Montgomery art gallery hosts unique display.
By: Steve Rauscher
MONTGOMERY The ancient iron objects adorning William Wright’s walls were once but humble farming tools.
Now they form the backbone of a collection of African art housed in a somewhat unlikely locale Mr. Wright’s Belle Mead manor.
A towering but soft-spoken former Manhattan art dealer, Mr. Wright, 58, recently relocated to Montgomery Township, bringing with him an extensive trove of sculptures and statues, all hailing from the Dark Continent. Earlier this month, he hosted a party marking the opening of his gallery at his Harlingen Road home.
Myriad factors compelled him to leave New York, he said. The lease on his SoHo gallery looked likely to treble, and his family had long lived in the township, where his mother operates the LaFollette Vineyard and Winery in Belle Mead.
"I thought it was probably time to retrench and think about cutting costs," he said. "So I reluctantly pulled out of there."
Though he only began working in Montgomery this autumn, Mr. Wright has been working on his house since 1988, when he bought a barn in Griggstown for just $1. The house was marked for demolition by Hovnanian Enterprises to make way for a housing development. Mr. Wright took it apart and moved it to an acre lot lopped off the south side of the vineyard property and commenced re-assembling and restoring the barn, rising at dawn each day to put some work in before commuting to Manhattan.
"It was really one of those things you only do at a certain age when you’re crazy enough to think that it’s worth it," he said.
Along with the early morning carpentry and daily trips to the city, Mr. Wright also found time to make numerous trips to Africa. His passport is as thick as an airport paperback, stuffed with added pages showing entry stamps from Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and a dozen other African nations. Mr. Wright developed a connection with the continent as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta) in 1968.
"When I started going to Africa and this happens to a lot of people I fell in love with the country, with the people," he said. "Every time I go, I feel replenished. I feel like I’ve had an opportunity that’s extraordinary. And it’s impossible to talk to Americans about it, because most of our news about Africa is so down."
Since he entered the art world in the ’70s, Mr. Wright has dealt almost exclusively with African art, most of it from the Sahel region, comprising Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gambia and Guinea Bissau. He started with hand-woven Ethiopian baskets, and now has hundreds of pieces, ranging from palm-sized trinkets to gargantuan wooden sculptures, such as the 14-foot statue of Malian soccer star Salif Keita in his entranceway.
"There’s something about this guy that’s so African," he said. "So athletic."
The theme behind much of the collection on display is "Iron in Africa." Most of the pieces are a few hundred years old, and were not necessarily created for sale in a gallery. One gently curving iron blade was probably a hoe, but now stands on a platform mounted like a blade of grass bent in the wind. Another piece of seemingly abstract sculpture turns out to be an elephant trap standing on end.
"What I was interested in initially is taking objects that are interesting shapes, but have a function," Mr. Wright said. "We’re now at a point where we can see the form as being interesting and elegant in and of itself, and whoever made it, made it so the form and function go together. The better the form, the better the function."
The statement could be applied to the gallery itself, which could almost exist as a work of art on its own. The former barn is both cavernous and cozy, with gleaming, golden brown woodwork and sturdy hemlock beams. The lofty ceilings and massive walls are perfect for showing off the larger pieces in Mr. Wright’s collection.
"It’s a wonderful setting," Mr. Wright said.
Though he stills spends time in New York, Mr. Wright said he is looking forward to developing more local connections. He shows the collection by appointment, and plans to open the house up for a number of shows in the future.
"I’m interested in getting to know and connecting with Princeton," he said. "Because I’ve always gone the New York route, and now I figure, I’m here and it’s a fun house to entertain in."
For next Christmas, he plans a show featuring ceramics and cloth, more moderately priced than those now on display.
"One thing that’s difficult with authentic African art is that you really need thousands of dollars to get in the door and start buying," he said. "With cloth and ceramics, you can get started with something that’s quality and authentic."
Perhaps by then, local sophisticates will be queuing up to buy a little piece of Africa.