Polynesian art / Art polynésien / Polynesische kunst
Galerie Caroline
Information
Sad news
We have heard that an object sold by us has been intentionally changed in appearance and detailing. This infringed upon the artistic rights of the maker and did injustice to the objectives of Galerie Caroline. We deeply regret that this fraudulent activity affects not only us, but also the maker and the culture and society of origin.
Pop-up presentation The Hague, 15 -25 November 2018
In 2018 Galerie Caroline had a wonderful opportunity to present itself and its entire collection of that moment during a pop-up presence in The Hague. We were offered the chance to use a beautiful room in an empty office building near the political centre of our country. The building, previously used by a large banking firm, is managed by ANNA Vastgoed & Cultuur, a real estate agency that manages and rents out several buildings to galleries and cultural institutions.
Our pop-up presentation was the only activity 'outdoors' for Galerie Caroline in 2018. We enjoyed it very much and hope to be able to repeat this gallery away from home feel again in the future. Thanks to all of you who came to visit us at the Korte Vijverberg 2 in The Hague!
Original Gifts Market, Leiden, 25 november 2017
It really was chilly at the market, but luckily dry for most of the time ... and fun! Here in front of the Museum of Ethnology Galerie Caroline in a 'light' edition shared a stand with Lost Forest. Here's some images of the combined stand in Leiden.
Amsterdam Tribal Jewelry & Textiles Fair, 23-24 September 2017
Galerie Caroline enjoyed being at the Amsterdam Tribal Jewelry & Textiles Fair! We again had a nice stand near the entrance of De Duif and received lots of attention from curious visitors. Antoine's presentation on tapa on Saturday was well received. Our stand with Polynesian art was considered positively a completely different world from the rest of the fair: seeds instead of beads, decorated tapa instead of traditional textile material and carved jewellery instead of glass and metal ornaments.
L'Événement Tapa, 14 September, 2017
Antoine visited the Tapa event, an exposition and sale of fascinating pieces of tapacloth in Paris. Here also a new and very impressive book about tapa had been introduced only the day before.
The publication, edited 'sous la direction de Michel Charleux', is titled: Tapa - De l 'Ecorce à l'étoffe, Art Millénaire d'Océanie. De l’Asie du Sud-Est à la Polynésie orientale / From Tree Bark to Cloth: an Ancient Art of Oceania, from Southeast Asia to Eastern Polynesia. It is a co-edition of the Association TAPA and Somogy éditions d'Art. Galerie Caroline now has some copies for sale.
At the exposition there were also modern 'western' creations of tapa (e.g. by Marion Dumaine) next to more traditional pieces. A program of lectures and a demonstration of tapamaking by Mareva Gilmore-Mote from Fatu Hiva made it into a real event.
Pacific Islands Festival Europe, 29 July, 2017
Saturday, the second day of the Pacific Island Festival Europe (PIFE) 2017 in Assen was a day of extremes... with wind and rain, lots of it, but also with nice and warm sunshine, music, beautiful people, lovely food...
Galerie Caroline had a spot right in the middle of the Pacific market, close to where the performances took place, although some were a bit hidden inside a large tent... The day ended the way it began, with rain... Thanks Jenny and PIFE crew for this enjoyable day!
Amsterdam Tattoo Convention, 26-28 May, 2017
Galerie Caroline had a nice stand close to the Polynesian section of the convention. Many artists and visitors complimented us on the presentation and quality of our pieces. We met with a number of interesting and warm people, whom we hope and expect to meet again on other occasions. As the weather was very nice outside the number of visitors to the convention was smaller than last year. So we did have some very quiet moments that were, however, made up for on the last day. Polynesian art - and not just the tattooing - is very much alive... Thank you all for visiting us in Amsterdam!
Somewhere Els, Antwerp, December 2016
The last month of 2016 Galerie Caroline visited Antwerp. In gallery Somewhere Els on the Reyndersstraat visitors could have a look at a wide selection of our tapas and some woodcarvings as well. Besides the creatively assembled ethnic jewelry items and nice fashion accessories our collection attracted some good attention.
