The 109 page
exhibition catalogue has over 110 color and 9 duotone photographs.
Essays discuss headrests, dolls, courtship beadwork panels, beadwork,
Zulu utilitarian objects, adornment, staffs and spears.
A significant
portion of the exhibition's artworks hail from the superb collection of
southeast African art amassed in the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries by Charles Newberry (1841-1922), founder of the privately
owned Prynnsberg Estate and Museum in Ciocolan, South Africa. During
Newberry's lifetime this museum was open to the public, but it fell into
neglect after his death. In 1996, many of the objects prized by Newberry
were brought to the United States through the foresight of Edward M.
Smith and Wilhelmina Wilkie-Smith, who were able to purchase the
Prynnsberg Estate's entire holdings of African art prior to Sotheby's
public auction in March 1996. The purchase of this collection in its
entirety by the Smiths' Sana Art Foundation (formerly the Edward M.
Smith Family Art Foundation) ensured that Charles Newberry's vision
would remain intact for future generations.
The early
Prynnsburg objects were gathered from the Zulu, Xhosa, Venda, Sotho,
Ndebele, Tsonga, Northern Nguni, and related peoples. In the "Asking for
Eyes" exhibition, Newberry's choices have been combined with other
southeast African arts from the extensive collection of the Sana
Foundation. These add chronological depth to this ongoing exhibition, as
they include not only material from the nineteenth century and early
colonial period, but also artworks created for the global market during
the late twentieth century. Among these are tantalizing sculptures by
emerging contemporary artists from the region.
"Asking for Eyes"
takes its title from the Xhosa proverb ucel amehlo, which
translates as he is asking for eyes (an audience), referring to
someone who is asking for esteem and admiration. Because the artistic
activity of Southeast Africa reveals the cultural and spiritual
aspirations of a people whose art has long been misunderstood and
neglected, this exhibition seeks admiration for the creative production
of this aesthetically-rich region. It asks for an audience to open its
eyes and minds, to experience the private and communal life of a people
through their art, which is deeply rooted in sacred rituals and social
traditions. Though often unnamed and therefore unrecognized
individually, the collective efforts of the artists presented in this
exhibition reveal the work of an extraordinary people whose physical
existence and spiritual sustenance are dependent upon their artistic
achievements.
When people think
of African art, they often think of masks and wooden figures. However,
the art of southern Africa is very different. Due in part to their
nomadic history, the artistic creativity of the indigenous population
continues to be rooted in more portable items, such as headrests, dolls,
ear plugs, wood and clay vessels, ceramic sculptures, staffs, pipes,
wire basketry and a variety of unique snuff containers created from a
diversity of materials including wood, gourd, metal, ceramic, ivory,
bone and animal intestine. In addition to smaller sculptural objects,
there is also an emphasis on elaborate ceremonial attire that includes
inventive manipulations of beadwork, animal hides, plant fibers, metal
studs, bottle caps, buttons and bike reflectors. "Asking for Eyes"
contains over 100 fine examples of Southeast African art that date from
the nineteenth through the late twentieth century.
Price: $40.00 plus
postage.
