by Grata Somaré and Leonardo Vigorelli
Published in English by Galleria Lorenzelli Anthropological Papers, 1992 206 pages, lavishly illustrated in color and duotone.
$39.00 softcover. Available from The World of Tribal Arts
A stunning visual survey of the arts of these creative and poorly understood tribes. Living in the Assam hill region of eastern India, the Naga are an austronesian people closely related to the tribal cultures of Indonesia and the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. Their avid headhunting tradition and bellicose tendencies led to the relative isolation of the Naga region until quite recently. Their art is slowly beginning to be appreciated in the West.
This book is the catalogue for an exhibition that took place in Italy in 1992. The works in it, crafted of wood, bronze, shell, bone, beads, feathers and other materials, are aesthetically selected and photographed. They form a useful reference to the unique arts of a remarkable people.
Collective work edited by Michel Panoff,
Published in French by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux Paris, 1995. Distributed by Le Seuil.
Format: 24 x 22 cm., 140 pp., 22 color and 50 B & W illustrations
Softcover: 195 FF.
The people of the Marquesas are distinctive among Polynesian groups but have remained little known to the general public and few publications are devoted to this region. This one was produced in conjunction with the exhibition organized by the Musée de l'Homme of Paris that was occasioned by the fourth centenary of the discovery of the islands by Europeans. Using primarily artifacts from the museum's reserves, the show dealt with the art and life-style of the Marquesans from prehistoric times to the present day, and under the influence of the first contacts with the outside world. The catalogue describes and analyzes each type of artifact, highlighting their original and unique aspects.
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By Hélène Leloup.
Published in French by the Nantes Musée des Beaux-Arts.
Format: 24 x 17 cm, 64 pp., 88 B & W illustrations.
Softcover: 85 FF.
This catalogue accompanied the exhibition that took place in Nantes from June 21 to September 18, 1995. Despite the simplicity of the show, the catalogue is an important document for every lover of Dogon art. Without attempting to rival the exhibitions organized by the Musée Dapper in Paris and the Rietberg Museum in Zurich, this event was one of great quality, as is demonstrated by the fully illustrated catalogue. A large number of previously unknown artifacts from private collections were brought together for the show and this publication by the organizers of the exhibition, Hélène and Philippe Leloup.
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Masques animaux d'Afrique de l'Ouest
By Gabriel Massa and Josette Rivallain.
Co-published in French by the Editions Sépia and the Société des Amateurs de l'Art Africain, Paris, 1995.
Format: 29 x 22.5 cm., 144 pp., 41 color and 93 B & W illustrations
Hardcover: 190 FF.
This is the catalogue of the exhibition organized by the Société des Amateurs de l'Art Africain at the city hall of the sixth arrondissement of Paris last summer. Its theme is animal masks of West Africa, particularly those of Burkina Faso. Approximately one-hundred masks were presented, demonstrating how the people of traditional Africa lived in symbiosis with their environment. The works came from private collections and were shown to the general public for the first time. The selection was perhaps more ethnographic than aesthetic, and included mysterious buffaloes, hyenas, antelopes and various mythological creatures.
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Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale de Tervuren
Edited by D.F.E. Thys van den Audenaerde, director
Published in French and Dutch by the Crédit communal, Coll. Musea Nostra, Ludion Éditions S.A., Gand, 1994
Format: 28 x 21 cm, 128 pp. 150 col. ill.
Hardcover: 950 BF; Softcover: 595 BF
This is number 32 in the Musea Nostra series of Belgian museums and institutions, and it is the latest volume in the series devoted to ethnographic collections in Belgium. The first chapters look at the origins and history of the museum, and the European exploration of Africa during the colonial period. The rest examines the natural history of this vast continent, its archaeology, ethnography, and musical instruments. Other volumes of interest in this series are volume 13, Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire; volume 22, Musée du Carnaval et du Masque de Binche; and volume 23, Musée d'Ethnographie d'Anvers.
