Customer Reviews

Arts of the Amazon (Braun, Barbara)

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This book is the "Bible" for collectors of Indigenous Amazonian art and no wonder - there are hundreds of photos of items from America's largest private collection of "lowland" Indian art between its covers.

Peter Roe's essay is also outstanding and is the best text I've ever read on the subject. Dr. Roe spent several years living with the Wai-Wai tribe and has written several other books. Look out for his soon to be released (I hope)essay in Tribal Arts magazine (tribalarts.com)

Also recommended is the far more extensive A Plumaria Indigena Brasiliera (Indigenous Brazilian Featherwork).

With the ever encroaching Western civilization and corresponding shrinking Indian population of the Amazon the result has been a diminishing indigenous culture. Along with the collection itself this book helps to preserve those artifacts from the Amazon. This beautiful book shows off the collection of Adam Mekler who has probably the best collection of it's kind in the United States. Since much of the art of the Amazon is consumed by the environment and made from items suseptible to decay, such as wood, animal feathers, cloth and fibers it is important to preserve these windows into the souls of their makers. This book is primarily a picture book, filled with magnificnet colorful photographs, many of which are full pages. The book relies heavily on the feather work created from the birds of the Amazon such as parrots, mackaws and hummingbirds. The items shown in the book are headdresses, dance costumes, necklaces, various ornaments and other artifacts associated with ceremonies. Many of the pieces are those used in shamanistic rituals. The text is brief but the explanations for the various pieces illustrate the use of the items quite well. The explanation of the South Amerindian beliefs in a perfect hidden reality behind the perceptible and imperfect world that is accesssed through altered states of awareness is pretty good. The transformation comes about by doning the costumes of the spirits and animals and thus joing them. Although from a laymens perspective these practices seem novel , the doning of costumes is much more as the adornments are an armor revealing status through the power accrutements. The text is extremely interesting and worth reading rather than just glossing over because of the abundance of beautiful photographs. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves the indigenous arts of America, specifically the Amazon, it's people and their culture. More than a picture book, this is a glimpse into the known unknown of the many surviving tribes of their dissappearing and distinctive cultural and linguistic traditions.

I'm actually puzzled why no one else has reviewed this book - it has been so helpful to me as I've struggled to understand the mysteries of Amazon art. For me the keyword has to be accessibility - I felt as I was there under the canopy as I turned the pages. Highly recommended.