Taasa Review Josefa Green the ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY of AUSTRALIA INC
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VOLUME 19 NO. 2 JUNE 2010 the journal of the asian arts society of australia TAASA Review SOUTHEAST ASIAN ANCESTRAL ART c o n t E n t s Volume 19 No. 2 June 2010 3 Editorial: SouthEaSt AsiaN aNcestraL art taasa rEVIEw Josefa Green THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC. ABN 64093697537 • Vol. 19 No. 2, June 2010 ISSN 1037.6674 4 lifE, dEath and Magic: 2000 YEars of southEast asian ancEstral art registered by australia post. publication No. NbQ 4134 Robyn Maxwell EditorIAL • email: [email protected] 7 BEadwork of island southEast asia General editor, Josefa Green Hwei-F’en Cheah puBlications committee 9 ancEstors in thE architEcturE: indigEnous art froM taiwan Josefa Green (convenor) • Tina Burge Melanie Eastburn • Sandra Forbes • Ann MacArthur Lucie Folan Jim Masselos • Ann Proctor • Susan Scollay Sabrina Snow • Christina Sumner 11 splEndour for thE ancEstors – thE sculpture and gold of nias dEsign/laYout Niki van den Heuvel Ingo Voss, VossDesign printing 13 Small and potEnt – fishing charMs and the MElanau of BornEo John Fisher Printing Charlotte Galloway published by the asian arts Society of australia inc. 14 portraits froM india 1850s – 1950s pO box 996 potts point NSw 2011 Anne O’Hehir www.taasa.org.au Enquiries: [email protected] 17 in thE puBlic doMain: a NEw DiSpLay at thE NationaL Museum Of caMbodia TAASA Review is published quarterly and is distributed to members Oun Phalline and Martin Polkinghorne of the asian arts Society of australia inc. TAASA Review welcomes submissions of articles, notes and reviews on asian visual and 18 cultural EncountErs: thE rEvErsE gaze of kutch painting performing arts. all articles are refereed. additional copies and subscription to TAASA Review are available on request. Jim Masselos No opinion or point of view is to be construed as the opinion of 21 Book rEviEw: EthNic JEwellery and Adornment the asian arts Society of australia inc., its staff, servants or agents. No claim for loss or damage will be acknowledged by TAASA Janet Mansfield Review as a result of material published within its pages or in other material published by it. we reserve the right to alter 22 Batik of Java: PoEtics and Politics. Caloundra Regional Art GallEry Touring ExhiBition or omit any article or advertisements submitted and require Maria Wronska-Friend indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published. 24 collEctor’s choicE: a pair Of Kenyah BelawiNg Poles from Borneo all reasonable efforts have been made to trace copyright holders. Michael Heppell TAASA MEMBErship ratEs 26 travEllEr’s TalE: a SEACS Study Tour Of hiStOric Kiln Sites iN FujiaN and JiNgdezhen $60 Single $90 Dual Linda McLaren $90 Single overseas (includes postage) $30 Concession (students/pensioners with ID) 29 RecEnt taasa activitiEs $95 Libraries (overseas, $95 + $20 postage) $195 Corporate/institutional (up to 10 employees) 29 TAASA Members’ diarY $425 Corporate/institutional (more than 10 employees) $650 Life membership (free admission all events) 30 what’s on: June - August 2010 advErtising ratEs Compiled by Tina Burge TAASA Review welcomes advertisements from appropriate companies, institutions and individuals. Rates below are GST inclusive. Back page $850 Full inner page $725 Half page horizontal $484 Third page (vertical or horizontal) $364 Half column $265 Insert $300 For further information re advertising, including discounts for regular quarterly advertising, please contact nagé ancEstral horsE with two ridErs [Jara hEda], iNDONESia, 19th cENtUry Or EarLiEr, [email protected] wOOD, 120.0 x 320.0 x 50.0 cM, NatiONaL gaLLEry Of AustraLia, caNbErra the dEadline for all articlEs fOr our next issue iS 1 JULy 2010 A full indEx of articlEs puBlishEd in TAASA Review since its BEginnings the dEadline for all advErtising in 1991 is availaBle on thE taasa web sitE, www.taasa.org.au fOr our next issue iS 1 aUgUSt 2010 2 t a a s a c o mm i t t ee E d i t o r i a l : S ou t h E a S t a S i a N a N c es t r a L a r t Judith ruthErford • president Josefa Green, Editor Collector and specialist in Chinese textiles gill green • VicE president Art historian specialising in Cambodian culture This issue celebrates the much awaited the use of fishing charms carved in wood or ann guild • TREaSUrEr exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia ivory by the Malanau of Borneo. Charlotte Former Director of the Embroiders Guild (UK) (NGA), opening in August. Articles in this Galloway, Lecturer in Art History at the KATE JOHNSTON • SECRETARY issue are devoted to exploring facets of Life, ANU, points out that amulets, fetishes and Intellectual property lawyer with death and magic: 2000 Years of Southeast Asian charms were widely used in Borneo for an interest in Asian textiles ancestral art. personal protection but are now quite rare hwEi-fE’n chEah as they were generally disposed of with their Lecturer, Art History, Australian National