Archives: Art For Sale

A Fine Old New Guinea Yina Figure Waskuk Area Upper Sepik River Papua New Guinea

This beautiful small-scale Yina Figure from the Kwoma People in the Waskuk Area on the Upper Sepik River area of Papua New Guinea.

Yina is one of three distinct ceremonies held annually in the villages of the Kwoma, Nukuma, and Mayo speakers of the Upper Sepik River, in a region generally referred to as the Waskuk Hills. These ceremonies are associated with fertility and the harvesting of yams and the spiritual well-being of communities. There are two other Yam Harvest Ceremonies that are associated with a distinctive form of sculpture, Minja & Nogkwi. 

This small-scale Yina sculpture is unusual for its diminutive size, it is very old Yina and probably kept for the personal protection of an old man.

Ritual leaders organize the Yina ceremony at yam harvest time. The next two ceremonies feature their own sculpted images of Mindja and Nokwi and must also be performed before the full harvest.  Older Yina Figures are hidden in garden huts, away from the village. They have acquired power over time and through use. New carvings are required from time to time; power is not inherent, but develops in the process of carving and painting.

For the annual ceremony, both old and new Yina figures are freshly painted. They are firstly covered in black paint and left to dry. Only on the final day before the ceremony are the other colours ; red, yellow, and white added.  After color is applied the remaining black is covered with a sap from the shogwiyaw tree, making the surface look strong and lustrous.

The ceremony takes place inside the men’s Ceremonial house (korob) A platform is built, and while one major Yina figure is displayed as a focus, many lesser Yina’s, other associated figures, and pottery heads may be used. The pottery heads are particularly beautiful. The Yina is tied by the shaft to the poles of the platform and further decorated with shell wealth items, a ‘beard’ made of feather down, pig’s tusks, and sometimes a headdress.

Slit gong drums are played and songs of myth relating to the yam harvest are sung. At the finish of the ceremony, the Yina is stripped of its decorations, wrapped tightly in sheaths from the black palm, and returned to the garden hut.  The Yina spirit gives its owner continuing support throughout the year in hunting, fighting, and sexual prowess.

Waskuk’s artworks are some of the most beautiful sculptures made in New Guinea, they have surrealist aesthetics that are unique. I have always thought very highly of their artworks and have a number of Kwoma Sculptures in my home.

Provenance: Leo Fleischmann Collection (c.1930 – 1993)  Sydney Australia. Leo ran the famous Galleries Primitif in Sydney from 1967 – 1993 )  He was a true expert on Oceanic Art and had a huge reference library to use for research.  His collection was legendary and after his death, his old friend and boss Senta Taft Hendry quietly sold off objects over the next 20 years. There was one Sotheby’s sale of his Club collection in Sydney.

The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art 

REFERENCES:

 

Bowden, Ross	Yena: Art and Ceremony In a Sepik Society	Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford 1983
Newton, Douglas	Crocodile & Cassowary	Museum of Primitive Art, NY.
Wardwell, Allen	Island Ancestors Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection	The University of Washington Press   1994

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If you have a similar “object” for sale please contact me for the best price and honest advice by a Government approved valuer 

To see many more rare items and the finest masterpieces, please make an appointment with us to visit the gallery.

For all inquiries, please contact us.

A Fine Old New Guinea Ancestor Figure from the Humboldt Bay Area of West Papua Irian Jaya Indonesia

This finely carved old Male Ancestor Figure is from what used to be Dutch New Guinea, Humboldt Bay & Lake Sentani are very close to each other and share many similarities in their art styles.  This standing male ancestor with a serene face &  arms held to his side, and his facial features, chest & bellybutton are highlighted with white lime ochre to dramatic effect.

The sculptures from this area of New Guinea have a peaceful presence &  aesthetic whereas in other areas of New Guinea, the sculptures can be aggressive.

The first European to see the area was the French explorer Jules Sébastien Dumont d’Urville, who anchored with his ship the Astrolabe on 12 August 1827 at the natural harbor. He named the site “Humboldt Bay” after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt, whom he greatly admired and who had shown much interest in the voyage of the Astrolabe. It was more than thirty years later, in 1858, that other Europeans went ashore. They were members of the Dutch research party aboard HMS Etna. The professional draftsman of the expedition, C. B. H. Rosenberg, made the earliest surviving image of the spectacular men’s houses, which characterized the area.

The art experts Simon Kooijman and Jac Hoogerbrugge report the figures were the center of male-dominated ceremonies, most of the figures adorning the men’s houses referenced sexuality with their explicit male and female genitalia.

As Westerners became more exposed to the art of the Pacific Islands, they began to appreciate its formal artistic qualities: modernists identified with its linear elegance and Surrealists found kindred spirits in its abstract patterns and pure sculptural forms. The art of Lake Sentani & Humboldt Bay reached its greatest acclaim in the West in the 1930s. On the impetus of renowned Parisian gallery owner Pierre Loeb, a champion of Surrealist artists such as Joan Miró and Max Ernst, Viot journeyed to New Guinea to collect carved sculptures and purchase tapa paintings known as Maro from local artists. Galleries in Paris and New York highlighted works brought back by Viot, which were shown to a wide public at New York’s Museum of Primitive Art ground-breaking exhibition of 1959.

