New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal is currently presenting a new online exhibition of fine tribal works from Africa and New Zealand. Sublime figures, finely crafted weapons, and gorgeous utilitarian objects are just some of the items now available, the full range of which can be found below. For more details on these works and many more, visit www.jacarandatribal.com

Figure  -  Ntwane, South Africa  -  Late 19th century

Ladle  -  Herero, Namibia  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Pair of seated colonial figures  -  Southeast Africa  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Heddle pulley  -  Senufo, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Goldweight  -  Akan, Ghana  -  19th century

Female figure  -  Dogon, Mali  -  18th or 19th century

Whistle  -  Mossi, Burkina Faso  -  Late 19th century

Mask  -  Kono or Mano, Sierra Leone  -  Early 20th century

Hand axe, patiti  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  19th century

Friction oracle  -  Ndengese or Kuba, D.R. Congo  -  19th century

Dagger-like implement  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  19th century

Hand club, patu onewa  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  18th or first half of 19th century

Headrest  -  Tsonga Shangaan, Zimbabwe  -  Late 19th century

Figural staff  -  Attie, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Images ©James Worrell / Jacaranda Tribal 2014

www.jacarandatribal.com

Tiki Pop

In the 1930s, Polynesian-themed bars and restaurants began to appear in America while the stereotypes of the beachcomber and the sexy vahine were popularised in literature and on the big screen. With the appearance of the Tiki aesthetic in the 1950s, this style became a genuine way of life. A very liberal adaptation of the original Polynesian idols, Tiki imagery was produced in traditional and modernist forms and pervaded everyday life. Through nearly 450 works, photographs, films, musical recordings and archive documents, a new exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly entitled Tiki Pop. L'Amérique rêve son paradis polynésien (Tiki Pop: America Imagines its Polynesian Paradise) bears witness to this infatuation-cum-lifestyle. A huge array of period items and ephemera are presented in the installation alongside authentic tribal works, including Maori tekoteko sculptures, Tongan kava bowls, and more.

View the exhibition's official website.

Images courtesy of the Musée du Quai Branly

Tatoueurs, Tatoues

On view at the Musée du Quai Branly beginning May 6, Tatoueurs, tatoués (Tattooists, tattooed) returns to the sources of tattoo and presents the renewal of this phenomenon in its now permanent and globalised manifestation. In so-called "primitive" societies from Asia, Africa and Oceania, tattooing has a social, religious and mystical role and accompanies the subject in their rites of passage, including them in the community. Conversely, in the West, they have been seen as a mark of infamy, criminality, a circus attraction (with the phenomenon of side shows) and as a mark of identity for urban tribes.

View the exhibition's official website.

Wooden head with carved moko  -  Maori, New Zealand

American Indian and Ethnographic Art at Skinner

Skinner will present a sale of fine Native American antiques and other traditional art in Boston today, November 9.  Among the lots will be a wide range of exquisite North American items from the Southwest to the Woodlands, as well as Maori carvings from New Zealand, figurative ceramics from ancient Mexico, and much more.

View the online catalogue.

Totem pole attributed to John Cross  -  Haida, Northwest Coast

Door lintel panel  -  Maori, New Zealand

Belt cup with portrait carving  -  Northeast

Images courtesy of Skinner Auction

Tribal Perspectives

Tribal Perspectives, the UK’s only dedicated group art show for tribal art, will be held for its seventh consecutive year in London’s Mayfair district from October 2–5, with a collectors’ preview on the afternoon of the October 2. Exhibitors for this year’s event include Chris Boylan, Wayne Heathcote, Louis Nierijnck, Adam Prout, Bryan Reeves, book dealer Charles Vernon-Hunt, and, of course, Tribal Art Magazine. In addition to the tribal artifacts offered, Tribal Perspectives will also feature presentations and lectures. As in previous years, the event will be held at Gallery 28 at 28 Cork Street, London.

Visit the official website.

Images courtesy of Tribal Perspectives

Tribal Art Auction at Webb's

Webb's will hold a sale of important Oceanic and African art in Auckland on September 14. Highlights will include a large collection of Melanesian adornments and statuary, a rare nguru flute with superb provenance and a fine kahu kiwi cloak and an array of weaponry and adornments.

View the online catalogue.

Nguru flute  -  New Zealand

Kiwi feather kahu cloak  -  New Zealand

 Images courtesy of Webb's

Matau: Traditional Hooks, Innovative Designs

From ingenious tool to ornament, souvenir, and symbol of cultural revival, this exhibition explores the changing form and function of the Māori matau (fish hook). Without the technology to extract metal, Māori originally made their hooks from wood, bone, stone, and shell. Early European explorers considered matau ‘ill-made’ and ‘of doubtful efficacy.' In fact, the design was sophisticated and highly effective, as modern-day fishers have recently rediscovered. Post-contact, Māori quickly integrated European tools and technologies with the traditional matau form that had served them so well. Meanwhile, bone and stone matau acquired new significance as highly collectible artifacts and, more recently, as personal adornment. This exhibition, on view at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand through November 14, features several exquisite examples of contemporary hei matau made from pounamu (greenstone), ivory, and wood.

View the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand

Maori: New Zealand's First Inhabitants

Maori, an exhibition first organized by Museum Volkenkunde Leiden, is now on view at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart.  Through an assemblage of 140 antique and contempoary works, the exhibition explores the Maori concepts of mana and tapu, and invites visitors to sound the depth of Maori culture, both in the past and the 21st century.

View the official website.

Pendant, hei tiki  -  19th century

Whalebone club with manaia finial, kotiate  -  19th century

Flax cloak, tukukakumai  -  Kohai Grace, 21st century

War club, taiaha  -  19th century

Bone flute, nguru  -  19th century

Panel carving (poupou) depicting the demigod Maui

Information and images courtesy of the Linden Museum, Stuttgart

Tribal Art Auction - Webb's, March 28

On Wednesday, March 28, Webb's of New Zealand will present a sale of several significant international collections of Maori taonga and artifacts from a range of Oceanic cultures. An historically important poutokomanawa (carved centre post) and two significant feather cloaks are included alongside a lifetime collection of Maori and Oceanic fish hooks, as well as early examples from the Webster collection, Maori weaponry, adornment and a quality selection of Melanesian, Polynesian and African tribal artworks.

View the offical website.

Poutokomanawa figure attributed to Anaha Te Rahui (1822–1913)  -  Maori, New Zealand

Feathered prestige cloak, kahu huruhuru  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  Late nineteenth century

Figural pendant, hei tiki  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  Eighteenth century

Ancestral figure, tekoteko  -  Maori, New Zealand

Trade axe with manaia finial, patiti  -  Maori, New Zealand  -  Mid-nineteenth century

Club with manaia finial, kotiate  -  Maori, New Zealand

Group of Oceanic fishing lures  -  Various cultures, nineteenth century

Information and images courtesy of Webb's