20 Island Southeast Asian & Oceanic Treasures in the Fowler Museum at UCLA

 

Left: Decorative Panel for Chief’s Doorway
Fowler Museum at UCLA. The Jerome L. Joss Collection. X87.8
Right: Figurative Tomb Door
Fowler Museum at UCLA. The Jerome L. Joss Collection. X86.3132

 
 
 

20 Island Southeast Asian & Oceanic Treasures in the Fowler Museum at UCLA

 

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

 
 

Los Angeles' Fowler Museum is well known to aficionados of traditional or 'tribal' art. As a teaching university museum, its collections are part of a broader program of publications, exhibitions, fieldwork, and research. Established in its present form in 1963, the Fowler Museum's vast collection stewards more than 120,000 historical and contemporary pieces, along with some 600,000 archaeological items. UCLA is also home to Sir Henry Welcome and the Wellcome Trust's large assemblage of 30,000 items. Wellcome (1853-1936) was an early pharmaceutical entrepreneur whose British-based company sold medicines throughout the empire. As Wellcome developed his business, he also advanced his interest in acquiring medical specimens, conducting research, and collecting ethnographical items, many of which ended up in the Fowler Museum, forming the basis of this outstanding collection.

Under the careful and elevated curatorship of George Ellis, the Fowler was one of the first postwar museums to acquire Indonesian art in the 1970s seriously. In those days, Los Angeles was a mecca for traditional art, and a number of local collectors like Helen and Robert Kuhn, Saul Stanoff, and Jay Last are deservedly legendary. Among the city's collectors, and at the encouragement of Helen Kuhn, Jerry Joss, a retired advertising executive, began to collect Indonesian art. The Jerome L. Joss collection forms the backbone of the Fowler's holdings in this area. Its most iconic piece is a Bahau-Modang, or Bahau Sa'a carved wooden panel (X87-88). This is a wonderful second half of the 19th-century carving that depicts two protective beings mounted one on top of the other. It was said to have once been attached as a post to a chief's large granary storage bin. It comes from the Mahakam river basin in central/east Borneo. A closely related panel that came out of Borneo together with the Joss example recently sold for a record sum for an Island Southeast Asian item (1,962,000 euros in Christie's October sale of the Caput collection in Paris) in recognition of its aesthetics and rarity.

Among the other noteworthy Joss pieces illustrated here are two compelling Toraja doors. One is a rare figurative Sa'dan Toraja tomb door (X86.3132). The other depicts an Asiatic water buffalo (tedong), which is one of the finest Toraja inner house doors extant. It once graced an elaborate chief's dwelling or tongkonan (X85.1073). Both are carved in deep relief. The flaring nostrils, cocked head, and alert ears of the buffalo door are particularly unusual and finely conceived. Another oft-reproduced item is a stone ai tos or columnar post to honor one's ancestors from the Belu (Tetum) people of the Island of Timor. As many of the museum's pieces from this collection are not yet online, we recommend J. Feldman's Arc of the Ancestors, Indonesian Art From the Jerome L. Joss Collection at UCLA, a fine compact catalog on the collection and region in general.

To celebrate the breadth of the Fowler Museum's material, a number of outstanding pieces are reproduced here that span Island Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and the Western Pacific's Rim to include Melanesia and Polynesia. 

From Indonesia and the Wellcome Trust, there's a well-articulated row of ancestor figures, adu zatua (X65.5179), and an early Iban effigy (X65.5653) of a hornbill, or kenyalang from Sarawak, north Borneo (East Malaysia). Items from the Philippines and Taiwan are also included, highlighted by an outstanding example of an antique storage bin for millet from the Rukai peoples of Taiwan that honors in a united circle of dancing figures the house's ancestors and their origin stories (X65.8157).

The collection also features accomplished free-standing figures ranging from a large male statue that once graced the entrance to a house in the Admiralty Islands (X65.4990) to a very rare stone adzed Biwat ancestor figure from Papua New Guinea (65.1115). In the realm of masks, we have included two favorites, a fanciful Elima bark cloth mask (65.4344) and a superbly theatrical mask from New Caledonia with its complete bindings and train composed of wood, feathers, and human hair. Such masks were said to be the dwelling place where the essence of heroic souls was commingled with a chosen deity and a specific water spirit (X65.7799).

Lastly, a rather stunning 19th-century Maori flax and feather cloak, a Kākahu, from Rotorua, a village in the center of the North Island of New Zealand (X65.8009), much like the finest sculptural works, is eye-fetching and has a gem-like quality to it. Its deep orange feathers from a kaka parrot's underwing are perfectly paired with fine taniko woven borders to radiate power and prestige.

When in Los Angeles, visiting the Fowler Museum and its revolving exhibitions is always de rigueur, always a pleasure.

Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors

 
 
 

1

 
 

Male Figure

 
 

Male Figure
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Admiralty Islands,
Papua New Guinea

19th-early 20th century

Wood, pigment

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X65.4990

 
 
 

2

 
 

Decorative Panel for Chief’s Doorway

 

Decorative Panel for Chief’s Doorway
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Bahau peoples

Mahakam River, East Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia

19th century

Wood

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
The Jerome L. Joss Collection.

X87.8

 
 
 

3

 
 

House Door with Carved Buffalo

 

House Door with Carved Buffalo
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Toraja peoples

South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Early to mid-20th century

Carved and painted wood

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
The Jerome L. Joss Collection.

X85.1073

 
 
 

4

 
 

Figurative Tomb Door

 

Figurative Tomb Door
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Sa’dan Torajan peoples

Rabung, Sulawesi, Indonesia

19th or early 20th century

Wood, paint, bone

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
The Jerome L. Joss Collection.

X86.3132

 
 
 

5

 
 

Mask

 
 

Mask
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Murik peoples

Sepik Coastal Region,
East Sepik Province,
Papua New Guinea

19th century or earlier

Wood, pigment

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George Kennedy.

X63.665

 
 

6

 
 

Feathered Cloak

 
 

Feathered Cloak
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 

Whakaue Maori peoples

Rotorua District, Aotearoa

Pre-1883

Harakeke, wool, feathers; double-pair weft twining, Taniko weft twining

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust

X65.8009

 
 

7

 
 

Ancestors Figures | Adu Zatua

 

Ancestor Figures | Adu Zatua
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

North Nias Island, Indonesia

Collected before 1907

Wood, plant fiber

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X65.5679

 
 

8

 
 

Eharo Mask

 
 

Eharo Mask
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Elema peoples

Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea

Early 20th century

Barkcloth, plant fiber, wood, human hair, paint, feathers

Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X65.4344

 
 
 

9

 
 

Carved Storage Container for Millet

 
 

Carved Storage Container for Millet
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Rukai peoples

Taiwan

19th to early 20th century

Wood, rattan

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Museum purchase.

X65.8157

 
 
 

10

 
 

Ceremonial House Board

 
 

Ceremonial House Door
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea

19th-20th century

Wood, pigment

Gift of the Wellcome Trust

X65.5296

 
 
 

11

 
 

Mask

 
 

Mask
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

New Caledonia, Melanesia

19th century

Wood, barkcloth, human hair, feathers, bamboo, cotton thread, plant fiber

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X65.7799

 
 
 

12

 
 

Ancestral Spirit Figure

 

Ancestral Spirit Figure
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Biwat peoples

Yuat River, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea

19th century or earlier

Wood, shells, beads, plant fiber

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X67.1115

 

13

 
 

Figurative House Panel

 

Figurative House Panel
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Paiwan peoples

Taiwan

Early 20th century

Wood, porcelain, bottle caps

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
The H.P. and J.F. Ullman Collection.

X72.833

 
 
 

14

 
 

Ceremonial Cloth | Tampan

 

Ceremonial Cloth | Tampan
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Rusaba, Pedada, Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia

Probably mid-to late 19th century

Cotton

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Donated by Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Deutsch.

X76.1395

 
 
 

15

 
 

Figure

 

Figure
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 
 

Malagan

New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago,
Papua New Guinea

19th-early 20th century

Wood, pigment, plant fiber, shell, resin

Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Dorothy M. Cordry in memory of Donald B. Cordry.

X84.166

 
 
 

16

 
 

Seated Guardian Figure with Ritual Box | Punamham

 

Seated Guardian Figure with Ritual Box | Punamham
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Ifugao peoples

Cambulo District,
Northern Luzon, Philippines

19th century

Wood

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of Mrs. W. Thomas Davis.

X85.443ab

 
 

17

 
 

Stone Sacrificial Post

 

Stone Sacrificial Post
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Tetun peoples

Dafala, Belu, West Timor, Indonesia

Probably 19th century or earlier

Stone

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
The Jerome L. Joss Collection.

X86.3137

 
 

18

 
 

Pestle for a Betel Mortar

 

Pestle for a Betel Mortar
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Indonesia

Horn and iron

20th century

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Museum Purchase.

X94.24.13

 
 

19

 
 

Sacred House Door Divider | Ampang Bilik

 

Sacred House Door Divider | Ampang Bilik
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 
 

Sa’dan Toraja Peoples

South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Early to mid-20th century

Carved and painted wood

Anonymous gift.

X94.57.1a-h

 
 

20

 
 

Hornbill Figure | Kenyalang

 

Hornbill Figure | Kenyalang
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA

 

Iban peoples

Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia

19th to early 20th century

Wood, paint, cotton thread, plant material, wool

Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

X65.5653

 
 
 
 

All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. 
© The Fowler Museum at UCLA