Maggie's African Art Collection

On January 17, 2014 I purchased Maggie Golf’s Collection of African Masks for $6,000 on her word that what I had purchased was “well worth” what I had paid and that I was getting a “very good deal.”

I never examined the masks and never before spent over $150 for an African mask, all of this was new territory for me.  I had no idea what I was getting into.

Maggie first uttered the name Ladislav Segy while we were talking about her collection.  Before this time I had never heard the name spoken.

Now it has been several months that I have lived with the nine masks and I have come to appreciate Maggie’s Collection as a priceless gift because it has changed my life in a very deep way.

It helps that the writings of Ladislav Segy are readily available complete with photographs of the African art he is writing about.  Many of his photographs resemble the masks in Maggie’s Collection.  As he is an gifted writer sharing a serious love for art in a society, the collection along with Segy’s books resonate to form a rarified window on African Art.

Rick Tagawa

Thursday, March 6, 2014
Los Angeles, California