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Thursday, March 28, 2024


Exhibition Public - Asia

Ifugao Sculpture: Expressions in Philippine Cordillera Art

University Museum and Art Gallery
90 Bonham Road,
Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Dec 01, 2017 To Feb 04, 2018


Detail: The University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, is delighted to present Ifugao Sculpture: Expressions in Philippine Cordillera Art from December 1, 2017 to February 4, 2018, an exhibition of tribal art and culture. Rarely shown in such a large group display, both figurative sculptures and ritual boxes exemplify the talent of artists from the Ifugao, Bontoc and Kankanaey tribes in the northern Luzon region of the Philippines. The exhibition is organised in cooperation with Mr Martin Kurer and the Hong Kong-based Asian Art:Future (AA:F), a collection specialising in contemporary and antique Asian art.

The works displayed in the show range from sculptural objects, including ‘bulul’ statues, deities associated with the production of bountiful harvests; ‘hipag’ (or ‘hapag’) figures, war deities used as vehicles through which divine help can be summoned; sculptural boxes used in ceremonies, the ‘punamhan’; and various boxes for the storage of food—sometimes called ‘tangongo’ or ‘tanoh’—along with other functional items such as ‘kinahu’, food bowls, and toys. Fascinated with the modern abstract style of these carved 19th- and 20th-century sculptures, our exhibition takes an artistic rather than an anthropological approach, highlighting the aesthetics of the displayed artworks rather than signifying them as ethnic markers or religious tools. Both the bulul figures and boxes are deeply connected to cultural rituals while they present abstract expressions of a group of talented rural artists.

Together, these selected pieces showcase the aesthetic and artistic side of a wide range of Cordillera sculptural art from the 18th through the 20th centuries. The pieces are arranged in line with various centres of artistic gravity—‘archaic’, ‘minimalist’, ‘transition’—although the lines are sometimes blurred, and most of the ‘archaic’ material also shows ‘minimalist’ elements.

Phone No.: (852) 2241 5500
Fax: (852) 2546 9659
Contact Email: [email protected]
Site URL: http://www.umag.hku.hk/en/exhibition_detail.php?id=4040081

Bulul
Bulul
Ifugao tribe, Lagawe village, Northern Luzon, Philippines
ca. 1900
H: 42 cm
Carved hardwood

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