FOLLOWER OF GERRIT SCHOUTEN (second half 19th century)

 

Diorama depicting a Carib Indigenous camp

Carved wood, papier-mache, paint on paper and natural twigs
H. 27.3 x L. 43.5 x D. 13 cm
 

Note:

Depicted is a camp of Carib Indigenous on a river bank in Surinam. Through the influence of Gerrit Schouten (1779-1839) diorama’s became a popular commodity to showcase the indigenous life in Surinam in the 19th century. Two diorama’s of Indian camps are illustrated in earlier catalogues Uit Verre Streken. In the June 2007 catalogue, item 17, shows a diorama of an Indian camp on the river bank by Gerrit Schouten, dated 1829 and in the October 2016 catalogue, item 13, shows the only known diorama by Gerrit’s younger brother Hendrik Schouten, dated 1809, which is the earliest date of any known diorama made in Surinam. The present one certainly is not up to the quality of the dioramas by Gerrit and Hendrik Schouten and is almost comical in it primitiveness. The person in the hammock appears to be falling out of his hammock. For the rest it has all the usual subjects also shown in the diorama’s of Indian camps by Gerrit and Hendrik Schouten; a canoe with peddal (assegaai) in the foreground, a dog and a parrot, women cooking over a fire and a man returning from the hunt with a bird he caught.