As defined by the International Museum of Folk Art, folk art encompasses a broad range of forms – dance, song, poetry, and foods as well as art. It is handmade; traditional, reflecting shared cultural aesthetics and social issues which may change over time; and is of, by and for the people inclusive of class, status, culture, ethnicity, gender, and religion. It may be for community use or for sale as income or empowerment; learned formally, informally, or self-taught. It can be decorative or utilitarian used for daily, ritual or ceremonial purposes.
Showing 49–60 of 61 results
Vintage Burmese teak heddle-pulley used in strip-weaving on small handlooms. Here surmounted by a ferocious mythical lion as guardian of Buddhist law. Mythical beasts believed to protect the weaver and assure high quality weaving.
Woven from strands of raffia palm leaves, this traditional vintage bordered square Kuba cloth from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was made using vegetable dye and is embellished with sophisticated embroidered, applique and patchwork linear designs.
Woven from strands of raffia palm leaves, this traditional vintage bordered square Kuba cloth from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was made using vegetable dye and is embellished with sophisticated embroidered, applique and patchwork linear designs.
Vivacious attendant doll offering huge peach in vibrant Chinese dance costume in red, yellow, green-blue with sequins, silver and gold thread and plum blossoms as wish for Five Happinesses. On Lucite stand, part of set of 4 .
Balinese monkey masks (topeng bojog) are used in dance-dramas based on the ancient Indian moral epic the Ramayana. In Balinese Hinduism, monkeys as sacred guardians and protectors of temples where their auspicious presence brings good luck.
This charming vintage folk-art panel of a barefoot female farmer with a woven rattan basket behind her with the handle over her forehead is part of a 3 part set of farmer images
Wonderful painted wood panel of a barefoot female farmer with long cultivating tool at the end of a demanding workday wearing a modest peasant dress with simple round earrings. Part of a 3 panel set of Female Farmer with a Hoe (T052C-BLE), Female Farmer with a Basket (T052B-BLE and Court Dancer (T052A-BLE).
This vintage Indonesian rice paddle/spoon was crafted from local wood by a Lombok craftsman and is a fine example of the cultural art of the Sasak people who number three million and comprise about 80% of its population. As animism farmers for two millennia, they lived in houses surrounding religious compounds where they held religious…
Used in ritual Cham Dances, this whimsical and colorful mask emphasizes the horses playful character, alertness and strength with large eyes, painted lashes, wide raised lids, flaring nostrils, open mouth and pointed ears framed by beautifully carved rows of black hair.
Deeply set cut-out eyes and mouths are traditional for West Timor ancestor masks as are few, none or menacing teeth. They are rare and often have hair on animal hides on the upper lip, brows and head. Often looking threatening with stark features, their black color, teeth and often lack of balance scare off malevolent and evil spirits. Storing them in the rafters above the house hearth accounts for their smokey black color. Timor Ancestor masks have an earthy expressive presence and a raw spirit.
Timor’s religion has been described by Barbier as ritual exchanges between persons and social groups with their ancestors and fertility spirits. Timorese believe they can be upset by wicked forces, sickness, infertility and other forces, but particularly by the failure of the living to make suitable sacrifices to ancestral spirits. The departed protect and bring prosperity to the living as long as they are honored properly, so there is a close reciprocal link between the deceased and the secular world. Ancestors mediate between the living and the unseen world for living relatives. Their masks are used in animist veneration rituals, protective ceremonies and ritual dances or ceremonies tied to fertility, harvest, or funerary rites Besides masks, the living s are obliged to carve ancestor effigies to honor departed souls for them to occupy and rest in during their village visits. Many ceremonies usually occur in a house room known as “the womb” where a pillar supports beams rising up to the roof struts. This functions symbolically as an axis mundi (the center of the world or cosmic axis) that connects heaven and supports a simple altar above the floor to hold religious artifacts, protective fetishes and charms to ward off evil. So masks, effigies and fetish objects are protective and magic objects used throughout Indonesian islands in. Timor masks were rarely seen in the west until the mid-1970s.
Vintage bivalve mold figures like this cow were hand luted and hand painted, in the likeness of Hindu religious figures, soldiers, animals are used in rural India where they are seen as wishes for a better life.
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