• Articles
    • A4
    • Æquatoria
    • Africa
    • Africa Tervuren
    • African Archeology
    • African Arts
    • American Indian
    • Anthropos
    • Arts d'Afrique Noire
    • Archiv für Voelkerkunde
    • Arqueologia Mexicana
    • Arts & Cultures
    • Bureau of American Ethnology
    • CNRS
    • French Societies
    • German Museums
    • Ghana National Museum
    • Hali
    • Italian Publications
    • Nigerian Publications
    • Objets et Mondes
    • Pacific Arts
    • Paideuma
    • Polynesian Society
    • Sudan Notes & Records
    • Tanzania Notes & Records
    • Tribal Art
  • Books
    • Early Writings
    • Important works
    • Works by Louis Tauxier
    • Recent books
    • My Readings
    • My Library
    • Art of the Amazon
    • Art of Africa
  • Catalogues
    • Catalogues of 2020
    • Catalogues of 2019
    • Catalogues of 2018
    • Catalogues of 2017
    • Catalogues of 2016
    • Catalogues of 2015
    • Catalogues of 2014
    • Catalogues prior to 2014
  • Objects
    • European Museums
    • American & Australian Museums
    • Auction houses

Art of the Amazon


Tribal Art Reference

 

 

A friend a mine asked me for books on the arts of the Amazon, and especially the feather headdresses and masks. So, I went through my library and here is my selection.

PS: by clicking on the title or the picture, you will be redirected to the www.abebook.com website, where you can purchase that book.

 

If you want to have just one book on the topic, it has to be:

BRAUN, Barbara (ed.), Arts of the Amazon, London: Thames & Hudson, 1995.

It really covers the whole topic with a bounty of colour photographs; moreover it is cheap and easy to find!

 

 

 

If you are looking for something a bit more encyclopaedic and focused on the feathers, there is the excellent:

VƐLGER, Gisela und Ursula DYCKERHOFF,Federarbeiten der Indianer SĂŒdamerikas aus der Sammlung Horst Antes, Stuttgart: Oktagon, 1994.

It is actually the catalogue of the extensive collection of the contemporary German artist Horst Antes, which was shown at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of Cologne and the Reiß Museum of Mannheim.

 

 

 

In terms of huge coffee table books, the elephant folio

MOURÃO, Noemia, Arte plumária e mascaras de dança dos Índios brasileiros, São Paulo: Artes gráficas bradesco, 1971

is unbeatable. It has 69 plates of watercolours by Noemia MourĂŁo depicting adornments of the Brazilian Indians.

 

 

 

The most recent one is

WASTIAU, Boris, Amazonie. Le chamane et la pensĂ©e de la forĂȘt, GenĂšve: MusĂ©e Ethnographique de GenĂšve, 2016

It is together an exhibition catalogue, rich on the feather ornaments, and an essay on the role of the shaman and on the destructions by the white people of the forest and the culture..

 

 

 

More focused on the ethnography and the meaning of these feather works (and also on the birds used for them), is

REINA, Ruben E. & Kenneth M. KENSINGER, The Gift of Birds. Featherwork of Native South American Peoples, Philadelphia: The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1991.

 

 

 

Much less well known than the featherwork, are the bark and wood masks. As far as I know, the reference for these is

HARTMANN, GĂŒnther, Masken sĂŒdamerikanischer Naturvölker, Berlin: Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde, 1967.

 

 

 

And then there are the infamous shrunken heads. A book for collectors on the topic (including the making of fakes !) is the slightly gruesome

CASTNER, James L., Shrunken Heads. Tsantsa Trophies and Human Exotica, Gainesville, FL,: Feline Press, 2002.

 

 

 

I now list a number of exhibition or museum catalogues that are very well done but are more limited in scope than the previous ones :

Invisible People: Arts of the Amazon. The Meckler Collection, Fresno, CA: Fresno Art Museum, 1992

AIMI, Antonio, La civiltà e i popoli dell’Amazzonia, La Spezia: Fratelli Melita, 1992

BECKER-DONNER, Etta, Brasiliens Indianer, Wien: Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde, s.d.

HELBIG, Jörg (hrsg.), Brasilianische Reise 1817-1820. Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius zum 200. Geburtstag, MĂŒnchen: Hirmer, 1994

LOMMEL, Andreas, Indianer vom Amazonas, MĂŒnchen: Staatliches Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde, 1960

SCHOEPF, Daniel, L’art de la plume. Indiens du BrĂ©sil, GenĂšve : MusĂ©e d’Ethnographie, 1985

SEILER-BALDINGER, Annemarie, Indianer im Tiefland SĂŒdamerikas. FĂŒhrer durch das Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde und Schweizerische Museum fĂŒr Volkskunde Basel, 1987

 

There are few monographies on the art of a specific region or ethnic group but I can recommend:

HERZOG-SCHRƐDER, Gabrielle und Stephan ANDREAE (hrsg.), Orinoko-Parima. Indianische Geselschaften aus Venezuela. Die Sammlung Cisneros, Bonn: Kunst- und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1999

 

VERSWIJVER, Gustaaf, KaiapĂł, Amazonie. Plumes et peintures corporelles, Tervuren: MusĂ©e Royal de l’Afrique centrale, 1992 that includes as well, unannounced on the title page, an essay by Viviane BAEKE on the body paintings of Africa !

 

GRUPIONI,Luis Donisete Benzi Brésil indien. Les arts des Amérindiens du Brésil, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2005

 

Culture Artisanat Wayana, Maripasoula : Association CAWAY, 1990

BALDUS, Herbert, Tapirape. Tribo tupi no Brasil Central, Sao Paulo: Compania Editora Nacional, 1970

 

Finally, I have to mention a favourite a mine :

 

 

STEWARD, Julian H., Handbook of South American Indians, Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology in 6 volumes. It is obviously dated but as it is extremely detailed and includes numerous drawings of objects, I still find it fascinating. On the Amazon part of the continent, you have to refer to volume I: The Marginal Tribes of 1946, which covers i.a. the Indians of the ParanĂ  delta, of the Gran Chaco and of Eastern Brazil and to volume III: The Tropical Forest Tribes of 1945 from Bolivia up to the Guyanas.

 

© Christophe Evers 2012-