BOOKS 142 P I L A T 2014 Publishing the Colors of Oceania The arts of Oceania inspired the two most remarkable publications to have appeared between October 2013 and September 2014. At least that was the opinion of the jury for the sixth International Tribal Art Book Prize. Its president, Pierre Moos, announced the two winners on December 8 at the annual pre-sale cocktail gathering at Sotheby’s in Paris. Atua: Sacred Gods from Polynesia (Michael Gunn, National Gallery of Australia) took the honors for the best English-language publication, and Arts de l’Archipel Bismarck (Kevin Conru, ed., 5 Continents Editions) won the prize for the best French-language book. Both works impressed the jury with their fresh approaches and the intellectual rigor of their content, and their decision may also be seen as a testiment to the ever-increasing interest in the artistic creations of the area. PILAT 2014 also gave an honorable mention to Ana and Antonio Casanovas for their last book, ADAM, and awarded a special editorial prize to dealer, collector, and researcher Marc Leo Félix for his eight-volume series White Gold, Black Hands: Ivory Sculpture in Congo. THREE QUESTION FOR ERIC GHYSELS, PUBLISHER OF 5 CONTINENTS EDITIONS, ABOUT ART DE L’ARCHIPEL BISMARCK Tribal Art Magazine: How did this book project take shape? Eric Ghysels: The South Seas archipelago that is the subject of the book is politically part of Papua New Guinea and has produced some of Oceania’s most striking artworks. Naturally, we wanted to pay tribute to these works and to their creators, but a longstanding personal relationship made the project all the more appealing. Kevin Conru has already worked with 5 Continents on the production of five books,1 and he and I have a great deal in common—a shared love of nature (which I personally owe to my parents), of traveling, and of art. This love of nature, which Kevin evokes in his introduction, quite naturally steered us toward the Bismarck Archipelago. It is an area that is defined by its volcanic and insular character, and one in which inhabitants live in symbiosis with the environment, from which they draw the materials they use for their creations, and to which they often return them after they By Elena Martínez-Jacquet are used ceremonially. I am referring here specifically of malangan sculptures, which can be difficult to read at first but which become so fascinating when one examines them in detail. T. A. M.: The book touches on a number of subjects, including history, ethnology, aesthetics, and voyages, and does this in a style that is scholarly yet accessible. The authors seem to pay special attention to the feelings that the archipelago and its art can arouse. Were they instructed to follow this approach? E. G.: The approach was quite deliberate, and we owe it to Kevin, who was really the book’s architect. I often say that it is a publisher’s job, just as it is an orchestra conductor’s, to bring together competent people to realize a project. Here I had the pleasure of being able to rely on an exceptional bassist in my orchestra, and I mean that quite literally, as many of us know that Kevin is a gifted musician and that the bass is his instrument. And to extend the metaphor, he was able to find other fine instrumentalists to compose and interpret the eminently intimate score of the archipelago. Kevin, who wrote the text on the impact Bismarck Archipelago art had on avantgarde artists, chose Ingrid Heermann as his concertmaster, and she wrote a comprehensive text that gives life to the cultural and artistic traditions of the archipelago, making them accessible to the book’s readers. He chose another fine quartet member in Bart van Bussel, who has traveled through the area and has taken many excellent photographs of contemporary life there. Klaus-Jochen Krüger completed the ensemble with an extended essay on the German colonial presence in the FIG. 1: Cover of the awardwinning book in the French-language category, Art de l’archipel Bismarck, edited by Kevin Conru, photography by Hughes Dubois, and published by 5 Continents, Milan. FIGS. 2a, b, c, and d (below, left to right): Doubles-pages 200–201, 58–59, 302–303, and 208–209 from Art de l’archipel Bismarck.
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