We hope that in this cold month we and our tapas have been able to bring some extra warmth to Belgium!
Thanks Els for your hospitality.
The Amsterdam Traditional Jewelry & Textiles Fair,
25 September 2016
A very interesting fair with many beautiful items... and with a lot of curious visitors! Again we had a long day, but it was certainly worthwhile. It was about ten thirty when we finally finished gearing up our stand in the special venue of De Duif, a church building on one of the Amsterdam canals.
We can be pretty satisfied with the rack for showing our framed tapas and also with the presentation of our items of jewelry. Some visitors even complimented us with these. All day we could tell about tapa, Polynesian art and about the people. Some of our valued items found new homes.
Just after six o'clock we finished packing and returned home again, tired but happy.
The Hague Art and Antiques Fair, 27 August 2016
On Saturday August 27 Galerie Caroline took part in The Hague Art and Antiques Fair. It was a nice spot that we had on this market, traditionally held on the Lange Voorhout, quite near the political centre of the country. Right under the trees we were able to enjoy some sunshine but some welcome shade as well. Although the market was relatively quiet we had a pleasant day and hope to have inspired some more people with our tapa and woodcarvings.
Recent publications
In the last few months we acquired some real nice publications about Marquesan arts and culture. The first is the exhibition catalogue from this years MataHoata exhibition in the Musée de quai Branly in Paris. Then there is the second volume of 'Te Patutiki' by Teiki Huukena, a very detailed work with drawings and explanations of Marquesan tattoo motifs. Last but certainly not least is a little book entitled Tiki, Ti'i, Ki'i... - Aux origines des Polynésiens by Hélène Guiot and Marie-Noëlle Ottino-Garanger, issued by the Société des Océanistes. All are really worthwile reading or studying for everyone into Marquesan arts and culture.
Amsterdam Tattoo Convention, 27-29 May 2016
We enjoyed being at our first tattoo convention! Lots of enthusiastic tattoo lovers and artists, nice tattoos and of course a great atmosphere. Although the weather was great, the convention inside the RAI-building was visited by many people, literally from around the world.
A nice surprise for us was that a delegation of tattoo artists originating from the Marquesan Islands was also present. Our stand made them feel at home a bit, and we ourselves really enjoyed their company (and tattoos). The location of our stand was very well chosen, quite near the Polynesian section. Although a fair of three long days in a row is quite tiring, we really look back with satisfaction! A big 'thank you' goes out to Patricia for helping us and to the organisation for this well organised event!
MataHoata, Arts et Société aux Îles Marquises. Visit to an exhibition in the Musée du quai Branly in Paris
We were lucky to attend the (evening) opening of this exhibition on Monday 11 April 2016. In itself the opening event was some sort of reunion with lots of people from the Marquesas and also from the museum and art world.
It started with a touching welcome performance of the Marquesan delegation and was followed by several speeches by the museum's director and government officials. Finally the waiting was over and we could visit the exhibition and have a look at the extensive collection of magnificent objects and take in all the information on offer.
We simply had to revisit MataHoata the day after, also to attend an interesting colloquium on the subject. All in all very worthwhile!
Salon des Marquises and Festival des arts des ÃŽles Marquises
A visit to French Polynesia
Last December we made another trip to French Polynesia. On Tahiti we among other things visited the Salon des Marquises and the Salon de Noël in Pirae. Taiohae Bay was our main goal on Nukua Hiva, but here we also managed to pay visits to Hakaui, Taipivai, Aakapa and Hatiheu.
We attended at the Festival des arts des ÃŽles Marquises on Hiva Oa, where we visited two locations, the main venue in Atuona where also the 'Village des artisans' was to be found, and Ta'aoa. The festival was, like the one in 2011, filled with spectacular performances of dancing and singing by groups representing all the Marquesan isles. This year groups from Rapanui and Rikitea were invited to join in.
During this trip we met and talked with a lot of artists and were able to 'replenish our stock'. We have found several beautiful pieces of tapa, some particular fine woodcarvings and a number of nicely crafted bone ornaments. One of the masterpieces we did bring with us is a nice size replica of a typical marquesan warclub or u'u, wonderfully carved by Anihoka Tepea from Ua Huka.
