“Avim paintings”, Papua New Guinea Acquisition project coordinated by the Oceania curator Matthias Claudius Hofmann: 18 paintings on paper with the corresponding ethnological documentation. Avim village, Papua New Guinea (Arafundi River, in the southern tributaries region of the Sepik). Collected and documented by Tomi Bartole, 2019. Collection of the Weltkulturen Museum. Photo: Wolfgang Günzel
“Trees” by Roldán Pinedo, Shipibo, Peru “Cashimbo”. Acquisition project coordinated by Americas curator Mona Suhrbier: Commission and purchase of four large acrylic paintings, the “Trees”, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, each c. 2.90 x 1.50 m. Photo: Wolfgang Günzel
“Trees of the Rainforest” by Roldán Pinedo, Shipibo, Peru “Cashimbo”. Acquisition project coordinated by Americas curator Mona Suhrbier: Commission and purchase of four large acrylic paintings, the “Trees of the Rainforest”, 2020. Acrylic on paper, each c. 2.90 x 1.50 m. Photo: Wolfgang Günzel
“Trees” by Roldán Pinedo, Shipibo, Peru “Cashimbo”. Acquisition project coordinated by Americas curator Mona Suhrbier: Commission and purchase of four large acrylic paintings, the “Trees”, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, each c. 2.90 x 1.50 m. Photo: Wolfgang Günzel
“Trees” by Roldán Pinedo, Shipibo, Peru “Cashimbo”. Acquisition project coordinated by Americas curator Mona Suhrbier: Commission and purchase of four large acrylic paintings, the “Trees”, 2020. Acrylic on canvas, each c. 2.90 x 1.50 m. Photo: Wolfgang Günzel
Cedar wood dance mask for the highest-ranking dance, the Hamatsa, raven, made by Tom Hunt, Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, Canada. Acquisition project coordinated by Mona Suhrbier as part of the Frankfurt Book Fair in cooperation with the host country Canada. Cedar wood, cedar bark, 115 x 40 x 25 cm. Photo: Weltkulturen Museum
Collecting is about relationships.
Purchases are the result of longstanding contacts, following a close examination of the various collections and research undertaken by the curators or research partners. They are part of the museums conceptual work. The acquisitions are thus much more than mere additions to the collections – they are also communication, and initiating a dialogue and partnerships. This is about relationships as much as it is about the works.
Thanks to the funding negotiated by Frankfurt’s department of culture specifically to enable purchases by museums, in 2020 we have been able to make three acquisitions in connection with our own research interests. All three purchases have one thing in common: their creation is based on the cooperation with indigenous artists.
