Le cinquième soleil - Arts du Mexique

The Musée du Président Jacques Chirac is currently presenting an amazing assemblage of ancient Mexican art. Le cinquième soleil - Arts du Mexique showcases more than 150 sculptures, masks, vases and musical instruments representing three thousand years of creation by the Aztec, Olmec, Teotihuacan, Veracruz cultures and others.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Figure depicting the goddess Chalchiutlicue  -  Aztec, Mexico

Hacha  -  Veracruz, Mexico

Incensario depicting an anthropo-zoomorphic being  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico

Butterfly pyxis  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico

Figure  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico

Incensario figure  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico

Male figure  -  Aztec, Mexico

Information and images courtesy of the Musée du Président Jacques Chirac

 

New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal is now exhibiting a beautiful group of new acquisitions from a variety of cultures across the African continent.  A trio of powerful figural objects from Côte d'Ivoire, fantastic beaded hides from Tanzania, a group of three miniature Dogon ladders, and a rare beaded sweat scraper from South Africa are among the many highlights in our exquisite selection of mid-summer offerings. 

Explore our new online exhibition for details on these objects and many more.

Figural pair  -  Baule, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Early 20th century

Female figurine  -  Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Early 20th century

Pipe with horse figure and inlay  -  Xhosa, South Africa  -  Early 20th century

Beaded apron  -  Bayei or Mbukushu, Botswana  -  Early 20th century

Heddle pulley  -  Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Early 20th century

Beaded sweat scraper (strigil)  -  South Africa  -  19th century

Beaded woman's skirt  -  Iraqw, Tanzania  -  First half of 20th century

Miniature ladders  -  Dogon, Mali  -  Early 20th century

www.jacarandatribal.com

Beyond Brazil: Tracking Johann Natterer through Space and Time

Now on view at the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna is Beyond Brazil: Tracking Johann Natterer through Space and Time, an exhibition which showcases the results of one of the first scientifically deliberate European expeditions to Brazil. Until the early nineteenth century, Brazil was something of a terra incognita for Europeans. In 1817, the Austrian crown dispatched a scientific team to the country to study and document human cultures, flora and fauna. Johann Natterer (1787–1843) joined the expedition as a zoologist, travelling the country a total of eighteen years. As he died young and most of his notes were destroyed in a fire at Hofburg Palace in 1848, his collection and scientific work was long overlooked.

Thanks to his efforts, Vienna's Museum für Völkerkunde today houses the world’s most important ethnographic collection on early nineteenth-century Brazil. Comprising over 2,400 objects, it is among the most important of its kind but is little known to the general public. Beyond Brazil presents the first comprehensive survey of these fascinating collections.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Headdress  -  Makuna-ui, Guyana  -  ca. 1830

Headdress  -  Parintintin, Brazil  -  ca. 1830

Feathered cape  -  Mundurucu, Brazil  -  ca. 1830

Feather sceptres and sceptre case  -  Mundurucu, Brazil  -  ca. 1830

Watercolor depicting the installation of the Paressi and Caripuna collections in the "Kaiserhaus"  -  ca. 1840

Information and images courtesy of the Museum für Völkerkunde, Vienna

Man muss eben Alles sammeln

Currently on view at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zürich is an exhibition dedicated to the botanical and ethnographic collection of scholar Hans Schinz.  During a botanical expedition to southwest Africa in the years 1884–1887, Schinz collected over 200 ethnographic items that would help to form of basis of the ethnographic collections at the University of Zürich.  A selection of these objects is showcased in Man muss eben Alles sammeln, which also includes photography and botanical specimens collected by Schinz on his expedition.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich

The Lady of the River

The Musée du Quai Branly has elected to inaugurate its new Martine Aublet Studio with a small but exquisite installation of sculpture from Papua New Guinea. The Lady of the River showcases an impressive, large-scale suspension hook depicting a female figure, recently acquired by the museum, along with twenty-seven other works from the museum's collections that evoke the status and role of women in the societies of the Middle Sepik region, as well as their relationship with men and with their ancestors.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Musée du Quai Branly

Katsina in Hopi Life

On view until June 23, 2013 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles is Katsina in Hopi Life, featuring remarkable katsina (kachina) dolls from the Autry's Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection.  Katsinam (the plural form of katsina) are spiritual beings who represent all aspects of life and travel to be with the Hopi people of Arizona six months of the year.  Told from the Hopi perspective, this exhibition shares the unique relationship the Hopi have with the katsinam, focusing on the values, lessons, and encouraging messages learned from them.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Pusukíntaqa-Kooyemsi  -  Drummer-Mudhead Katsina  -  Hopi, Clayton Kaniatobe  -  2007

Patang  -  Squash Katsina  -  Hopi, R. Phillips  -  1990s

Pangwu  -  Mountain Sheep Katsina  -  Hopi  -  1960s

Kooyemsi  -  Mudhead Katsina  -  Hopi, Duane Tawahongva  -  Circa 1999

Kòoninkatsina  -  Havasupai Katsina  -  Hopi  -  1900s

Töövkatsina  -  Antelope Katsina  -  Hopi  -  Circa 1930

Hemiskatsina  -  Hopi, Kayquopieuh  -  Circa 1990

Information and images courtesy of the Autry National Center

Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art

Through September 12, the Seattle Art Museum presents Ancestral Modern: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Kaplan & Levi Collection. Featuring more than 100 works created from 1970 through 2009, the exhibition showcases what has been called the artistic renaissance of the world’s oldest living culture.

View the exhibition's official website.

Mitjili Napanangka Gibson  -  Warlpiri people  -  Wilkinkarra (2007)

Regina Pilawuk Wilson  -  Marathiel people - Sun Mat (2002)

Tjumpo Tjapanangka  -  Kukatja people  -  Wati Kutjarra (Two Brothers Dreaming) (2004) 

Kathleen Petyarr  -  Anmatyerr people  -  Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming (1996)

Information and images courtesy of the Seattle Art Museum