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Toi Art
WELLINGTON—In March of 2018, twenty years after
its creation, New Zealand’s Te Papa Tongarewa Museum
will inaugurate a major new gallery space called Toi Art.
Turangawaewae: Art and New Zealand is one of the four
inaugural exhibitions that will christen the space. It will
bring together nearly 100 pieces drawn from the museum’s
collections and dating from the eighteenth century
to modern times, augmented with works by other contemporary
artists, both Maori and from other parts of the
Pacific. The show seeks to address issues of “Who are the
New Zealanders, and where do they come from as individuals,
as New Zealanders, and as a nation?” It not only
questions notions of belonging to this land, but it offers
different visions of the ways in which art can help New
Zealanders find their place. Turangawaewae identifies the
communities, loci, and ideas central to the sense of belonging.
Through painting, sculpture, and photography,
it explores the questions of art, identity, and intercultural
exchange. New Zealand artists represented include Rita
Angus, Colin McCahon, Shane Cotton, Gottfried Lindauer,
Len Lye, and Robyn Kahukiwa.
RIGHT: Louis John Steele
(1842–1918), Portrait of a
Young Maori Woman with
Moko, 1891.
Oil on canvas. 39.5 x 49.3 cm.
Acquired in 1995, Ellen Eames
Collection Funds, Te Papa Tongarewa.
Indians
PRAGUE—The Náprstek Museum is holding an exhibition
devoted to the indigenous peoples of the Americas
through September 1, 2018. Indians brings together objects
collected by Czech explorers and researchers, supported
by large-scale photographs and audio and video
clips. The show’s first section acquaints visitors with
North America through displays focusing on the buffalo
hunt of the Great Plains, the geometric pottery designs
and the secret ceremonies of the Pueblos, Navajo jewelry,
and the hunter-gatherer culture of the Iroquois. Also
included here are Inuit objects, including their signature
kayaks, igloos, and hooded parkas.
The show’s second part is devoted to the past and
present cultures of South America. It examines the road
to El Dorado, the mythical land imagined by the European
conquistadors, and the very real discoveries of archaeological
sites in the Andes and at Lake Guatavita.
Included is a recreation of the coronation of a new leader.
Indians expounds upon the history, lives, and spiritual
practices of the native peoples of two American continents,
using artworks largely unfamiliar to most viewers.
ABOVE: Feather headdress.
Lakota, Western Plains,
United States.
Second half of the 19th
century.
Náprstek Museum, Prague.
BELOW: Installation view of
the North American gallery
at the Náprstek Museum in
Prague.
Courtesy of the Náprstek Museum,
Prague.
RIGHT: Wolf mask. Noochah
nuulth, Vancouver
Island, British Columbia.
Collected in 1909.
Náprstek Museum, Prague.