MUSEUM news 66 EAST OF THE WALLACE LINE New Haven—Taking as its jumping-off point the “Wallace Line,” an ecological demarcation first recognized by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that runs through Indonesia between Bali and Lombok and west of Sulawesi, a new exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery late this summer will present more than 120 works dating from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries deriving from this artistically rich region. The installation will feature intricately decorated, large-scale sculptures and textiles, as well as more intimate personal and domestic objects, some highlights from the gallery’s permanent collection and some select loans. Many are either too large or too fragile to be displayed regularly. Organized by Ruth Barnes, the Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art, East of the Wallace Line: Monumental Art from Indonesia and New Guinea opens August 15 and can be seen until February 1, 2015. This fascinating exhibition will be the subject of an article in the next issue of Tribal Art magazine. LEFT: Canoe prow ornament. Cenderawasih Bay, Western Papua, Indonesia. Mid 19th–early 20th century. Wood, cassowary feathers. H: 82.8 cm. Gift of Anne Mitro in memory of Frieda and Milton Rosenthal. Yale University Art Gallery, inv. 2009.85.6. FAR LEFT: Mask. Antoni, Timor, Indonesia. 19th century. Wood. H: 29 cm. Promised gift of Thomas Jaffe, B.A. 1971. Yale University Art Gallery, inv. ILE2012.30.423. Photo: Johan Vipper. ABOVE: Louis Choris (Russian 1795–1828). A Temple in the Sandwich Islands. C. 1819. Watercolor with ink and opaque highlights on paper. 16.8 x 20.5 cm. Honolulu Museum of Art, Gift of the Honolulu Art Society, inv. 1944. 12160a. BELOW: Shroud, porisitutu’. Rongkong Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Late 19th century. Cotton; warp ikat. 152 x 268 cm. Robert J. Holmgren and Anita E. Spertus Collection, Promised gift of Thomas Jaffe, B.A. 1971. Yale University Art Gallery, inv. ILE2006.4.100. ENCOUNTERS WITH HAWAI‘I Honolulu—A new exhibition opening this summer at the Honolulu Museum of Art looks at artwork associated with the European navigational voyages into the Pacific of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. These lengthy expeditions explored and charted the lands that dot the ocean, and they carried with them painters, draftsmen, scientists, and cartographers, who documented the flora, fauna, terrain, and inhabitants of the distant lands they encountered. The drawings, paintings, and prints they generated comprise the earliest Western visual record of Hawai‘i. Encounters with Hawai‘i: Art in an Age of Exploration, 1778–1820 begins with the British painter and draftsman John Webber, who traveled with Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage (1776–1780). This expedition brought Cook and his crew to Hawai‘i, and Webber, as its official artist, recorded their experiences (good and bad) in an elaborate series of drawings and watercolors, which were published to illustrate the official narrative of Cook’s travels. Subsequent trips brought additional artists—most notably the Russian Louis Choris and the Frenchman Jacques Arago—who depicted Hawaiian religion and customs before and shortly after the fall of the kapu system. Taken together, these works reflect an era of great curiosity about the world and its inhabitants, and in their time they introduced the inhabitants of Hawai‘i to people well beyond its shores. Encounters with Hawai‘i opens June 27 and can be seen until February 8, 2015.
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