Ancient World(s)

Exhibition catalogues, printed matter, and related documents concerned with the art, material culture, and visual forms of ancient and indigenous civilisations across the Americas, Oceania, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Mayan, Olmec, Pre-Columbian, New Guinea, Islamic, Indian, and related traditions: objects that have passed through collection, museum, catalogue, and circulation, and whose printed afterlives are part of their history.

  • `Kunst uit Nieuw Guinea — exhibition catalogue front cover, 1963. Cream wraps with orange letterpress title lower right: "kunst uit nieuw guinea". Left: black and white photograph of a tall carved wooden ancestor figure (bis pole or similar), with a stylised face, open-work body, and flame-like projections at the crown. Age toning and handling wear throughout. `Kunst uit Nieuw Guinea, 1963 — interior plate. Black and white photograph of catalogue no. 43: a carved wooden ancestor figure, open-work construction with a large rounded head, hollow oval torso, and elongated pendant legs. Dark patinated surface. Photographed against cream ground.

    Kunst uit Nieuw Guinea — Museum Fodor / Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1963

    Kunst uit Nieuw Guinea — Museum Fodor / Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1963

  • `Animals in Pre-Columbian Art — André Emmerich Gallery, New York — exhibition catalogue front cover. Black and white photograph of a Pre-Columbian ceramic effigy vessel: a squat, four-legged jar with a zoomorphic face — wide-set eyes, open mouth with teeth, and stubby limbs — on a grey ground. Yellow Strand Bookstore price sticker upper right ($15.00). Title in black sans-serif at foot: "ANIMALS IN PRE-COLUMBIAN ART".` `Animals in Pre-Columbian Art — André Emmerich Gallery — interior plate. Two catalogue entries. Top: Cat. no. 6, Owl, Mochica, North Coast of Peru, ca. 300 B.C.–A.D. 100. Cream and light brown pottery stirrup-spout vessel in the form of a seated owl with incised feather detail, 7" high. Bottom: Cat. no. 7, Female seal with cub, and mate, Mochica I, North Coast of Peru, ca. 500–200 B.C. Two dark grey pottery stirrup-spout vessels modelled as seals, 6½" and 7" high.`

    Animals in Pre-Columbian Art — André Emmerich Inc., New York, 1965

    Animals in Pre-Columbian Art — André Emmerich Inc., New York, 1965