Armand Joseph Labbe

Background

Armand Joseph Labbe was born on June 13, 1944, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Armand Henri and Gertrude Marie (Martineau) Labbe.

Education

In 1969, Labbe received a Bachelor in Anthropology from the University Massachusetts, and a Master of Arts in Anthropology from California State University in 1986.

Career

Labbe's involvement with the Bowers Museum began in 1978, when he was hired as curator of collections. At the time, the museum was just a small point of interest in Santa Ana, but Labbe transformed it into a highly respected center for educating the public about native and ancient cultures from around the world. While serving as curator of anthropology from 1979 to 1986, and then as chief curator, Labbe organized numerous exhibits about the art and life of ancient cultures from South America, Africa, Asia, and Polynesia.

The exhibits were such a success that he won approval from the city for a twelve-million-dollar renovation in 1992. In addition to his museum work, Labbe also taught anthropology at Santa Ana College, the University of California, Irvine, and California State University, Fullerton, in the 1980s. He continued to teach at Irvine off and on in the early 1990s and was a research associate at Fullerton beginning in 1997. His expertise on native cultures led to his position as consultant for the 1980s television series The Human Journey.

Achievements

• Labbe is known as chief curator of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, California.
  
  Labbe also published several books of anthropological interest, including Ban Chiang: Art and Prehistory of Northeast Thailand (1985), Colombia before Columbus: The People, Culture, and Ceramic Art of PreHispanic Colombia (1986), and Prehistoric Thai Ceramics: Ban Chiang, Lopburi, and Khok Phanom Di and Related Sites in Regional Cultural Perspective (2002).

Works

More photos

• book

  • Colombia Before Columbus: The People, Culture, and Ceramic Art of Prehispanic Colombia

    (Shows and describes examples of pre-Colombian pottery and...)

    1986
  • Religion, Art, and Iconography 1982
  • Ban Chiang: Art And Prehistory Of Northeast Thailand 1985
  • Images of Power: Masterworks of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art 1992
  • Guardians of the Life Stream: Shamans, Art, and Power in Prehispanic Central Panama 1995
  • Shamans, Gods, and Mythic Beasts: Colombian Gold and Ceramics in Antiquity 1998
  • Tribute to the Gods: Treasures of the Museo del Oro 1992
  • Mingei: Two centuries of Japanese folk art 1995
  • Prehistoric Thai Ceramics: Ban Chiang in Regional Cultural Perspective 2002

Membership

Labbe was a member of the American Anthropological Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association of Museums, Southwest Anthropological Association and of the New York Academy of Sciences as well.

Interests

• Photography, travel.

Connections

On January 17, 1969, Labbe married Denise Marie Scott, but they divorced in 1972.

Father:

Armand Henri Labbe

Mother:

Gertrude Marie (Martineau) Labbe

ex-wife:

Denise Marie Scott