Double Take: African Innovations

Celebrating Africa's continual dynamism and long tradition of artistic creativity, Double Take: African Innovations opens the doors to the Brooklyn Museum's storied African collection with a new, experimental installation that invites surprising and unexpected ways of looking at African art. It suggests universal themes that link seemingly dissimilar works, often across vast distances of time and space, while also presenting them within their own specific context of history and place.

Visit the exhibition's website for more information.

Elephant mask  -  Bamileke, Cameroon Grassfields  -  20th century

Information and image courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum

New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

Jacaranda Tribal is presenting a new selection of fine tribal art from Africa and Oceania.  The works on offer comprise a range of beadwork, weapons, figurative objects, jewelry, and more.  Gaily beaded Ndebele fertility dolls, West African spoons with figural motifs, and a handsome Kanak war club are just a few of the items on display.  Below is a selection of highlights from the exhibition.  For more detail on these works and many more, visit www.jacarandatribal.com

Yei beaded apron, Botswana  -  First half of 20th century

Ndebele fertility doll, South Africa  -  Second half of 20th century

Xhosa tooth necklace, South Africa  -  First half of 20th century

Dan spoon with hand finial, Côte d'Ivoire  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Bassa spoon, Liberia  -  Late 19th century

Sotho or South Nguni Pipe, South Africa  -  Late 19th or early 20th century

Kanak war club, New Caledonia  -  19th century

Ndebele fertility doll, South Africa  -  Second half of 20th century

www.jacarandatribal.com

Photos ©James Worrell 2014/Jacaranda Tribal

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

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

Ndebele Fertility Doll

Early twentieth century

Glass beads, sinew, wood

H: 9 1/2" W: 7"

Ndebele beaded fertility dolls are given to young girls when they attend initiation school. The doll is cared for and cherished until the woman's first pregnancy. According to custom, the child figure must be given away, sold or destroyed after the birth of the owner's third child, as it is considered unwise to keep the doll any longer.

Fertility dolls also play a significant role in courtship. A doll is placed outside the home of a prospective bride by her suitor, indicating his intention of a marriage proposal.

The doll pictured here presents a particularly fine example due to its age, condition and lovely beaded coiffure and front apron.


Jacaranda Tribal.com

New Acquisitions at Jacaranda Tribal

A beautiful new group of African antiques is now available at Jacaranda Tribal. Ranging from snuff gourds to masks and implements of war, our diverse range of new acquisitions offer a wealth of gorgeous textures and forms from across the African continent. South African works predominate in the assemblage, joined by objects representing cultures from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, and the Congo. Seen below are a selection of this season's offerings. The full range of new acquisitions in on view at our website (link below).

Ibibio ekpo society mask

Nigeria - Early 20th century

Kota knife with sheath

 Congo - Late 19th or early 20th century

Shield

Ethiopia - 20th century

Ndebele fertility doll

South Africa - Early 20th century

Zulu beadwork panel

South Africa - Late 19th or early 20th century

Zulu beaded neckpiece

South Africa - Late 19th or early 20th century

Nyakusa pot

Tanzania or Zambia - 20th century

Visit us on the web for more details on our new acquisitions and much, much more.

Happy holidays!

"The Global Africa Project" - on display at the Museum of Arts and Design

"The Global Africa Project," currently on display at the Museum of Arts & Design, examines the jewelry, fashion, architecture, basketry, ceramics, painting, and design of the continent. The show presents 200 works by nearly 120 people, teams and collectives. It represents artists, designers, and artisans who produce works that represent the area. 

The show aims to "explore the impact of African visual culture on contemporary art, craft and design around the world." Items on display include the work of Baltimore bead sculptor Joyce Scott and 'drapos' by Haitian artist George Valris. Photographs by J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere of African women's headdresses and elaborate hairdos are also on exhibit, alongside crocheted hats by artist Xenobia Bailey. Other featured artists range from such well-known figures as Yinka Shonibare, MBE, Kehinde Wiley, and Fred Wilson; to Nigerian-born, London-based fashion designer Duro Olowu, and Paris-based Togolese/Brazilian designer Kossi Aguessy. 