Provenance: Old Dutch Collection before 1930 & The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art

I first went to Papua New Guinea in 1985 for an adventure & what I found was that I really enjoyed being with the people of New Guinea, over the next 38 years I spent extensive time spent collecting and documenting traditional art & ceremonies in remote areas of Papua New Guinea & West Papua, The Solomon Islands & Vanuatu & the other Pacific Islands countries. During these travels, I made major collections of New Guinea & Oceanic Art for major Museums and Public Art Galleries

I was honored by being in the prestigious Louvre Museum Magazine for the collections I made for The Museum of African & Oceanic Art Paris in 1996 (now the Musee Quai Branly) for the exhibition “Asmat et Mimika d’ Irian Jaya April 1996 At THE MUSEE NATIONAL des ARTS D’AFRIQUE et d’ OCEANIE, Paris

See all of the links & photos in my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY and there is the link to the article in the prestigious Louvre Magazine 1996

I have artwork for Museums & Art Galleries but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery.  I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com  where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specialises in New Guinea & Oceanic Art. Sydney is just a couple hours’ flight to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbours.

INQUIRE HERE

 

If you have a similar “object” for sale please contact me for the best price and honest advice by a Government approved valuer 

To see many more rare items and the finest masterpieces, please make an appointment with us to visit the gallery.

For all inquiries, please contact us.

A Fine Old New Guinea Pig Carving Massim Culture Milne Bay Province Papua New Guinea

This very cute stylized carved Pig is from the Massim culture in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.

Pigs have always been of social and political, as well as economic, importance. Pigs are often used in dowry payments by a young man’s family to the bride’s family.

Pigs were probably introduced from SE Asia and there is some evidence that they may have been introduced as long ago as 10,000 years BP. Austronesian speakers seem to have introduced pigs of a different kind at some later time. Wild pigs are hunted for food. Domestic pigs are slaughtered for food when other sources of protein are unavailable but mostly kept for important ceremonial occasions, either within a village or in exchange arrangements with neighboring groups.

Some ancient carvings of pigs are known from the Milne Bay province, and one in the Jolika collection of New Guinea Art at the De Young Fine Art Museum in San Francisco is carbon-dated to an early date.

Provenance: Nora Heysen Collection (1911-2003) Heysen was a famous Australian artist and was an official war artist in New Guinea during WW2. 

The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art 

INQUIRE HERE

If you have a similar “object” for sale please contact me for the best price and honest advice by a Government approved valuer 

To see many more rare items and the finest masterpieces, please make an appointment with us to visit the gallery.

For all inquiries, please contact us.

A Fine Rare New Guinea Ceremonial Figure called Omu Asmat People West Papua Irian Jaya Indonesia

This Omu Ceremonial Figure I collected in 1986 in the remote Northwest Asmat Area on the South Coast of West Papua Irian Jaya Indonesia.

The Omu Ceremony only occurs very infrequently in a few small villages in the remote NW Asmat Area, I was in this Northwest Asmat Area a lot over the years 1985 – 1989, and during that time I was very lucky to see the Omu Ceremonies in several small villages.

According to the Asmat Omu myth, in the beginning, there were two major clans. The spirit named (secret) whispered to the carvers to make Omu bring fertility to the People and keep them from illness. The bottom part of the tree was the father, and the top was the son. Each clan in the village made one Omu that was exchanged with the other clan to promote harmony. This tradition carries on today, with the bottom part now the older brother, and the top the younger brother.

When the elders decide it is time to make Omu, there are several steps in the feast cycle. The village men begin by making a special feast house for the Omu, called the je ti.

Elders and wow-pits or master carvers go the jungle to find one very tall tree, or two suitable shorter trees, as Omu are always made in pairs. The other men prepare logs, bark, and sago leaves for constructing the house. When the Omu is almost finished, colour is applied and their heads are pushed through a curtain for the villagers to look at from a distance. This is repeated several times over the course of the days leading up to the finished product.

Around this time, some men go out hunting wild boar for the feast, while others go back to the jungle to find a mangrove tree with many buttress roots. They cut it down, strip the bark, then shorten the roots and fashion them into hook shapes. The tree is brought to the feast house and is placed upright near the centre of the house at the upstream end. It will serve as a post to help hold up the house, as well as a support for the Omu during the final portion of the feast.

When they are completed, men first, then women, are encouraged to come into the feast house and touch the Omu to ensure fertility. They are accompanied by singing and dancing. Then the Omu is tied to long poles. This portion of the ceremony takes most of one day and all night.  The spirits have entered the Omu and will remain with the village to bless it. They are now fed sago and water, and tied to the rafters of the house.

Later two groups of young men sneak in the back door of the feast house, carrying bundles of sago leaves representing headhunting victims. These are placed on either side of the main fireplace. The bundles are poked with spears in a mock attack, and then the leaves are removed from the spines, which are tied back into bundles.

In the photos above you can see photos of some of the people inside the ceremonial house ready for the ceremonial cycles to happen.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art 

I first went to Papua New Guinea in 1985 for an adventure & what I found was that I really enjoyed being with the people of New Guinea, over the next 38 years I spent extensive time spent collecting and documenting traditional art & ceremonies in remote areas of Papua New Guinea & West Papua, The Solomon Islands & Vanuatu & the other Pacific Islands countries. During these travels, I made major collections of New Guinea & Oceanic Art for major Museums and Public Art Galleries

I was honoured by being in the prestigious Louvre Museum Magazine for the collections I made for The Museum of African & Oceanic Art Paris in 1996 (now the Musee Quai Branly) for the exhibition “Asmat et Mimika d’ Irian Jaya April 1996 At THE MUSEE NATIONAL des ARTS D’AFRIQUE et d’ OCEANIE, Paris

See all of the links & photos in my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY and there is the link to the article in the prestigious Louvre Magazine 1996

I have artwork for Museums & Art Galleries but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery.  I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com  where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specialises in New Guinea & Oceanic Art. Sydney is just a couple hours’ flight to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbours.

INQUIRE HERE

If you have a similar “object” for sale please contact me for the best price and honest advice by a Government approved valuer 

To see many more rare items and the finest masterpieces, please make an appointment with us to visit the gallery.

For all inquiries, please contact us.