Claude-Henri Pirat, who has already authored different publications about lobi statuary or the buli master of whom he established the 'catalogue raisonné', reveals in here, from the great sculpture of west and central africa to the most usual objects, the works of art he is or has been the collector of. A great traveller, regularly visiting the african continent up to the most remote places, includes many photographs from the field in his book. Following the foreword of Anne-Marie Bouttiaux and the preface of François Neyt, all the texts, including the ethnographic ones are by the author and as he says to us in his prologue : "having finally decided to write the text myself enabled me to transgress established codes and not to limit its focus to a collection of works of art which is only one of the facets of my interest for africa, and to broaden it's content to include my discovery of this continent, of its inhabitants and its artistic production, of the art market and its actors, of the museums, and of some of the great questions that have been and still are under debate in this field, and that have fuelled in me reflections which i have taken the liberty of exposing here, through developments that have nothing to do with an anthropology, history of art or aesthetics essay." To this, is added an original photographic work the author has decided to undertake himself concerning the works of art presented here, whith the aim of reviving the elegant black and white sobriety.