Artists of the coastal Huon peninsula and the Vitiaz Strait in northeast New Guinea formerly practiced a closely related series of masking traditions that also extended into some portions of the neighboring island of New Britain. The masks depict stylized human faces with pointed ears and open, toothsome mouths typically shown, as here, with short protruding tongues. Representing powerful spirits associated with men’s secret societies, the masks appear to have been almost universally associated with male initiation rites. This example may have originated on Umboi Island, where the masks often were worn by men in heavily padded costumes made from bark cloth, or in later times, Western shirts, which gave the performer, and the spirit he represented, a bulky and intimidating appearance.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Mask
Date:19th century
Geography:Papua New Guinea, Umboi or Siassi Island
Culture:Probably Umboi or Siassi Islands
Medium:Wood, paint
Dimensions:H. 18 1/8 × W. 10 3/4 × D. 11 1/4 in. (46 × 27.3 × 28.6 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1972
Object Number:1978.412.721
Private collection, United Kingdom; Mr. Petitjean, Neuilly, France, until 1947; [Charles Ratton, Paris, until 1958]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1958, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1958–1972; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1972–1978
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
Bodrogi, Tibor. Art in North-East New Guinea. Budapest: Publishing House of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1961, p. 70, 71, 157, 167–69, fig. 211.
Newton, Douglas. New Guinea Art in the Collection of the Museum of Primitive Art. Handbook (Museum of Primitive Art), Vol. Handbook No. 2. New York: Museum of Primitive Art, 1967, Unpaged. no. 9.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 82.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 120.
Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 52 top left.
Dark, Philip J.C. "Astrolabe Bay, Huon Gulf, and West New Britain." In Arts of the South Seas: Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia: the Collections of the Musée Barbier-Mueller, edited by Douglas Newton. Munich: Prestel Publishing, 1999, pp. 206, 208, 212, 214, 215.
Kjellgren, Eric. Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, pp. 114–115, no. 69.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
