PARIS.- Parcours des Mondes, the premier international tribal and Asian art fair, will be more remarkable than ever this year. Now in its sixteenth year, the show, which takes place in the streets of the Saint-Germaindes-Prés neighborhood of Paris, will feature outstanding programming and events. In addition to the many exhibitions that participating dealers will present, this year’s honorary president of Parcours, Javier Peres, is both a contemporary art gallerist with an international reputation and an important African art collector. Espace Tribal, a place for tribal art related interactions, will stage an exhibition that expresses his distinctive perspective and unusual approach to melding contemporary and African art. Parcours des Mondes will also place special emphasis on French Polynesia this year in conjunction with the launch of an important new reference book on tapa cloth.
This year, as they do every year, participating dealers will present a wide variety of high-quality and original thematic exhibitions. Charles-Wesley Hourdé will investigate the affinities that Pablo Picasso had with tribal art in his Picasso masqué show, which will examine the artist’s discovery of African art, his first acquisitions, his collection, and the influence these objects had upon his work. Galerie Lucas Ratton will focus on the Bamana culture of Mali, the ritual sculptures of which are powerful and penetrating. Abla and Alain Lecomte will present an exhibition titled Bateke: The Sophie and Claude Lehuard Collection on the art of the Lower Congo.
Polynesia will be the focus at Michael Evans’ gallery, where he will show an important collection of weapons from the South Seas in an exhibition titled War Clubs of the South Pacific. Oceanic art enthusiasts will also have the opportunity to see rare tapa cloths from the Solomon Islands and the Lake Sentani area of New Guinea exhibited by Anthony J.P. Meyer.
Exhibitions dealing with specific subjects rather than specific areas also will illustrate the diversity of nonEuropean art. Yann Ferrandin will present Prestige et Pouvoir (Prestige and Power), a selection of ceremonial objects both symbolic and utilitarian that function as social markers attesting to man’s cultural traditions, artistic abilities, and desire for power. ExtraExtraordinaire a selection of exceptional and original artworks from around the world, will be on view at Alain Bovis’ gallery. Kapil Jariwala will explore the realm of esoteric beliefs with his Mapping Belief exhibition.
Finally, an important selection of paintings from the Australian APY Lands, including a majestic three-meterlong work that was the winner of the 2016 Telstra Prize at the Darwin National Museum, will be displayed by Aboriginal Signature.
Two Major Events
Conceived of two years ago as a place for viewing and developing an appreciation of the arts of Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas, Espace Tribal this year will have an exhibition relating to Parcours’ honorary president, Javier Peres. Peres, an internationally recognized contemporary art dealer based in Berlin and an avid collector of African art, will create a vibrant installation at Espace Tribal. His conception is personal and ambitious, asserting aesthetic bridges between non-European art and the works of contemporary artists. Important contemporary paintings and sculptures from Peres’ own collection will be installed alongside Nigerian artworks selected from dealers participating in Parcours des Mondes. This intersection of periods, genres, and cultures will create a stimulating dialog relating to the mixing and marrying of different art forms. The subject will further be explored in-depth within the framework of Café Tribal, a series of morning events featuring a variety of specialists moderated by Elena Martínez-Jacquet, editor-in- chief of Tribal Art magazine.
Parcours des Mondes will also put a special emphasis on French Polynesia, as it associates itself with the publication of an important new reference work on tapa cloth entitled « L’Evenement Tapa, De l’Ecorce à l’Etoffe, Art Millénaire d’Océanie » (The Tapa Event – From Bark to Fabric, the Millennia Old Art of Oceania), edited by Editions Somogy. The book was made possible thanks to the contributions of many international specialists and contemporary artists. Throughout the fair, a number of events associated with the publication of the work will be programmed at the Espace du Crous on Rue de l’Abbaye, including an exhibition of large contemporary tapas (from Tonga, Fiji, and the Marquesas Islands among other places), the projection of a variety of films on tapa all over Oceania featuring the presentation of a new program every day, and a series of lectures on tapa by the authors of the book.
Winds of Innovation
While collectors and art aficionados attend Parcours des Mondes in increasingly great numbers, the fair is exploring new territory and promote fertile new dialogs.
Non-European art is a living entity and its objects are an integral part of the daily life of the many cultures from which it comes. It adapts to different contexts, whether it be gallery and museum displays or collectors’ homes. The complexity of tribal art allows it to thrive in different environments and function through multiple facets. While it has great symbolic, cultural, and intrinsic dimensions, it also a seamless and stimulating part of everyday life in Western collections, while still presenting connections with other times and places.
To bolster this spirit of exchange and sharing, in the 2017 show Parcours des Mondes will increase its presence on social media. A new Instagram account (@Parcoursdesmondes) will provide Internet users information about how the fair unfolds and will offer sneak previews of some of the important works that will be presented.
Parcours des Mondes continues to expand its scope. Two years ago, the fair officially began to include Asian art, and this year it is knocking at the door contemporary art.
This year’s show will emphasize the connections between non-European art and other artistic genres to demonstrate to what extent Asian and tribal art are accessible to all people, not just to a cognoscenti elite. The fruits of rich and age-old cultures, these arts engender primal aesthetic responses. Acquired knowledge of how they were created and used only enhance our appreciation of these remarkable art forms. Far from being esoteric, the visual power of tribal art is remarkable and immediate. Parcours des Mondes underlines these qualities and makes them available to the public at large.
