TRIBAL ART GALLERY

The Elms Lesters Gallery holds biannual large scale exhibitions of authentic TRIBAL ART from around the world in our central London venue. These usually take place in the Spring and the Autumn.

If you wish to receive invitations to future exhibitions, please send an email with INVTATIONS in the subject heading to:

curator@elmslesters.co.uk

Please state your preference for either electronic or postal invitations.

In between exhibitions there is a permanent display of TRIBAL ART in our showroom at here, which can be viewed by appointment.bbbbbb

For those clients who are unable to visit the gallery we are delighted to present images, here on the web site, that give a flavour of our inventory. If you require further information about any of the pieces illustrated here, or a looking for a particular item, please get in touch, either by e.mailing us, or by contacting us by:

telephone : +22 (0)20 7836 6747

or by fax: +44 (0)20 7379 0789

FIONA McKINNON

( illustrations are life size)

Gold was known in Africa even in prehistoric times and revered for itÕs religious / magical properties: pure sun energy that never corrodes. The Akan occupied an area of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and developed a weighing system based on Islamic, Portuguese and English systems and introduced weights from 1400.

Each weight was made by the lost-wax process and subsequently is unique. After 1896 gold dust was abolished as a currency in Ghana, and no more gold weights were made: the Akan were the last to stop using the weights in around 1900.

The oldest gold weights which date to the 15th century, are these geometric brass shapes, some show signs of having being filled with lead in order to make up the exact trading weight. These weights are thought to have been made and used earlier than the figurative weights.

Mali

23cm (9"). metal

Extremely large GURUNSI bed

Burkina Faso

3.25m. long, 65cm wide, 36cm high

(10'8" x 2'2" x 14")

MAKONDE mask . TANZANIA

This colonial style MAKONDE (MAPICO) mask has exaggerated female characteristics.This group of masks is carved in a realistic fashion and their distinctive style is unique in Africa. Worn during male and female initiation ceremonies to establish a relationship between the family ancestors and the parents of the initiates.

Height 28cm (11")

LEGA mask

Democratic Republic of Congo

Wood 14cm (5.5") / Fibre 18cm (7") total 32 cm (12.5"

Small anthropomorphic miniature mask; Wood, pigment. fibre. These small masks are not used to transform the identity of the wearer, but used rather as remembrances of deceased initiates. The long ÔbeardÕ is a sign of long life. The mask is worn affixed to the forehead or temples, on a headdress or belt or hand held.

Currently for sale, is an impressive collection of primitive currencies.

Some pieces are illustrated here, photographed by acclaimed photographer LIZ JOHNSON-ARTUR, who won the Sunday Times Magazine Prize for Reportage in 1996. She is well known for her magazine commissions including SLEAZE NATION, TATLER, ARENA, ARENA HOMME PLUS, TOKION, THE FACE and iD, as well as work for Morgan Spiced and Katherine Hamnett. Her current project, based at Elms Lesters, involves her selecting pieces of African Tribal Art, chosen for their aesthetic and conceptual forms. Her unique, uncompromising style has produced stark graphic images, reflecting an abstract perspective on the objects.

These photographs, as well as others in this series, are available from Elms Lesters, each in editions of 10 16Ó x 20Ó / 40.6 x 50.8cm. £265.00 each - unframed. For further information about either the photographs or regarding individual pieces from the currency collection please contact curator@elms-lesters.demon.co.uk

BUNCH OF FIVE KATANGA CROSSES WITH ORIGINAL BINDING.

D. R. of CONGO

The crosses were made by pouring molten copper into moulds made in the sand. One cross was worth ten kilos of flour, five fowls, three kilos of rubber or six axes. A bride price consisted of fourteen large crosses, one she-goat, one gun and one female slave. They were made from the middle of the 18th century until the 1920s.

They served as a medium of exchange, regalia, currency, raw material, insignia and emblems.