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Protecting Mali's Cultural Heritage
A special issue of African Arts magazine.
Autumn 1995, Volume 28, number 4.
James S. Coleman African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1310.
112 pages; abundantly illustrated in B & We and color.
Softcover: single copy price, $9.50 in the United States;
$11.50 overseas.This is a special issue of the well-known quarterly magazine that has covered traditional arts of Africa for almost three decades. The discussion was inspired when the United States government imposed a ban on the import of certain archaeological materials from Mali, at the request of that nation, under the terms of the 1970 UNESCO convention. In 67 pages, guest editor Patrick McNaughton presents 12 articles that offer a wide spectrum of points of view.
It is impossible to do justice to the publication in this limited space, but it is worth reporting that some of the positions espoused are predictable, and some are not. All deserve to be heard, and African Arts is to be commended for airing such diverse opinions in such detail. There was some debate about whether to include illustrations, and if so, on what basis. In order "to be consistent with [U.S.] laws and also to be direct about the present situation of U.S. public holdings of Malian antiquities," according to editor Doran Ross's "First Word," it was decided to include photographs of objects in major U.S. museums that had been acquired prior to the 1993 ban.
Readers of The World of Tribal Arts who want to explore in detail aspects of the cultural heritage debate that have far-reaching implications for other cultures would do well to get this special issue of African Arts. We hope it will launch a constructive debate on this subject, and we are pleased to salute our friends at UCLA for their efforts.
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Les Arts Indigènes en Nouvelle-Guinée
by Stephen Chauvet
Originally published in French by the Société d'éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales, Paris, 1930.
The current edition is a limited edition reprint published in French by S D I Publications, Bangkok, 1995.
350 pages, 430 duotone photographic plates
$150 Hardcover. Available from The World of Tribal Arts
Les Arts Indigènes en Nouvelle-Guinée was a seminal work on the arts of Melanesia. Originally published in a limited quantity, this important work is almost impossible to purchase today. S D I Publications in Bangkok has produced a full-sized, limited edition reprint in 999 deluxe number copies, faithful in every way to the original and with complete illustrations.
While much has been learned about the cultures of Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya since the initial publication of this work in 1930, it nevertheless remains invaluable to scholars and collectors alike for the remarkable number and clarity of carefully chosen object illustrations that are contained within its pages. No private collection and few if any museums hold such an extensive collection of early New Guinea works. Enthusiasts of Melanesian art owe thanks to Bruce Miller, publisher at S D I, for bringing these works back to their attention.
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Includes text by Leo Frobenius excerpted from Die Masken und Geheimbünde Afrikas, Halle, 1898 Collective work Published in French by the Musée Dapper, 1995
Format: 32 x 24 cm, 419 pp., 101 color illustrations, 16 b & w, 13 pl. (8 double), including 6 in col. and 37 B & W plates, maps
Softcover (available only at the museum): 180 ff
Hardcover: 295 ff
This fine book, published under the direction of Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, includes contributions by Yves Le Fur, François Neyt, Yousseuf Tata Cissé and Vincent Bouloré and is published in conjunction with the exhibition at the Musée Dapper in Paris that continues through September 30. The first part of this superbly illustrated volume is devoted to the iconography of masks and features scholarly essays on the diversity of this art form. Masks of the Bamana are highlighted, and there is also a study of Côte d'Ivoire masks and their regional traditions. The second part of the book is by Bernhard Streck and discusses Leo Frobenius. It includes a translation of an excerpt of his 1898 work The Masks and Secret Societies of Africa. The Musée Dapper is to be commended for translating rare and important texts such as this, and we hope they will offer us many more in the future.
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Planète des masques : Important objects from the French Community in Belgium
Collective work under the direction of Marie-France Willaumez and Michel Revelard, preface by Claude Lévi-Strauss.
and the International Museum of Carnival and Mask, Binche
Published in French by the General Direction of Culture and Communication and the French Community in Belgium, 1995.
