Nevertheless, although Europe imposed its vision of the Other, its representatives and ambassadors were also observed and analysed before being initiated, admired, criticised or mocked.

While Western sailors, soldiers, missionaries and traders had been travelling up and down the coasts of West Africa since the 15^th century, their hosts, whom it would be wrong to consider as passive onlookers, were also assimilating the consequences of this intrusion. In other words, while all-conquering Europe was familiarising itself with the figure of the African, the African, from his side, was beginning to integrate this pale-skinned other into his own symbolic and artistic universe.

From the Sapi-Portuguese ivories produced from the 11^th century on the coasts of the Sierra Leone to "colonial" sculpture, there are many different versions of the white man and his attributes in African art, just as there is a broad spectrum of works ranging from the simplest reproduction to objects that embody true poetry.

Through a selection of works, most of which have never been exhibited in France, White Man/Black Man is an invitation to discover the blended art known as "colonial" art that was for a long time wrongly lumped under the "tourist souvenirs" category but which in fact has proved to be unexpectedly rich.