African Art and the Shape of Time

Recently opened at the University of Michigan Museum of Art is African Art and the Shape of Time, an exhibition exploring the ways in which African art gives material form to diverse concepts of temporality, history, and memory. While African art is often interpreted in Western analytical frameworks as expressions of timeless myths and rituals, interrupted only by the colonial encounter, this exhibition complicates such conventional views by considering diverse modes for reckoning time and its philosophical, social, and religious significance. On display until February 3, 2013, the installation features thirty works from the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

View the exhibition's official website.

Bell, kunda  -  Kongo, D. R. Congo  -  Late 19th century

Pwo mask  -  Chokwe, Angola  -  Early 20th century

Information and images courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Art

Jacaranda Tribal Presenting at Parcours des Mondes 2012

In just over two weeks' time, Jacaranda Tribal will make its second appearance at the world's preeminent tribal art fair: Parcours des Mondes.  From September 11–16 we will be in the company of sixty-three distinguished international dealers of traditional arts from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, all based in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district of Paris.

Jacaranda will be presenting one of the few exhibits of fine antiquities from southeast Africa, including rare and important objects from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa.  Additional selections will represent cultures from West and Central Africa, Polynesia, and elsewhere.  Our presentation in 2011 was eagerly received by attendees, and we have assembled another excellent range of works for the eleventh edition of the fair that is sure to delight both connoisseurs of African art and collectors for whom the art of the region is virtually new.

Jacaranda Tribal will be installed at Galerie ESPACES 54, located at 54 rue Mazarine.  We welcome you to visit us during this very special time––to discover new and beautiful objects, and to share our appreciation of the world's indigenous art traditions.

www.JacarandaTribal.com

www.parcours-paris.eu

Four-legged vessel  -  Sotho, Lesotho  -  Early 20th century

www.JacarandaTribal.com

Second Skins: Painted Barkcloth from New Guinea and Central Africa

Soon entering its final week on display at the Fowler Museum of the University of California Los Angeles is Second Skins, an exhibition that juxtaposes two separate traditions of fabricating vibrantly graphic clothing from the inner bark of trees: one shared by diverse peoples who live in and around the Ituri rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the other produced by the Ömie of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. Focusing on twentieth century and contemporary iterations of possibly ancient traditions, the exhibition will explore barkcloth’s contemporary “migration” from the body to the gallery wall, highlighting the genre’s artistic inventiveness and the differing ways the two traditions have interacted with the international art market.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Fowler Museum, UCLA

 

Arctic Beauty: Inuit Art from Canada

Currently on view at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama is an exhibition of eighty-seven works of Inuit art. Formerly known as Eskimo, the Inuit are descended from cultures that have inhabited the Arctic regions of Canada, the United States, Greenland, and Russia for over a thousand years. The sculptures and prints on display, which date primarily from the second half of the twentieth century, reflect traditional Inuit ways of life and culture, particularly their close observation of Arctic animals, with whom they share the frozen environment. Artists in the installation include Pauta Saila (1916–2009), Lucy Tasseor (b. 1934), Barnabus Arnasungaaq (b. 1924), Karoo Ashevak (1940–1974), John Kavik (1897–1993), and Andy Miki (1918–1983), among many others.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Birmingham Museum of Art

African Art - Fragility and Patrimony

Holland Cotter of The New York Times recently published an article covering the tumultuous history of the handling of African artifacts, former and current stances on patrimony in the world of African art, and the dangers facing African antiquities in the future. "Imperiled Legacy for African Art" touches significantly on the fate of the prehistoric Nok terracottas of Nigeria and the centuries-old Djenne sculptural tradition of the Inner Niger Delta of Mali, as well as the present-day destruction of sacred sites by religious militants.

Read the article here.

Seated figure  -  Djenne, Mali

Seated figure  -  Djenne, Mali

Images courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Face to Face in Brussels

Currently on view at the Palais Royal in Brussels is Face to Face, featuring a fascinating assemblage of masks from cultures around the world. The works on display come from the collections of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, the Royal Museums of Art and History, and the Royal Museums for Fine Arts.  On view through September 9, 2012.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Shaman's mask  -  British Columbia

Information and images courtesy of the Palais Royal de Bruxelles