georgeptng

What
The most common questions any
FOLLOWING ARE MY 5 CATEGORIES
AIRPORT ART�
I use this popular term

COLLECTORS' or ART MARKET ART�
This category includes items that
OLD/USED UTILITARTIAN PIECES
This group of items includes
OLD/USED CEREMONIAL PIECES
This is the most sought
FAKES, FRAUDS, AND MISREPRESENTED WORKS
This is the most reprehensible
THE BOTTOM LINE, WHEN ALL
It comes down to this:

Here are a few quotes from others regarding this subject:

I think objects made for sale are an underrated category, while old and patinated so-called authentic carvings are over estimated...older pieces are, in fact, rare and better sculptures although recent "inauthentic" carvings can be very beautiful and equally traditional with respect to style and content. I mean, they are made by the same people, based on the same traditions, using the same artistic idiom, aren't they?

Jac Hoogerbrugge in Tribal Art Traffic by Ray Corbey, 2000

 

Whether an object is "early" or "late," "used" or "not used" in an indigineous ritual context, is, I think, immaterial. It only matters whether the carving moves me...Anyway, why should Western artists be allowed to make things to sell but non-Western artists not be allowed to do the same? In my opinion, that's only the newest form of Western paternalism. If you ask me, it comes from being afraid to look with your own eyes.

Tijus Goldschmidt in Tribal Art Traffic by Ray Corbey, 2000

 

(Speaking of the beautiful Highlands shields) Western oil paint and all, I think such things are wonderful! Culture is a bubbling, living thing and not a fossil, as many patina-minded collectors would have it. Last but not least, there are aesthetic standards and the native makers themselves...how the people themselves see it is more important than how a collector or dealer somewhere else sees it.

Dirk Smidt in Tribal Art Traffic by Ray Corbey, 2000

 

...but nobody asks how authentic a malanangan sculpture from New Ireland is if it boasts a beautiful old label in German and was collected around 1890, given that, as is described by German sources, things were being produced for sale on a fairly large scale at that time...Pieces for export were often more richly decorated than was traditionally the case. Age is, of course, a relative concept: What is collected now will also be old in 100 years time. With regard to the future, I would recommend that quality be given attention when collecting, and that includes letting the local aesthetic standards play a role.

Dirk Smidt in Tribal Art Traffic by Ray Corbey, 2000

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