Guy van Rijn is the son of “Lode” van Rijn and “Leo” Rubbens who were both artists and collectors. Due to the sheer passion of Lode to collect in that time Non-European art: Antiquities, Oceanic, pre-Columbian and African art he opened Khepri gallery in Amsterdam in 1966. For a short time, Guy helped out in the gallery however he was always more interested in the history of the pieces. In the 1980’s Guy started his archive on African Art and soon followed with the Who’s Who in African Art. From 2000 to 2010 he worked for Yale University which houses the “Yale University Art Gallery-van Rijn Archive of African Art”.
Since late 2016, his son, Titus is working with him archiving African Art in the “African Heritage Documentation & Research Centre (AHDRC)” database. This database is curated by the Non-Profit Organisation, under the same name, which maintains daily operations.
This online database on African Art has grown to the be the biggest of its kind thanks to the help of many other people, special mention to François Mottas.