The show is curated by Lowery Stokes Sims, MAD's Charles Bronfman International Curator, and Leslie King-Hammond, Founding Director of the Center for Race and Culture at MICA. The exhibit is organized around several thematic ideas, which include: the phenomenon of intersecting cultures and cultural fusion; the branding and co-opting of cultural references; how art and design is promoted in the international market and the creative global scene; the use of local materials; and the impact of art-making on the economic and social condition of local communities. These themes will, according to the curators, "encourage audiences to discern how global African artists grapple with the commodification of art production and the meaning and value of art in society - an increasingly significant issue for nations in a rapidly changing global context."

Africa meets Africa - Ndebele Women designing Identity

An Ndebele Resource!

Africa meets Africa: Ndebele Women designing Identity focuses on the history and visual cultural expression of the Ndzundza and Manala Ndebele.

In this project, the authors explore the knowledge contained in the sophisticated design landscape of Ndebele women, which has informed their homestead design beadwork and has informed their homestead design, beadwork and painting. They look at the design language as art, but also in terms of the history and heritage that produced it. Going one step further, they also mathematically explore the elegant symmetry and proportion of Ndebele design.

A fifty-two minute documentary film by Guy Spiller (script by Andre Croucamp) introduces Zimbabwean Ndebele speaker Siphiwe Khumalo, who comes across Ndebele painting for the first time in Johannesburg, and then investigates the people who make the colorful designs. She talks with to such academics as Ndebele historian Dr. Sekibakiba Peter Lekhgoathi of the History Department of the University of the Witwatersrand, and Professor Peter Rich, who studied Ndebele homestead architecture. Siphiwe undertakes a journey to rural KwaMahlanga, Mabhoko and the surrounding area, to the homes of the master painters Esther Mahlangu and Francinah Ndemande, as well as attends contemporary Ndebele cultural festivals. Finally, she interviews Mathematician Dr. Chonat Getz, who explores the remarkable symmetry and proportion in the design language that Nbebele women use in their homestead architecture and painting.

The sixty-four page book (in full color), designed by Anina Kruger, unpacks the history of the Ndzundza and Manala Ndebele in more depth.

The book is available for purchase on Africa Meets Africa website, www.africameetsafrica.co.za.

The Africa meets Africa Project explores the southern African cultural heritage in the belief that educators and students in South African schools can find solutions to contemporary learning problems in the knowledge and skills contained in familiar forms of cultural expression around them. This integrated approach to learning serves all of South Africa's educators, as current curriculum statements call for a process of holistic learning - and specifically for an engagement with the cultural context of learning areas such as the Arts, Mathematics, Language and History.

Jacaranda Tribal Features Ndebele Beadwork this April

A culture inflicted with a history of strife and conflict, the Ndebele of South Africa have used the art form of beading as a means of expression. Known as ukupothela in the tribe’s native tongue, this beadwork is intricate with small white, black and brightly colored beads weaved together to create trains, capes, aprons, dolls and even containers.



Since the mid-20th Century the beadwork of Ndebele has won International fame and recognition. Mainly part of the female ceremonial clothing, the beads are sown onto skins and canvas. Smaller objects, such as necklaces, arm and neck rings and headbands, are also produced with the beads and are worn during rituals and even weddings.

The following images are from the Smithsonian Institution’s online image collection and they picture Ndebele Women creating beadwork.

To see the featured Ndebele Beadwork from Jacaranda Tribal, visit the exhibition’s page.


"Sicebile: Swaziland’s Cultural Adornment and Artefacts" by Gordon Malangabi Crawford

Gordon Malangabi Crawford has recently published a book called “Sicebile: Swaziland’s Cultural Adornment and Artefacts.”

