Daughters of India: Photographs by Stephen P. Huyler March 29, 2009 to September 13, 2009 For a country as vast and paradoxical as India, it is impossible to generalize about the role of women in society. Worshiped as shakti, oppressed as chattel—these seeming contradictions have left many Western observers stumbling into stereotypes and misunderstanding. In Daughters of India, photographer Stephen P. Huyler celebrates the strength, courage, resourcefulness, and creativity of Indian women from a wide variety of backgrounds. Notably, artistic creativity plays an important part in the lives of many of the women, as they express themselves and address others through paintings, sculpture, embroidery, and the creation of decorative elements in their households (including kolam or rice flower drawings executed on the ground in front of their homes). For others, the full force of their creativity is brought to bear simply in overcoming the severe obstacles presented by poverty, caste prejudice, and other hardships. Taken together, these sensitive photographs form intimate portrayals of the lives, activities, and rituals of these remarkable Indian “everywomen.”
The Fowler Museum thanks Stephen P. Huyler for providing his images for Daughters of India, also featured in a new publication of the same name. The accompanying programs have been made possible by the Yvonne Lenart Public Public Programs Fund and Manus, the support group for the Fowler Museum.
Fowler in Focus: Masks of Sri Lanka March 1, 2009 to August 30, 2009 Brightly painted wooden masks transform Sri Lankan dancers into specific characters that appear in curing rituals or popular entertainment. Ranging from comical to fierce, these unusual masks have long played an important role in performance genres that were created through the mixing of local indigenous religious traditions with strains of Buddhism and Hinduism originally imported from the Indian mainland in the first millennium BCE. The Fowler Museum collections include the most important assemblage of nineteenth and early twentieth century Sri Lankan masks in North America. Fowler in Focus: Masks of Sri Lanka presents twenty-five of these rare masks, as well as newly produced masks representing Singhaya (lion) and Mahasona (Great Graveyard Spirit) in full costume.
Developed in collaboration with David Blundell, associate professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan and consultants in Matara, Southern Province, Sri Lanka: Conrad Ranawake, Institute for the Development of Community Strengths, and A. V. S. Ranasinghe, Sri Lanka Mask and Dance Ensemble. The accompanying programs are made possible through the Sri Lanka Foundation and the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund.
"An unparalleled object lesson in a particular moment of art history, a breathtaking display of human visual invention, and one of the most moving and aesthetically revolutionary painting shows, Western, non-Western, whatever—I've ever seen." Doug Harvey, LA Weekly, June 26, 2009
In 1971–1972 a group of Australian Aboriginal men began transferring their sacred ceremonial designs to pieces of masonite boards in the tiny settlement of Papunya. This is the first exhibition to focus on this crucial founding moment of Papunya art, which has a unique status in the history of Western Desert painting. Since then Australian Aboriginal art has grown into an extremely popular international phenomenon and has been widely exhibited and acquired by museums, galleries and collectors. Icons of the Desert brings together forty-nine extraordinary paintings—including some of the earliest and finest boards—as well as later works, created by leading Papunya artists Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, and Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, among others.
The exhibition and catalogue were organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, with the generous support of the Actus Foundation, New York, NY. The exhibition was curated by Roger Benjamin, Research Professor in Art History, Actus Foundation Lecturer in Aboriginal Art, Power Institute University of Sydney.
The Los Angeles presentation is made possible through the generosity of the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles and the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund and Australia's Northern Territory.
Funding for the accompanying programs is provided by the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, The Kelton Foundation, and Manus, the support group for the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Hotel Angeleno is the official Hotel Sponsor of Icons of the Desert.
The spectacular flourishing of Australian Aboriginal painting after the mid 1970s is one of the most important developments of twentieth century art. Innovations in Western Desert Painting, 1972-1999: Selections from The Kelton Foundation explores changes such as the move to canvas, the use of non-traditional colors, transformations in content with regard to sacred imagery, the maturation of personal styles by individual artists, and the recognition of women artists. The exhibition begins with enormous canvases by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Johnny Warangula Tjupurrula, and Anatjari Tjakamarra, three of the founding fathers of the movement. These stunning works have rarely been seen in the U.S. Works by two women artists, Pansy Napangati and Gabrielle Possum Nungurrayi, conclude the exhibition with the vibrant color palettes that came into use in the 1990s. The exhibition provides a highly informative companion installation to Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya, which focuses primarily on the earliest years of the movement from its inception in 1971.
This exhibition was produced in association with The Kelton Foundation and was guest curated by Richard Kelton, Kerry Smallwood, and Marcus de Chevrieux. The accompanying programs have been made possible by the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, The Kelton Foundation, and Manus, the support group for the Fowler Museum.
View video and digital film works by five contemporary artists with deep connections to Africa— Yto Barrada, Cláudia Cristóvão, Alfredo Jaar, Georgia Papageorge and Berni Searle—shown in Los Angeles for the first time. Each offers a visually seductive exploration of geology, geography, botany, memory, exile, or loss, especially as these areas of inquiry relate to a world that is simultaneously globalizing and fragmenting. In these compelling works the medium is itself a bearer of meaning. Through the moving image and its ability to create relationships between past and present, space and place, memory and absence, each artist addresses lives in transition and rifts of experience.
Continental Rifts is curated by Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts. Major support is provided by the CAA College Art Association, FLAX Foundation (France Los Angeles Exchange) in collaboration with French Cultural Services, and the Joy and Jerry Monkarsh Family Foundation. Additional support is generously provided by the Directorate-General for the Arts/Ministry of Culture, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
The accompanying programs are made possible through the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, the Jerome L. Joss Fund, the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies and Manus, the support group for the Fowler Museum. This exhibition was selected as the CAA College Art Association 2009 Annual Exhibition.
Transformations features two spectacular, large-scale metal “tapestries” by celebrated artist El Anatsui, as well as important paintings, prints and sculptures by Viyé Diba, Yelimane Fall, Norman Kaplan, Wosene Kosrof, Azaria Mbatha, Moussa Tine and Durant Sihlali, all recently acquired as part of the Fowler’s ongoing commitment to exploring the vast range of African artistic expression.
Funding for the accompanying programs was provided by the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, and Manus, the support group for the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Iraqi Marshlands Then and Now: Photographs by Nik Wheeler December 14, 2008 to March 22, 2009 Commonly known as "Marsh Arabs," the people of the Iraqi marsh region lived on man-made islands in remarkable buildings crafted from locally grown reeds, creating beautiful vernacular architecture captured in Nik Wheeler's photographs from the mid-1970s. In the aftermath of the first Gulf War, the marshes and this way of life were nearly annihilated. Efforts are now underway to rehabilitate a portion of the marshlands, and recent photographs by Mudhafar Salim show some of the early results.
Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda August 24, 2008 to March 15, 2009
"A large -- more than 200 examples -- and illuminating survey of remarkable jewelry designs." Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, Sept 5, 2008
"The use of stones and sophisticated conception of metal will simply knock your socks off." ArtScene, Oct 2008
Experience the work of internationally renowned silversmith Antonio Pineda, one of Taxco's great innovators. Known for his bold designs and ingenious use of gemstones, Pineda’s extraordinary talent and creative vision are evident in his sensual jewelry and outstanding hollowware and tableware. The exhibition traces the evolution of Pineda’s work from the 1930s to the 1970s and highlights his important contributions to Mexican modernism as well as to the creation of a Mexican artistic national identity.
Made possible through the generosity of the Donald B. Cordry Memorial Fund and Jill and Barry Kitnick. Additional support provided by Credit Suisse, the Dembo family, and Marlene and Jim Vitanza/Peregrine Galleries. Funding for the accompanying programs was provided by the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, the UCLA Latin American Institute, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. In-kind support was provided by Hotel Angeleno and the Consulate General of Mexico.and the Consulate General of Mexico.
Fowler in Focus: Ancient Ceramics from Colombia October 5, 2008 to February 22, 2009 More than four thousand years ago, Colombian men and women began to model their universe in clay, creating miniature impressions of the people and things that held special meaning for them. Before long, these works took on ritual and religious significance. View more than forty examples of the ancient ceramic arts of Colombia from the Muñoz Kramer collection, acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a shared resource for LACMA and the Fowler as part of an ongoing collaborative collections/exhibitions initiative.
Consider Mexican migration into the United States—one of the defining factors in the American socio-political landscape—as seen through Chicano/Mexican visual arts. Featuring paintings, works on paper, photographs, video, retablos and more, these works explore the struggles and visions of migrants, as well as their spiritual practices and the roles of these traditions during difficult journeys. Work by more than forty artists—including Salomón Huerta, Patssi Valdéz, Gronk, Victor Ochoa, Magú, Felipe Ehrenberg, Delilah Montoya, Malaquías Montoya and others—consider themes of journeys, boundaries, and barriers, urban landscapes and human geographies, and negotiating identities.
This exhibition was organized by the Snite Museum of Art and the Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Humana Foundation Endowment for American Art provided essential funding for the exhibition and catalog.
The Los Angeles presentation was made possible through the generosity of the Donald B. Cordry Memorial Fund and the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director's Discretionary Fund. Additional support was provided by the Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, the Chicano Studies Research Center, the UCLA Latin American Institute, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum.
