Les arts premiers magazine
Tribal Art MIAMI
Show Review
3 YEAR ANNIVESARY
3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
ISSUE 3,1 - WINTER 2012
ISSUE 3,1 - WINTER 2012
mORE conFUSION
@ Paris auctions
www.arttribalnews.com
www.arttribalnews.com
feature:
ESKIMO ART AND SHAMANISM
Exclusive by Rahul Patel
© Art Tribal Newsletter, LLC 2012 All information and images included are property of Art Tribal Newsletter
and shall not be reproduced or used in any way without the proper expressed written consent.
cassera
ARTS PREMIERS
more Auction price CONFUSION?!?
As soon as we thought we had things figured out Sotheby’s goes and confuses the entire world once again. There are no words to describe the
auction results from December’s Paris sale. The buyers of these objects are clearly not interested in art, they are not investors and provenance is
obviously not a factor. So who are these buyers who pay $1M for a 3 inch ivory pendant? How does a failed auction that sells less then 20% of
the lots still achieve a total of almost 10M EUROS? I guess we will never know the answer to these questions. Until then we invite you to ponder
the following, enjoy.
What’s the difference?
LOT 42
168,000 EUROS!
LOT 43
Two Mbum scepters from Cameroon, identical
provenance, a 1 inch size difference, Lot 42
216,750 EUR, Lot 43 sold
for 48,750 EUR.
sold for
Does provenance
REALLY matter?
COMBIEN?????
780,750 EUROS!
Over $1M USD!!!!
Skagit Squadeelish (Speakers Staff)
Origin: Northern Washington State
Circa: Mid to Late 19th Century
Height: 29 in (74cm)
Materials: Wood, shell, pigment
Provenance: Private WA Collection
Lot 21 A nice Senufo
mask
Coast,
Hungaan ivory pendant
from
the
Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
3
1/8
in
tall,
NO
PROVENANCE! Sold for
over
$1M
USD,
VERY
CONFUSING!
from
the
Provenance:
Frédérick H. Lem entre
1934 et 1935, Collection
H ele n a
Rubinstein
Paris - New York! This
piece sold for the
humble price of
NEW YORK CITY & LACONNER WASHINGTON
719 1st Street Laconner, wa
Phone: 212-873-1937 Mobile: 310-801-9324
www.casseraartspremiers.com
<---- ACTUAL
SIZE!!!!
Ivory
15,000
EUR!
10th - 13th May
Bohemian national hall
321 E 73rd St. New York, NY 10021
(3 blocks from Sotheby’s)
During the 3rd Annual NYC Tribal Art Week™
For more info visit www.newyorktribalart.com
or call 212-873-1937
ESKIMO ART AND SHAMANISM
BY RAHUL PATEL
Shamanism
is
an
anthropological
range of belief and practices which
communicate with the spirit world.
Shaman comes from the Tungus word
called shaman - who can see in the
dark. The word shaman originates from
Sanskrit language Srama, meaning
religious
exercises,
which
became
shamen in Chinese, meaning Buddhist
monk. In Eskimo culture Shamans are
called Angakoq; they are messengers
between human world and spirit world.
They treat illness by mending the soul,
alleviating traumas affecting the soul or
spirit, restoring the physical body and
soul to wholeness.
Alaska, the hub of Eskimo art in the
contemporary age, was indeed the
center
where
prehistoric
Eskimo
art reached its zenith. The North
Alaskan art of the last 2000 years
was the inspiration from which the
contemporary Eskimo culture of Alaska,
Canada, as well as Greenland, grew.
Japanese boxwood
okimono depicting
According to the Eskimo belief system,
Ashinaga and
every object, the universe and cosmos
Tenaga, Meiji Period
is throbbing with life force called inua.
(1868-1912)
Inua can transform into a multitude of
physical forms. A person may catch
just a glimpse of the human-like face of
inua.
Acquiring and Selling Tribal
Artifacts from a wide range
of sources including; regional,
national, and international
galleries, private dealers, and
works for resale from auctions,
individuals and corporate clients.
Image 1: cover and right - Eskimo
Polychrome
Wood
Maskette
is
a
prime representation of such inua. It
was acquired in 1923, Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation and
later by Smithsonian Institution. Later
this coveted maskette was acquired
and gave tremendous inspiration to
surrealistic artist, Enrico Donati, in New
York, who lived to the ripe age of 99
5757 Horton Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 USA
zentner@zentnercollection.com, P: 510-653-5181
w w w. z e n t n e rc o l l e c t i o n . c o m
www.tribalarthunter.com
stacey@tribalarthunter.com
Phone: (954) 683-4217
years, surrounded by Eskimo and Hopi
figures in his studio to bring “mystery
Image 1: Eskimo Polychrome Wood Maskette 1880 5 3/4 in. Ex 1923, Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation, Ex Smithsonian Inst. Ex Studio of Enrico Donati, Ex Sothebys
and magic of the unknown”. I believe such
… However, masks were widely used for curing
The common myth among the connoisseurs
shaman and his helping spirits to help remove
art a unique gift to world culture. It is recently
Eskimo mystical masks kept him excited with
in the North, though apparently reserved only
and experts of Eskimo art is that the
illness, Jeffrey Myers, one of the world’s
coming to be recognized as one of the most
joie de vivre. The celebrated artist, Donati,
for cases that had wider implications than a
magical powerful figures called Dolls, are
foremost Eskimo art authorities, believes.
original, pioneering and visionary arts. There
used to say, “I believe it’s another world. This
simple illness. …The shaman most commonly
playthings for the children, which according
is no becoming. It is just being where all the
is my world and the one outside I don’t even
used masks to consult with spirits at a time of
to my research are not playthings but have
The shamanic ability of Eskimo art to soul
think about when I work.”