Mr. Crawford (who also goes by his Swazi name of Malangabi) has more than twenty years of research experience in Southern Africa studying material culture. His research for this book on the Swazi people alone has been more than six years in the making. The Swazi are descendents of the pastoralist Nguni tribe from Swaziland and South Africa, specifically along the border of Zululand. They are renowned in the region for a rich tradition of tribal arts.

This book is the first ever written on traditional tribal art and material culture from Swaziland. The book contains rich information on and pictures of tribal art objects ranging from beadwork to dolls, combs and mirrors to snuff containers. It opens up the hereunto-unknown material world of the Swazi.

The editor notes "This book provides a window into what is a little-known and fast dying art. The author's obvious dedication and commitment to a world and people he knows and loves, and the thoroughness of his research has resulted in a book which serves a very necessary purpose, and should prove indispensable to all those interested in our colourful and chequered cultural and historical past."

The book is not yet widely available but can be found in select bookstores in Swaziland and South Africa. The books is also available on eBay. Mr. Crawford is still looking for a US distributor for the book.

Here are some additional examples of the images contained in the book:

Dori Rootenberg

www.JacarandaTribal.com

2008 San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show

On Monday I returned to New York after a four day trip to San Francisco. The purpose of the trip was to attend the 2008 Tribal and Textile Arts Show.

The Gala Preview opening night of the show was well attended. Before the show, there was a certain amount of trepidation among the 108 dealers in attendance about the economy and the potential impact on the show. The fears generally turned out to be unfounded and most dealers reported doing respectable to good business.

As far as southeast African art, there was a fair amount of material to be seen. Patrick and Ondine Mestdagh had a number of good pieces including a large Swazi shield (pictured above) and a rhino horn club ex Bonhams (both sold). Tribal Gathering had a number of fine east African objects. Ben Hunter of Tribal Hunter had some Tsonga neckrests and Jean-Baptiste Bacquart of London had a fine old Shona/Tsonga neckrest. Clive Loveless (pictured top), as usual, had one of the most aesthetically pleasing booths with some very fine material from Rwanda and Uganda.


I also attended an event at the de Young Museum for dealers and lenders of Tribal art. John Friede gave a few remarks and then led an trip upstairs to discuss some of his pieces in the permanent collection. The museum is always a treat - lots of new pieces were on display including a great Lulua figure and a powerful and exceptionally rare Nukuoro figure loaned by Ed and Mina Smith.

All in all, it was a great trip and I look forward to returning next year.

Daniel
JacarandaTribal.com

African Beaded Art Exhibition at Smith College, Massachussets

On February 1, 2008 I attended the opening of the beadwork exhibition titled African Beaded Art: Power and Adornment. The show runs through June 15, 2008 and is a must-see exhibition for any beadwork enthusiast.

Curated by noted Yoruba scholar, Jack Pemberton (pictured above with lender, Holly Ross, in background), the exhibition was many years in the making. Initially intended to encompass beadwork from North America as well, the sheer size of the undertaking required that the exhibition be scaled back to its present format. The exhibition focuses on beadwork from the following regions:

• the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria;
• the Bamum and Bamileke peoples of the Cameroon Grasslands;
• the Kuba, with reference also to the Luba, Yaka, and Pende peoples of the Kasai region of the Congo;
• and the North Nguni (Zulu-speaking), South Nguni (Xhosa-speaking), and Ndebele peoples of Southeast Africa.

This exhibition and its catalogue examine how the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa responded to imported beads, both in aesthetic terms and in the ways beads reflected their changing social and political situation in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It specifically challenges uncritical assumptions that African art is essentially—or only—sculptural.

The exhibition draws from a number of public and private collections in the USA, including the Field Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


The southern African pieces were largely drawn from private collections including those of Gary van Wyk and Lisa Brittan, Toby Kasper and Susan Priebatsch. I was very honored to have a number of pieces from my personal collection included as well.

The catalogue, in soft cover only, is also well worth getting - it is available online at the Smith College Museum Store at $40. I also have a number on hand as well, signed by Mr. Pemberton, so feel free to email me for a copy.

Daniel
JacarandaTribal.com