La tinta grita/The Ink Shouts: The Art of Social Resistance in Oaxaca, Mexico July 20, 2008 to December 7, 2008
"Even if you know little or nothing about the complex political events that inspired it, the art's technical skill and emotive power is hard to miss." Los Angeles Times, July 20, 2008
In 2006, the Mexican state of Oaxaca experienced seven months of social conflict that resulted in at least eighteen deaths and the occupation of Oaxaca City by the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) a confederation that included concerned citizens, teachers, and representatives of indigenous communities. Strong-arm tactics by city and state officials against public demonstrations inspired a group of designers and artists, products of Oaxaca’s acclaimed visual arts programs, to use the city walls as a canvas for conveying their outrage over social injustice by creating bold graphic images of remarkable quality, sophistication, and wit. Calling themselves ASARO, Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca, the artists remain anonymous both to avoid persecution and to emphasize that it’s the causes they voice through their art collectively that is important, not their individual identities. La tinta grita/The Ink Shouts features more than thirty of their wood block prints and stenciled works, which evoke a Mexican history of portraying social themes graphically, in the tradition of Posada, Siqueiros, Orozco, Rivera, and Toledo.
Fowler in Focus: Ceramics of Papua New Guinea May 25, 2008 to September 28, 2008 The diverse peoples of Papua New Guinea maintain some of the most unusual and distinctive ceramic traditions found anywhere in the world. New Guinea ceramists gather clay in the hills or swamps surrounding their villages and form it into wares that range from superbly functional cooking and storage pots to highly esoteric sacred figures. See more than thirty examples from the Fowler collection, including bowls used for food preparation and serving, incised ceremonial vessels, figurative ceramics, and ornaments placed atop the gables of houses.
Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas April 6, 2008 to August 10, 2008
"An object lesson in how exhibition design can be visually magnetic, object-centered and idea-clarifying; how it can deliver both a big thrill and a hard think." Holland Cotter, The New York Times, Aug. 27, 2008
Beautiful and seductive, protective yet dangerous, the water spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water) is celebrated throughout much of Africa and the African Atlantic. Often portrayed as a mermaid, a snake charmer, or a combination of both, she and the “school” of related African water spirits all honor the essential, sacred nature of water. Experience the debut of this multimedia exhibition and explore the visual cultures and histories of Mami Wata through a dynamic presentation of the rich array of arts surrounding her—sculpture, paintings, masks, posters, and more from west and central Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, and the United States. Let Mami Wata beguile you as she has done to peoples across the globe for centuries!
Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support for accompanying programs was provided by the James Irvine Foundation, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, Jerome L. Joss Fund, Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director's Discretionary Fund, Hitachi Foundation, Hotel Angeleno, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
“Please Listen, People”
Addressing HIV/AIDS in Bengali Scroll Paintings
March 16, 2008 to July 13, 2008 See twenty-six colorful and fascinating works of art created by the Patua of West Bengal, India—multimedia artists who paint narrative scrolls and then perform sung poetry while unrolling their scrolls to tell their stories to their audience. This traditional performance genre once drew its stories exclusively from the great Indian epics. In recent years, however, local non-governmental organizations have begun commissioning scrolls addressing health issues, including HIV/AIDS education.
Please Listen, People: Addressing HIV/AIDS in Bengali Scroll Paintings is a joint project of the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the UCLA Art | Global Health Center and is a component of the Make Art/Stop AIDS initiative.
The exhibition received support from the Ford Foundation, UCLA International Institute, UCLA AIDS Institute, and UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. Additional support for accompanying programs was provided by the UCLA Program in Global Health, UCLA School of Public Health, UCLA Center for India and South Asia, UCLA Center for the Study of Women, and Corrine A. Seeds University Elementary School.
Special thanks to UNAIDS, UNESCO, the West Bengal State AIDS Control and Prevention Society, the American Center, Kolkata, the United States Educational Foundation in India, SPARSHA, Dr. Samiran Panda, Rajeev Varma, and Karuna Singh.
Make Art/Stop AIDS February 23, 2008 to June 15, 2008
"Provides more than just a lecture on the difficult subject of AIDS and the fragility of life: it finds poetry where few of us dare to search." Edward Goldman, KCRW's Art Talk, Feb. 26, 2008
"A sprawling, complex, and moving exhibition." Annie Buckley, Artforum.com Critics' Picks
"A must experience: emotional, educational, empowering." Nancy Lupo, ArtSlant
Make Art/Stop AIDS is an internationally traveling exhibition debuting at the Fowler that explores how artists around the world are responding to HIV/AIDS and how their work raises awareness, inspires activism, and can ultimately help end global AIDS. Featuring examples primarily from the United States, South Africa, India and Brazil—four disparate nations whose distinct experiences with and responses to the epidemic make insightful studies —Make Art/Stop AIDS presents approximately sixty works including contemporary paintings and sculptures, photographs, performance videos, posters, animated shorts, digital media, installations and more to record the history of the epidemic, to appreciate its enormity, and to share information and ideas about future interventions. The exhibition features work by Robert Gober, David Wojnarowicz, Fiona Kirkwood, Daniel Goldstein, Jean Carlomusto, and the collective Gran Fury, among many others.
Make Art/Stop AIDS is made possible through grants from the Ford Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Peter Norton Family Foundation.
Support for accompanying public programs is provided by the UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor's Arts Initiative Program; UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, Center for Community Partnerships (UCLA in LA), Office of Instructional Development, International Institute, Office of Research, and AIDS Institute; UC Humanities Research Institute; UC Institute for Research in the Arts; UC MEXUS; Macy's Foundation; Flourish Foundation; Gere Foundation; Liberty Hill Foundation; California Endowment; and Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund.
We also acknowledge our project partners: Artists for a New South Africa; Los Angeles Unified School District HIV/AIDS Prevention Unit; Magic Johnson Foundation; and the following UCLA Centers: James S. Coleman African Studies Center, Center for India and South Asia, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and Center for Latin American Studies, and Globalization Research Center—Africa.
Special thanks to the Brazilian Consulate of Los Angeles.
Fowler in Focus: The Art of Women’s Masquerades in Sierra Leone December 9, 2007 to April 27, 2008 For many generations, the women’s Sande association of the Mende peoples of Sierra Leone prepared young women for adulthood, marriage, motherhood, and leadership roles in society. Masquerade performances featuring carved wooden masks, music, dance, and theater signaled the ongoing stages of initiation to the community and celebrated the achievements of the initiates. New inside the Fowler in Focus gallery of Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, see twenty-eight beautiful and highly symbolic masks dating from the 19th-early 20th century, as well as several examples of grotesque masks for beloved “clowns” that serve as comic counterparts during Sande initiations.
Visual Griots of Mali December 19, 2007 to March 9, 2008 Forty-nine black-and-white photographs taken by young people in Mali capture their lives on film while evoking the honor they feel for the traditions of their villages. The Malian sixth graders’ photographs are the result of the Academy for Educational Development’s Visual Griots project, a series of interactive workshops in Mali led by U.S. and Malian photographers that empower and engage youth in a powerful process of self-exploration and expression through the lens of a camera.
Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art October 14, 2007 to February 17, 2008
"Far and away the most compelling recent L.A. exhibit on the relationship between language and art." Doug Harvey, LA Weekly, April 2009
Inscribing Meaning brings together outstanding works of art from a range of periods, regions, genres, and peoples in order to consider the interplay between African art and the communicative power of graphic systems, language, and the written word. Explore the multiple messages and aesthetic intent of more than one hundred exceptional artworks—including ancient Egyptian funerary arts; masks, sculpture, textiles, and adornment from across the continent; illuminated liturgical texts; and the work of contemporary artists Rachid Koraïchi, Ghada Amer, Berni Searle, Ike Ude, Victor Ekpuk, Sue Williamson, Kim Berman, Yinka Shonibare, Wosene Kosrof, and many others.
This exhibition was a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and the Fowler Museum at UCLA. The Los Angeles presentation was made possible in part by the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director's Discretionary Fund and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum. Support for accompanying educational programs was provided by The James Irvine Foundation, Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund, and Aaroe Associates Charitable Foundation.
In a world awash in a global trade of industrially produced cottons and synthetic fabrics, it is easy to forget that all of the cloth needed in any community once had to be woven by hand and that much of it was made from bast or leaf fibers. Today even the word bast, which refers to a layer of fibers found in the stems of plants, is unfamiliar to many people.
Bast and leaf fibers are notoriously difficult to process and weave into cloth, yet weavers around the world have learned to capitalize on the materials’ subtle natural beauty and to manipulate complicated and demanding dye procedures to great effect. In Material Choices, see an unusual array of garments and more made of these challenging fibers, explore their significant use in the Pacific, and examine the current state of many bast and leaf fiber weaving traditions that nearly became extinct in the mid-20th century but have now undergone a revival.
Made possible through the support of the Getty Foundation, R. L. Shep Endowment Fund, UC Pacific Rim Research Program, Asian Cultural Council, Fowler Museum Textile Council, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum.
Sefrou, Morocco Observed: The Photographs of Paul Hyman November 28, 2007 to December 16, 2007 In 1969, fashion photographer Paul Hyman visited his boyhood friend, anthropologist Paul Rabinow, who was conducting fieldwork in Morocco with the eminent anthropologists Clifford and Hildred Geertz. See more than forty of Hyman's images of Sefrou's people and places, made during his four month stay. These photographs are exhibited in conjunction with the UCLA conference Islam Re-observed: Clifford Geertz in Morocco.
Fowler in Focus: Doors in Global Perspective June 24, 2007 to December 2, 2007 Doors separate and define space, facilitating passage between interior and exterior, private and public, sacred and profane. The astonishing range of doors in the Fowler Museum collections demonstrates that doors are not just doors. These carved, embossed, embroidered, beaded, and painted portals from around the world illustrate extraordinary artistry and the wide conceptual variety that diverse cultures bring to the uses, meanings, and potentialities of doors. In the Fowler in Focus gallery inside Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, see twenty elaborate doors from palaces, tombs, granaries, ceremonial houses and more.
