Estimate: $300 - $500
Price Realized: $2,048 Includes buyer's premium
carved wood
17 1/2 x 6 x 4 inches
signature carved to bottom
Property of Robert Montrose Waite and Joan Berry Waite, New Brunswick NJ thence by descent
overall good condition
If you are interested in bidding, please contact us to request more photos, or make an appointment for in-person inspection. To ensure prompt assistance, we recommend reaching out at least 24 hours before the auction by calling 212-353-2277 or emailing us at admin@capsuleauctions.com.
Condition reports are based on visual inspection by the Capsule team under typical office lighting. Unless otherwise noted, items are not examined under UV light in advance of sale. We do not guarantee the content of written or verbal condition reports. Remember, all lots are previously owned and all sales are final. The absence of a condition report does not imply that there are no condition issues with the lot.
Art has not been examined out of the frame unless otherwise stated. Frames, lampshades, or items described as “supplementary” are not considered integral to the value of the lot and are excluded from condition assessments. This includes any mat, mounting, glazing, hanging apparatus, case, box, or stand. Timepiece movements, lighting elements and items with mechanical or electrical components have not been thoroughly tested and are not covered under warranty by Capsule.
Robert Montrose Waite (1928–2015) and Joan Berry Waite (1933–2015) were lifelong advocates of cross-cultural understanding whose experiences spanned continents, disciplines, and the arts. Born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, to Jamaican and African American missionary parents, Robert returned to the United States at ten and came of age in Depression-era Cleveland. After earning degrees from Case Western University and New York University, he rose through the corporate ranks to become the first Black vice president of a Fortune 10 multinational corporation. In the mid-1950s, he married Joan Berry, a Canadian cultural anthropologist and singer educated at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Chicago. A descendant of African Americans who escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad, Joan devoted her career to the study and celebration of African and Afro-American art, culture, and music.
Motivated by the decision to not be held back by racism and denied professional opportunities in pre-civil rights era New York City, the Waites relocated to Nigeria in 1961. There Robert co-founded and managed West Africa’s first postcolonial indigenous electronics company in Ibadan, in partnership with Chief Anofi Guobadia of Benin. Robert details this experience in his autobiography Haunted by Africa. During this period, Joan taught French, collected Yoruba masks and sculptures, and even performed on Nigerian television. Upon returning to the United States in 1965, Joan continued to teach, sing, and lecture widely, performing with ensembles of New Jersey, including Return to the Source and the Jubilee Singers of Westminster Choir College. Joan co-founded the Afro-American Educational Center of Northern New Jersey, for which she received WCBS-TV’s Black History Month “Fulfilling the Dream” award in 1995. Robert was recruited by ITT, where he directed global operations as a marketing executive. On his 80th birthday, shortly after retiring as Vice President of Natural Resources, he was honored with a Benin bronze bust from Chief Anofi Guobadia, commemorating his Nigerian name, Omowali, meaning “the child has returned home.” Together, the Waites built a remarkable collection of African art, reflecting their personal experience and intellectual and cultural passions.
