Steven Hooper – författare

The Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, is considered one of the greatest art collections of the twentieth century. It originated in the 1930s when Robert Sainsbury, a collector of private press books, began to acquire works by Epstein and Moore as well as sculptures from China and Africa. After their marriage in 1937, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury embarked on "an unplanned voyage of discovery in the world of art," says Steven Hooper in the introduction to this three-volume set. With abundant illustrations, the set catalogues the holdings of the extensive Sainsbury Collection in three volumes: European 19th and 20th Century Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture; Pacific, African and Native North American Art; and Precolumbian, Asian, Egyptian and European Antiquities. As the Sainsburys' collection grew, it came to include a broad range of works by such artists as Moore, Giacometti, and Bacon, from such widespread locations as Polynesia, Alaska, Western Africa, Mesoamerica, Japan, and the Cyclades. Presented as a gift to the University of East Anglia in 1973, the Sainsbury Collection has grown considerably with continued acquisitions and is today housed in Norman Foster's remarkable Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. University and museum scholars from Europe, America, and Japan provide entries for this catalogue, which will serve as a rich resource for art historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists. For general readers, the set offers an accessible introduction to a range of art from many periods and cultures.Published in association with the University of East Anglia, Norwich

This world-renowned sculpture is a unique figure in Polynesian art. An image of a deified ancestor, A’a was created sometime before 1821 on the island of Rurutu. Thirty dynamic figures stud his body, and the excellence of his craftsmanship suggests that his hollow interior once contained something of great cultural importance. Research undertaken ahead of the forthcoming exhibition revealed a small red feather lodged inside the statue and encouraged the curators to begin a range of scientific tests that had been unavailable to previous generations. Their revelations about the meaning and function of A’a are published here for the first time. A’a has been inspiring visitors since its arrival at the Museum in 1890, as much for its dramatic backstory as for its workmanship. The missionary John Williams saved the statue from being burned, but met an untimely end himself in the course of his work. The statue was a sensation when it arrived in England and inspired artists and poets for decades – Picasso was so struck by it that he had a copy made for himself. A’a is an idol in every sense of the word, and this book aims to inspire a new audience with his story.