Women, Water and Wells: Photographs of West Africa by Gil Garcetti September 9, 2007 to November 25, 2007 In 2001, photographer Gil Garcetti traveled to West Africa for the first of what would be several visits to the continent. Enthralled by the land and the people, Garcetti became deeply committed to raising awareness of and funds for safe water in the region. Thus was born Women, Water and Wells, a selection of fifty-eight striking photographs from his new book, Water is Key (Balcony Press). Garcetti's rich black-and-white photographs reveal the link between water and human health in West Africa, as well as the dramatic economic and social development successes that can be achieved when safe water is delivered to villages.
Proceeds from the sales of Water Is Key will benefit on-the-ground organizations providing water, sanitation, and hygiene improvements to those most in need. Water in West Africa is a collaboration between the Pacific Institute, photographer Gil Garcetti, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Made possible by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Architecture of the Veil: An Installation by Samta Benyahia
January 28, 2007 to September 2, 2007
"Beyond the obvious gender reference, there is a sense here of the fragile, poetic, real and pernicious barriers that separate cultures as well as people." ArtScene, July/Aug 2007
This site-specific installation and first U.S. museum exhibition by Algerian artist Samta Benyahia takes its theme from the moucharabieh, the openwork screens used in Mediterranean Islamic architecture to cover windows and balconies, allowing those inside—typically women—to view the outside world without being seen. For this installation, Benyahia covers the Fowler’s entrance doors and Mediterranean-inspired interior courtyard windows with printed films of a blue moucharabieh pattern. Encircling the courtyard in the Museum’s Galleria are sixty “rosettes” consisting of sequin-embroidered motifs on netting and eight large-scale black-and-white photographs of early 20th-century Algerian women including the artist’s mother and aunt. The installation provides a beautiful and dynamic exploration of gender as well as the dialectic between interior and exterior, light and shadow, concealment and revelation, and private versus public space.
Architecture of the Veil: An Installation by Samta Benyahia was made possible by the generous support of Barbara and Joe Goldenberg and Etant donnés: The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art. Additional support provided by Air France. Special thanks to the Levantine Cultural Center and the French Consulate of Los Angeles.
El Anatsui: Gawu April 22, 2007 to August 26, 2007
"A powerfully charged assembly, one in which the expanse, craft, and eccentric but logical shape of the work--every work--bears meaning even as it gratifies one's desire for form, pattern, and texture." Peter Frank, Angeleno, August 2007
"An optically and emotionally stunning show." Doug Harvey, LA Weekly, July 18, 2007
"A total delight and not to be missed." Edward Goldman, KCRW's Art Talk, June 26, 2007
"It's hard to think of many found-object artists who have achieved work as intricately made, culturally resonant and visually sumptuous as El Anatsui's." Raphael Rubinstein, Art in America, May 2006
"An opportunity that shouldn't be missed." Holly Myers, Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2007
Originally from Ghana but living in Nigeria since 1975, El Anatsui is one of Africa's most influential artists, recently named by Britain's The Independent as one of the fifty greatest cultural figures shaping the continent. His work dwells on the continent's history, drawing simultaneously on traditional African idioms and contemporary western art. This exhibition includes eight large-scale works that make use of large quantities of discarded everyday objects such as bottle tops, flattened food tins, and cassava graters woven together to create magnificent sculptural 'tapestries,' which recall the Ghanaian tradition of weaving kente cloth.
El Anatsui: Gawu is an Oriel Mostyn Gallery touring exhibition and was generously supported by the Arts Council of Wales. Additional funding was provided by Wales Arts International.
The Los Angeles presentation was made possible in part by the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund, Margit and Lloyd Cotsen, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa
Photographs by James Morris April 22, 2007 to July 15, 2007 For centuries, complex earthen structures, many of them quite massive, have been built in the Sahel region of western Africa—Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Made of earth mixed with water, these buildings display a remarkable diversity of form, human ingenuity and originality. In Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa, lush, large-scale photographs by British photographer James Morris offer a stunning visual survey of these structures, from monumental mosques to family homes.
Butabu: Adobe Architecture of West Africa, Photographs by James Morriswas made possible with the help of a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and has been organized and toured by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions (CATE), Pasadena, California. Support for the Los Angeles presentation was provided by the Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund, the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum. In-kind support provided by Hotel Angeleno.
Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia January 14, 2007 to June 17, 2007 In the Fowler in Focus gallery inside Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, see twenty-four of these fascinating masks drawn from the Fowler Museum’s collections, and explore the drama and complexity of the remarkable masquerade traditions of the Chokwe, Mbunda, Lunda, Luvale/Lwena, and Luchazi peoples who live in the “Three Corners” region of northwestern Zambia, northeastern Angola, and southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Guest curated by Manuel Jordán. The majority of the masks featured in this exhibition were purchased with funds generously provided by Jay and Deborah Last. The exhibition and its accompanying publication were made possible in part by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum. Media sponsor K-JAZZ.
Dress Up Against AIDS features fourteen magnificent garments designed and produced by Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini, made entirely of condoms rejected by industry quality tests. By appropriating an object of protection and using it to create works of vibrant and original style, color, and texture, Bertini seeks to raise awareness of and inspire the use of condoms, the critical vehicle for preventing AIDS. These colorful, sensual clothes, including ornate evening dresses, vivid skirts and tops, and elegant suits, demystify and destigmatize condoms and “refashion” them as objects associated with pleasure.
This presentation is part of MAKE ART/STOP AIDS, an arts and AIDS awareness and prevention initiative developed by the Art|Global Health Center at UCLA in partnership with the Fowler Museum, UCLA AIDS Institute, Artists for a New South Africa, UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures, James S. Coleman Center for African Studies, and School of Film, Theater and Television, Durban Art Gallery, Magic Johnson Foundation, and Los Angeles Unified School District.
The exhibition and accompanying public programs were made possible with support from UCLA’s Center for Community Partnerships and Office of Instructional Development, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, and Gere Foundation. Additional support provided by the Consulate General of Brazil in Los Angeles and Hotel Angeleno.
The Keiskamma Altarpiece: Transcending AIDS in South Africa January 10, 2006 to March 11, 2007 In Glorya Kaufman Hall, adjacent to the Fowler
This monumental, multi-panel artwork was created by 130 women from South Africa’s Eastern Cape province — an area of the world hard hit by AIDS — to commemorate the lives and memory of individuals there who have died of the disease and to celebrate the community’s determination to prevail in the face of AIDS.
Based on the famed Isenheim altarpiece created by Matthias Grünewald in 16th-century Germany to celebrate the region’s deliverance from a plague, the colossal Keiskamma Altarpiece uses embroidery, beadwork, wire sculpture, and photographs to offer a message of hope. Measuring 13 feet high by 22 feet long, the vibrant and colorful altarpiece is composed of a series of hinged panels that utilize the imagery of the Xhosa people of the Eastern Cape to depict life the impact of AIDS in the region. Fully opened, the altarpiece reveals dramatic, life-size photographs of three local grandmothers and their grandchildren, some orphaned by AIDS, and the community's hope for the future.
This Fowler presentation is part of MAKE ART/STOP AIDS, an arts and AIDS awareness and prevention initiative developed by the UCLA Art | Global Health Center in partnership with the Fowler, UCLA’s AIDS Institute and Department of World Arts and Cultures, the Durban Art Gallery, Artists for a New South Africa, and the Magic Johnson Foundation. Made possible in part by UCLA’s Center for Community Partnerships and Office of Instructional Development, UCIRA, and the Liberty Hill Foundation. Additional support provided by the Consulate General of Brazil in Los Angeles, Hotel Angeleno, and South African Airways.
Art of Being Tuareg:
Sahara Nomads in a Modern World
October 29, 2006 to February 25, 2007 The “art” of being Tuareg, a semi-nomadic people of Niger, Mali, and Algeria, has fascinated travelers and scholars alike throughout history. The elegance and beauty of the Tuareg peoples—their dress and exquisite ornament, their large white riding camels, their refined song, speech, and dance—all have been subjects of rhapsodic descriptions that suggest a Tuareg “mystique.” Art of Being Tuareg, the first major U.S. exhibition on Tuareg art and culture, considered the history and evolution of these peoples by exploring silver jewelry, leather works including purses, bags, and saddles, and other highly decorated items crafted by them.
Organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University. Major support was provided by C. Diane Christensen and Karen Christensen. Additional generous support to the Fowler Museum was provided by the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund; the Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles; Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum; and the Yvonne Lenart Public Program Fund. Support to the Cantor Arts Center came from the Halperin Director’s Discretionary Fund, the Bill and Jean Lane Fund, and the Phyllis C. Wattis Program Fund. The exhibition was curated by Thomas K. Seligman and Kristyne Loughran. Media sponsor KJAZZ 88.1 FM.
Liminal Spaces: Photographs of Morocco by Rose-Lynn Fisher September 17, 2006 to January 21, 2007 In Liminal Spaces, forty-eight black-and-white images by Rose-Lynn Fisher explore the theme of liminality in social and physical spaces, the experience of desert and urban dwelling, and the Jewish and Muslim cultures in Morocco.
