Established | 2007 |
---|---|
Location | Anderson Student Center, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota |
Coordinates | 44°56′32″N93°11′27″W / 44.94222°N 93.19083°W |
Type | Art museum, anthropology museum |
Collections | Asmat art |
Director | Gretchen Burau |
Website | https://www.theamaa.org/ |
The American Museum of Asmat Art is a gallery exhibiting the art and culture of the Asmat people of southwestern Papua, Indonesia, housed at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. [1] Featuring more than 2,200 objects, it is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. [2] Asmat art is widely collected in major Western museums despite the difficulty in visiting the remote region to collect work; [3] the "exceptionally expressive" art "caused a sensation in art-collecting circles" which led to large-scale collecting expeditions in the post-WWII era, according to art scholar and ethnology Dirk A.M. Smidt. [4] The gallery includes a permanent display of Asmat works such as ancestor poles (bis) and canoes, and a rotating exhibition highlighting aspects of Asmat art and culture. Much of the collection is accessible through the museum's online database.
The museum was founded by Bishop Alphonse Sowada, a Minnesota native who worked with the Asmat people in Agats, Indonesia, for decades starting in 1958. Sowada, who had earned a master's degree in cultural anthropology from Catholic University of America, wrote books on Asmat art and culture and collected hundreds of artifacts, which later formed the core of the museum's collection. Sowada was also instrumental in founding the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress [5] in Agats in 1973, described by the artist Tobias Schneebaum as "a museum designed for the local people, not the nonexistent tourist," [6] as well as an annual woodcarving competition and auction to recognize outstanding carvers in Agats, held in October since 1981. [7]
After Sowada's retirement and return to the United States, he housed the collection in Hastings, Nebraska, and Shoreview, Minnesota, before donating it to St. Thomas in 2007. The current museum was opened in 2012. [8]
Hennen Huber, Molly; Sowada, Bishop Alphonse; Braun, Mary; Daniels, Jim (2009). Hennen Huber, Molly (ed.). Time and Tide: The Changing Art of the Asmat of New Guinea. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. ISBN 978-0-9800484-2-1.
Michael Clark Rockefeller was a member of the Rockefeller family. He was the son of New York Governor and later U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, a grandson of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and a great-grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller Sr.
Tobias Schneebaum was an American artist, anthropologist, and AIDS activist. He is best known for his experiences living and traveling among the Harakmbut people of Peru, and the Asmat people of Papua, Indonesia.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United States. Its permanent collection spans about 20,000 years and represents the world's diverse cultures across six continents. The museum has seven curatorial areas: Arts of Africa & the Americas; Contemporary Art; Decorative Arts, Textiles & Sculpture; Asian Art; Paintings; Photography and New Media; and Prints and Drawings.
A Bisj, Mbis or Bis pole is a ritual artifact created and used by the Asmat people of South-western New Guinea, Indonesia. They are also common in New Zealand, Vanuatu.
Harley Refsal is an internationally recognized figure carver, specializing in Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving.
The Asmat are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. The Asmat inhabit a region on the island's southwestern coast bordering the Arafura Sea, with lands totaling approximately 18,000 km2 (7,336 mi2) and consisting of mangrove, tidal swamp, freshwater swamp, and lowland rainforest.
The Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology began in 1966 as the Museum of Man, at the bequest and initiation of Dr. Lowell Holmes, Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Over the next 33 years it grew slowly and became known throughout the campus as a small but interesting museum. The collections and exhibitions include cultural items from around the world and archaeological objects predominantly from the American Midwest and Southwest. In 1999, the anthropology department and the museum moved to a new location in Neff Hall. The museum was expanded and Mr. Jerry Martin was hired as Director. This was the first time that the museum had a professional director whose only job was to work with, and develop the museum.
Arnold Clemens Ap was a West Papuan cultural leader, anthropologist and musician. Arnold was the leader of the group Mambesak, and curator of the Cenderawasih University Museum. He also broadcast Papuan culture on his weekly radio show.
The Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress is located in the city of Agats in South Papua, Indonesia. It was conceived by the Catholic Crosier missionary Frank Trenkenschuh in 1969 as a way to preserve traditional Asmat art as well as provide economic outlets to the Asmat people. It was built by the Catholic Crosier Diocese of Agats-Asmat, which also owns the museum, and supported by Crosier Fathers and Brothers Bishop Alphonse Sowada, originally from Elmdale, Minnesota, US.
The Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies is a collection of LGBT historical materials housed in the Special Collections and Rare Books section of the University of Minnesota Libraries. It is located underground in the Elmer L. Andersen special collections facilities on the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus. The Tretter Collection houses over 40,000 items, making it the largest LGBT archive in the Upper Midwest and one of the largest GLBT history collections in the United States. The collection, which was created by Jean-Nickolaus Tretter, is international in scope and is varied in media.
Raymond Alphonse Lucker was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of New Ulm in Minnesota from 1976 to 2000. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis from 1971 to 1976.
Phyllis Wiener was an American painter. Wiener was one of the first female artists to embrace the Abstract Art Movement in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Museum of American Art is an American art museum located in the Historic Pioneer Endicott building in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum holds more than 5,000 artworks that showcase the unique voice of American artists from the 19th century to the present. Guided by the belief that art should reflect the constantly shifting landscape that defines the American experience, the museum desires to celebrate the work of artists from the 19th and 20th centuries as well as new voices that have emerged from communities of color, immigrants, their children and grandchildren.
Kundu is a pidgin name in Papua New Guinea for an hourglass drum used to accompany formal occasions, religious ceremonies and for celebrations. This drum is emblematic of Papua New Guinea and it appears on the country's coat of arms.
Alphonsus Augustus Sowada was an American Roman Catholic bishop, cultural anthropologist, and first Bishop of Agats in Indonesia. A longtime collector and preserver of Asmat cultural artifacts, he helped found both the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress in Agats, and the American Museum of Asmat Art in his home state of Minnesota.
Agats is a town in Asmat Regency, South Papua, Indonesia. An elevated settlement on a tidal plain, a Dutch outpost was set up in Agats in 1938 and the town became notable for the cultural practices of the Asmat people. Following the formation of Asmat Regency in 2002, the town became its administrative seat.
It is quite difficult to define Indonesian art, since the country is immensely diverse. The sprawling archipelago nation consists of 17.000 islands. Around 922 of those permanently inhabited, by over 1,300 ethnic groups, which speak more than 700 living languages.
The Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) is a museum and art gallery in Waigani, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It is the national museum of Papua New Guinea.
Otsjanep or Ocenep is a village in Asmat Regency, South Papua, Indonesia. The village is located on the bank of the Ewta river at the far north end of Indonesia's Casuarina Coast, named for its casuarina trees but now disappearing due to logging. Otsjanep is renowned for its wood carving. The locals continue to wear traditional clothes, but the village has a modern missionary church and – unusual in this area – grass lawns. It is part of a larger settlement consisting of Isar, Pirien, Kayarpis, and Bakyor in Fayit District.
Pisuwe is a dagger from the island of New Guinea. Ndam pisuwe or Ndam emak pisuwe are those that are made with human femur bone and Pi pisuwe are for those that are made with Cassowary bone. Prior to the colonization of the Dutch in the 1950s, these daggers are carried by the Asmat people and they are used only in ritual killings. These daggers are usually embellished with Cassowary feathers at the pommel and decorated with carved in artworks depicting humans and animals. Asmat men would wear this dagger as part of their traditional attire during customary ceremonies by girding it on the side of their waist.