Organised and founded by California-based Caskey-Lees, the show started life in 1996 at the downtown 69th Regiment Armory but after four years graduated uptown to Park Avenue where this year it hosts 58 prominent specialist dealers (five making their debut) from countries including Belgium, France, Morocco, Senegal and the UK.
Rigorously vetted, the fair offers work by the native peoples of Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania so there is a tremendous variety in every department, from the spectacular gold jewellery of the Indian sub-continent through African masks to pre-Imperial Chinese ceramics.
Photographic dealer Dennis George Crow of Los Angeles will again present his exotic antique tribal images and CMG Books from Toronto will again be the only specialist book dealer on parade.
As with Caskey-Lees’ Asian art fairs this tribal art event is very strong on textiles with Alberto Levi from Milan, Berber and Islamic Art from Morocco and Arte Textil from San Francisco among the substantial number of top dealers in this area.
General admission is $15.
Gathering of the tribes in Manhattan
USA: IT involves a rather longer trip than to North Yorkshire, but among the world’s top events celebrating ethnographic arts and crafts The New York International Tribal Antiques Show will run at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue and 67th St, from May 20 to 23 with a $75 evening benefit preview on Saturday May 19.
