A Double-Sided Drum, Possibly Pueblo, Belonging To Richard Feynman

Property From The Family Of Richard P. Feynman

[Feynman, Richard P.] 

A Double-Sided Drum, Possibly Pueblo

Cottonwood and animal hide, 8 x 10 inches (diameter).

A DRUM FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF RICHARD P. FEYNMAN, RECALLING A FORMATIVE TIME FOR THE PHYSICIST IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

The present lot is one of the many drums on offer from the collection of Richard Feynman, the celebrated physicist known for his warm and eccentric personality and plethora of extracurricular interests. Drumming, in part thanks to his extensive travels and experiences in Brazil, was one of his more playful and well-known pursuits, evident in the photographs taken of a suited-up Feynman posing gleefully with his collection. 

Although he was most well-known for his love of - and eye-popping talent for - playing the bongo drums (see lot 65), the present lot, a doubled-sided drum executed in animal hide and cottonwood most commonly found in the native cultures of the American Southwest, speaks to one of the earliest and most prestigious times in Feynman's life as a young man working in Los Alamos, New Mexico. An area Feynman remembers for its cave paintings and other-worldly landscapes so different from the topography he grew up with in Far Rockaway, Queens, the Southwest is home to the rich and diverse cultures of the Pueblo people. Although it is not known if the present lot was in fact acquired by Feynman in New Mexico as a young scientist, it nonetheless represents an encounter with a proud tradition of handicraft and love of music that Feynman himself would come to appreciate in the years to come.