15th Tribal & Textile Arts: A Rich And Rewarding Show

New York City

:The 15th annual Tribal and Textile Arts Show at the 69th Regiment Armory, managed by Caskey Lees Inc, opened May 14 to more than 700 of the four-day show's nearly 4,000 visitors. Just beyond the entryway decorated with flowering plants, the loan exhibition of works on amate paper by José Bedia gave the visitors their first taste of the exotic worlds represented within. Artifacts from Oceania, the Americas and Asia gave ample evidence that bark and reed, shells and weavings are easily as precious to some as bronze and gold, dollars and euros.

Still in all, it was the more traditional forms of currencies that determined the show's success. Overall, the run's receipts were down about 19 percent from 2008. Success stories nevertheless abounded.

Oceanic specialist Joris Visser, J. Visser Gallery, Brussels, said his sales had been extremely strong and that the three or four pending sales could easily make it the most commercially successful show he had ever experienced. Visser's inventory included a large birdlike Baining fire mask from Papua New Guinea, made of tapa (bark cloth) cane and pigment. A Nineteenth Century Eskimo whale boat formerly of the Alaskan Institution decorated the wall. Visser's rarest item was a New Guinea Asmat shield in the shape of a turtle. Representing the "Little Orphan" of Asmat lore, the shield, which had been featured in a photo as early as 1906, was "one of only four or five in the world," the dealer said.

Thomas Murray Asiatica-Ethnographica, Mill Valley, Calif., boasted a California collection of Oceania that had not been seen in more than 40 years. It resulted in Murray having an "outstanding show." Among his sales was a rare flute mask from the lower Sepik River of Papua New Guinea that had been collected before 1900 and resided for a time in the Ubersee Museum, Bremen, Germany. In the Papuan culture, flutes were of such religious significance that masks, often in the image of sacred creatures, were created to adorn them. Among the Twentieth Century rarities on display was a stunning Gawai hornbill, Iban Dayak, from Malaysia.

At Michael Evans Fine Art of New Haven, Conn., a large pig mask created for malagan ceremonies in the New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea dominated the main wall. While the malagan ceremony masks were once burned at the end of the ceremony, they are now often retained, as the carvers' art has been replaced by newer cottage industries. Meanwhile, a helmet yam mask, or "bapa kumba," from the Abelam Peoples, also of Papua New Guinea, drew enormous interest. Evans stated that his sales were primarily to dealers.

Among the African arts shown, one of the most commanding pieces was a 4-foot-tall wooden drum in the shape of a female figure at Panzani Tribal Art, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The carving, more than 150 years old, was the artifact of a secret society and, interestingly, made by a man for a woman to wear.

Zemaneck-Munster, a leading African dealer from Wurzburg, Germany, and a first-time exhibitor, reported a successful show. He said his major sale was a fine Holo Holo chair.

Fily Keita Tribal Art, Los Angeles, sold several small African carved wood objects. They included an Abron doll, a Yaka drum and a Lobi figure.

Rarities from the West Coast of North America were found at John Molloy Gallery, New York City. Among Molloy's more impressive items was a drawing on muslin depicting the Cheyenne in battle with the US Cavalry. Created by a Cheyenne warrior artist, it read from right to left in a series of images that took the viewer from the individually designed and identifiable family teepees to a celebration and then a surprise raid by the US Calvary. Captain Benjamin Lockwood of Company B out of Fort Keogh, Mont., had collected the drawing. Molloy also featured a superb Chaco jar, circa 1100 to 1400, that went to a Columbia, Md., ceramics collector.

Myers and Duncan, New York City and Denver specialists in arts of the American Eskimo and the Northwest Coast, featured a small but superb collection of element masks. Among the more outstanding was one decorated with representations of seal or walrus flippers, feathers (perhaps that of the loon, which relies on the walrus for survival), and the face of a man (who depends on both) wearing snow goggles. It dated to the 1920s or 1930s. In one of the display cases was a circa 1920s Kodiak Island puberty veil fashioned of arctic hare and beads.

Art Primitivo covered the pre-Columbian part of the hemisphere with several massive stone Vera Cruz priests, circa 800–1100. Among the items sold on the first day was a Colima hunchback, circa 100 BC–280 AD. Moving farther afield, the dealer also showed a gold Egyptian pharaoh mask, circa 1069–702 BC.

At Maestros de Taxco, Newbury Park, Calif., the silver jewelry of Mexican modernist Antonio Pineda and Hector Aguilar reflected the influence of pre-Columbian designers.

One of the higher level pre-Columbian sales was made by David Bernstein Primitive Art, New York, which sold a pre-Inca kero (wood drinking vessel).

Textile dealers showed tribal textiles and non-European cloths crafted from techniques that are hundreds of generations old.

Gail Martin, who credits the Caskey Lees show with increasing the popularity of textiles in recent years, had a well-rounded field of both traditional and contemporary weavings. One of the more outstanding was an early Nazca fragment decorated with hand knotted fringe that was added later.

Casey Waller, Caravanserai, Dallas, showed and sold decorative textiles. Among theses were a Lakai Central Asian embroidery, several dowry bags and a late Nineteenth Century Lakai shield.

John Ruddy of Santa Fe, N.M., featured an Ainu ceremonial robe from Hokkaido (literally, North Sea Circuit), Japan's second largest island. The Nineteenth Century garment was made of ohyo bark fiber and had cotton appliqué. At the close of show, Ruddy stated that sales had been steady in the low and high ranges, with little activity in the midrange.

Gallery Arabesque, Stuttgart, Germany, which specializes in rugs and Asian art, this year broke the mold by featuring a collection of baroque wooden statues from the Thirteenth through the Sixteenth Centuries. Among them were St John with bible and a Twelfth Century Japanese Buddha.

Tana-Sachau, Wittlich, Germany, captivated with a collection of Coptic crosses, dating from the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries to the Eighteen Century. Many were iron cast with gold layers or cast iron and gilt.

Joel Cooner Gallery, Dallas, drew crowds into his booth with a highly detailed Seventeenth Century Spanish Madonna. Of polychromed wood, the three-foot-tall figure had glass eyes and teeth that showed between barely parted lips. She was dressed in Chinese embroidered trade silk and wore earrings of mercury glass.

Arnold Lieberman rounded out the show's exotic offerings with Tibetan specialties, including a magnificently painted Eighteenth Century cabinet for Tantric offerings.

Cavin-Morris Gallery, New York, offered an especially poignant display of contemporary sculpture and Art Brut. The combination made clear the parallels between primitive and modern art. Randall Morris also wrote the catalog story on José Bedia, a Cuban working in Mexico.

Despite the show's relative success, Liz Lees stated at the outset that this year's event had, at one point, been problematic. "We did not want to cancel," she said, "knowing that once a show disappears for even one season, it does not come back with the same force." The dealers who committed to the show, she added, were "mostly viewing this outing as investment in the future."

The 2010 Tribal and Textile Arts is slated for early May. For information, www.caskeylees.com or 310-455-2886.