Author Archives: hans

2017-ongoing: Sailors and Daughters: Early Photography and the Indian Ocean (online photo exhibition). Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC

Posted on by

website

Sailors and Daughters reveals the expansive maritime societies of Zanzibar, the east African coast, and beyond. From the 1840s, cameras traced the international migrations of traders, sailors, sons, and daughters through Indian Ocean ports, continuing trade that dates back over five millennia. East African cities flourished as hubs of both land and sea trade routes, which extended to the central African interior, Horn of Africa, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean islands, western India and the Far East.

The region’s intercultural ethos generated a multitude of encounters between subjects, photographers, and the global audiences who viewed the resulting images. By gathering images from scarce and little-known collections of early photographs, lithographs, postcards, and private albums, this exhibition focuses attention on a diverse cross-section of the region’s people and their cosmopolitan cities by the sea. It serves as a starting point for a larger photographic and creative visual history of the prosperous and diverse communities of the Indian Ocean world.

2017-ongoing: Currents: Water in African Art. Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington DC

Posted on by

Water is in all of us—we need water to exist. Water is a source of food, either directly from fishing and hunting or indirectly from irrigated crops. Its currents flow through myths, metaphors, and rituals. Water’s fluidity means there are as many meanings associated with it as there are forms. Diverse and wide-ranging in material, time period, style, and intended use, the objects in this exhibition span the continent of Africa to explore the importance of water for both practical and artistic purposes.

Oceans separate continents, but their currents also connect them. Waterways deliver new ideas and luxuries. These transportation routes bring both friends and enemies.

Below the surface, water also holds powerful meaning. Water from tears can relate to the profound relationship between a mother and child or connect the spirit world with that of the living. In many parts of Africa, water makes up one part of a philosophical triad along with the sky and the earth, with water the most changeable and most traversable realm. This shifting intersection explains the influence of gods and the ancestors in daily life.

Water features frequently in origin stories. The Dogon of Mali recount tales of aqueous primordial ancestors and of a dog discovering a hidden water source during migration to a new home. The Yoruba along the Oshun River speak of a king’s daughter who was transformed into the river. Other water spirits take form as humans, animals, or a combination of both. These spirits can be protective, yet can also be dangerous if not approached properly.

The iconography of water lends itself to fluid cultural adaptation, like the foreign snake charmer whose likeness was adopted for Mami Wata, the mother of waters. Aquatic creatures worked particularly well as subjects for Akan weights representing subjective proverbs. Water imagery is also tied closely to rulers, such as in the Benin Kingdom, where the use of coral-bead regalia links back to control of oceanic foreign trade.

In their creativity, diversity, and beauty, these artworks from the museum’s permanent collection prove that water is one of most potent forces on earth.

website

4 maart 2017: Tribal Art Auktion, Zemanek-Münster

Posted on by

The catalogue for the upcoming 85th Tribal Art Auction is expected to be sent on February 13th – and is then available online.

Please have a little patience.

The Ethiopian Collection of Sachau-Zeies, Wittlich (Germany). The second part of the Rielau Collection, Hoesbach near Ascaffenburg in Germany. Masks and sculptures from the peoples of Gabon. An important gold jewelry collection from the Akan peoples. Oceanic and South Pacific art.

website

27-01-2017: Bezoek BRAFA, Brussel.

Posted on by

Verslag van het bezoek aan de BRAFA

De BRAFA, verkorte naam voor Brussels Art Fair, is een van de oudste kunst- en antiekbeurzen ter wereld. Het is een warme, gastvrije beurs. Dat zit uiteraard in de eerste plaats in de kwaliteit van de deelnemers en het ruime aanbod. Zoals de BRAFA het zelf omschrijft: “…een eclectische beurs op mensenmaat met een gemoedelijke sfeer.” En het is een gastvrije beurs. Dat laatste kwam ook tot uitdrukking in de ontvangst (met de van onze zuiderburen bekende culinaire gastvrijheid) en de rondleiding die de organisatie had aangeboden aan leden van de VVE. Een gecombineerd gezelschap van de VVE en de Vereniging Tribale Kunst en Cultuur, 23 personen in totaal, werd op 27 januari j.l. ontvangen en rondgeleid. Dit jaar namen 13 galeriehouders deel die zich hebben toegelegd op etnografica. Bij vrijwel iedere stand die het gezelschap bezocht vonden geanimeerde en boeiende gesprekken plaats over de kwaliteit, de herkomst en de context van de aangeboden stukken. En vaak was men graag bereid om de geïnteresseerde bezoeker een speciaal voor deze gelegenheid vervaardigde catalogus mee te geven. Natuurlijk, de prijsstelling was meestal indrukwekkend, hoewel ook fraaie objecten gekocht konden worden waarvan de prijs alleszins redelijk was. Een groot voordeel van een beurs is de garantie dat hetgeen wordt aangeboden van hoge en betrouwbare kwaliteit is. Je koopt dan ook nooit een ‘kat in de zak’, als je op een beurs als deze koopt.

Wie niet in de gelegenheid was om mee te gaan en toch een indruk wil krijgen: de catalogus is online te bekijken: http://www.brafa.art/catalogue-nl

14 december 2016: Collection Viviane Jutheau, Comtesse de Witt Au Cœur des Arts d’Afrique. Sotheby’s Paris

Posted on by

Collection Viviane Jutheau, Comtesse de Witt
Au Cœur des Arts d’Afrique

| | Paris

Viviane Jutheau, the first female auctioneer in Paris, began to assemble what has become one of the most striking collections of African art after meeting celebrated art expert André Schoeller at the beginning of the 1980s. It embraces the core of African art, where strength and sensitivity, archaism and modernity meet in dialogue. The art of Gabon – Fang, Kota, Kwele – is the main focus of the collection: each artwork testifies to the individual genius of its sculptor and of the institutions which fed their imagination.

The collection charts the discovery of this art in the West at the beginning of the 20th century, with major figures such as Paul Guillaume, Walter Bondy, Roger Bédiat, Charles Ratton and later André Schoeller, as well as the legendary exhibitions in Paris and New York, all contributing to its recognition. Beyond the collection, Viviane Jutheau, whose family has had close links with Africa for three generations, conceived a manifesto where ‘African art is not a way of making, it is at first a way of being, a way of being more’ (Aimé Césaire, 1966).

Highlights of the collection will be exhibited in Paris from 5 to 10 September during Parcours des Mondes. Join us for a late night view of the exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier on Monday 5 September from 6:30PM to 9:00PM.

website