African Beauty - Photographs by John Kenny

An exhibition of stunning monochrome and colour portraits, on view now at The Africa Centre in London, reveals the vibrant jewellery, delicate body art, beautiful fabrics and intricate hairstyles that decorate traditional peoples from across Africa.
African Beauty illustrates the remarkable ways that people in traditional communities engage with material culture to express their identity. From the fringes of the Sahara to the Great Rift Valley, and south to the arid communities of Angola and Namibia, Kenny’s photographs are an important journey into social status, creativity and sense of identity that lies behind the powerful and unique aesthetic of traditional village life.

Visit The Africa Centre's official website.

Information and images courtesy of The African Centre

Aboriginal and Oceanic Art at Sotheby's

On 28 May in Melbourne, Sotheby's Australia will present a double auction of fine Australian Aboriginal and Oceanic tribal art.  The first half of the presentation will showcase The Anthony and Beverly Knight Collection of Early Papunya Art - a stunning assemblage of twentieth-century Aboriginal painting - while the latter half will feature a more general array of beautiful traditional works from Australia and the Pacific.  

For more information, view the online catalogue.

Kaapa (Mbitjana) Tjampitjinpa, Corroboree and Body Decoration (1972)

Uta Uta Tjangala, Special Pintupi Travelling Ceremony (1972)

Barron River Native  -  Studios of Charles Henry Kerry and Henry King  -  Ca. 1886

Untitled  -  Artist unknown, ca. 1965

Information and images courtesy of Sotheby's

Tribal art auction at Zemanek-Münster

On May 25, auctioneers Zemanek-Münster will present another sale of fine tribal art and artifacts in Würzburg. This spring's auction will highlight the private collection of Walter Hekster, full of notable objects from Africa, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere.

For more information, visit the online catalogue.

Dance mask, hudoq  -  Dayak, Borneo

Mask  -  Fang, Gabon

Pibibuze mask  -  Kwele, Gabon

Kifwebe mask  -  Luba, DR Congo

Canoe shield, kaminimbit  -  Sepik, Papua New Guinea

Images courtesy of Zemanek-Münster

African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art at Sotheby's

Sotheby's presented an exquisite sale of tribal art from Africa, Oceania, and the pre-Columbian Americas today in New York. A selection of the sale's highlights, noted below, includes an Eket Ogbom headdress, Olmec seated figure, Lega ivory figurine, Mambila female ancestor figure, and more. For full sale details, visit the Sotheby's website.

Ogbom headdress  -  Eket, Nigeria  -  

Statue of a heroine  -  Astrolabe Bay, Papua New Guinea 

Reliquary figure  -  Kota, Gabon

Seated figure  -  Olmec, Mexico

Ivory figurine  -  Lega, DR Congo

Ceramic figure  -  Chupicuaro, Mexico

Female ancestor figure  -  Mambila, Cameroon

Images courtesy of Sotheby's

New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal is now presenting an array of fine new acquisitions from several quarters of Africa. Among the offerings are a magnificent figural staff from Madagascar, prestige knives from Côte d'Ivoire and Zimbabwe, a beautifully detailed Kamba stool, and an absolutely dazzling beaded skirt from the Iraqw of Tanzania.

Below is a selection of highlights from this season's new acquisitions. For detailed information on these objects and many more, visit www.jacarandatribal.com

Figural staff  -  Madagascar  -  Early 20th century

Pair of earplugs  -  Zulu, South Africa  -  20th century

Beaded Marmo society skirt  -  Iraqw, Tanzania  -  Mid-20th century

Shield  -  Congo

Stool  -  Kamba, Kenya

The Amsterdam Trail

On May 19–20, Amsterdam's Spiegelkwartier will host The Amsterdam Trail 2013. Galleries with Asian and international tribal art will be open throughout the weekend to display their recent acquisitions. Contemporary artists will also be displayed alongside ethnographic works. 

For more information, visit the event's official website.

Trading Style - Weltmode im Dialog

On view now at the Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt is an unprecedented dialogue between past and present worlds of fashion. Trading Style presents over 500 historic objects from traditional societies all over the world, photographs and films from the Weltkulturen Museum’s collection, and designs for clothing and accessories by four international fashion labels. 

For more information, visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Museum der Weltkulturen Frankfurt

AOA Tribal Art Fair 2013

The third edition of the AOA Tribal Art Fair will begin on the evening of Thursday, May 9 and will continue through Tuesday, May 14. Held at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion at 79th St and Fifth Ave on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the esteemed assemblage will include ten tribal art dealers from the US and Europe. The Fair will also comprise another dozen top-tier tribal art galleries in the Madison Avenue vicinity.  

For more information on the fair and its participating dealers, visit the official website.

Images and information courtesy of AOANY