Centre Houamla
The Centre Houamla collection is organised by material and technical gesture rather than by simple chronology: fired clay, carved wood, assembled adornment, taut string, painted colour and woven fibre. Browse each family in detail.
The Traveler's Art Gallery is a collection of art mostly by Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Aboriginal Australians, collected during our travels across continents, showing the magic in the hands of the artist and similarities in the conception and design transcending race and culture!
The collection includes wooden masks, sculptures, fabrics, garments, baskets, ceramic pieces, bone carvings, handmade carpets, jewelry, leather, musical instruments and much more. The majority of the pieces are originals and most were used during ceremonies in tribal settings. The collection covers several countries from Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands and Australia.
Art enthusiasts can find a variety of themes to explore such as maternity, women at the well, ancient and modern Egypt, and "tears of the mask."
From the small smoke-fired pot to the perforated incense burner, by way of the large painted bowl with leaf motifs, this collection brings together pieces thrown on the wheel or hand-modelled. Each shape answers a use: keeping water, burning a resin, presenting an offering.
Surfaces, sometimes blackened by firing or smoke, sometimes painted with plant motifs, bear witness to firing and decoration techniques specific to each regional tradition, from the Yucatán to the Nile Valley. An alabaster jar from Luxor, engraved with hieroglyphs and attributed to the age of the pharaohs, completes this set alongside replicas from the treasure of Tutankhamun.
This family brings together figures and reliefs carved in wood and stone: a family group of East African warriors carrying spear and shield, a totemic face with a mineral patina rusted by time, a rare Akyé mask in reddish wood from the prestigious Charles Ratton collection, a village-scene bas-relief in ebony from Malawi, and a Philippine jewellery box entirely carved in bas-relief.
These sculptures often served a function of memory, protection or status: representing a lineage, watching over a household, marking a ceremony within the community.
Cowrie shells, glass beads, metal thread and coloured stones make up this collection of adornment: a ceremonial headdress, tasselled necklaces, strands of white pearls and a brightly coloured woven necklace.
Worn at ceremonies, weddings or rites of passage, these pieces are all social languages: they signal a status, a belonging, a stage of life.
The Rebab, a traditional string instrument from Jordan and Palestine, takes centre stage here: a sound box stretched with studded cowhide, a turned wooden neck and a bow strung with horsehair, producing the deep, nasal tone typical of Levantine folk music.
Standing 60 cm tall and 17 cm wide, it illustrates the meeting of three simple materials — leather, wood and string — in the service of a single gesture: making the instrument sing under the bow.
This collection brings together contemporary creation and the memory of ancient Egypt: a portrait painted in bright blocks of colour, enhanced with glass beads sewn on to trace the hair and facial features, set in dialogue with a reproduction of a hieroglyphic scene featuring Egyptian deities.
From one gesture to the other, colour becomes language: the free language of today's artist; the codified language of ancient Egypt's scribes.
Woven from dyed plant fibres, this Balinese fruit basket unfolds a radiating spiral motif, from the heart of the vessel out to its rim ringed in dark brown.
An everyday object turned exhibition piece, it is a reminder that utilitarian craft — baskets, trays, bowls — also carries a graphic language passed down from generation to generation.
The whole of these collections is presented on the museum's permanent trail, complemented by a temporary view renewed each season.