Points of Focus: Historic Photographs from the Pacific

Drawing on its important holdings of photographs, the University of Sydney Macleay Museum is presenting an exhibition of Pacific photographs until November 1. The selected works date from about 1850 to 1950 and derive from a variety of sources: colonial administrators, missionaries, traders, anthropologists, and, in some cases, even tourists. Together they form a striking illustration of life and traditions among the peoples of the Pacific in the past. perhaps even more importantly, the images trace the history and development of the medium of photography from the nineteenth century to the present as a means of recording and disseminating ideas.

View the exhibition's official website.

Frank Hurley, Sunset Across Goodenough Bay  -  Papua New Guinea, 1920-1921

I. Hogbin, Marigum, Headman of Dap Village  -  Papua New Guinea, 1934

W.J. Jackson, Sea Village Admiralty Islands New Guinea, 1929

Images courtesy of Macleay Museum, University of Sydney

Forty Years in the Andes

40 ans dans les Andes. L’itinéraire oublié de Théodore Ber (Forty Years in the Andes: The Lost Itinerary of Théodore Ber), an installation now on view at the Musée Champollion de Figeac, highlights the life and exploits of one of the first Andean archaeologists. The important collection Ber assembled in the nineteenth century  –  now divided between the Musée du Quai Branly, the Musée de l'Homme, and the Musée d'Archéologie National de Saint-Germain-en-Laye  –  has been partially reuinted for this special exhibition.

View the exhibition's official website.

Théodore Ber at the site of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia 

Cephalomorphic vessel  -  Tiahuanaco, Bolivia

From Samoa with Love

On view until October 5 at Munich's Museum für Völkerkunde is From Samoa with Love, an exhibition examining the origins and content of colonial-era imagery of Samoa in a way that has never been produced before, shedding light on the little-known history of the cultural exchanges that took place between Germany and its former Polynesian colony during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Using period photographs as well as objects from the museum's own collection, the installation's curators also enlisted the aid of Samoan nationals to help shed light on this unique period in history.

View the exhibition's official website.

Imagery courtesy of the Museum für Völkerkunde

Image 'N Magie

Image 'N Magie, now on view at the Château-Musée de Tournon, is the second in a series of collaborative exhibitions produced by the Musée du Quai Branly that intends to foster an intercultural dialogue transcending time and space. Curated by Yves Le Fur and Jean-Michel Geneste, this exhibition seeks to decipher codes embedded in magical imagery. Divided into three global regions  –  Oceania, Africa, and the Americas – Image 'N Magie highlights the talent and ingenuity of artists from many cultures and time periods through a selection of forty hitherto unseen works, including masks, shield, bark paintings, sculptures, rattles, and more, all sourced from the collection of the Musée du Quai Branly.

View the exhibition's official website.

Mask  -  Papua New Guinea

Four-faced reliquary bust  -  Fang, Gabon

Altar figure  -  Baga, Guinea

Images courtesy of the Musée du Quai Branly

Sons of the Sun

The Musée du Nouveau Monde continues to explore Native American culture with a new show entitled Indiens de la Californie et du sud-ouest des États-Unis (Indians of California and the American Southwest), on view from June 28–September 22. The exhibition includes material from both public and private French collection and is a reflection of a widespread interest in France about Indian culture and artifacts. Weapons, apparel, utilitarian items, and cult objects illustrate both the wealth of the collection made by French explorers and scientific expeditions as well s the fruitfulness of the exchanges that took place between the Musée du Trocadero and the Smithsonian Institution.

View the exhibition's official website.

Mask  -  Jemez Pueblo

Ceremonial headdress  -  Pomo

Zoomorphic pot  -  Pueblo

Basket jar, olla  -  Apache

Images courtesy of the Musée du Nouveau Monde

Plumes in Vichy

Through October 31, feathers are the focus at the Musée des Arts d'Afrique in Vichy.  Plumes (Feathers) includes works both owned by the museum and drawn from private collections, and its unique approach is a mix of art history and ethno-ornithology. Beginning with the premise that man has always been fascinated with birds, the exhibition examines the place of the bird in five of the world's regions: India, China, Côte d'Ivoire, New Guinea, and the United States. The installation features objects that have feathers as elements of their construction as well as representations in which the bird is the central subject of the work.

View the exhibition's official website.

Shaman's hairpin with raven head  -  Tlingit, Northwest Coast  -  Early 20th century

Image courtesy of the Musée des Arts d'Afrique, Vichy

Voudou, du visible à l'invisible

Entering its last weeks at the Musée Africain de Lyon is Voudou, du visible à l'invisible (Voodoo: From the Visible to the Invisible), an exhibition exploring Voodoo beliefs and rituals through works from the collection of Claude Rouyer, an expert in Benin material who has collected fetishes and magical objects for more than twenty years. Photographs by Angés Pataux complement the objects, emphasizing the living and vital aspects of contemporary Voodoo practices.

View the exhibition's official website.

Image courtesy of Musée Africain de Lyon

Hidden Power in African Art

Hidden Power in African Art, an exhibition devoted to African masks and sculpture on view at the Israel Museum until September 17, looks at the symbolic importance of these varied objects and particularly the roles of charges and other magical addenda. Long considered secondary accessories in the West, in reality these had more importance than the actual sculptures themselves, which were seen by the people who used them merely as vehicles for magical substances. The works selected for the exhibition, which come both from private collections and the museum's own holdings, are places into their spiritual context rather than simply relying on the secondary nature of their aesthetic qualities.

View the exhibition's official website.

Images courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Aztecs in Melbourne

Through August 10, visitors to the Melbourne Museum can discover the ingenious agricultural technology, bustling commercial empire and pantheon of deities of Mexico's ancient Aztec civilization. Aztecs explores accounts of war, the arrival of Spanish explorers in Aztec territory, the encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma, and both the truth and fiction of Aztec human sacrifice. The installation was developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in partnership with the National Council for Culture and the Arts - National Institute of Anthropology and History - Mexico, the Australian Museum, and Museum Victoria.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Image courtesy of Museum Victoria

New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal has unveiled a summer selection of exquisite tribal works from all corners of sub-Saharan Africa. Shields, ritual accoutrements, dance crests, precious beadwork and rare tobacciana are just some of the offerings on display in the new range of available works, some of which are pictured below. A small selection of Hawaiian art rounds out the array of available items. 

For more details on these and many more, visit www.jacarandatribal.com

Headcrest  -  Ekoi, Nigeria

Three-bowled pipe  -  Zulu, South Africa

Bowl  -  Hawaiian Islands

Stool  -  D.R. Congo

Harp with cephalomorphic finial  -  Mitsogho, Gabon

Ceremonial hat  -  Kuba, D.R. Congo

Sickle  -  Boa, D.R. Congo

Shield  -  Somalia

Headrest  -  Shona, Zimbabwe

Fertility doll  -  Sotho, Lesotho

Images ©James Worrell 2014 / Jacaranda Tribal

www.jacarandatribal.com

Nudités Insolites

Through November 2014, the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva will be exhibiting Nudités Insolites, a selection of unique pieces from the ancient world to the twentieth century, originating from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the pre-Columbian Americas. Throughout the centuries, in cultures across the globe, we find that images of nudity are often synonymous with maternity, power, virility, mortality, sexuality, and even comedy. This exhibition offers visitors an aesthetic and intellectual experience that explores the attitudes we bear toward nudity and the meanings we ascribe to it.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

 

 

Images courtesy of the Musée Barbier-Mueller