Spirit Figure

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Spirit Figure

Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province, Southern Abelam or Boiken People, circa 1925
Sculpture
Wood and pigment
28 7/8 × 12 3/8 × 6 1/8 in. (73.34 × 31.43 × 15.56 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation (M.2008.66.9)
Art of the Pacific
Not currently on public view

Provenance

Bruce Laurie Seaman (1926-2022), Bora Bora, Tahiti and Honolulu, Hawaii. Carlo Monzino (1931–1996), Lugano, Switzerland. Anonymous (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 10 November 1987, lot 121)....
Bruce Laurie Seaman (1926-2022), Bora Bora, Tahiti and Honolulu, Hawaii. Carlo Monzino (1931–1996), Lugano, Switzerland. Anonymous (sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 10 November 1987, lot 121). Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
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Label

Gallery Label

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Gallery Label
This figure was made to portray a specific ancestor and, with its large head, was the top part of a life-size carving. The proportions of the face and the facial painting of the round head, long nose, close-set eyes, and small ears, as well as the unadorned body, are typical of the Boiken region. The area below the head has the carved parrot totems of the represented ancestor.

Figures of this type were made for initiation rites that structured the male ceremonial society. The young initiates learned the origin and function of different ceremonial rituals and objects, as well as received knowledge passed down by the older men in the community. During a ceremony, the figures were displayed along the wall of the ceremonial house.

The artistic skills of the Boiken People were preserved into the twentieth century due to the isolation of the area. These were closely related to the Abelam People, who also created initiation figures

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Bibliography

  • Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.
  • Harding, Julian. "Pacific Treasures: the Masco Collection Goes to Los Angeles." Tribal Art no.50 (2008): 68-73.