A tribute to Roy Sieber: Part 2

While a[ Indiana University, Sieber worked with various collectors, many of whom gave works to the university's art museum.

15. Box in the form of an antelope or cow head Edo peoples, Benin kingdom, Nigeria. Wood, brass; length 34 9cm (13.7"). Indiana University Art Museum. Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, 75.99.4,

The Wielguses, with whom Sieber enjoyed a long friendship, wore important donors to Indiana University

16. Shrine (Ikenga). Igbo peoples, Anambra Valley, Nigeria. Wood, pigment; 61cm (24") Indiana University Art Museum, 70 50. This impressive work is among the purchases Sieber made for the Indiana University Art Museum

Page 19, clockwise from left:

17. Female figure with child. Kongo peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mid-19th -early 20th century Wood (Nauclea latifolia), glass, glass beads, brass tacks, pigment; 25 7cm (10 1") National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, 83-3-6. Sieber was instrumental in developing the acquisitions program at NMAfA through both purchases and donations from private collectors

18. Equestrian figure Inland Niger Delta style, Mali 13th 15th century Ceramic, 705cm (27.75") National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution Museum purchase, 86-12-2.

19. Archer figure Inland Niger Delta style, Mall. 13th 15th century Ceramic. 61.9cm (24.4"). National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Museum purchase, 86 12 1.

think."(9) After one weekend-long session of moving pieces around to Sieber's aesthetic satisfaction, a friend "walked into the house after we'd spent a weekend doing that, and he said, 'You've finally got it; don't change a thing!' And that wasn't the point!"

Both at home and professionally, the point was to encourage a careful reading of the object through sustained interaction, and to create a comfortable and effective setting for it in its new context.(10) This attitude fostered a special rapport and ease with objects in the Sieber household. Each of the children, for example, had an African stool, and certain objects acquired distinct personalities. A Kongo power figure (Fig. 6), now in the collection of the Indiana University Art Museum, was affectionately known as "Robert"; the Sieber children often dressed it in clothing to provoke their parents. An Igbo Janus-faced helmet mask (Fig. 2) was known by the family as "the freezer" because it derailed the purchase of a freezer they had been saving up to buy.

In 1957 the Siebers bought their first work of African art, an Ijo mask (Fig. 7). They purchased it sight unseen and before they ever went to Africa. Sophie recalled:

Roy got the piece through Margo
Plass. They were [deaccessioning]
duplicates at the British Museum
and this was up for auction. It was
collected by Talbot in the Delta. And
Margo ... bought it and offered it to
Roy.... Roy was committed to it! ... It
was so much money and we had
three children by then. [But when it
arrived] and I opened the box, ... I
just burst into tears, because it was
worth it.