AFA Summer 2020

Summer 64 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com W hether experienced firsthand or contemplated symbolically, the sea fosters a range of powerful emotions. As a muse for artistic and cultural expression, it sparks our creative impulse and moves us to reverence. Its incomprehensible and uncontrollable power deeply affects the way we understand our role in nature. Much maritime art commemorates technical achievements and challenges overcome. Models of vessels designed for specific waters, or activities and tools that increase accuracy or safety, celebrate achievement and contribute to the iconography of regional and national identities. The particular roles and rigors of maritime labor, both at sea and in port, set sailors and seafarers apart from those on shore. Works made at sea celebrate personal experiences while far from home and reflect the strong social bonds established among seafarers. Maritime trading voyages led to cultural as well as commercial encounters. Sailors frequently returned with art and objects that displayed their interest in the places and people they met overseas. Some of these works also reflect their makers’ interest in the visiting sailors. Today, the perspectives embodied in these objects contribute to our understanding of our shared history as people connected by the sea. The new Maritime Galleries opened at the Peabody Essex Museum in September 2019, one of three floors of galleries that are part of a new 40,000-square-foot wing designed by Ennead Architects, New York. The wing is part of a complete reinstallation of the PEM collection, with the aim of increasing public access to the museum’s diverse holdings. Founded by sea captains in 1799 and now the country’s oldest continuously operated museum, PEM and its heritage are inextricably linked to America’s maritime history, and its wide-ranging collection of maritime art remains among the most popular with visitors and scholars. The role of the sea has never been more relevant in the globalized and highly interconnected world we live in today. A top priority for the expansion was to re-envision the maritime exhibitions, expanding and aligning them with contemporary concerns and affinities. , Two-headed equestrian figurehead, unknown artist, United Kingdom, about 1750. White pine, 79 × 24 × 43 inches. Museum purchase, made possible by Ulf B. and Elizabeth C. Heide (2018.12.1). Tau ihu (bow ornament) from a war canoe, Maori artist, Aotearoa (New Zealand), about 1800–1830. Tōtara wood, 25 x 20 x 66½ inches. Gift of Dr. Charles Goddard Weld (1911 E14515). This two-headed equestrian creature is one of the oldest surviving figureheads in the world, and the only existing example of the double-headed form. It was carved to adorn the bow of a British ship, where it could be viewed from either side of the vessel. Such dynamic and complex carvings decorated many British warships built between 1670 and 1760. It is mounted adjacent to a pierced carving that decorated the prow of a 74-foot-long war canoe named Komarura. The canoe was thought to have been used in an engagement in the Bay of Plenty before 1830. The carving, which features figures looking out of and into the canoe, was removed from the rotted boat for preservation in 1893. , Paddle with puhoro design symbolizing a stormy sea, Maori artist, Aotearoa (New Zealand), 1800–1810. Wood, 6¼ x 77½ x 2 inches. Gift of Captain William Putnam Richardson (1812E5492). Edward Moran (1829 United Kingdom–1901 United States), Seascape, 1867. Oil on canvas, 36½ x 57½ inches. Gift of the estate of Charles Shove Osborn (2014.47.2). These works elicit similar emotional responses to turbulent waters. Edward Moran’s oil painting, with its crashing surf and foreboding dark cloud, evokes humankind’s dual fascination with and fear of the fickle and uncontrollable power of the marine environment. The Maori paddle is decorated with a stylized naturalistic pattern, called puhoro, or “tempestuous sea.” The design’s origins may refer to the churning of canoe paddles through water. It is associated with strength and is also a traditional moko (tattoo) pattern adorning Maori men’s thighs.