36 Global Masterworks in Dallas Museum of Art
36 Global Masterworks in
Dallas Museum of Art
Curated by Steven G. Alpert
The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is one of America's largest museums featuring dynamic international collections. It is located in the city's vibrant, innovative Arts District along with the Nasher Sculpture Garden, the Crow Museum of Asian Art, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The museum's holdings of Pre-Columbian and the Art of the Americas are of great renown, as is the African Art Collection. The Indonesia and Island Southeast Asian collection is often regarded as the world's finest small assemblage of this art on permanent exhibition.
Founded in 1903, the DMA experienced a meteoric rise in the post-1960's era to the present under the capable leadership of a cadre of excellent directors, curators, and the generosity and desire of the Dallas citizenry to build and enjoy a world-class museum. One individual, above all others, must always be acknowledged in this regard. Each of the collections mentioned above was propelled to international eminence due to the remarkable vision and philanthropy of Mrs. Margaret McDermott, her family, and the Eugene McDermott Fund. Mrs. McDermott took a keen interest in pursuing a global purview. She forged many meaningful friendships with prominent collectors of non-Western materials, who, in turn, inspired her intellectual curiosity and passion for collecting and showcasing the splendors of world art.
Some Pre-Columbian favorites included here are the museum's beautiful Olmec mask, a sublime seated jade figure, perhaps the greatest of all Mayan flints extant, a mesmeric Paracas mantle and a strikingly bold Inca tunic. The DMA also boasts an exceptional group of Inuit masks, including this complex one depicting a diving otter or seal. As well, there is a superb Haida carving that commingles the imagery of a raven and a frog with human faces in an exceptionally imaginative composition. Potent and iconic pieces also reinforce the African holdings of the museum. Some of those shown here include a breathtaking standing female Luba figure, an imposing Pre-Dogon female statue, a famous Senufo rhythm pounder, an older-style Baule seated figure, a sensitive Chokwe statue, classic Benin Kingdom items ranging from a bronze plaque to a king's ivory pendant, and a kneeling figure with a bowl by the master Yoruba carver known as Olowe of Ise.
The Indonesian and Island Southeast Asian collection can perhaps be best appreciated through the DMA's catalog on the subject, Eyes of the Ancestors, that incorporates numerous thought-provoking scholarly essays coupled with the exquisite photography of Brad Flowers. Items here include the finest surviving jaraik and figurative panel from Mentawai. The collection is also anchored by the two legendary and haunting riverine Dayak figures, a unique battle captain's bronze frontlet, and a pair of legs from a low lying table of a Kayan aristocratic chief in the form of sinuous mythical beasts (aso). The DMA also stewards seminal examples of Indonesian jewelry, textiles, statuary, and architectural elements that manifest the rare, soulful aestheticism of the region's most compelling artistry. For an inspired sense of power and protection, one has only to look at the ferocious magic bundle attached to a king's sword from the island of Nias, or the portrait-like quality of the central figure on a Batak datu's ritual staff intently staring back at its owner. From the Toraja people, there is arguably the most haunting of all tau-tau reliquary figures, along with the greatest surviving figurative house front from Mamasa. A pair of emotive Flores island figures seem alive and express a communicative force between the village and the ancestors. From Maluku, the fabled Spice Islands, the DMA displays a fabulous group of gold adornments, ancestor images, a shrine alter depicting the first female ancestor (luli), and one of four known Leti Island mouth masks. From Timor is a Tetun mask from Belu with a wild gaze and evocative shell eyes. Exemplary works from the textile realm include an extraordinary Lampung marriage skirt, a sublime queen's sarong sporting a giant manta ray from the village of Pau in East Sumba, and what is perhaps the most elegant royal skirt from the Belu region of Timor, depicting protective lizards from the netherworld in shimmering tones set on a ground of rich organic color.
This Indonesian collection, while modest in terms of the quantity of pieces, provides a quintessential introduction to the art of the region's local traditions. The assemblage was initiated and encouraged by Mrs. McDermott and the McDermott Fund, supplemented in turn by numerous donors including Raymond and Patsy Nasher and the Nasher Family, William and Sally Estes, The Dallas Indonesian Community, Diane and Andyan Rahardja, Dr. Reimar Schefold and Dr. Jet Bakels, Dr. Ben Tursch, and my own family. The collection was gradually built over a period of nearly forty years. In 1994, the Indonesian Government bestowed on the DMA the status of being "a designated center for the dissemination of Indonesian art and culture in the U.S." When the museum reopens, we look forward to our readers visiting the DMA, strolling through the exciting exhibits there, as we continue to also present more of the museum's Indonesian and Island Southeast Asia collection for our readership here on Art of the Ancestors.
— Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors
1
Vaunted Ancestor Figure
Mamasa, Toraja peoples
Sulawesi, Indonesia
Early 20th century
2001.269.McD
2
Standing Female Figure (Rhythm Pounder)
Senufo peoples
West Africa
19th - 20th century
1974.SC.15
3
Standing Guardian Figure | Tepatung
Bahau peoples
Borneo
16th - 19th century
2001.268.McD
4
Pair of Mythical Animal Table Legs | Aso
Kayanic peoples
Borneo
19th century
1995.34.1
5
Tutelary Figure
Wehea Modang or Pre-Modang peoples
Borneo
17th century or later
2001.267.McD
6
Mouth Mask | Luhulei
Leti peoples
Maluku, Indonesia
19th century
1997.141.McD
7
Ivory Carving of Raven, Crouching Figure, and Masks
Haida peoples
North America
19th century
1977.28.McD
8
Seated Jade Figure in Ritual Pose
Olmec peoples
Mesoamerica
900 – 500 BCE
1983.50
9
Sacred Carving with Monkey Skull | Jaraik
Mentawai, Indonesia
c. 1930
2001.265.McD
10
Woman’s Ceremonial Sarong | Lau Pahudu
Sumba, Indonesia
19th century
1983.94
11
Standing Female Figure
Pre-Dogon, Djenennke/Soninke
West Africa
11th - 13th century
1974.SC.1
12
Ivory Waist Pendant
Edo peoples, Benin Kingdom Court Style
Nigeria
18th century
1994.201.McD
13
Equestrian Figure
Senufo peoples
West Africa
Late 19th - early 20th century
1974.SC.14
14
Memorial Wall Panel with Figure of Headhunting Victim | Simoinang Tulangan Sirimanua
Mentawai, Indonesia
c. 1900
1999.3
15
Warrior’s Headdress Ornament | Tap Lavong Kayo
Kayanic peoples
Borneo
19th century or earlier
1994.248
16
Ceremonial Skirt | Tapis
Paminggir peoples
Lampung, Indonesia
19th century
1983.67
17
Seated Male Figure
Baule peoples
Côte d'Ivoire
1875 – 1900
1994.200.McD
18
Luang Shrine Figure | Luli
Maluku, Indonesia
19th century
1999.181.McD
19
Lidded Bowl with a Man Riding a Peccary
Mayan peoples
Mesoamerica
250 - 550 CE
1972.10.A-B
20
Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan
Toba Batak peoples
North Sumatra, Indonesia
19th century or earlier
2001.266.McD
21
Seated Man and Woman
Jalisco
Mesoamerica
100 BCE – 200 CE
1973.58
22
Ceremonial Tumi
Sicán (Lambayeque)
Andes, South America
900 – 1100 CE
1976.W.535
23
Ritual Container in the form of a Male Figure
Chokwe peoples
Central and Southern Africa
19th century
1969.S.8.A-B
24
Chief’s Sword | Balatu Sala
South Nias, Indonesia
Late 19th - early 20th century
25
Funerary Figure | Tau-Tau
Sa'dan Toraja peoples
Sulawesi, Indonesia
19th century or earlier
1980.2.McD
26
Women’s Tubular Garment | Tais Feto
Tetum peoples
Timor, Indonesia
19th century
1983.106
27
Kneeling Female Figure with Bowl | Olumeye
Yoruba peoples
Nigeria
c. 1910 – c. 1938
2004.16.McD
28
Ceremonial Mask
Sícan (Lambayeque)
Andes, South America
900 – 1100 CE
1969.1.McD
29
Mask with Seal or Sea Otter Spirit
Yup’ik peoples
The Arctic (North Pacific Rim)
Late 19th century
1976.50
30
Mantle with Condors
Paracas
Andes, South America
300 – 100 BCE
1972.4.McD
31
Jadeite Mask
Olmec peoples
Mesoamerica
900 – 500 BCE
1973.17
32
Standing Female Figure
Luba peoples
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Late 19th - early 20th century
1969.S.96
33
Flint Depicting a Crocodile Canoe with Passengers
Mayan peoples
Mesoamerica
600 – 900 CE
1983.45.McD
34
Pair of Male and Female Ancestor Figures | Ana Deo
Ngada peoples
Flores, Indonesia
Late 19th century - 20th century
2001.270.2.McD
2001.270.1.McD
35
Black-and-White Checkerboard Tunic
Inca (Inka)
Andes, South America
1400 – 1540
1995.32.McD
36
Ceremonial Mask | Biola
Tetun peoples
Timor, Indonesia
19th century
1994.254
All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of Dallas Museum of Art.
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