TRIBAL people 136 Spiritual Connections: CHARLES DERBY ON COLLECTING Charles Derby has been buying and selling art from tribal cultures for nearly five decades. Based in a small town in western Massachusetts, he has developed a substantial collection less by purchasing at the high end of the market than by exercising his well-trained eye to catch remarkable artworks that have taken less-traveled paths. Our publisher had a chat with him that reveals his connoisseurship and his infectious enthusiasm. Tribal Art Magazine: I know you are both a scholar and an inveterate collector of tribal artifacts, whether Native American, African, or Oceanic. Can you pinpoint exactly when this became a conscious thing? Charles Derby: About fifteen years after I started collecting tribal art, I met several cousins at a family funeral. When they asked me what I was up to, they didn’t seem surprised when I said I was a collector. They reminisced about how when they came to visit me at my childhood home, my room was filled with all sorts of stuff—rocks, baseball cards, comics, stamps, trains, and various other objects. It was after this conversation with my relatives that I realized that the items may have changed over the years, but I’ve always been a collector. TAM: Who was your main influence? You were close to the legendary collector Paul Rabut, for instance. CD: Paul was definitely my mentor and main inspiration. (You can read about our relationship in more detail in my essay “The Mysterious World of Paul Rabut” in Tribal Art #33, Winter 2003.) Many other people have influenced me in various ways. One of them I met during the summer of 1968. My wife and I often rode our bikes around Cape Cod and the South Coast of Massachusetts. We’d often seek out antique stores along our route. A memorable shop that we visited was owned by William Kranzler. It was located in New Bedford, around the corner from the Interview by Alex Arthur Whaling Museum. This was a store like no other: We’d never seen so many tribal items in one place. Kranzler explained that he was able to obtain many of these unusual pieces from people who cleaned out their attics. The first item that I bought from him, a wooden statue of a Chinese deity, was typical of the unique pieces in his store. On its base was written the inscription “washed ashore in Hong Kong by a terrible typhoon, Sept. 1819.” Kranzler was patient with me, a neophyte collector, and enjoyed answering my many questions about his inventory. Besides who influenced me, there was what: I grew up on a farm in eastern Massachusetts. Much of my childhood was spent playing and working in our rundown barn. I was surrounded by wood in various stages of decay. I didn’t realize it then, but observing the old wood in that space made it easier for me later to determine the age and use of tribal wooden objects. TAM: You once mentioned another name to me … James Hooper, I believe. Who was he and why do you identify with him? CD: James Hooper was one of the foremost collectors of tribal art. He was able to acquire an exceptional collection of primarily Oceanic art, in part because of where he was (England) and when he collected (the 1920s–1960s). Although my collection is in no way as extensive as his, I do identify with his humble background. He was a sewer inspector; my father was a factory worker and we didn’t have much money. I worked summers as a gravedigger to help pay my college tuition. Both of us had to develop our own expertise since we were buying from sources that made no guarantees. Some of my best finds have come from flea markets, tag sales, and small antique auctions. When you’re spending your hard-earned money, you need to develop an instinct about what’s real and what’s fake.
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