The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama June 11, 2006 to September 10, 2006
"A multimedia panorama of contemporary art practice at its best." Coagula Art Journal #81, August 2006
"You owe it to yourself to put The Missing Peace at the top of your summer itinerary – not only for its chock-a-block feast of first-rate artwork, but because it warms the soul like a soothing tonic." Coast Magazine, July 2006
"One of the most exciting art exhibits to hit this town in a long while." Los Angeles Journal, July 2006
Eighty-eight contemporary artists from more than twenty-five countries—including Richard Avedon, Laurie Anderson, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Chuck Close, Adam Fuss, Jenny Holzer, Kimsooja, Michal Rovner, Sebastiao Salgado, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mike and Doug Starn, Bill Viola, and Katarina Wong—offer a wide range of new and existing works inspired by the messages, vision, and values of the Dalai Lama.
The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, an internationally traveling exhibition debuting at the Fowler Museum and curated by Randy Rosenberg, is organized by the Committee of 100 for Tibet and the Dalai Lama Foundation. It was made possible by generous funding from Ron Haak and Darlene Markovich, Sandra and Bernard Magnussen, the Betlach Family Foundation, the Zaffaroni Foundation, and The Dalai Lama Foundation. Additional support was provided by Anonymous, Chase Bailey, the Committee of 100 for Tibet, and Carolyn Zecca-Ferris. In-kind support was provided by Tank Design, Beals Martin, Jean Simpson, SPUR Projects, Alain Despert, and a gift in memory of Sadako Kutaka. We are especially grateful to the participating artists, all of whom have donated their work.
Major support for the Los Angeles presentation was provided by Lillian and Jon Lovelace, Margit and Lloyd Cotsen, the Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund, and the LLWW Foundation. Additional support was provided by Dallas Price-Van Breda, the Patricia and Richard Anawalt Family, David Robertson, Robert and Ann Diener, and Edgar and Marcellina Gross. In-kind support was provided by Hotel Angeleno. Media sponsors: KJAZZ 88.1 FM and Yogi Times.
Mani Wall and A Sacred Geography June 11, 2006 to September 10, 2006 In Mani Wall and A Sacred Geography, Mary Heebner's elegant, limited-edition book A Sacred Geography will be displayed in its entirety, along with a new series of her paintings, entitled Mani Wall, and magnificent photographs of Nepal and Tibet by Heebner’s husband, noted travel photographer Macduff Everton. The book combines beautiful pulp-painted sheets of handmade paper, letterpress text, and debossed images by Heebner created specifically for the sonnets about Tibet and the Himalayas written by her daughter, Sienna Craig, an anthropologist and writer who lived in Nepal intermittently from 1993–2005. In 1996 Craig led Heebner and Everton up the deepest gorge on earth, the Kali Gandaki, to the walled Kingdom of Lo in Nepal's Mustang district, on the border with Tibet. Inspired by the natural colors of the landscape they encountered there, Heebner created the sheets of paper that frame Craig's loving sonnets about the region, and used those hues to create the larger series of paintings also on display.
Dance in Cuba: Photographs by Gil Garcetti April 22, 2006 to June 4, 2006 Noted urban photographer and former prosecutor and Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti captures the essence of dance in Cuba in this selection of forty-nine images, most from his new book Dance in Cuba. Garcetti's rich black-and-white photographs reveal that dance is uniquely embedded in the culture and spirit of Cuba, where Afro-Cuban dance, classical ballet, contemporary dance, flamenco, and street performance co-exist to include everyone. Garcetti had unprecedented access to professional dance studios by collaborating with Alicia Alonso (director), Miguel Cabrera (official historian), and prima ballerina Viengsay Valdes of the famed Ballet Nacional de Cuba as well as with Miguel Ferrer, director of Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, and others. He has masterfully used his camera to freeze dramatic moments and chronicle this enigmatic country with its flourishing dance traditions.
¡Carnaval! November 6, 2005 to April 23, 2006 Explore the revelry of Carnival festivals as they are enacted today in eight different geographic and cultural regions. This lavish exhibition presents approximately fifty elaborate costumes and numerous masks reflecting a range of masquerade and performance themes that represent traditions in these sites: Laza, Spain; Venice, Italy; Basel, Switzerland; Oruro, Bolivia; Tlaxcala, Mexico; Recife/Olinda, Brazil; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and New Orleans. These unique celebrations and rituals are brought to life through photographic murals and short video programs of recent Carnival festivities in these locales, allowing you to explore the history and evolution and experience the sights and sounds of this vital celebration.
This exhibition has been organized by the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA), Santa Fe, in collaboration with the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. It was curated by Barbara Mauldin, Curator of Latin American Folk Art, MOIFA. Major funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, International Folk Art Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Neutrogena Corporation, and Museum of New Mexico Foundation. The Los Angeles presentation and its educational programs are made possible by the Donald B. Cordry Memorial Fund; Shirley and Ralph Shapiro Director’s Discretionary Fund; Neutrogena Corporation; Yvonne Lenart Public Programs Fund; Jerome Joss Endowment Fund; Dana Foundation; Office of the Dean, School of the Arts and Architecture; and Manus, the support group of the Fowler Museum. iCarnaval! partners include the Consulate General of Switzerland, Los Angeles, including Swiss Roots; Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles; Tourist Office of Spain; Consulate General of Brazil in Los Angeles; the departments of Ethnomusicology and World Arts and Cultures and the Latin American Center at UCLA. Special thanks to Playa Digital Media, www.pelourinho.com, Varig Brazilian Airlines, and local media sponsor 89.9 KCRW.
Carnival in Europe and the Americas:
Photographs by Robert Jerome February 5, 2006 to April 16, 2006 Jerome has photographed Carnival annually around the world for 25 years. In this final photographic exhibition in conjunction with iCarnaval!, enjoy images of contrasting celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Black Forest of Germany; Panama City and Penonome, Panama; Basel, Switzerland; Binche, Belgium; Mobile, Alabama; Cadiz, Spain; Porto, Portugal; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Veracruz, Mexico; the Cajun Country of Louisiana; Oruro, Bolivia; Quebec City, Canada; and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Carnevale in Italy: Photographs of Venice by David and Shirley Rowen November 6, 2005 to January 29, 2006
"David and Shirley Rowen's pictures of Carnevale in Venice, Italy are some of the most regal, romantic and haunting ever to tap this endless vein of imagery." flavorpill, January 2006
In conjunction with ¡Carnaval!, see how the Rowens capture the elegance and grandeur of Venice’s festivities in these gorgeous photographs taken over the past twenty years.
Carnaval in Africa: Photographs of Guinea Bissau by Doran H. Ross September 10, 2005 to October 30, 2005 As a prelude to ¡Carnaval!, see images from this remarkable West African Carnaval in 1987, which featured more than 500 newly made papier mâché masks promoting the dual themes of "Vaccination for Health" and "Agricultural Development."
Painting Ethiopia:
The Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw March 6, 2005 to September 18, 2005
"Literally glowing testimony to the irrepressible spirituality at the heart of intuitive artmaking." LA Weekly, July 28, 2005
"The Holy Trinity depicted in the form of fused Siamese twins holding the sacramental bread is simply an amazing image. The style of rendering is superb, and straight from early Christian illuminations--flat, intense, linear, oddly stylized, and full of life." ArtScene, April 2005
Vivid paintings of rural and urban life, striking depictions of Christianity from an Ethiopian perspective, unusually layered images of the political and military exploits of Ethiopian rulers…these are the innovative creations of Qes Adamu Tesfaw. Adamu’s work ranges from the devotional to the popular and thus cannot be neatly categorized. Schooled in the philosophy and aesthetics of a fifteen-hundred-year-old tradition associated with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, he left the priesthood to turn to painting full-time, finding the freedom to venture beyond religious subject matter and to develop a style all his own. This beautiful traveling exhibition presented thirty-five of the artist's finest paintings produced over the past forty years.
Painting Ethiopia was organized by the UCLA Fowler Museum in collaboration with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, and was guest curated by Raymond Silverman, professor of Art History and Afroamerican & African Studies at the University of Michigan.
Yangtze Remembered: The River beneath the Lake June 19, 2005 to September 4, 2005
"Forthright in its sadness and anger, but couched in a redemptive capacity for beauty and compassion." LA Weekly, July 28, 2005
For hundreds of years, artists, poets and explorers have been inspired by the beauty and drama of China’s Yangtze River. In June 2003, some of the river’s most famous mountains and cities were partially submerged by a lake that formed behind the Three Gorges Dam. To prepare for the inundation, bridges, highways, and apartment buildings were constructed on the hillsides above the river, 1,500 towns and cities were destroyed, and more than one million people were moved. ‘Yangtze Remembered: The River beneath the Lake’—on view at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History from June 19 through September 4, 2005—features fifty black-and-white images by Linda Butler, whose photographs give viewers access to this stunning region before, during, and after its transformation.
UCLA Collects! Bodies of Knowledge April 17, 2005 to August 21, 2005
"The exhibition that, instead of lecturing, keeps you awake and amused about thousands of ways that various cultures and eras intertwine." Edward Goldman, KCRW's Art Talk, May 17, 2005
UCLA is an important repository for an astounding range of objects, from African masks to acupuncture charts to Renaissance prints to contemporary photographs. UCLA Collects! Bodies of Knowledge explored the role of collections in UCLA’s pursuit of knowledge and juxtaposes for the first time significant and diverse objects from five important UCLA institutions: the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at the Hammer Museum, Department of Special Collections in the Charles E. Young Research Library, History and Special Collections in the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, and the Rock Art Archive in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
The human body—so essential to our worldview—was the subject of the exhibition, which includes nearly two hundred objects from many disciplines, geographic regions, and eras. Medical and anatomical treatises; New Guinean and African sculptures; Mexican pâpier maché figures; works on paper by Matisse, Picasso and Rembrandt; photographs by Eadweard Muybridge, Imogen Cunningham, and Max Yavno; artists’ books; Native American and prehistoric rock art; and much more; were displayed together in a modern-day UCLA ‘cabinet of wonders.’
