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Curator's Picks: June 17 Ethnographic Art American Indian, Pre-Columbian and Tribal Art Signature® Auction
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Delia's Picks
Delia Sullivan | Vice President and Director of Ethnographic Art
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I very rarely use superlatives in my titles, but for this lot I pulled out all the stops! This magnificent belt by Alaskan native Denise Wallace is special for a few reasons. The belt, which features ten female figures, each from a different Native culture, can be deconstructed and each component including the moon faces and babies can be worn individually, as a pendant. To boot, many of the figures have hands that swing open revealing a different surface including intricate garments beneath. This feature of Wallace’s work is in keeping with the transformations found in traditional masks from her part of the world.
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I find Tapirapé cara grande masks startlingly original. I find nothing quite like them in world art. They do not simply cover the face; they turn it into a great burst of color and pattern. The effect is part mask, part sculpture, and part abstract geometric painting in feathers. The artistic invention is extraordinary: a bold design in a palette of vibrant domestic macaw and parrot feathers, and a scale (52 inches) that feels both theatrical and ceremonial. What impresses me most is how modern they look, while remaining deeply rooted in Tapirapé ritual life.
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To me, this Dan mask is exceptional for its rarity and for the dramatic way the face is carved. The features push in and out of the surface. The forehead, nose, eyes, and lips are cut in sharp, forceful planes rather than soft forms. This gives the mask a powerful sculptural presence. Just as remarkable is the woven and braided fiber headdress, which survives in unusually intact condition. It is not just an accessory. Unlike many African masks now separated from the rest of the ceremonial costume, this example preserves the full effect of the head as it would have appeared in a ceremonial context. The long provenance, museum history, and repeated exhibition and publication record add another level of importance. It stands among the most distinguished examples of its type.
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This gold manta ray pendant is a wonderful example of how closely ancient Central American goldsmiths observed the natural world. What I find especially striking is that it isn't a flat emblem; it feels alive, almost as if the creature is lifting and gliding through water. The broad fins, the long tapering tail, and the two ribbed projections at the front all come from real observation, yet the artist turns them into something more elegant and ceremonial. I especially like the contrast between the lace-like open scrollwork and the quieter, flatter gold surfaces, because that back-and-forth gives the pendant movement, lightness, and visual rhythm. It also reminds me that these artists were looking not only at animals around them, but at sea creatures whose forms must have
seemed mysterious and powerful.
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Obsidian is a hard, brittle, unforgiving material, and I am always impressed when an ancient carver, using stone tools, controls it with this much precision. The face has been reduced to a few powerful elements: the sharply projecting nose, the deep recessed eyes, and the small mouth, all set into a lustrous black surface that is very difficult to capture fully in a photograph. In person, the polished surface has a quiet, reflective depth that gives the mask much more presence than the printed or on-screen image can show. I also appreciate that it comes from the Wally and Brenda Zollman Collection, formed in Indianapolis during the early years of American collecting of Pre-Columbian art, from the 1950s through the 1970s, the collection documented in the important book
The Face of Ancient America.
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