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Collections

Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava)Possibly modern

Not on view
Carved wood figure of a standing human form with elongated limbs, large stylized head, inlaid eyes, and incised rib detail, deep mahogany brown finish
Carved wooden figure photographed in profile, with an elongated slender body, detailed facial features including a prominent nose and open mouth, horizontal incised line patterns across the torso, and carved hair or headdress; dark polished wood with warm brown patina.
Carved wooden figure in profile view, with a large stylized face featuring an pronounced hooked nose, spiral brow, inlaid eyes, and bared teeth; deeply polished dark brown surface with fluid, curvilinear carving.
Unknown, Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava)
Title
Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava)
Place Made
Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
Date Made
Possibly modern
Medium
Toromiro wood, bird bone, obsidian, traces of pigment
Dimensions
17 3/4 x 3 1/2 x 4 in. (45.09 x 8.89 x 10.16 cm)
Credit Line
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
Accession Number
M.2008.66.6
Classification
Sculpture
Collecting Area
Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes

Gallery Label
The emaciated figures of the moai kavakava (“image with ribs”) wood carvings are fairly prevalent in this sparsely wooded environment, and are the most collected of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) carvings. The features of the moai kavakava are standard: sharp hooked nose, pointed beard, long earlobes, wide eyebrow ridge, projecting ribs, hunched back, obvious genitalia, bent legs and arms free of the body, short feet, skinny abdomen, open-ended mouth with lips, and exposed teeth in a slight grin. The head of this gaunt figure has no hair, and the skull is decorated with carved designs of zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figures. The carving work is surprisingly intricate and well done, and the arching form of the body comes from the curvature of a toromiro tree branch.

The specific function of the figure is unknown, although there are physical suggestions that it was worn around the neck. Tabs with holes to insert string found at the base of the figure’s neck may have been carved for suspension purposes. It is generally believed through myth stories that these fascinating figures represent the ghostly forms that ancient ancestors took when they appeared before a mythic hero. This hero then returned home to carve the ancestral beings that he had seen.


Provenance
Collected by Lt. Robert Sayers, HMS Thetis, in 1830. By inheritance to Mrs. L.M. Turner. [Walter Randel, Gallery, New York]. Francesco Pellizzi (b. 1940), New York. Wayne Heathcote (b. 1943), New York, NY, sold to; Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected 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.

  • King, Jennifer, ed. Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2020.

  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Transformation: the LACMA Campaign. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2008.