Tribal Art - Is it growing in awareness and favor?

KIM PALMER has written in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (2/12/2009) about the growing popularity of African tribal art, which she attributes in part to the election of Barack Obama as President. Here are some excerpts:

"At first, it was kind of a fad," said Angie Scott, a St. Paul interior designer and owner of Access:Dezign. But globalization is fueling broader awareness and appreciation of other cultures and their aesthetic traditions.

For many black Americans, African-inspired design remains a celebration of cultural pride. "We're just drawn to those pieces and being in touch with our ancestry," said Scott.

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Among collectors of global antiques and artifacts, African pieces "faded to the background for 10 or 15 years, as Asian antiques came in," said Ian Grant, owner of Bjorling & Grant, an imported furniture and accessories showroom in St. Louis Park, Minn. "Now, slowly, at the upper end of the market, African pieces are coming back in."

And there's much to appreciate, Ta-coumba Aiken said. "Some of the finest crafts in the world come from all parts of Africa. It's an area of beautiful age-old design. People will start looking at Africa and will be amazed."

There's more to the story and you can read it here , as reported by the Sacramento (CA) Bee.

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Aboriginals: Art of the First Person and its web site at TribalWorks.com is excited to see a resurgence of interest in this beautiful ethnographic art. We have many pieces for sale that fall on the low end of high-end, traditional, authentic African tribal art. Check out the masks and sculptures in our African Room.
You can do more than add an African touch to your decor. You can add a art object with a rich, African tribal heritage to your experience.

A thank you tip to to Kim Palmer, The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Sacramento Bee, who brought this story to our attention.

Whitehawk Antique Shows show off exceptional tribal art

I joined hundreds of other appreciators of ethnographic art weaving through the concourses of the Whitehawk 25^th Annual Antique Ethnographic Art Show at Santa Fe's El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe on Saturday, August 16. It was a very impressive show with 108 booths filled with antiquities from some of the most respected dealers in the field. There was so much extraordinary art presented that I had an unusual reaction.

It was exacerbated by the Tribal Art Show that took place the same day at Santa Fe's DeVargas Mall. This was a smaller show but, according to others who visited both shows, of better average quality. I don't agree but, being more compressed it might appear to be a more concetrated look at fine tribal art.

It was interesting to see some exceptional Australian Aboriginal dot paintings, very professionally presented by a gallery from La Jolla, California. There also was a mix of vintage Aboriginal artifacts. Does this signal a more important role for Australian Aboriginal art in the Western Hemisphere? It would be nice.

The reaction was that there is a great deal more excellent ethnographic (tribal) art at large in the world than the description “rare” would suggest. Certainly more than I imagined.

A similar reaction was that the prices tended to be much higher than what we are charging for equivalent or nearly equivalent material.

While it is too late to see this year's Whitehawk Ethnographic Show, which closed on Sunday, a second Whitehawk show, the 30^th Annual Invitational Antique Indian Art Show, has opened and runs through Wednesday, August 20.

I will write about that show tomorrow.

Based on the two Ethnographic and Tribal Art Shows I witnessed this weekend, however, I would recommend attendance at the upcoming show as a very educational opportunity. Admission is $10 per person.