OUT OF THE AMAZON FIG. 2 (above): Labret, rembé-pipó, worn by men during the ta’l hupi rahã, or name-giving ceremony. Ka’apor, Maranhão, Brazil. 20th century. Plant fi ber, wax, latex, feathers. H: 28 cm. Collection of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, inv. 2007.1782.12. 85 The Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) is currently hosting a major exhibition titled Out of the Amazon: Life on the River, which is accompanied by the richly illustrated catalog Out of the Amazon: Material Culture, Myth, and Reality in Amazonia. The exhibit drew 1,800 visitors on opening night. This exhibit represents the most recent stage of a journey that began forty-fi ve years ago, as well as the culmination of the story of how a chance encounter sparked the formation of a major private collection, which then became a museum asset that has continued to grow through the generosity of various donors into one of the world’s most comprehensive single holdings of material culture from the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. This history also casts light on how the majority of the museum exhibitions on the subject in the United States over the last quarter of a century have been unexpectedly interrelated. The nexus of what has become HMNS’s comprehensive collection of Amazonian material began in 1971 when I was the director of a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles. A young man walked in with photographs of Amazonian objects that he had inherited from his father and asked if I was interested in buying them. I was intrigued and purchased the lot. When all the cardboard boxes containing the objects had been opened, I was amazed and captivated by the beauty and variety of the objects now in my possession. Thus began a love affair with and fascination for Amazonian material culture that escalated with each passing year. After the initial acquisition I began to frequent ethnographic shows in California and Arizona. Over time, I acquired individual objects as well as whole collections from art dealers, private collectors, and random individuals who owned Amazonian material. The collection grew to include basketry, clay objects, wooden stools, headdresses, body costumes, body ornaments, and weapons, such as clubs, blowguns and quivers, bows, and arrows. I scoured university and museum libraries as well as new and used bookstores for literature on the subject. Today my personal library has more than 500 books, catalogs, and FIG. 3 (left): Beetle wing casing ear ornament, akiamu. Shuar, Zamora, and Morona provinces, Ecuador. Early 1940s. Beetle wing casings, feathers, cotton fi ber. H: 22 cm. Collection of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, inv. 1940.2912.A-13899. Gift of Buford Douglas. This may have been crafted by the Aguaruna and traded to the Shuar.
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