by Julian Harding
The tribal art world has more than its fair share of characters and larger-than-life personalities, but even in this company, Mark Blackburn stands out from the crowd. By the age of ten he had amassed a serious coin collection, and at thirteen he was already a dealer. While still in his teens he discovered that many of the Swiss banks had never been numismatically searched and that it was possible to buy rare gold coins from them at the bullion value—coins which could then be sold to collectors at a substantial profit. At the same time, rare European coins could be found in America and traded the opposite direction. Soon he was commuting across the Atlantic as often as three or four times a month. By the age of nineteen he was a self-made millionaire. Those who remember Blackburn at this period recall his formidable energy and single-mindedness.
Carolyn, Kuhane and
Mark Blackburn with
favorite Hawaiian calabash.
Photo: Julian HardingWhile still a young man, Mark Blackburn came across an account of Captain Cook's voyages and found himself captivated by the world of the Polynesians. There is a strange alchemy at work when it comes to Polynesia, something beyond rational explanation. Collectors such as William Oldman, James Hooper, and Émile Bouchard must have undergone a similar experience and their lives were changed irrevocably. Blackburn had the means and the opportunity to travel so he set off for Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Fiji, and New Zealand. There, quite simply, he fell in love with the islands, with the people, and especially with the art.
In 1973 he bought his first Polynesian object, a Maori hei-tiki found at a flea market in Hamburg. Three years later he settled in Hawaii and in 1979 married. "I moved to Polynesia and I got lucky," he recalls. He continued to buy Polynesian artifacts from every available source, financing his purchases from an art and antiques business based in Honolulu. However, great Polynesian art does not come cheap, and it soon became apparent that only a mainland enterprise could provide the necessary income. After a trial run in Santa Fe, he opened an oriental rug store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This modest town may seem a curious choice, but it lies in the heart of the Amish country and draws visitors from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and other major centers. Both Mark and his wife Carolyn have worked ferociously at the business and it has prospered mightily.
A selection of Hawaiian and Marquesas treasures
from the Blackburn collection including shark-tooth
weapons, a rare trophy skull, whale tooth and human hair
necklaces(Lei niho palaoa) and decorated gourd bottles.
Photo: Julian HardingIn the early 1980s Blackburn began to attend the European tribal art auctions and became a familiar saleroom figure. The great London auction houses are a realm of their own—a world of apparent discretion and understatement. The merits of the works on offer are traditionally discussed in quiet undertones and the sales are conducted by Old Etonian auctioneers seemingly left over from an earlier time. To see Blackburn operating in this milieu is a riveting experience. He has been known to call out a pre-emptive bid to the startled auctioneer and has told rival bidders where to go—at full volume. His techniques are not mere showmanship, however. At one time he had his own auction business in Honolulu and he is a skilled saleroom operator. In 1994 he bought a magnificent Maori paddle at Bonhams using a complex bluff that deceived almost everyone in the room.
While there is undeniably a good deal of aggression in his approach to collecting art, it would be a mistake to see Blackburn as a sort of Genghis Khan of the tribal art world. His love for the material is genuine and goes beyond the objects themselves. His library is a comprehensive and affectionately cared for collection of books and papers on all things Polynesian. When our conversation turned to the artifacts of the northern Cook Islands, he was able immediately to pull down an obscure paper by Kenneth Emory on the shell-inlaid bowls of Manihiki.
Base board (paepae): Maori, east coast of the North Island,
New Zealand. Torara pine 61 x 20 cm. 18th century
Maori storehouses were erected on poles and served as safe
deposit boxes for jade ornaments and other small but precious
things. These structures were highly taboo (kapu) and were
elaborately decorated. This section of base board carving
from a small storehouse exhibits fine qualities of classic
Maori art. It has a standard design of alternating ancestral
tiki and bird-like manaia creatures that appear to attack
the tiki. Six manaia heads which also bite into the tiki
are merged in the complex open-work carving. The surface
decoration is the zigzag pattern called taratara-a-kai
usually associated with storehouses.The Blackburn collection will soon be published with text and captions by Terence Barrow, whose pioneer Art and Life in Polynesia has long been out of print. This will not be just another collection catalogue, but, like Barrow's earlier work, it will be a real attempt to place Polynesian art in its social and historical context.
Blackburn has amassed one of the world's great private collections of Polynesian art. There is space here to mention only a few highlights. The Marquesas pieces in his collection include the Dupetit-Thouars material, descended from the French admiral, as well as a fine drum, a trophy skull, an early shell trumpet, and no fewer than nine stilt-steps. From the Maori of New Zealand come large figural sculptures, architectural pieces, and a whole range of feather boxes and hei-tiki. From the Society Islands there is a unique food pounder of Maupiti basalt with the handle rendered in the form of a human figure, one of several pieces in the collection with Cook provenance. The Hawaiian section includes a unique godstick, examples of eighteenth-century featherwork, and a sheet of decorated barkcloth (kapa) that once belonged to Queen Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I. From Easter Island there are several early figures in toromiro wood and two paddles, one of which dates from the eighteenth century. There are pole clubs from Rarotonga and a historic Cook Islands stool once owned by Queen Kamamalu of Hawaii and presented to Lt. Malden of H.M.S. Blonde in 1825. The Tonga material includes an important ivory figure and perhaps the finest of all Tonga clubs, which appears among Sarah Stone's drawings of Cook voyage artifacts. Finally, there is a rare Fijian spirit house of woven coir (coconut husk fiber) which turned up on the Portobello Road in London.
Decorated kapa cloth; Hawaii.
Barkcloth, pigments, approx 1 m x 1.5 m.
Late 18th-early 19th century.
This unusual example of Hawaiian barkcloth (kapa)
is decorated with unique designs. The cloth
was given to missionary Hiram Bingham by Queen
Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I.Readers of this magazine who visit Hawaii should give themselves an extra treat. After the obligatory visits to the Bishop Museum and the Academy of Arts in Honolulu, they should take the short flight to the Hilo on the Big Island. Here they can find something of the old Hawaii, as Hilo (population 38,000) is mercifully short of high-rise hotels, golf courses and Disney-style theme parks. A stroll along Keawe Street brings one to the latest Blackburn venture: the Mauna Kea Gallery, which offers Polynesian artifacts, paintings, engravings, photographs, books—and Hawaiian kitsch. Opened in 1995, the gallery has been a notable success and another is planned for Waimea, further north on the same island.
The Blackburn family has a third member, who in a real sense is the most important. Their son Kuhane was adopted as a baby and is of Tahitian descent. It is strangely moving to see this young Polynesian surrounded by the works of his forebears. What will he make of it all when he grows older? Let us hope that he and all young Polynesians will take a well-justified pride in their ancestry.
Miniature temple-shrine (i culanibokola; Fiji Islands.
Coconut coir, softwood, black dye. 76 x 30.5 cm.
Early 19th century
Small coir shrines such as this one held a small god
or goddess figure of wood or ivory which spoke to an
inspirational priest who then repeated the oracles
and guidence concerning tribal affairs to the community.
These shrines followed the form of the larger temples
where they were placed.
