Dance of the Ancestors: Art from the Sepik of Papua New Guinea

In its last days at the Museum Rietberg in Zürich is Dance of the Ancestors: Art from the Sepik of Papua New Guinea, an exhibition focusing on the many tribes of the Sepik River in northern Papua New Guinea. Philippe Peltier of the Musée du Quai Branly and Markus Schindlbeck of the Berlin Ethnologisches Museum, the exhibition’s curators, have assembled 220 objects, all from European museums and for the most part collected prior to World War I, with the intention of making the show more than just an art exhibition, but a tribute to the wealth and diversity of these cultures, as well as a key for understanding their lifestyles and their complex social organization.

Visit the Museum Rietberg website.

Oceanic Art Auction at Theodore Bruce

Australian auctioneers Theodore Bruce will present a sale of Oceanic art and artifacts on Monday, August 17 in Sydney. Showcasing the collection of Todd Barlin, the sale will feature a multitude of weapons, ornaments, shields and ritual items from Melanesia, Polynesia, Australia, the Philippine Islands, and elsewhere.

For more information, view the online catalogue.

Hair comb with head finial  -  Fly River, Papua New Guinea

Image courtesy of Theodore Bruce Auctioneers

Shifting Patterns: Pacific Barkcloth Clothing

Shifting Patterns: Pacific Barkcloth Clothing, on view at the British Museum until August 16, 2015, features seventy-seven examples of clothing, headgear, masks, and ornaments from New Guinea to Easter Island, by way of Hawaii and New Zealand. The show’s curators place emphasis on the objects’ traditional social and cultural contexts but also examine how more recent developments associated with colonization have altered their forms and uses.

Visit the official exhibition website.

Hula dancers from the Hālau Nā Kipuʻupuʻu group, Kaʻauea, Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian Islands, 2011, Dino Morrow

Cloth  -  Hawaiian Islands

Mossgreen Preview – The Dr. Peter Elliott Collection

On June 25–26, Mossgreen will present a preview of selections from its upcoming sale of the collection of Dr. Peter Elliott at Messum's in London. Amassed over many years of world travel, the Elliott Collection includes a multitude of fine tribal works from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippine Islands, Vanuatu and the Himalayas. 

View more auction and preview information here.

Images courtesy of Mossgreen

Tribal Art Sale - Cornette de Saint Cyr

Cornette de Saint Cyr will present a sale of tribal art and artifacts in Paris on March 9. Highlighting extracts from the collections of Franco Ignazio Castelli and Mr. & Mrs. M-O, the auction lots will comprise a range of works from Papua New Guinea, Central Africa, and elsewhere.

View the online catalogue.

Hook figure  -  Sawos, Papua New Guinea

Charm figure  -  Inyai-Ewa, Papua New Guinea

Stool  -  Dogon/Tellem, Mali

Images courtesy of Cornette de Saint Cyr

Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam 2014

Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam 2014 will take place October 23–26 in its traditional home at De Duif on the Prinsengracht. It will host some twenty dealers specializing in non-European arts, hailing from both the Netherlands and from neighboring countries. Many masks, figures, ornaments, textiles, and other objects will be the focus of attention.

For more information, visit the official TAF website.

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

William Jamieson Collection at Auction

The renowned collection of William (Billy) Jamieson will be sold at online auction at Waddington's of Canada on April 28–May 1.  An astonishing assemblage of anthropological and macabre curiosities, Jamieson's collection includes a wide range of artifacts, weapons, reliquaries and trophy heads from traditional cultures in Oceania, South America, and elsewhere.

View the online catalogue.

Cannibal fork (culanibokolo)  -  Fiji, 19th century

Images courtesy of Waddington's

Tribal Art Sale at Zemanek-Munster

Auctioneers Zemanek-Münster of Würzburg will present their 75th sale of tribal art on November 30.  The extensive array of lots will include fine works from across the world, spanning traditional carvings from Africa, Oceania, Indonesia, Asia, and elsewhere.

View the online catalogue.

Image courtesy of Zemanek-Münster

Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam 2013

From October 24–27, the eleventh annual Tribal Art Fair will take be held in the Amsterdam church known as “De Duif.” Twenty dealers from the Netherlands and abroad will exhibit objects from Oceania, Africa, Asia, and South America, including sculptures and jewelry but also textiles, masks, implements, and furniture. The fair will also include a number of lectures: Harry Beran will talk about traditional Massim art and the extent to which Massim woodcarvers develop a recognizable personal style, while Leif Pareli from the Norsk Folkemuseum will talk about the art and life of the Sami, who live in the Scandinavian arctic region.

For more information, visit the official Tribal Art Fair website.

Image courtesy of Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam

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

Oceanic and African Art Sales at Christie's

On June 19, Christie's will present an impressive double sale of Oceanic and African art and artifacts in Paris.  Showcasing a wide array of sculptural treasures from West and Central Africa, Polynesia, and the Americas, the sales will also highlight a selection of very fine works from the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

For more information, view the online catalogues.

Roof figure  -  Biwat, Papua New Guinea

Serpent headdress  -  Baga, Guinea

Maternity figure  -  Dogon, Mali

Mask  -  Bamana, Mali

Female figure  -  Dogon, Mali

Commemorative figural group  -  Baham Kingdom, Cameroon

Images courtesy of Christie's

Spirit Faces at the Australian Museum

Through March 31, 2013, the Australian Museum of Sydney is presenting a special installation of masks from across Melanesia. Spirit Faces offers visitors the chance to discover the vast variety of South Pacific masks--in form, function, material, and associated mythology.

Visit the Australian Museum's official website.

Eharo mask  -  Papuan Gulf  -  Before 1920

Lorr mask  -  Duke of York Islands  -  Before 1885

Malanggan mask  -  New Ireland  -  Before 1887

Susu mask  -  New Britain  -  Before 1911

Overmodeled shell mask  -  Sepik, Papua New Guinea  -  Second half of 20th century

Images courtesy of the Australian Museum

Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam 2012

The 2012 edition of Amsterdam's Tribal Art Fair will be held on October 26–28 at its traditional location at De Duif. Nineteen respected dealers will be in attendance, offering tribal objects from Oceania, Africa, Indonesia, South America, Tibet and elsewhere. Comprising a world of jewelry and sculpture, textiles, masks, implements and furniture, the event will be vetted by experts in each region.

Find out more at the official TAF website.

Information and images courtesy of Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam

TABU?! Verborgene Kräfte - Geheimes Wissen

Through April 7, 2013, the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover is presenting TABU?! Verborgene Kräfte - Geheimes Wissenan (Taboo? Hidden Powers - Secret Knowledge), an exceptional assemblage of works from a wide range of traditional cultures which all have a function in dealing with social and cultural tensions and crisis situations. From a Siberian shaman's costume collected in 1788 to a Micronesian Mortlock Island mask, the objects on display evoke a variety of ritual contexts, the true understanding of which was the exclusive province of initiates.

View the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover

Quand le corps se fait parure

Entering its final month on view at the Musée du Cinquantenaire in Brussels is Quand le corps se fait parure, an exhibition examining the art of body modification and adornment in traditional cultures around the globe. The installation explores these practices as a type of language that integrates individuals into their social and cultural environment. Bodies are tattooed, scarified, pierced, painted, stretched or adorned, all of which practices demonstrate the social position of the individual and their links with their community. Amazonian body painting, nose pendants of Papua New Guinea, moulded skulls of the Amerindian peoples, and Chinese Miao earrings are just a few of many examples of this special form of physical communication on display in the exhibition.  On view through October 28.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Musée du Cinquantenaire

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