A Hammock with a History

This article was contributed by Susan Milbrath, Curator of Latin American Art and A.I,,, /.; ,, Florida Museum of Natural History. It
recounts the acquisition by the Florida Museum of a unique Brazilian artifact.


Last June, Bonnie Georgiadis of Tarpon Springs showed us an antique
 hammock she had acquired from her great uncle, Ed Backus, who
was the American consul to Brazil under Presidents Hayes, Garfield, and
Arthur. For decades it had hung in the family's Villa Plumosa Hotel in
Tarpon Springs, but now needed a new home. Carmen Diana Deere
(LAS) facilitated the initial contact and came with Bonnie to see what we
might be able to tell them about the hammock. Sonia Pessoa, a Brazilian
graduate student working with Michael Heckenberger ( .,11 ,! ...1.._- ),
joined us to offer her expertise on contemporary Amazonian material
culture. When the hammock was unrolled we were intrigued by a fringe
of lace-like fiber interwoven with feathers, a decorative floral design that
included iridescent plumage. The hammock, woven with palm fiber on a
loom, was not a style that Sonia had seen before, but she remembered
photos of similar hammock in one of my books. To our delight, a
catalogue documented two related pieces with very specific collection
information. One was purchased in the 19th century in Manaus, Brazil,
and the other was "made by the Indians of Rio Negro, a tributary of the
Mecta [Meta] en the republic of Colombia," according to the Museo de
America catalogue entry (p. 100 of Arte Plumdrio Amazonico, 1984). The
entry notes that it had been sent from Bogoti to Madrid in April 1872,
and concludes that both hammocks were made by Arawak Indians of the
Rio Negro, who were in the area of Manaus in the 19th century. Forming
part of the border between Colombian and Venezuela, the Rio Negro
then passes into Brazil and joins the Amazon just beyond Manaus. This
river route helps explain the why three different countries are mentioned
in the catalogue entry.
 Contemporary ethnographic accounts describe Arawak hammocks
woven on looms in northwest Brazil, and the lii, ,.....t of South
American Indians (1963:127) also notes that among the Central Arawak


"there is much trade in hammocks with the Whites." Apparently this
trade is a long-standing tradition, because the 19th century Arawaks
responded to the European-American tastes, weaving hammocks with
garlands flowers made of delicate feather work designed to please foreign
buyers. Today such a hammock would never make it through customs,
since import of rare Amazonian feathers are prohibited under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Consul Backus received the hammock as a diplomatic gift, around the
time the King of Portugal recognized his service to Brazil by appointing
him "Commendador" on August 17, 1905. More than a century later,
thanks to Bonnie Georgiadis and Carmen Diana Deere, the Florida
Museum of Natural History can offer a new home to the Consul's
"hammock with a history."


A Detailed view of the palm fiber hammock interwoven with feathers,
recently acquired by the Florida Museum of Natural History.


A Private Eye: Latin American Prints from the Efrain Barradas Collection


UF's Grinter Gallery presented "A Private Eye: Latin American Prints
 from the Efrain Barradas Collection" from September 4, 2007 to
January 11, 2008. Printmaking has played an important role in Latin
American arts since the 19th century. Some countries, such as Mexico
and Cuba, have developed a strong graphic tradition, but the medium is
popular in all of Latin America. The unique Barradas collection is not a
comprehensive example of prints from all of Latin America, but one that
represents the collector's taste and knowledge of Latin American art.


Still, this selection shows that Latin American artists have made of prints
another important reflection of their social and historical reality.
Barradas is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Latin
American Studies at UF His current research concerns the uses of
popular culture in Latin American literature and art and the
iconography of Mexican artists.


4 THE LATINAMERICANIST