crisis, wearing a spirit mask to investigate the
apotropaic purpose, “…such beautiful pieces
In Eskimo culture “Masks were worn far more in
cause…” Dorothy Jean Ray, Eskimo Masks;
cannot have been used simply as children’s
Art and Ceremony, pp. 17-19.
dolls in the manner described… ”They were “…
festivals dancing than in shamanistic activities,
travel, going to the moon and back, shaman’s
ability to fly in different worlds and times, their
connection with cosmology, makes Eskimo
multitudes co-exist together in their inuas. I
All Art Objects From The
Collection of Rahul Patel
Photographs: Okvik figure, Shamanic Ipiutak
Amulet, by Maureen Clark
can experience their spirit world of Eskimo
Eskimo Polychrome Wood Maskette, courtesy
art where Angakoq is not only the master of
Sotheby’s.
space, but indeed, master of spirits!
protecting against disease, serving as fertility
and birthing amulets, and acting as general
household guardians and deities.” Gifts from
the Ancestors Ancient Ivories of Bering
Strait, Fitzhugh, Hollowell, Crowell, pp. 292,
Figure 3. figure, Okvik.
Image 2 is such a depiction of this powerful
anthropomorphic Okvik ivory figure, 250B.C.
– 100A.D., excavated on St.Lawrence
Island, Alaska and acquired from Cassera
Arts Premiers Gallery in LaConner, WA. The
ethnographic information, coupled with the
figure’s remarkable beauty and surrealistic
style suggest a complex and important role
for Okvik human figures in ancient Bering
Strait culture.
Another unique Eskimo art form comes from
Ipiutak culture, which is deeply connected
with Shamanism. Their magical abilities
to transform from humans to animals and
animals to humans is astonishing. The
epitome of this shaman’s transformative
art was recently acquired by prolific and
pioneering Eskimo art expert and field
3
5
collector, Jeffrey Myers of New York. It is
an important shamanic object excavated at
Point Spencer, Seward Peninsula. The object
is a walrus ivory apotropaic effigy consisting
of five distinct faces and a rendering of a
shaman in flight. This rare healing object is
from the Ipiutak culture, 400-600A.D. “…in
the 30 years of my field collecting, I have
never seen an effigy object so shamanic in
nature.”- Jeffrey Myers.
Images 3, 4, 5 are a visual, study in
transformation – the shaman in various
human forms and animal interchanges of
inuas, transitions, passages and boundaries.
This Ipiutak object is undoubtedly a curing
4
piece, bringing together the power of the
Image 2: Okvik Ivory Anthropomorphic human figure excavated on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska,
250 B.C.-100 A.D., 4.5 inch. height, provenance ex Bill Caskey, ex Cassera Arts Premiers, New
York & LaConner, WA
Image 3: Rare Ipiutak Excavated Shamanic Eskimo Ivory Amulet 400-600A.D. 2 3/4 inch. Provenance Jeffrey Myers, New York.
Image 4: Shaman transforming into polar bear on bottom of this Eskimo effigy and on the top is Shaman’s head in profile.
Image 5: On the back of this apotropaic piece, shaman interchanging his human form into wolf Inua and wings to fly.
AOA Tribal art: Hottest ticket in miami
first ever tribal art show during Art basel makes it’s mark
The first tribal art show ever to happen in Miami
during Art Basel officially opened on schedule,
Wednesday November 30th, the same night
as Art Basel. While it was a small crowd in
comparison to the major shows in Miami, AOA
Tribal Art Miami only seemed to attract local
collectors, famous artists, curators and press.
Also attending over the four day show were
actors, doctors, architects, engineers and other
professional types, each noting the impressive
venue and unique layout specifically designed
for the Carnival Studio Theater inside the
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
Participating
dealers
included;
Wayne
Heathcote - UK, Throckmorton Fine Art - NY,
Luz Miriam Toro - NY, David Cassera - NY/
LaConner, James Stephenson - Brooklyn and
Tribal Art Hunter - South Florida.
Opening night sales were recorded by David
Cassera and James Stephenson. Nine sales
were recorded on day one with a staggeringly
low attendance of just over 25 people.
Attendance increased days two, three and the
final Sunday and so did the sales.
An African art collector attending from North
Carolina was asked how he was enjoying the
Art Basel festivities, when he sharply replied, “I
only came to Miami specifically for this Tribal
Art show.”
While the other major established shows
recorded tens of thousands of visitors, Tribal
Art Miami remained very exclusive.
Those attending remarked about the
convenience of the show location, the free
parking and lack of frustrating
traffic and crowds experienced
at the other shows like Art Miami,
Scope and Red Dot.
Overall
the
organizers,
participants and patrons were
very happy with the outcome.
“I had a great time and you
guys did a great a job on
making this show,” said
James Stephenson.
The organizers have already joined forces with
local museums and organizations to increase
the publicity and programming for next years
event. Co-owner Isaiah Fox said, ”this was
the first time anyone has ever successfully
organized and produced a Tribal Art Show
in Miami. The fact that we did it during Art
Basel with so much going on was a major
accomplishment. We are eager for next year
and are confident our brand will grow here in
South Florida which is very exciting!”
IMAGES:
Above - View of Tribal Art Miami from the
control room above.
Opposite Top Left - Attendees admire Songye
mask from Cassera Arts Premiers
Opposite Top Right: Spencer Throckmorton
with visiting medical doctors interested in
collecting tribal art
Opposite Lower Left: James Stephenson from
Brooklyn with an ancient iron currency which
was sold to a couple from Miami/NY
Opposite Lower Right: A pair of fern figures
presented by UK based dealer Wayne
Heathcote.