Art museum receives PNG objects collection

THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING Art Museum in the United States recently acquired a gift from the Salgo Trust for Education that will be featured in the museum's coming exhibition, Journeys along the Sepik River: Tribal Art from Papua New Guinea.

Nicolas M Salgo, the late Hungarian-American financier and diplomat, amassed an eclectic collection of art and formed the Salgo Trust for Education. The extensive Salgo collection is located in a trust, in an art history research centre in Port Washington, New York.

While on a trip to New Guinea in the early 1970s with famed architect I M Pei, Salgo collected these objects. Made of carved and painted wood, they are based on traditional art from the rivers, but were made long after the art of those areas was influence by the West.

These objects are considered the best and most creative work from PNG and are held in high regard by collectors and museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, says Susan Moldenhauer, the art museum's director and chief curator.