MUSEUM News TANZANIA Portland, ME—Tanzania is a culturally varied land that is home to more than 120 languages. Though relatively little known, its rich art traditions are nearly as varied as its linguistics and consist of distinctive figures, masks, objects of daily use, and characteristic stoppered 62 medicinal gourds. Its arts are, if anything, even more stylized than those of their neighbors in the Congo to the West. An exhibition that was first shown at the museum of the Queensborough Community College in the spring and will open shortly at the Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, is the first major exhibition outside Germany and Tanzania to focus on the traditional arts of this East African nation. Shangaa: Art of Tanzania features 155 objects on loan from private and institutional collections throughout the United States and Europe. It was curated by Gary van Wyk, who also edited the substantial catalog that accompanies the show. It can be seen in Portland from June 8–August 25, 2013. TERRESTRIAL PARADISES Miami—James Cook’s three voyages of exploration to the Pacific starting in 1868 proved to be of great historical significance. While Cook was not the first European to investigate many of the locations he visited, the large body of artistic output produced during his voyages played a significant role in shaping a Western vision of native peoples from faraway places such as the South Pacific. On each of the voyages, artists created sketches, drawings, and occasionally paintings based on their firsthand observations. These were widely reproduced in travel accounts well into the nineteenth century. Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan on the first voyage, William Hodges on the second, and John Webber and William Webb Ellis on the third came from diverse backgrounds and brought with them differing artistic skills and training. After returning to England, their work was reproduced in engravings, usually reinterpreted through a neoclassical European eye, to illustrate the official published accounts of the voyages. The popularity of these accounts resulted in many other similar publications in which engravings were copied, frequently with less attention to detail and artistic skill, to feed the interest of a European audience fascinated by the allure of the peoples, places, and material culture encountered in exotic foreign lands. On view until February 9, 2014, The Lowe Museum of Art at the University of Miami is presenting Terrestrial Paradises: Imagery from The Voyages of Captain James Cook. It features engravings from George William Anderson’s A New, Authentic, and Complete Account of Voyages Round the World … . Published in London by Alexander Hogg from 1784–1786, the volume was intended to be an affordable option for those interested in travel accounts. The text was issued in eighty parts that could be purchased by subscription and, when complete, bound into a single volume. The name Anderson is most likely a pseudonym, and while the account itself referenced the official publications of the voyages, it falsely claimed that Anderson was assisted by an officer who had sailed with Cook. It was edited both textually and visually to create a more compelling story for readers. The copied engravings express the late-eighteenth-century European reimagining of native Pacific Islanders and others as idealized and classicized “noble savages,” lacking the cares of the European world and living at one with nature in, as Cook phrased it, their “Terrestrial Paradises.” Axe in the form of a rifle. Mwera, Tanzania. Early 20th century. Wood, metal, pigment. L: 54.6 cm. Private collection. Platter. Swahili, Tanzania. Late 19th–early 20th century. Wood. L: 89.9 cm. Private collection. BELOW: An Exact Representation of the Death of Captn. James Cook, F.R.S. at Karakakooa Bay, in Owhyhee, on Feby. 14, 1779. Accurately Engraved from a Drawing made on the spot purposely for this Work by A. Hogg. Lowe Art Museum. Gift of Drs. Ann and Robert Walzer, 2004.50.9.1
I-IVCoverT68 E_CoverF Vuvi
To see the actual publication please follow the link above