JEAN-PIERRE HALLET (1927-2004)
Jean-Pierre Hallet was born in Africa 1927, in what was known as the Belgiun Congo at the time. Jean-Pierre's father lived on the banks of Lake Kivu, where he raised Jean-Pierre for his childhood.
Jean-Pierre Hallet was a man among men He was a true Renaissance Soul - internationally renowned as an africanist, ethnologist, sociologist, humanitarian, agronomist, naturalist, author, lecturer, explorer, photographer, cinematographer, artist, African art authority and collector, and death-defying adventurer. He was best known and revered, however, as the world authority on the culture, languages, and history of African pygmies in general and the Ituri Forest Efé clan of the Bambuti pygmies in particular, with a list of accomplishments and recognitions that is almost endless.
In 1976 Jean-Pierre Hallet was proclaimed “Humanitarian of the Decade” by the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation. In 1987, The Pygmy Fund received the “US Presidential End Hunger Award, with " Special Recognition”, for the winged bean program created by Jean-Pierre Hallet. The same award was given the previous year to the Peace Corps for 25 years of service by 100,000 volunteers!
Jean-Pierre Hallet was the first man in the world ever to SAVE a RACE of People from Extinction. Jean-Pierre’s knowledge, love, and deep respect for the pygmies resulted in his writing, advocating for, and obtaining an official acceptance of his “Declaration of Emancipation” for the endangered Efé pygmies of the Ituri Forest, Zaire in 1957. In the same year, his humanitarian work was declared to be an “Ethnological Revolution, the most remarkable social achievement of recent years” by the Press Africaine. His dedication
to the Efe' Pygmies continued until the day he died on January 1, 2004.
Jean-Pierre amassed a vast collection of African art during his travels and professional activities. A number of items from his collection, considered one of the world’s greatest, was donated to the Fowler Museum UCLA in 1963. The collection available on this website is part of the African Art personally collected by Jean-Pierre Hallet from many regions of Africa including Tanzania, and Southern and Western Africa. These pieces from his collection, literally filled every room in his Malibu, CA home, as well as a separate warehouse and the large store and gallery in Santa Monica, California, and later West Los Angeles.
