RAVEN’S MANY GIFTS Salem—The dynamic relationships among living humans, 60 animals, ancestors, and supernatural beings will be explored through works of Native art from the Pacific Northwest Coast in Raven’s Many Gifts: Native Art of the Northwest Coast at the Peabody Essex Museum April 5, 2014 to May 31, 2015. Created over the course of the last 200 years, the objects included will range from traditional ritual ceremonial regalia to trade goods to art made to be sold in galleries today. Together they reveal creative expressions of family, heritage, politics, and commerce in a changing world. The exhibition will present artworks that convey broadly shared aesthetic and cultural traditions while emphasizing the distinctiveness of various indigenous communities and their artists. The show’s three themes—Living Stories, Family Connections, and Market Innovations—will be expressed through objects drawn from the museum’s renowned collection of Northwest Coast art. NEW AT THE KIMBELL Fort Worth—Last November, the Kimbell Art Museum opened its new pavilion, which was designed by noted architect Renzo Piano. The presentation showcases one of the most highly esteemed museum collections in the United States. Following a two-month installation of highlights from the museum’s collection, two of the three of the new buildings’ galleries now house its works of Asian, Pre-Columbian, African, and Oceanic art, all of which are now being seen in a new light, both literally and figuratively, since the Piano Pavilion’s large glass walls and windows make light almost as pervasive a presence as art. The museum’s African collection, which is small in size but extraordinary in quality, dominates the entrance area of the North Gallery, setting up a compelling vista that leads the eye from a tall, wood Hemba ancestor figure of a warrior to a masterful nineteenth century representation of Chibinda Ilunga, the royal ancestor of the Chokwe people of Angola. An exquisitely modeled terracotta head, possibly of an Ife king from the twelfth to the fourteenth century in what is now southwestern Nigeria, represents a supreme high point in African artistic achievement and is one of the signature works of the Kimbell collection. From Oceania, an early nineteenth-century Maori ancestor figure from New Zealand completes the display. The Pre-Columbian section is dominated by a large and impressive limestone Maya stela, which is displayed in the context of a wide range of other stellar Maya works. An Olmec standing figure carved from precious green jade is smaller than the size of a human hand but monumental in impact. A fifth-century terracotta urn depicting Cociyo, the Zapotec god of lightning and rain, and a precious wood, shell, and stone Wari standing figure of a dignitary from Peru (AD 600– 1000) are among other highlights of the new installation. Look for a feature article on the Kimbell collection in a future issue of Tribal Art magazine. Right: Standing figure. Olmec, Mexico. C. 900–400 BC. Jadeite. H: 13.9 cm. Kimbell Art Museum, acquired in 1981. Left: Chibinda Ilunga. Chokwe, northeastern Angola. Mid 19th century. Wood, hair, hide. H: 40.6 cm. Kimbell Art Museum, acquired in 1978. Above: Mask. Heiltsuk (Bella Bella), central coast, British Columbia. C. 1845. Wood, pigment. H: 33 cm. Peabody Essex Museum, gift of Mr. Edward S. Moseley, 1979, E28575. Below left: Tripod vessel with lid. Maya, Guatemala. C. AD 400–500. Ceramic with stucco and polychrome pigments. H: 27.9 cm. Kimbell Art Museum, acquired in 1997.
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