We will in due course renew the information on our collection page and expect to inspire visitors and lovers of Polynesian art anew with some awesome pieces!
Antoine & Caroline
January 2016
Swan Market, Van Nellefabriek, Rotterdam
On Sunday 25 October 2015 there was another busy Swan Market in the large hall of the monumental Van Nelle factorybuilding in Rotterdam. Here Galerie Caroline was represented with a small stand. It took some getting used to after the large stands we had the previous fairs...
This time we chose to present just decorated tapa. Again we succeeded in surprising quite a number of people. The story of the makers, its production and the beautiful motifs, led to many positive reactions of visitors. Another great day to promote Polynesian art!
Exclusive Art Fair, Deventer
From Thursday October 1st until Sunday October 4th Galerie Caroline had a large and goodlooking stand at the Exclusive Art Fair in Deventer.
Preparing for the fair took some time and building our stand was a days work as well. During the full three days that the fair was opened to the public lots of art lovers visited the beautiful venue, a monumental church building (the Bergkerk) right in the centre of the city. Our stand again attracted a lot of curious people who wanted to learn more about Polynesian art and culture. Especially the tapa made many wonder about its use and production, so we had to explain quite a few times that it is not paper and that it takes some time and effort to make and creativity and a steady hand to decorate.
Late Sunday night we returned home, after packing the objects again and stowing it all into our rental van. We gained another interesting (although exhausting) experience and hope to have inspired Dutch art lovers with our Polynesian Art!
Please have a look at some more pictures on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/galeriecaroline
Tribal & Ethnographics Arts Fair, Antwerp / Wilrijk
The ATEAF or Antwerp Tribal & Ethnographics Arts Fair 2015 certainly was a special opportunity and event. This fair was held in the weekend of 5 and 6 September, in the very atmospheric surroundings of the buildings of the Faculty for Comparative Study of Religion and Humanism in Wilrijk, Belgium.
Several private collectors and dealers were represented here with their collections of old and contemporary 'tribal' and ethnographic objects. Galerie Caroline also had a spacious and well-presented stand. Although the flow of visitors was relatively slow, the ambience was good!
Worldfair, Leiden
On 23 August Galerie Caroline had a stand right next to the entrance of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden! We took part in the Worldfair, held outside the museum, where a broad range of (food) products from around the globe were to be found. Lots of people came to visit and enjoy the stands, people, tastes and music.
Again many people showed a profound interest in our sculptures, decorated barkcloth and items of jewellery. This market provided us with another fine opportunity to tell interested people about Polynesia and the many beautiful art forms and materials that have their origins there.
We are pretty sure that again we have fueled enthusiasm for Polynesian art in general and Marquesan art in particular.
PACIFIKUS Festival, Amsterdam
What a day we had at the Pacifikus Festival on August 8th! Yes, it was a long day, as we had to travel to Amsterdam and back, which in itself was some four hours altogether. But the festival... Pacifikus had a real Pacific feel to it! The music, food, performances by different groups, people, sun ...
Lots of people from all over the world - of them many from the different regions of the Pacific - enjoyed the entertainments offered, the market stalls, the atmosphere and modern Pacific art. The art was displayed in the Machineroom building on the yard of the former gas factory where Pacifikus took place. Beautiful art works, initiatives and enthusiastic artists around to tell you more...
Our stand was again appreciated by many and a number of our Polynesian items found a new home. We can truly say that we enjoyed Pacifikus and sincerely hope that this initiative will have a replay next year!
Swan Market, Tilburg
Galerie Caroline has been busy again! With our stand at the Tilburg Swan Market on July 12th we had another busy day! Hundreds and hundreds of people have been walking by, of which many wanted to know more about Polynesian art... We explained the process of barkcloth making, the different materials used for carving and of course the individuality of all the pieces, all made by hand by real people with names. Visitors were impressed by the materials and the quality of the detailing of the art works. We received many compliments for our stand, the objects and the information we provided. Looking forward to the next opportunity...