UCLA Collects! was organized by eleven curators and directors from the five aforementioned UCLA institutions. The curatorial team was led by Fowler Museum and host institution director Marla C. Berns, and included Cynthia Burlingham, director, and Carolyn Peter, assistant curator, Grunwald Center; Polly Roberts, deputy director and chief curator, Roy Hamilton, curator of Asian and Pacific collections, and Betsy Quick, director of education, Fowler Museum; Victoria Steele, head of the Department of Special Collections and Genie Guerard, head of the Manuscripts Division, Charles E. Young Research Library; Katharine E.S. Donahue, director of the Biomedical Library; Wendy Teeter, curator of archaeology, Fowler Museum; and JoAnne Van Tilburg, director of the Rock Art Archive, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.
Ethiopian Crossroads: Photographs of a Land and Its People March 6, 2005 to June 12, 2005 In conjunction with Painting Ethiopia, approximately thirty-five striking photographs taken by historian Neal Sobania and art historians Raymond Silverman and Peri Klemm illustrate the richness of Ethiopia’s ethnic and cultural diversity.
Botánica Los Angeles: Latino Popular Religious Art in the City of Angels September 12, 2004 to March 6, 2005
"Money and morality may not grab headlines the way sex and death do, but they go to the heart of what it means to be an American. These ideas take powerful shape in 'Botánica Los Angeles,' which presents a slice of life in an immigrant nation's attempt to answer big questions about the pursuit of happiness and every citizen's right to interpret it howsoever he or she sees fit." Los Angeles Times, September 2004
Best described as an ever-evolving combination of spiritual center, religious supply house, and alternative healthcare facility, the botánica is fast becoming a key feature of the sacred, social, and visual landscape of Los Angeles. Generally associated with folk Catholicism and other Latin American religious traditions, the hundreds of botánicas in Southern California are sites of spirit-infused artistry, ceremonial activity, and community building, especially among Latinos. Botánica Los Angeles explored these fascinating venues and their role in transmitting, transforming, and critiquing traditional faiths.
This exhibition was guest curated by Patrick A. Polk, visiting assistant professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures.
Street Seen:
Photographic Elevations of Los Angeles by Larry Yust December 19, 2004 to February 27, 2005
Since 2002, noted filmmaker and photographer Larry Yust has created what he calls “photographic elevations.” This exhibition presents forty-seven of these colorful, sweeping views of LA’s urban landscape, from distinctive neighborhood hubs in the south of the city to the funky charm of the Venice Boardwalk to the hip commercialism of Melrose Avenue. Included are blocks-long images of Broadway in the heart of downtown; commercial blocks of Hollywood, Beverly, and Sunset Boulevards; a row of whimsically painted residences; and many other lesser known but visually arresting streetscapes.
Yust makes these compelling images of the streets of LA —where he has long lived — by snapping overlapping photographs of blocks of storefronts and buildings, then digitally composing them into one seamless image, rendering a fascinating perspective that cannot be captured by other photographic techniques or the naked eye.
Divine Revolution: The Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié
October 10, 2004 to January 30, 2005
"In a time when we need to be more than we really are, Duval-Carrié's bizarre images reference a tragic but familiar history of man combatting prejudice, greed, and unchecked power." Juxtapose Magazine, March/April 2005
Experience the vitality and splendor of the work of Edouard Duval-Carrié. Born in Haiti, Duval-Carrié studied in Montreal and at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris before moving to his present home, Miami. Divine Revolution, his first West Coast solo museum exhibition, presents works in various media—including new sequined renditions of his paintings of the Haitian Revolution of 1804, in the tradition of Vodou flags (drapo); a series of vibrant paintings depicting the migration of the Vodou divinities from Haiti to the United States; and an elaborate altar, representing the Vodou spirits “reinstalled” in this country. His work demonstrates the profound influence of Vodou and the complex cultural and political history of Haiti.
Divine Revolution was guest curated by Donald J. Cosentino, a scholar of Haitian art and professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures.
Infinito Botánica: L.A.,
A Project by Franco Mondini-Ruiz September 12, 2004 to January 30, 2005
To complement Botánica Los Angeles, New York-based contemporary artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz has created the site-specific installation Infinito Botánica: L.A., a visual extravaganza of objects from local botánicas as well as tourist shops, street vendors, designer boutiques, thrift stores and the Fowler Museum’s permanent collections, carefully arranged on a modernist grid. This project continues the artist’s body of work using the captivating baroque iconography of the botánica to express issues of faith, ethnicity, and identity, in this case particularly in Los Angeles.
Saluting Vodou Spirits: Haitian Flags from the Fowler Collection August 8, 2004 to December 12, 2004
Religion and politics mingle freely in Haitian ritual flags, a fabulous array of which hang at the Fowler Museum." Los Angeles Times, August 2004
"A glorious celebration of these richly textured drapos." LA City Beat, September 2, 2004
This exhibition featured the lavishly decorated ritual flags (drapo) that have become the most celebrated genre of Vodou sacred art. Made of satin, velvet, or rayon, and adorned with sequins, beads, or appliqué, these flags are presented at the beginning of Vodou ceremonies to salute the spirits and to marshal the energies of their devotees. Saluting Vodou Spirits featured more than thirty of these dazzling works dating from the early 1900s to the 1990s as well as five newly commissioned beaded flags by women artists, who have only recently begun to work in this medium.
This exhibition was curated by Donald J. Cosentino, a scholar of Haitian art and professor in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures.
Cultural Copy:
Visual Conversations on Indigenous Art and Cultural Appropriation July 7, 2004 to September 12, 2004
Works by contemporary indigenous artists from North America and Australia reflected on various forms of appropriation, from dispossession of land to artistic misappropriation. The exhibition—which included eight works by artists from Australia and ten by Native American artists from the United States and Canada—included paintings, mixed media, photographs, digital prints, sculpture, and installations. Though thousands of miles separate the indigenous cultures of Australia and North America, the works address common issues of cultural appropriation that impact both indigenous populations.
The artists whose work appeared in this exhibition are: from Australia, Richard Bell, Gordon Syron, Kathleen Petyarre and Ray Beamish, Jennifer Herd, Fiona Foley, Vernon Ah Kee, Michael Eather and Michael Nelson Jagamarra, and Jennifer Fraser; and from North America, Frank La Pena, Arthur Amiotte, Anthony White, Colleen Cutschall, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Greg Hill, Juane Quick-to-See Smith, Roger Crait, and Sam Toonoo.
This exhibition was presented at the Fowler Museum in conjunction with a conference at UCLA entitled ‘Global Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations’ (July 6-9, 2004). The exhibition was organized BorderZone Arts, Inc. in co-sponsorship with Common Ground Conferences of Melbourne, Australia and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.
Through My Father’s Eyes:
The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado June 6, 2004 to August 1, 2004 Los Angeles showing co-presented by the UCLA Fowler Museum, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the Filipino American Library, Los Angeles
Filipino Americans are one of this nation’s largest and fastest-growing Asian American ethnic groups, yet their history in this country is not well known. Through My Father’s Eyes is a rare collection of fifty-one b/w photographs taken by Ricardo Alvarado (1914-1976) in Northern California during the 1940s and 50s. Selected from more than 3,000 negatives, these affectionate images of ordinary people at work and at play— including in shops, on the farm, at birthday parties, family dinners, weddings, and community dances— provide an intimate view of Filipino life and history in the United States.
Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Program, The Alvarado Project, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
The Art of Exhibition June 6, 2004 to July 18, 2004
Museum architecture and conventions of display, installation, and signage are ostensibly devoted to welcoming the viewer and elevating the presence and power of works of art. Increasingly, however, these other aspects are competing with the artworks themselves. Reflecting on this phenomenon, The Art of Exhibition focuses on the presentation of things that are not the “artworks” — such as banners, signage, pedestals, and text of exhibitions — but which significantly shape visitors’ museum experiences. In doing so, the exhibition offers insights into how art museums and their exhibitions function as a system of meaning and raises questions about the way we perceive and experience art and public culture.
This exhibition was curated by Dan Ho, a graduate student in the Critical and Curatorial Studies Program in UCLA’s Department of Art. Every year since 2001, the Fowler has provided gallery space for a graduate student to curate an exhibition as part of the fulfillment of their master’s thesis in this program.
Traces of India: Photography, Architecture, and the Politics of Representation, 1850-1900 March 7, 2004 to July 3, 2004
Traces of India explored how 19th-century European photographers captured the great architectural sites of India.
Power of Thought: The Art of Jessie Oonark February 8, 2004 to May 30, 2004
"The show is powerful on a number of levels — Oonark was a brilliant graphic artist by any standards, and she deserves to be considered alongside the Western masters her work most strongly resembles ..." LA Weekly, March 2004
"An enjoyable exhibition ... [an] engaging introduction to her boldly stylized graphics." Los Angeles Times, February 2004
Experience the work of distinguished Canadian artist Jessie Oonark (1906-85), whose vibrant art explores and celebrates the life and culture of the Inuit peoples of the Arctic. Oonark lived the nomadic existence that was typical of her people until 1958 when, facing famine, she and hundreds of other Inuit were relocated to Baker Lake, Nunavut, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Oonark, a self-taught artist then in her 50s, began drawing and working with printmakers there, and from 1970 to 1985 produced the brilliantly colored stone-cut, silkscreen, and stencil prints highlighted in Power of Thought.
