EO.1953.74.1330

The collection of conservator Albert Maesen

This statue was acquired by a conservator of the Museum of the Belgian Congo during a collecting mission. From 1953 to 1955, Albert Maesen organised this scientific mission for the museum, during which he was able to list more data than most of his predecessor collectors had. Since, for most of the time, he was only a passer-by, the data he acquired were also limited. He got a lot of help from colonial officials and from Congolese people who operated within the colonial system of indirect rule. This determined to a great extent what he could and could not ‘collect’. In 1969, Albert Maesen was appointed head of the department of ethnography, a position he held until 1980.