Art Dealer in the Last Unknown: Ron Perry and New Guinea Art the Early Years, 1964-1973

Join us as we share Ron’s exciting stories as a New Guinea art dealer in the island’s always difficult, sometimes dangerous, jungles. Beginning with his first trip in 1964 and continuing for over forty years, his fascination with the remote places, the remote people, the amazing art, made him one of the few adventurous dealers who bought art directly from tribal artists. He and other traders are rarely mentioned in the literature, yet they formed the link between isolated village artists and crafts people and the wider world — they brought the art out. Ron’s early explorations took place during a unique and vanished era, the post-colonial years after World War 2. Our book includes over four hundred and fifty photographs from this period of profound change in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea as natives and expatriates mixed the old, the new and the unexpected.