Swan Market, Rotterdam
On June 7th we had our first presentation on a market, the Swan Market at the Museumpark in Rotterdam. We did not really know what to expect, as Polynesian art is not (yet) that well known in the Netherlands. On this mostly sunny day with some wind, a completely booked Swan Market was visited by many people.
We were pleasantly surprised by the attention our stand got from quite a few of these visitors, some of which even took a bit of Polynesia home with them!
It was a long day, but one that leaves us feeling satisfied. Of course we hope to be able to reach more people again on other occasions.
Tapa Festival
Last November (2014) we visited Tahiti where we attended several events of the Festival du Tapa. We participated in a colloquium on tapa, held in the town hall of Pirae. Here information on the production and use of tapa was shared, and the protection of traditional rights to the knowledge about tapa making and its decoration were discussed. Representatives from all over the Pacific as well as from several American and European cultural organizations were present. Several workshops were held in which practitioners demonstrated the different techniques of tapa making and different decorating styles.
Salon des Marquises
At the same time we have been able to visit the Salon des Marquises. This is a market where artisans or their relatives that live on the Marquesan Islands sell their works to a wider audience. For sixteen days some fifty stands offered all kinds of objects made of wood, bone, shell, coconut, stone and fibres. There were two tattoo studio's. During the weekends special shows were held where dance groups from the islands demonstrated songs, music, dances and traditional costume.
New items
This trip has also provided us with some new items for the Galerie, like decorated tapa, decorated coconuts, bone ornaments and jewelry. They will definitely contribute to a more varied collection. We hope to hear your opinion about this soon!
Antoine & Caroline
February 2015
Joined
As of August 2014 I have joined forces with Caroline van Santen in Galerie Caroline. By combining our expertise and time we will be able to give our gallery and its goals an extra incentive.
Besides for the gallery I also work as an independent (web)editor. My passion for Polynesia has started mainly because of my training as an anthropologist. Over the years I have visited several Polynesian islands with Caroline.
Antoine Vanhemelrijk
August 2014
The idea
During my studies in Cultural Anthropology I became interested in the history and cultures of the Pacific region. Many visits to museums and art fairs brought me a fascination for the material culture of particularly Polynesia. The images, utensils, clothing and jewellery collected in previous centuries appeal to my sense of beauty.
First visit
In 2008 I visited the Marquesas Archipelago for the first time. I not only became impressed by the islands themselves, but also the fine art objects made by contemporary artisans. Soon after returning home an idea started to grow in my head to do something with these modern objects. In the Netherlands and neighbouring countries on a regular basis antique pieces of Marquesan art are for sale at auctions and in galleries, but contemporary work is almost impossible to find. In my eyes that deserves attention.
Buying trip
More than three years after my first visit, I returned to the Marquesas Archipelago in December 2011. Here I experienced the four-yearly Festival of the Marquesas. Besides the many dance performances at beautiful historical sites scattered across the island of Nuku Hiva, there was a crafts market in Taiohae. Here sometimes the artisans themselves sold their work, but more often this was done by their relatives. Here I made my first purchases for my gallery. After the festival, I travelled to other islands in the archipelago: Ua Huka, Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Ua Pou. On these islands I met with carvers and I visited crafts markets, handicraft cooperatives and hotel galleries. In particular at Ua Pou I was taken under the care by inspiring guide Toti Te'ikiehu'upoko. He introduced me to many artisans. For this, I owe him a lot of gratitude. He opened doors that for a casual visitor to the islands are difficult to open. On Tahiti, a last necessary stop for the return trip to Europe, I also visited a few art galleries.
Gallery
After the arrival of the purchased art objects I started setting up my little gallery at home. Unforeseen circumstances meant that I had to put a stop to these plans for one and a half years. This break has luckily come to an end, and now I can finally put my collection of contemporary pieces of the Marquesas Archipelago on the market. The next few years I hope to expand and supplement my range with contemporary art objects from other Polynesian archipelagos.
Caroline van Santen
December 2013
