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So far Material Culture has created 224 blog entries.

ABOUT THE CHINALAI COLLECTION

Lee and Vichai Chinalai Welcome to our auction and thank you to Material Culture for making it happen. Why now? First and foremost, this sale reflects our near-historic lack of restraint in buying Southeast Asian and Chinese ethnographic antiques! It is also about our love of learning and for the artifacts and cultures that created them; and for the people who share our passion. We started this business over forty years ago with the philosophy that we only would buy what we would be happy to have ourselves. This removed a certain pressure from us: it meant we didn’t have to study the market or try to forecast its trends when we preferred to devote our time to studying the pieces we were buying. We believed in intrinsic value rather than value dictated by fashion or whim. Not that the market didn’t influence sales but it nearly always was more by coincidence than by design. For example, there was one time at a show when we displayed ten lingam stones of varying sizes, all standing upright on rubber O rings. We thought they were stunning together but O seemed to stand for zero attention. Then Indiana Jones and [...]

2020-07-23T17:34:49-04:00July 22nd, 2020|Auctions|
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CHINALAI COLLECTION | AUCTION: AUG 17

Browse the Virtual Print Catalog Asian & Ethnographic Art and Antiques | Chinalai Collection Live Online Auction: Monday, August 17, 10AM ET Please note: Due to covid-19 safety measures, preview viewing is available by appointment only, Saturday and Sunday, August 15-16, 10am – 3pm. Please email a time and the lots you wish to view to expert@materialculture.com Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF) ABOUT THE CHINALAI COLLECTION Lee and Vichai Chinalai Welcome to our auction and thank you to Material Culture for making it happen. Why now? First and foremost, this sale reflects our near-historic lack of restraint in buying Southeast Asian and Chinese ethnographic antiques! It is also about our love of learning and for the artifacts and cultures that created them; and for the people who share our passion. We started this business over forty years ago with the philosophy that we only would buy what we would be happy to have ourselves. (continue reading) SOME SELECT AUCTION LOTS  

2020-08-06T09:36:38-04:00July 22nd, 2020|Auctions|
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JOIN US SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22 • Live Klezmer Music & Refreshments • Winter Sale Savings • Ethnographic & Tribal Arts Exhibition

2020-02-20T13:13:52-05:00February 20th, 2020|Uncategorized|
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Ancient, Ethnographic & Tribal Arts Auction | February 23

Browse the Virtual Print Catalog Ancient, Ethnographic & Tribal Arts Live and Online Auction: Sunday, February 23, 2020, 11AM ET Exhibition: February 20-22, 11AM-4PM Featuring The Roger Hollander Collection of Indian Mainland Textiles. Including consignments from the Allan Stone Collection, New York; Apsara Arts of Asia; David and Barbara Fraser, Yardley, PA; Shirley Fiterman Trust, Minneapolis, MN; and many other fine estates and private collections. Browse the Auction Catalog and Bid Live on these Portals:   Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form | Terms and Conditions (PDF)

2020-02-20T11:46:36-05:00February 10th, 2020|Uncategorized|
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Join Us Saturday for Live African Drums

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! Join Us This Saturday Live African Drums with Sangue Mbacke Saturday, February 8, 1:00-3:00PM Free Refreshments, Open to the Public, Unlimited Free Parking Sangue Mbacke is a Senegalese Drum Master and teacher. He began fabricating the Djembe over twenty years ago and has been playing professionally ever since. Sangue collaborates with musicians internationally, performing and hosting workshops in West Africa, Europe and throughout the United States. Each year, Sangue hosts student-artists of various skill-sets and interests from around the world in Dakar for a hybrid cultural immersion and drumming workshop. Sangue also teaches schoolchildren throughout the USA, leading anti-bullying assemblies and bringing Senegalese music and culture to museums, schools and libraries. A musician, dancer, and raconteur, Sangue uses storytelling through the Djembe and Tama to build interpersonal relationships among his students and the audience.

2020-02-04T14:53:28-05:00January 29th, 2020|Events|
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George Colin (American, 1929-2014)

George Colin (American, 1929-2014) George Colin was a flour sacker at the Pillsbury Company in central Illinois for 30 years. He retired in 1975 on a pension of $100 per month to work on his art full-time. The holder of a certificate from a mail order art school, he worked from his home in a small town of 100 called Salisbury, Illinois. George Colin created a large body of work that is now almost legendary. When he was discovered in the 1980s, there was a barn on his property filled with 7,000 paintings and drawings. Many of the pieces in today’s auction are original barn paintings that were never sold or exposed to the general public before. Colin was imbued with an insatiable will to create art. Unable to afford materials, he originally settled on chalk as his preferred medium as it was cheap and could be bought at the local five and dime. The paper he used early on was primarily wrappers from rolls of printing paper salvaged from the dumpsters of nearby printing plants. He also used the backs of discarded printed pieces. This material is referred to as “found paper.” It differs from the archival [...]

2019-12-11T14:00:18-05:00December 11th, 2019|Uncategorized|
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