The New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show

NEW YORK CITY

: A slow start did nothing to dampen the success of the New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Fair, held May 21 to 24. Attendance was at its highest since the fair began showing at the 7th Regiment Armory in 1999, and sales were especially strong in the middle range, according to both dealers and management.

It was the first four-day Tribal Arts Fair in New York City, and until closing, there were crowds to shop the African headrests, Oceanic shields and Native American masks.

One of the most spectacular pieces at the fair was a New Guinean mask, circa 1870s, offered at Lewis/Wara Gallery of Seattle. This ferocious spirit mask was decorated with bright white and orange plumagelike fibers. It first entered a private collection more than a century ago; hence its survival in excellent condition. Also for sale by Lewis/Wara was a worn angular statuette, also from New Guinea, that could have inspired Giacometti. It was used to protect the village from evil spirits when it was created in the mid-Nineteenth Century.

The show was strong in pre-Columbian treasures. Splendors of the World of Haiku, Hawaii, had a pair of shaft-grave statuettes from Ixtlán del Rio, Mexico, depicting a married couple. The husband and wife, who were priced at $125,000, have been giving a warm, relaxed welcome to the spirit world and art collectors since 200-300 AD. At the same booth was a ceremonial vessel ($25,000), from Vera Cruz, Mexico, that was used to memorialize ancestors. The vessel has a whistle on the back that still works, after more than a thousand years. (It was made between 600 and 900 AD.)

Leonard Kalina Fine Arts of Venice, Calif., a firm that also specializes in pre-Columbian art, reported a much better fair than last year. An Ecuadorian Jamacoaque Idol, 500 BC-500 AD, was sold to a museum and three ceramic figures from Guerro, Mexico, circa 1200 BC, were sold to a private dealer. Another pre-Columbian specialist, Hubert Primitive Art of Chicago, also reported good sales, including a repoussé gold disc from Panama, 700-900 AD.

Christian art was on display at the Tana Galerie Sachau of Wittlich, Germany, with the offering of two Ethiopian Coptic scrolls depicting Saint George and Saint Michael. The large illuminated manuscripts, believed to offer protection from enemies and disease, were made in the late Seventeenth or early Eighteenth Century.

Alain Lecomte of Paris brought to New York the rituals and relics of Africa. A Congolese mask, worn by a priest during circumcision, was priced at $33,000. From Gabon there was the carved death mask of a young woman, whose features were drawn tight by the thin coat of mud that was traditionally applied after death.

Another Congolese mask, this one with curative powers, was offered by Dalton Somaré of Milan. It was worn by a priest to cure disease and to remind tribesmen of their physical vulnerability. Two original masks were for sale by the Galerie Flak of Paris. The Mosquito Mask, which was shaped like that insect's head, was made by the Canadian Northwest Coastal Indians. Like a mosquito sucking blood, an entranced priest was believed to be able to withdraw disease while wearing the mask. An expressive Inuit mask seemed to suggest the toothache, though it was doubtless created for an important tribal ceremony.

Among the African and Oceanic objects exhibited by Joan Barist Primitive Art of New York City was a reliquary from Gabon. In the Nineteenth Century it was also a tombstone because it was attached to the bones, which were buried. From the Ivory Coast were some masks, one a portrait to evoke a dead relation and another with stylized features. Barist was also offering a wood and rattan shield, late Nineteenth Century, which was used in tribal warfare in New Guinea.

The Cavin-Morris Gallery of New York City had its biggest sales in Haitian art, textiles and ceramics, and sold out a group of Mexican masks. Also for sale were Outsider works by African-American painters Mary T. Smith and Bill Traylor. "The Tribal Fair gathers art from all cultures, so these artists fit beautifully," said Shari Cavin.

An American quilt, 1932, reproducing the covers of Collier magazine from the Depression, was for sale by Marcuson & Hall of London.

A Tanzanian goatskin skirt with colorful beading was exhibited prominently by Tribal Gathering, also of London. Joss Graham, another London dealer, was selling a raffia dance skirt, circa 1920, that was made for a tribal princess in the Congo. The cut reflects the enforcement of sumptuary laws, which limited curved cut seams to royalty.

George Subkoff of Westport, Conn., is best known for his inventory of English and European furniture. This week, however, his specialty was Indian and South-East Asian art. Especially notable was the Eighteenth Century statue of Jain that was made of white marble and was combined with an Eleventh Century surround, also made of white marble; the two pieces were selling for $28,000. Another striking piece was the Anglo-Indian rosewood armoire, 1840s, with doors carved to resemble silk curtains. A parade of elephants was depicted in an illuminated manuscript from Thailand, late Nineteenth Century that Subkoff has mounted in two parts and is selling for $15,000.

Elaborate coiffures were protected at night by the headrests sold by the Axis Gallery of New York City. These functional pieces were cherished for their artistry and formed part of an African bride's dowry.

Molloy-Blitz Tribal, a new gallery about to open its doors in New York City, had a diverse selection of Native American objects, like the Nineteenth Century Eskimo sealskin game ball that was sold at the fair. Also on display was a Pacific Northwest Macah fertility statuette, early Nineteenth Century, that was priced at $15,000. Southwest tribes were represented, with a Pueblos dance headdress, circa 1910, priced at $6,500. A pair of Hopi bowls with Katchina decoration that retained a documented provenance dating back to the 1870s, was also exhibited.

The stock was "most definitely the best definitely the best this fair has ever been in terms of appearance and quality of material," said Spencer Throckmorton of Throckmorton Fine Art, New York. The organizers of the fair, Bill Caskey and Liz Lees, were similarly optimistic. "Paris and Brussels have long shared the center of the marketplace for tribal art, but interest and buying in the United States is strengthening," said Mr Caskey. He attributed the strong sales to "the younger buyers and decorators who realize how much this art enhances interior settings of contemporary character."