Tribal art traffic: a chronicle of taste, trade and desire in colonial and post-colonial times

Abstract

This publication traces the movements of hundreds of thousands of masks, statues, amulets, shields etc. from overseas tribul cultures to and within North Atlantic societies, in colonial and post-colonial times. While the focus is on the Low Countries and their overseas territories, the Belgian Congo and the Netherlands East Indies, related developments in three adjacent colonial powers, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, are also covered, as are links to the United States. The milieus and locales through which tribal objects circulated and circulate are charted, like colonial trading posts, auction houses and museums, and dealers, collectors and curators relate their more recent experiences with objects-in-motion. -- backcover