come in with the Mayor of Jerusalem, raving about African art and the trips he had recently been on. Shocked and confused, Mr. Barakat cut him short and claimed, 'how can you talk of this African art when I have such wonders as ancient Egyptian and Greek artefacts for you to see. These are the greatest examples of art in history'. Picasso responded, 'it is true that these are great cultures, but in Africa people are born artists. They are taught to paint, to draw and to sculpt in the developed world; in a tribe, you can only create art as a birth right and you live it every day of your life, you engage with the spirits'. The next day Mr. Barakat was invited to Picasso's show, only then realising the identity of the person that he had been talking to. It was that day he began his collection of African art.
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