This nationally traveling exhibition presented forty Oonark prints organized by the Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond Museums. The Fowler added examples of her original drawings as well as several of her appliquéd and embroidered textiles to tell a fuller story of this important Canadian artist.
Visions of Buddhist Life: Photographs by Don Farber March 7, 2004 to May 30, 2004
Don Farber's acclaimed photographs provide a spectacular view of the beauty and diversity of Buddhist communities around the world. Since 1977, Farber has taken photographs in eight Asian countries and the United States. This exhibition of forty-two images from those travels — including colorful rituals from Tibetan communities, magnificent architectural scenes, revealing portraits of spiritual leaders and ordinary practitioners, and a beautiful black-and-white series of Japanese monastic life — demonstrated a virtuosity that comes from Farber’s keen eye and intimate knowledge of Buddhism.
The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia October 5, 2003 to April 25, 2004
"As far-reaching and ambitious as it is focused and accessible. Its amazing variety of materials from different times, places and peoples conveys a joyous, something-for-everyone outlook." Los Angeles Times, October 2003 Rice is a staple food for more than three billion people, most of them in Asia, but this staggering statistic only hints at the immense significance this grain has for Asian peoples. The growing and eating of rice are so fundamental to life in Asia that rice epitomizes food, and by extension, symbolizes life itself, as well as fertility and social continuity.
This magnificent traveling exhibition examines the interplay between rice and culture through a study of an astonishing array of visual art, including works from China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, and other Asian countries. Balinese and Indian rice deity figures, spectacular contemporary Javanese puppets, rare textiles and vessels, Zen paintings, and imperial Chinese woodblock prints appear along with modern works created for popular festivals. Contemporary paintings that comment on the role of rice agriculture in modern society complete this fascinating exploration of Asian art, food, culture, philosophy, religion, history, and economics.
A Mother’s Journey: Photographs from Orissa, India, by Tara Colburn December 7, 2003 to February 29, 2004
This extraordinary record of daily life and family relationships among peoples of Orissa, India, was taken by photographer Tara Colburn, during a search for her son who had joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In the course of her travels, Colburn fell in love with India and documented some of its least-known and most rarely photographed regions. This exhibition presents a selection of the remarkable images that Colburn, a Croatian-born Angelino, took over the course of the ten years preceding her death in 2003. Approximately fifty of these photographs will be mounted in the Museum’s Goldenberg Galleria.
Ceramic Trees of Life: Popular Art from Mexico May 4, 2003 to January 4, 2004
This bilingual exhibition examined richly symbolic Trees of Life, the ceramic candelabra-like constructions whose elaborate decoration and structure often appear to defy gravity and the pottery medium itself. The exhibition presented the historic roots of this tradition, dating to the ancient Aztecs, and explored the evolution of the trees both as ritual objects and as collectibles in high demand. The diversity of their form reflects the changing circumstances and concerns of contemporary life.
From the Verandah: Art, Buddhism, Presence October 5, 2003 to January 4, 2004
"A seamless work of lingering beauty and unfolding perceptions that embodied the simplicity of Zen principles."
Sculpture Magazine, September 2004 This experimental exhibition was a unique collaboration between the UCLA Fowler Museum, the UCLA Hammer Museum, and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Designed to evoke Buddhist concepts of heightened awareness and mindful engagement, the simple installation featured the work of artists Wolfgang Laib and Hirokazu Kosaka, and the creative contributions of Michael Rotondi, Joe Goode, Yuval Ron, and the team of artists/scientists who created the multimedia installation Ecce Homology.
From the Verandah was part of a West-Coast-based initiative called ‘Awake: Art, Buddhism, and the Dimensions of Consciousness.’
A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal February 27, 2003 to July 27, 2003
“One of the best shows of any kind I've seen anywhere this season.” The New York Times, July 2003
This exhibition (originally titled Passport to Paradise) explores the arts and culture of Islamic West Africa through a dynamic and influential religious movement in Senegal known as the Mouride Way, based on the teaching on the Sufi Saint Sheikh Amadu Bamba. A Saint in the City introduces audiences to the striking range of Mouride arts—including glass paintings, signage, calligraphy, and contemporary paintings— and fosters a greater understanding of Islam in African life.
Elsewhere: Negotiating Difference and Distance in Time-Based Art May 22, 2003 to July 27, 2003
Video and film by Mona Hatoum, Shirin Neshat, and Michal Rovner, women artists from the Middle East who now live and work elsewhere, explore negotiations of cultural, political, and gender differences over distance and time. The videos and films presented all deal with power struggles, signs of difference and the deep impact of that context on the individual — making the personal political and the geographic psychological. Time-based art, namely moving images, has implicit associations with narrative, temporality, and documentation. Elsewhere explores how these artists use this medium to visually articulate selfhood in relation to time and place and to explore the human condition at times of struggle, as well as the psychology of distance.
Wild Silk, Island Fibers: Rare Textiles from Madagascar March 23, 2003 to June 29, 2003
Wild Silk, Island Fibers showcased textiles from Madagascar now in Chicago's Field Museum, collected from 1926-27 by Ralph Linton. These lamba shoulder cloths are in some cases also used as funeral shrouds that feature in the Malagasy famadihana, the periodic re-enshrouding of the remains of ancestors. The textiles displayed are made of an unusual array of fibers, including wild silk, raffia, bark and banana plant.
KATSINA/kachina: Tradition, Appropriation, Innovation August 4, 2002 to March 23, 2003
"Exemplary in its sensitivity to meaning's promiscuity and the gray areas between authenticity and fraudulence. Its poignancy resides in how effectively it catches viewers in the cross-fire between a venerable tradition and voracious consumerism." Los Angeles Times, February 2003
This exhibition explored the representations of benevolent Kastina spirits integral to Hopi belief, and their commodification. At the center of this narrative are the carved dolls (erroneously termed "kachina" by outsiders) that are given to babies and young girls. Objects on display included fine early Katsina figures, works by Hopi and non-Hopi artists, mass-produced tourist items, and other commercial appropriations found across the Southwestern landscape. This extraordinary range of objects raised questions about issues of tradition, commodification, authenticity, intellectual property, and freedom of expression.
MATSURI! Japanese Festival Arts October 13, 2002 to February 9, 2003
Joyously chaotic Japanese Shinto-Buddhist festivals known as matsuri are times of recounting history, procuring the blessings of the deities for a prosperous year, and building camaraderie with friends and neighbors. Featuring more than 250 textiles and exuberant works of art— including sculptures, screens, shrine adornments, and fantastic banners— this exhibition is the first of its kind to explore the pageantry of matsuri.
Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta May 19, 2002 to November 17, 2002
“Terrific objects, illuminating installation, refreshing viewpoint, excellent catalog—this UCLA Fowler Museum offering was the best show of the year.” Los Angeles Times, December 2002
The Niger Delta is a unique river environment in sub-Saharan Africa that is home to many peoples and languages. Despite severe economic and political hardships, a convergence of cultures and art forms has thrived for centuries in this watery region of Nigeria. Emphasizing the importance of water and environment in daily and spiritual life, this major exhibition brought together a multicultural assemblage of large-scale masks, water spirit headdresses, warrior figures, puppets and ritual dress. This was the first exhibition to comprehensively explore this unique region of Africa, known for its unrivaled shrine sculpture and masquerade. Through the monumental artwork as well as photomurals and video, the spectacle of Niger Delta festivals and regattas was celebrated as is the innovative confluence of styles and ideas. The more than 130 works of art on view communicated the power that rivers have to sustain, unite and inspire.
Japanese Fisherman's Coats from Awaji Island April 21, 2002 to July 28, 2002
Fishermen living on the island of Awaji in Japan's Inland Sea wore beautiful coats (donza) made from quilted layers of indigo-dye cotton cloth. The most elaborate were quilted with white cotton thread in intricately stitched patterns (sahiko). They ultimately evolved into a symbol celebrating the role of the fishermen in Awaji society. Traditionally produced by women, the coats (called sashiko no donza) stopped being made in the 1930s as young fishermen began to wear standard Japanese or Western clothing. This exhibition presented twenty-two rare sashiko no donza from Awaji collections, and explored them in the context of local fishing history, their use as works clothes and fancy dress, their simple modes of construction, and their eye-dazzling ornamentation. This nationally traveling exhibition was co-organized by the UCLA Fowler Museum and the University Art Museum, UC Santa Barbara.
Tradition and Innovation: Contemporary Textiles from the Nuno Studio, Tokyo April 21, 2002 to July 28, 2002
Since the 1980s, Japan has been at the forefront of a revolution in textiles. The Japanese legacy of exquisite traditional fabrics combined with recent technological advancements has opened a world of possibility in textile design. The NUNO Studio and its chief designer, Reiko Sudo, have distinguished themselves within this experimental, groundbreaking movement by adapting the refined beauty of natural fibers and historical techniques to the sophisticated materials and complex innovations of contemporary techno-culture. This unique installation, with panels of fabric hung ceiling to floor, provided an intimate view of textiles made with stainless steel, copper, rust, polyester, aluminum, feathers, and other conventional and unconventional materials.
Fetish: Art/Word May 19, 2002 to July 14, 2002
This exhibition explored the shift in meaning that the term "fetish" underwent from its beginnings as a derogatory description of African art to its Freudian and Marxist applications in contemporary art. Stunning examples of African art from the Fowler's collections were on view, including Akan gold from the Asante peoples of Ghana and nkisi, widely-misunderstood objects that traditionally served in religious, healing, and judicial practices for several ethnic groups of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Works by such modern and contemporary artists as Marcel Duchamp, Barbara Bloom, Mary Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Monica Majoli, Renee Petropoulos, Lari Pittman, and Naomi Talisman were on view to express the psychoanalytic and political connotations of fetishism.
