NEW YORK—The New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show, which took place May 15-18, has been around under various names since 1995. After seven years in the Park Avenue Armory uptown, the fair returned this year to its roots at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington and 26th Street. The move to the smaller of the armories — occasioned by a tremendous increase in rent and fees uptown as well as scheduling difficulties — took place with some trepidation, but this year’s edition looked better than ever. Many of the 75 exhibitors decorated their booths with felt walls (as opposed to cheaper paper ones) and chose striking background colors such as black or a reddish hue reminiscent of laterite, an iron-rich soil found in tropical Africa.

Show organizers Bill Caskey and Elizabeth Lees reported the highest-ever attendance — some 700 people — at the fair’s preview, on May 14. Unfortunately, overall attendance was down from last year.

A few notable trends emerged from dealers’ comments to the show organizers at the fair’s conclusion. First, English and European exhibitors found the American market extremely soft compared to recent sales activities at home, whereas American dealers found the fair somewhat better than their recent sales activity. Second, the dealers reported that while the top of each field seems strong, the middle and lower range of material has gone soft. According to London dealer Esther Fitzgerald, the New York market was in “very weak shape compared to the U.K., especially at the low end.”  

Textiles
The wonderful selection of textiles at the fair is always a draw for dealers, decorators, and collectors, and this year was no exception, though sales were spotty. Esther Fitzgerald had a ca. 1928 cream-colored linen tablecloth and six-napkin set made by Italian designer Maria Gallenga (1880–1944) for her boutique in Paris on the rue de Miromesnil. The modernist tablecloth is embroidered in cotton with a whimsical motif featuring pairs of long-legged animals and stick-figure people frolicking. “It is rare to find amusing textiles,” says Fitzgerald of the $13,500 item, which did not sell.

New York dealer Gail Martin showed a rare late-19th-century decorative silk hanging (Ilgich) made by the Lakai people of Central Asia. The hanging is one of a group of 14 that are being sold together for an undisclosed five-figure price. “It’s the best collection of Uzbek nomadic material around,” says Martin, who sold a similar group to collectors Jack A. and Aviva Robinson, who donated 97 of the hangings to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2007.  

Joss Graham from London had a stunning collection of kilims and sold one of woven wool from Southwestern Iran on the opening night. Graham also had some extremely decorative pieces that could appeal to collectors and noncollectors alike, such as two groups of Ethiopian mounted pilgrim staffs, well priced at $3,850 and $4,500, and five bamboo ladders, which went for $1,800 each.

Gebhart Blazek, an Austrian dealer specializing in Berber carpets and textiles, said he had his most successful opening night ever.

African, Oceanic, and Polynesian Art
Dealer Joel Cooner of Dallas had a Chokwe mask (from Angola) of the original female ancestor of the tribe ($75,000) and a 19th-century Lower Sepik mask from New Guinea ($35,000).

Kirby Kallas-Lewis, co-owner of Seattle’s Lewis/Wara Gallery said that he sold many of his Oceanic pieces on the opening night — all to dealers, he said, which he thinks is a good sign.

Thomas Murray, of Mill Valley, California, reported selling a Leti seated ancestor figure made of wood and shell from the S.E. Moluccas, a Luba bow stand, and a stone Sulawesi ancestor figure.

New York gallery Myers and Duncan, specialists in Northwest Coast and Indian material, sold the most striking piece in their booth on the opening night: an installation of instruments used to herd elk and other prey into estuaries, including the Eskimo mask and fur parka on a model of a hunter in a kayak. The price was around $50,000.

On Saturday, California Oceanic art dealer Michael Hamson sold an Abelam pre-contact stone carved male/female Janus ancestral figure, from Papua New Guinea, for $40,000 to the same unnamed collectors who bought some small masks from him at the opening.