University, Robyn Maxwell, Senior Curator of Asian with an interest in needlework deceased owners. Art at the NGA, presents highlights of the JOCElYn chEY Visiting Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, exhibition, which encompasses animist Other articles continue the Southeast Asian art University of Sydney; former diplomat sculpture, textiles and gold. The NGA’s core theme. Readers will be interested to know that Matt cox collection will be joined by contributions the West Mebon Vishnu, the Khmer bronze Study Room Co-ordinator, Art Gallery of New South from major European collections: the figure covered in our September 2006 issue, Wales, with a particular interest in Islamic Art of Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, the Barbier- has been newly installed in a spectacular Southeast Asia Mueller Museum in Geneva and the Dutch setting at the National Museum of Cambodia. philip courtEnaY National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, We hear the details from the Director of Former Professor and Rector of the Cairns Campus, James Cook University, with a special interest in as well as contributions from US, Indonesian the Museum, Oun Phalline, and Martin Southeast Asian ceramics and local collections. Polkinghorne, who specialises in Khmer art. sandra forbes Editorial consultant with long-standing interest Common themes bind animist based ancestral An exhibition with a batik theme at the in South and Southeast Asian art art across Southeast Asia. It serves a religious Caloundra Regional Art Gallery in Queensland, JosEfa green function, communicating with and harnessing curated and discussed in this issue by Maria General editor of TAASA Review. Collector of Chinese the power of the spiritual world to maintain Wronska-Friend, will juxtapose a significant ceramics, with long-standing interest in East Asian art as student and traveller order, achieve prosperity and bolster the private collection of Javanese batik textiles gERALDINE hardMAN power of elites. A shared belief in the powerful with an exhibition of works from Dadang Collector of Chinese furniture and Burmese lacquerware interventionist spirit of nature and the dead Christanto, which use batik to evoke memories Min-JUNG KIM provides much of the impetus for and the of a traumatic past. Janet Mansfield offers Curator of Asian Arts & Design at the Powerhouse Museum power of this art tradition, whether expressed armchair pleasure with her book review of a ann proctor in the decorations found on utilitarian objects splendidly illustrated publication on “Ethnic Art historian with a particular interest in Vietnam or used in ceremony and ritual. Jewellery and Adornment” by Truus Dalder. ann roBERTS Art consultant specialising in Chinese The ceremonial function of beadwork, a Finally, Michael Heppell entertains us with ceramics and works of art less well-known aspect of Southeast Asia’s his account of transporting two 6 metre long SABrina snow rich textile traditions, is explored by Hwei- belawing poles from Kalimantan Timur, Has a long association with the Art Gallery of New Fe’n Cheah, Lecturer in Art History at the Indonesia to a suburban Melbourne backyard. South Wales and a particular interest in the arts of China ANU. Beadwork was executed by men and is CHRISTINA SUMnEr associated with the male sphere. Combined On another theme, Anne O’Hehir, NGA Principal Curator, Design and Society, Assistant Curator of Photography, discusses a Powerhouse Museum, Sydney on cloth and clothing - “soft” textiles made by new display of photographs from India at the hon. auditor women - beadwork symbolically connected the Rosenfeld Kant and Co male and female spheres and held protective NGA, drawn from its extensive Asia-Pacific collection. She explores the way in which s t a t E r E p r E s E n t a t i v E s powers associated with fertility and wealth. Indian painting traditions and the imported AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Lucie Folan, Curator of Asian Art at the NGA, modern medium of photography intersected robyn MaxwEll discusses ancestor imagery created by two major in the 19th century. The display coincides Visiting Fellow in Art History, ANU; Senior Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia indigenous Taiwanese groups, the Paiwan and with a major international conference “Facing Yami. These are found on impressively carved Asia” on Asian studio photography to be held NORTHERN TERRITORY house posts and panels, ceremonial staffs and on 21-22 August. Details of this conference Joanna BarrkMan Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture, canoes and serve to honour ancestors and can be found on p28. Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory pacify hostile spiritual forces. The exhibition Jim Masselos’ article on Kutch painting QUEENSLAND will display the largest and most representative from the later 1700s explores similar issues, suhanYa raffEl collection of indigenous Taiwanese art ever Head of Asian and Pacific Art, Queensland Art Gallery shown in Australia.