Break the Silence: Art and HIV/AIDS in South Africa February 17, 2002 to April 28, 2002
Featuring colorful baskets and banners from women's workshops in the Kwa-Zulu-Natal Province that were created to address the crippling effects of South Africa's AIDS crisis, this exhibition investigated the many ways in which traditional and contemporary Zulu beadwork and weaving techniques are used to intervene in urgent social crises and concerns. Works included striking beaded dolls, beaded letters, panels and colorful telephone wire baskets, or imbenge, inscribed with words and images. Also on view were examples of the traditional Zulu beadwork and basketry that provide the inspiration for the contemporary design motifs that were in this exhibition.
Women Beyond Borders: The Art of Building Community December 2, 2001 to April 21, 2002
Celebrating women worldwide for their creative expression, this powerful exhibition explored the nearly ten-year history and social impact of this unique international women's art project. Transforming simple, identical boxes into vessels of artistic and cultural exchange, this retrospective features nearly 150 of the diverse boxes from more than 36 countries around the world. Ranging from contemporary and abstract content to political and conscious-building messages, these compelling pieces give incredible insight into the lives of our individual communities while breaking down barriers and creating a global movement of women's voices.
Art of the Lega: Meaning and Metaphor in Central Africa October 28, 2001 to March 10, 2002
These objects, from the Jay T Last Collection at the Fowler Museum, comprise a spectacular survey of one of the world's most comprehensive collections of Lega art and represents one of the most significant central African artistic traditions. Highlighting the role that the arts play in Lega society and their importance to the Lega people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, these works are used to instruct men and women through gradual stages of initiation in the essential values of their culture. From jewelry and masks, to utilitarian objects such as spoons in wood and ivory, the exceptional beauty, abstract forms and elegant simplicity of these small-scale pieces are intriguing.
Art of the Lega is organized by the UCLA Fowler Museum and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, in Kansas City, and curated by Dr. Elisabeth L. Cameron, a specialist in central African arts. Following is the traveling schedule for this exhibition:
University of Michigan Museum of Art
October 16, 2004 - January 16, 2005
The Northern Fiddler: Irish Traditional Fiddle Playing in Donegal and Tyrone 1977-1979 October 24, 2001 to January 20, 2002
In the Irish counties of Donegal and Tyrone, a generation of legendary fiddlers kept the northern fiddling tradition alive under conditions of great social change. Northern fiddling is characterized by its driving rhythms and, like Appalachian fiddling, it is strongly influenced by Scottish fiddling and bagpiping. Prior to World War II, it was played mostly in private homes as accompaniment for dancing. With the growth of radio and the influx of modern music traditional fiddling was at risk of dying out. Fiddlers maintained the music and aided the resurgence in recent decades of traditional Irish music in Ireland and around the world. Today the "northern" sound is at the forefront of Irish music.
Just Another Poster? Chicano Graphic Arts in California June 16, 2001 to December 29, 2001
Stories of Chicano civil rights and political action are told in the vivid art of posters, which were originally displayed on walls, telephone poles, and other surfaces within the urban landscape. These powerful graphic works, created by artists to raise awareness and rouse conscience, are part of the first comprehensive exploration of the critical role posters and other graphic materials play in building community, stimulating political action, and impacting social and cultural consciousness within Chicano communities in California. The exhibition includes over 100 graphic images (mostly silkscreen prints) by 56 artists.
Moche Fineline Painting of Ancient Peru 2001 to October 21, 2001
The Moche civilization flourished on the north coast of Peru between 100 and 800 C.E., leaving behind a vivid artistic record of their beliefs and activities in beautifully painted ceramics. Complex scenes — warriors, burial ceremonies, animals, and supernatural beings — were painted using extremely narrow lines that wrapped around the chambers of the vessels. This exhibition featured 50 large-scale drawings reproduced from the painted originals by artist and scholar Donna McClelland. Many of these drawings were displayed with the vessels from which they were taken. Together, the drawings and ceramics speak to a remarkable people and their artistic canon.
The House of the Gospel July 5, 2001 to October 21, 2001
Carol Petersen's photographs serve as a tour through the oeuvre of Mexican artist, musician and activist Mario Sebástian Ávila Vargas, who has spent the last 10 years turning his home and its grounds into a growing work of art that will someday become a museum and public space. Through clay and cement sculpture, landscaping, and stained glass windows, Avila uses the Gospel of St. Mark as his inspiration and primary subject. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Tepozteco mountain range, these insightful photographs comprise a portrait of the integration of art, spirituality and lifestyle.
Asylum in the Library: The Method, Madness and Magic of Aby M. Warburg 2001
Aby M. Warburg, influential and idiosyncratic German-Jewish scholar of the early 20th century, saw his library as a site of ritual and creativity. Instead of using it merely as a receptacle for his impressive collection of books and photographs covering such topics as pageantry, astrology and portraiture, the cultural historian used this space to rethink associations and juxtapositions within the discipline of art history. Curated by Hannah Miller, graduate student in Critical and Curatorial Studies, the UCLA Department of Art, this exhibition presented a model of the main reading room of his library as well as the curator's explorations of important areas of his research.
Death-Stalking, Sleep-Walking, Barbarian Ninja Terminators: Hand-Painted Movie Posters From Ghana 2001
From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, hand-painted posters on canvas were the principal means of advertising for Ghana's independent mobile cinema industry. They stand out from other West African artistic traditions by their highly individualistic style, complex narrative and Western-influenced attitudes towards sex and violence. The visual effect of these bold and uncensored posters can be compared to that of neon signs. Now replaced by mass-produced posters and other types of inexpensive signage, these precious hand-painted canvases are a vibrant legacy of a melding of disparate cultures that occurred in Ghana when movies, in the form of videocassettes, began to pour in from all over the world.
Marquee Madness: The Attack of the 50-Foot Poster 2001
As it is in Ghana and many other parts of the world, movie going in Los Angeles is a major social event in which almost everyone participates. The way that studios and distributors vie for public attention is a visual phenomenon that is especially grandiose in a city so deeply film-oriented. This collection of life-size cut outs, marquee banners, window clings, mobiles, floor graphics, and posters is sophisticated, elaborate and humorous. As advertising, these forms blend into a sea of battling slogans and logos, but on the walls of a museum they become examples of inventiveness and creativity, as well as our own love for the movies.
Gifts of Pride and Love: Kiowa and Comanche Cradles 2000
Thirty-eight Kiowa and Comanche historic lattice cradles, and two contemporary cradles — by a Kiowa artist and a Comanche artist — were featured. Brilliant in color and technical design, the cradles are among the most beautiful of Plains Indian beaded arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A symbol of cultural pride and bittersweet nostalgia for contemporary Kiowa and Comanche peoples, the cradles emphasize women's artistry and are loving statements of the value the indigenous peoples of the Southwest place on their children.
The exhibition was organized by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University.
Keep Me Warm, Keep Me Safe: Cradling Baby Around the World 2000
In some parts of Ecuador, strips of bark are used as straps for carrying infants; in Borneo skillfully beaded or carved wooden baby seats worn on a parent's back tell of the family?s social status as well as the baby's gender. From North American high-tech devices such as convertible strollers to versatile Indonesian cotton-and-silk textiles that wrap baby close to mother?s torso or hips, this exhibition focused on the innovation, ingenuity, creativity and care that mothers and fathers from all over the world employ to cradle their children.
Body Politics: The Female Image in Luba Art and the Sculpture of Alison Saar 2000
Featuring magnificent sculptures by artist Alison Saar and exemplary Luba works of art from central Africa, this major exhibition explored the dynamic relationships between the female form in Luba art and in the contemporary sculpture of the renowned, Los Angeles-based artist. Saar's compelling depictions of women and Luba royal emblems depicting female images are coincident in theme and spirit and their juxtaposition enhances an understanding of both. This conversation of forms, comprising 86 forms, touched on notions of the female body as a locus of identity, politics, and spirituality.
Imaging Women in African Art: Selected Sculptures From Los Angeles Collections 2000 Twenty-six outstanding works of African art conveyed the remarkable diversity of female representation across the continent. Companion to Body Politics, Imaging Women in African Art featured sculptures, masks, and a colorful dance ensemble from west, central and southeast Africa to consider the complex social and philosophical motivations underlying these forms. Created by male artists, the works reflect male perceptions of female attributes — from images of the mother and child and the young female initiate, to a king's wife and a female diviner — and express varying cultural constructions of gender and authority.
Twice-Taken Pictures: Ancestral Portraits by Darryl Sivad 2000 Comprised of portraits of individuals holding the treasured images of family members accompanied by personal narratives, this exhibition captures a present nurtured by the past. Documenting 30 persons from diverse backgrounds, photographer Darryl Sivad's imagery reveals the value these cherished relics have in their owners' lives. Touching on notions of identity and kinship, and loss and immortality, this series explores the profound ties sustained between descendants and ancestors, forming a visual genealogy of our collective lives.
Transitions: Russians, Ethiopians, and Bedouins in Israel's Negev Desert 2000 The Negev Desert comprises over half of the land area of Israel. Its residents, who number over 400,000, represent one of the most unusual mixes in the world. Jewish immigrants from North Africa, Ethiopia, the Middle East, India, Europe, North and South America, and the Republics of the former Soviet Union reside in the Negev along with Bedouin Arabs and Jews born in Israel. This exhibition studied one year in the lives of three of these immigrant groups, focusing on the process of assimilation — revealing the attendant complications of nationalism, ethnic rivalries, and competition for scarce resources, amidst a crushing concern for national security — within the broader context of Israeli society. This process is vividly captured by documentary photographer Ron Kelley in 40 black-and-white and color images.
