Totems Not Taboo: An Exhibition of Primitive Art

Catalog published in conjunction with an exhibition assembled and presented by the Contemporary Arts Museum in the Cullinan Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, held from February 26-March29, 1959. Curated by Jermayne MacAgy. A landmark exhibition of some 200 works presenting so-called primitive art on white walls and pedestals, reframing them as art instead of artifact. Influential on subsequent museology—at least until the past decade or so, when the pendulum has swung back toward context (see the MET’s new installation of its Tribal Arts galleries). The title is a double-entendre that suggests secular engagement with oft-sacred African, Oceanic, and Indigenous culture objects while echoing Freud’s seminal 1913 essay Totems and Taboo. 8vo (6” x 9”), die-cut wrappers, 96 unnumbered pages, b/w illustrations throughout. With an introduction by Ralph C. Altman and a short bibliography at the end. Lenders to the exhibition include a who’s who of prominent institutional and private collections. Slight lean to spine. Light rubbing and chipping to extremities.…