Format: 30 x 24 cm, 197 pp., 72 color and 130 B & W illustrations
Softcover: 950 BF.
This book, with a preface by Claude Lévi-Strauss, serves as the catalogue for the exhibition that ran through April 8 in Binche, Belgium. For the occasion of the museum's 20th anniversary, 150 masks from different parts of the world were drawn from its collections and put on display, among them a superb set of Guatemalan wood masks dating from the 19th century. Many European and American specialists authored the various chapters in the catalogue dealing with America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and Europe. Its declared intent is to demonstrate the extent to which the tradition of the mask is firmly rooted throughout the world.
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Origenes ,"Homenaje al artista primitivo"
By C. Rodriguez-Aguilera, E. Serra, A. Saura and A. Casanovas Infiesta.
Trilingual: Spanish, Italian and English. Published by the Galeria Cyprus Art and Arte y Ritual, 1995.
Format: 22 x 22 cm., 112 pp., 131 color and 25 B & W illustrations.
Softcover: 2,500 Ptas. (Cyprus Art, Sant Feliu de Boada, 17256, Girona, Spain or Arte y Ritual, P.O. Box 2048, 08207 Sabadell, Spain).
This is the catalogue for a show which paid homage to "primitive" artists through recent works of contemporary artists, painters and sculptors. African, Oceanic and Indonesian artifacts were placed next to, utilized or modified in the works of the 23 artists included in the exhibition. The catalogue contains a portrait of each artist next to his work as well as a photograph of the "primitive" artifact selected for demonstration.
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Asafo, Fahnen aus Ghana (Flags of Ghana)
By Ernst-Gerhard Güse with contributions by Iris Hahner-Herzog, Kay Heymer, Werner Schmalenbach and Ernst-Gerhard Güse.
Published in German by Prestel, Munich-New York, 1995 (distributed in France by Interart).
Format: 30.5 x 25.5 cm., 159 pp., 90 color and 10 B & W illustrations
Hardcover with dust jacket: 98 DM.
These "paintings" on cloth are composed of patchworks of odds and ends of fabric and reflect the colorful imagination and taste for the marvelous in African life. The Asafo, who are the official army and police of Ghana, place prime importance on their insignia which take the form of personalized flags that convey the company's motto in a pictorial manner. With their simplified forms and colors, they are the fruit of a rich imagination and convey fantastic diversity. This book seeks to decode the hidden meanings of this current form of African art with over 90 color illustrations of flags that are highly instructive and full of fantasy.
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De l'art d'Afrique à l'art moderne
By Francine Ndiaye.
Aux sources de la création
Published in French by the Edition Sépia and the City of Sisteron.
Format: 25 x 20 cm., 91 pp., 33 color and 40 B & W illustrations
Hardcover with dust cover: 140 FF.
Such artists as Picasso, Braque, Matisse or Derain were able to identify the enormous artistic originality of African sculpture at the start of this century, and interest in African arts has continued to inspire artistic creation throughout the 20th century. In celebration of this creative influence, the French municipality of Sisteron devoted its VIth Biennale des Arts plastiques 1995 to the arts of Africa as seen by modern and contemporary artists. Sixty African carvings were selected from the collections of some thirty artists ranging from the fathers of modern art to the young creators of today. When placed next to a work by each of these artists, the African works reveal their full strength.
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African Masterworks in the Detroit Institute of Arts
By Michael Kan and Roy Sieber, with essays by David W. Penney, Mary Nooter Roberts and Helen M. Shannon.
Published in English by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, 1995
Format: 25 x 29 cm, 180 pp., 100 col. ill., 25 B & W.
Softcover $34.95
Eighty-eight artifacts are presented and described in this magnificent catalogue of objects from the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which has collected African art since 1890, when it received a donation of 10,000 items from Frederick K. Stearns, one of the institution's founders. The catalogue is organized by region from the Western Sudan to South Africa, and each is introduced from a historical viewpoint and includes a map. The works of art follow, each reproduced in color. The text accompanying each photograph describe the circumstance of the object's creation—whenever it is known—as well as the relationships existing between its aesthetic qualities and its cultural and spiritual functions.