Main Event: The Ali/Foreman Extravaganza Through the Lens of Howard L. Bingham 2000
Poignant, knowing, rich with insights and tributes, 130 photographs chronicle Muhammad Ali's legendary trip of 1974 to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to fight a heavily favored George Foreman in the first world heavyweight boxing championship held on the African continent. Ali's reclamation of the heavyweight title in the fierce and dramatic match stunned critics and sparked joy throughout the world. While the match serves as thematic nucleus, Howard Bingham's photography covers Ali's entire eight-week stay, recounting the event in all its dimensions, including a star-studded musical festival, buzzing paparazzi, and impinging politics. A renowned photographer, who is also Ali's longtime personal photographer and close friend, Bingham documents this event as both a cultural extravaganza, and as a landmark in American and Zairian life.
1999
Bogolanfini: the Mud Cloth of Mali
Wrapped in Pride: Ghanian Kente and African American Identity
Threads of Light: Chinese Embroidery from Suzhou and the Photography of Robert
Glenn Ketchum
Walk in Splendore: Ceremonial Dress of the Minangkabau of Indonesia
Class Quilts, L.A., 1998-99
Castoff/Outcast: Living on the Street (The Cast-Off Recast: Recycling and Creative
Transformation of Mass Produced Objects)
Streetwise: The Mafundi of Dar es Salaam (The Cast-Off Recast: Recycling and
Creative Transformation of Mass Produced Objects)
Recycled, Reseen: Folk Art from the Global Scrap Heap
Muffler Men, Munecos, and Other Welded Wonders (The Cast-Off Recast: Recycling
and Creative Transformation of Mass Produced Objects)
Music in the Life of Africa (Turn up the Volume! A Celebration of African Music)
1998
Bicycles: History, Beauty, Fantasy
Cruisin', Stylin', and Pedal-Scrapin': The Art of the Lowrider Bicycle
Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera, Philippines
Confrontations, Crossings, and Convergence: Photographs of the Philippines and
the United States , 1898-1998
Class Quilts, L.A. 1997-98
Corridos Sin Fronteras: The Art of a Ballad Tradition in Mexico and the United
States
From the Rainbow's Varied Hue: Textiles of the Southern Philippines
O Pelourinho! Popular Art from the Historic Heart of Brazil
Scenes from Bahian Carnaval
Beads, Body, and Soul: Art and Light in the Yoruba Universe
1997
In the Play of Shadows: puppets from Asia
Cuando Hablan los Santos: Contemporary Santero Traditions from Northern New
Mexico
Pulling Out the Stops: A Photographic Survey of Organs in Los Angeles
Festival/Organ: King of Instruments
The Fragrance of Ink: Korean Literati Paintings of the Choson Dynasty (1392-1910)
from the Korea University Museum
Isn't S/He a Doll? A Juried Art Exhibition for Young People
Class Quilts: L.A., 1996-97
Che Guevara: Icon, Myth and Message
The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama
1996
Isn't S/He a Doll? Ritual and Play in African Sculpture
A Quiet Spirit: Amish Quilts from the Collection of Cindy Tietze and Stuart
Hodosh
Views of an Amish Community: Photographs by Susan Einstein
The Women's Warpath: Iban Ritual Fabrics from Borneo
Nagual in the Garden: Fantastic Animals in Mexican Ceramics
Sequined Spirit: Contemporary Vodou Flags
1995
Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou
Ceramic Gestures: New Vessels by Magdalene Odundo
Coiffure Moderne: A Gallery of African Hairstyles
Crowning Achievements: African Arts of Dressing the Head
African Ceramics: Selections from the Permanent Collection
1994
En Calevera: The Paper-Mache Art of the Linares Family
Spirits as People: Figurative Sculpture of the Baule Peoples, Cote d'Ivoire,
West Africa
Gift of the Cotton Maiden: Textiles of Flores and the Solor Islands
Arc of the Ancestors: Indonesian Art from the Jerome L. Joss Collection at UCLA
Fante Warrior Flags: Applique Banners from West Africa
Labyrinth of Exile: Recent Works by Ali Reza Dadgar, Payam Farrahi, Taraneh
Hemami, and Shirin Neshat
Irangeles: Iranians in Los Angeles
Santos de Palo: The Household Saints of Puerto Rico
Sleeping Beauties: A Juried Art Exhibition
1993
Royal Tombs of Sipan
AIDS in Africa: Through the Eyes of Joseph Bertiers
Textile Exhibitions at the Fowler: Past and Present
Sleeping Beauties: African Headrests and Other Higlights from the Jerome L.
Joss Collection at UCLA Highlights from the Jerome L. Joss Collection
1992
Reflecting Culture: The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver (The Francis
E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver)
Threads of Identity: Maya Costume of the 1960s Highland Guatemala
Elephant: The Animal and its Ivory in African Culture
Ceramics of Ancient Peru
1990
Art/Artifact
1988
The River Shall Never Rest: Yoruba Art in Transition
Sojourners and Settlers: The Yemeni Immigrant Experience
Containing Beauty: Japanese Bamboo Flower Baskets
1987
Mexican Art and Folk Art from The Cordry Collection
1986
The Essential Gourd: African Art from the Obvious to the Ingenious
Spectacular Vernacular
Scenes for a Raja: Study of an Indian Kalamkari found in Indonesia
1985
The Eloquent Dead: Ancestral Sculpture of Indonesia and Southeast Asia
I am Not Myself: The Art of African Masquerade
California Dreaming: Orange Box Labels 1885-1955
1984
Dance Occasions and Festive Dress in Yugoslavia
Afro-Bahian Arts of Candomble and Carnaval (From the Inside to the Outside:
The Art and Ritual of Bahian Candomble, African Myth and Black Reality in Bahian
Carnaval)
The Mosaic Image: The first Twenty Years of the Museum of Cultural History
Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos
African Islam: Community and Cosmos
1983
Arts of Benin at UCLA
Pelite Bite: Kalabari Cut-Thread Cloth
Nigerian Textiles at UCLA (Cloth as Metaphor: Nigerian Textiles from the Museum
of Cultural History)
Asante Art and History (Akan Transformations: Problems in Ghanian Art History)
The Natalie Wood Collection of Chupicuaro Ceramics
Companions of the Dead: Ceramic Tomb Sculpture from Ancient West Mexico
1982
Armenian Architectural Monuments
The Dutch and America
Mexican Figural Ceramists and Their Works: 1950-1981
Vive Tu Recuerdo: Living Traditions in the Mexican Days of the Dead
Patterns of Paradise
Arts of the Papuan Gulf, New Guinea
1981
The Image of the American Indian Produced and Directed by 'Buffalo Bill'
Body Beautiful
The Qashqa'I of Southern Iran
Aboriginal Arts of Australia
Forest Peoples of the Philippines: The Batak and Palawano
The People and the Art of the Philippines
1980
Art of the Native North Americans (Culturas Nativaz de Norteamerica)
In Honor of the Child
Mother, Worker, Ruler, Witch: UCLA Cross-Cultural Images of Women
Santos: Folk Sculpture from Guatemala
Navigators of the Orinoco: River Indians of Venezuela
Afro-American Arts from the Suriname Rain Forest
Barn-Building and the Handcrafted: Arts of the Pennsylvania Dutch
1979
The Watts Towers Exhibits
Agbaye: Yoruba Art in Context
Batiks: Kains, Sarongs, and Slendangs from Northernn Java
Fighting with Art: Appliqued Flags of the Fante Asafo
Masterpieces from the Museum of Cultural History
A Stitch in Time: Quilted Gifts from the Museum
Dowries from Kutch: A Women's Folk Art Tradition in India
From the Hands of Lawrence Ajanaku: Appliqued Costumes of the Edo of Southern
Nigeria
1978
Artistic Traditions of Peru
Moche Art of Peru
The Art and Material Culture od Zulu Speaking Peoples
1977
The Loom, The Needle and The Dye Pot: Selected Textiles from the UCLA Museum
of Cultural History
The Arts of Ghana
1976
Asian Puppets: Wall of the World
1975
Berbers of North Africa
Guatemala: Quetzal and Cross
Medieval Ceramics: VI to XIII Centuries
1974
Death's Door
African Art in Motion
Selections from the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection
A Decade in Retrospect
1973
Music in the Visual Arts
1972
Image and Identity: The Role of the Mask in Various Cultures
1971
Black Gods and Kings: Yoruba Art at UCLA
1970
Armenia: A Millennium of Culture, Xth to XXth Centuries
Ceramics: Form and Technique
1969
Siss Folk Art
The Balkans: Costumes and Folk Art from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia
and Romania
The Near East in UCLA Collections
1968
Ralph C. Altman Memorial Exhibition
The George G. Frelinghuysen Collection at UCLA
Key Monuments of African Art
The Natalie Wood Collection of Pre-Columbian Ceramics from Chupicuaro, Guanajuato,
Mexico, at UCLA
1967
Cameroon Grassland Art
Australian Aboriginal Bark Painting
Art of New Guinea: Sepik, Maprik and Highlands
1966 Christmas
in Latin America
Yarn Painting: Work by the Huichol Indians of Mexico
Kilims: Rugs from Anatolia, Turkey
Lithuanian Folk Arts
1965
Masterpieces from the Sir Henry Wellcome Collection at UCLA
