82 Worlds on a String TORONTO—This autumn, another chance to see an exhibition about colorful beadwork is presented in Toronto at the Textile Museum of Canada. However, unlike its Austrian counterpart, Worlds on a String: Beads - Journeys - Inspirations goes beyond the borders of Africa and explores the beaded artworks of the peoples of Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and Europe. Through this comparison of the different uses of the same material, the exhibition demonstrates the importance of the particular relationship between culture and artistic production. The fl ashy brilliance of glass beads can give the illusion of a purely aesthetic creation, yet their use and the impact they have had on the world go far beyond their decorative appearance. Often used in trade, beads have been the focus of intercultural contacts, sometimes transforming the lifeways of entire populations. The history of their use is revealing and shows them as instigators of economic, cultural, and technological change. Also incorporating contemporary examples from South African and Native American communities, Worlds on a String highlights the ongoing use of glass beads by artists in expressing their cultural identity and their key role in the ongoing reinvention of tradition. The exhibition will be on view until October 23, 2016. BELOW: Collar. Zulu, South Africa. Late 19th–early 20th century. Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, donated by Dita Vadron. Antoine Tzapoff LA ROCHELLE—With the artist present, on July 6 the Musée du Nouveau Mondes in La Rochelle opened the exhibition Peintures d’Antoine Tzapoff: à la recherche d’un monde perdu (Paintings by Antoine Tzapoff: In Search of a Lost World). Thirty paintings by this itinerate painter, who was born in 1945 to a French mother and a Russian father, can be seen at the museum until November 7, 2016. Having worked extensively for Victor Vasarely, a master of optical art, Tzapoff developed a singular approach, classical in style yet eminently humanistic in spirit. His main subject is his greatest interest, the native peoples of the Americas, who have fascinated him since childhood and about whom he has developed considerable knowledge through his travels, his reading, and his visits to museums. LEFT: Kolosh - guerrier tlingit, 2015. Acrylic on canvas. 80 x 80 cm. Private collection. © Jean-Louis Losi, Paris. RIGHT: La Chute de l’Amérique française, 1980. Acrylic on canvas. 150 x 200 cm. La Rochelle, Musée du Nouveau Monde. © Jean-Louis Losi, Paris. BELOW: Cache-sexes, queyu Guyana. Early 20th century. Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto. Top: Opekar/Webster Collection, T94.0978. Bottom: Anonymous donation, T86.0038.
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