Philip Goldman: 18 July 1922–25 October 2012 - Historical Figures In Oceanic Art
Philip Goldman
(18 July 1922–25 October 2012)
By Hermione Waterfield
Philip Goldman was removed from the RAF at the end of the war because of tuberculosis, after which he pursued a career in electronics. He ran a small business with his wife, Rosalind, but was fascinated by exotic art.
Jimmy McMullan, at the Obelisk Gallery on Crawford Street, encouraged them to open a small gallery at 43 George Street, off Marylebone High Street, where they sold art from Africa, Melanesia and the Far East, beginning in 1960. It was there that I first met Philip in the winter of 1961, and the Oriental art I saw was probably on sale or on return from Jimmy. The gallery was next door to another tribal art dealer, Herbert Rieser. Business was slow but picked up when they moved eight years later to Davies Street, just off Berkeley Square. It was near William Ohly’s Berkeley Galleries, which was then run by William’s son, Ernest, who also sold art from the Far East, Africa and Oceania. Americans and other important collectors such as John Friede and the Sainsburys became clients. We all enjoyed the summer parties that Rosalind and Philip gave in their house in a huge garden in Finchley.
The American company for which Philip worked sent him to New Guinea in 1957, the first of several trips he made during the next twelve years. He first went up the Sepik River to buy from the traders there, but later he explored the Highland region, acquiring some of the finest door panels from the Telefomin region and the distinctive Hunstein Mountain carvings with their curved spikes. Alas, we have no record from whom he bought the fabulous Korewori hook figure that he sold to Bill Rubin, the then director of MOMA, New York, nor the malu board now in the Sze Collection. In fact, no records of transactions survive. They retained the name Gallery 43, which sold art from Africa, Oceania and the Far East, but Philip’s favorite remained that of New Guinea.
In 1978, returning from a trip to New Guinea, the plane encountered clear-air turbulence. Philip had not fastened his seat belt, was thrown up into the air and landed on the armrest. He was taken to a hospital in Bangkok, where he remained for six months, having multiple operations on his back. His health never recovered and for the decades thereafter he was in constant pain. The gallery was closed and Philip dealt sporadically from home.
In 1963 Philip was sent to Nigeria by the U.S.-based multinational company for which he was a consultant, but the Biafra war put an end to those trips. He went to Borneo in 1970, which resulted in the exhibition The Divine Gifts in 1975.
Philip was an enthusiastic member of the Royal Anthropological Institute and a good friend of J. B. Donne, who ran an excellent series of lectures for the institute. After the talks people would adjourn to the local pub to continue discussions with the visiting lecturer. Philip was one of the executors of Donne’s will and organized the sale of his library to the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia. Philip himself had an extensive library, which included philosophical works as well as on art and anthropology.