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Meisterwerke afrikanischer Plastik aus Schweizer Privatbesitz
By Ezio Bassani and Matthias Haldemann.
Published in German by the Kunsthaus Zug, Wiese Verlag, 1995.
Format: 24.5 x 17 cm., 96 pp., 62 B & W illustrations.
Hardcover: 48 SF.
This work came out in association with the exhibition that took place at the Kunsthaus Zug from June 9 to September 3, 1995. The event showed a selection of traditional African works of art taken from some twenty private collections in Switzerland. Lorenz Homberger of the Zurich Rietberg Museum and Piet Meyer collaborated in the curatorial process. Many of the objects were from West Africa, and Gabon was also well represented. The outstanding quality of the artifacts, many of which were exhibited for the first time, demonstrates the deep interest in African art shown by the Swiss.
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Tanimbar Maliku.
Published by Periplus Editions/C. Zwartenkot, 1995. Trilingual: Dutch, English and German
The Unique Moluccan Photographs of Petrus Drabbe
Format: 20 x 19.5 cm, 72 pp., 62 sepia photos.
Softcover: 24.95 FL (available at the museum bookstore in Leiden, tel. 071.5168707, Fax 3480 12838)Petrus Drabbe was born in Holland in 1887. In 1915, as a member of the missionary order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he was sent on a mission to Tanimbar, where he stayed for almost 20 years studying the traditional culture of the region. During this time he created a series of outstanding photographs that survive as unique documents of this fascinating Indonesian group. Fifty-six of the images are published for the first time in this catalogue.
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Forgotten Islands of Indonesia
by Nico de Jonge and Toos van Dijk
The Art and Culture of the Southeast Moluccas
Published in English by Periplus Editions, 1995
Format; 31 x 23.5 cm, 160 pp., 133 col. ill., 46 B & W
Hardcover: 79.50 FL (available from the Leiden museum bookstore, tel. 071.5168707, Fax 3480 12838)
Maluku Tanggara (the Moluccas) is one of the most remote and little-known regions of Indonesia. It has escaped the scourges of tourism, and scientists and missionaries have been the only regular visitors to these islands. Three hundred and fifty years of Dutch colonial domination contributed to this isolation, but was ultimately decisive in the destruction of the cultures of the region: communities were forced to move and representations of ancestors were destroyed or sent to Europe, as were other art objects such as gold jewelry and ikat textiles. This book, which is produced in conjunction with the exhibition taking place in Leiden through August 25, presents the first comprehensive study of this material. Illustrated with antique photographs, the masterpieces of sculpture and other arts are described in detail and are related to their cultural and historical context. This richly illustrated publication draws from both existing literature and numerous field studies. It represents the most complete survey that has ever been executed on the remarkable heritage of these islands.
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Material Culture in Flux:
Edited by Darcy N. Edgar and Robert K. Paterson
Law and Policy of Repatriation of Cultural Property
Published in English by University of British Columbia Law Review Society. 345 pages.
Softcover: $30.00 Canadian
This fascinating collection of essays emerged from a two-day conference that brought together people from various backgrounds, largely from Anglophone parts of the world. Readers in the United States will find it of interest to see how decisions with regard to the custody of cultural property have been made in New Zealand, Australia, and in particular, Canada. There is also an intriguing discussion of China as "the final frontier for the art and cultural property trade," by a scholar based in Hong Kong.
Essays deal predominantly with particular objects or events, rather than legal principles across the board, which makes for a highly readable survey. Contributors include museum curators, representatives of various tribal or First Nations groups, and legal consultants and scholars. Their approaches are largely pragmatic. The situations discussed indicate the need to look for creative ways to accommodate conflicting interests, and the ways in which law can facilitate this process.
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