Search Results

Image 1 of 1

artist
Spirit figure, Yipwon, 19th century
Wood
85 7/16 x 5 1/2 x 11 13/16 in.
Museum purchase, Mrs. Paul L. Wattis Fund 2000.172.1

Zoom this image

Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Roberto Matta Echaurren Collection, Paris." Catalog #266, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 125.) EXHIBITIONS: 2005 - New Guinea Art. Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 2005. 1967 - Musée de L'Homme, Paris, 1967, "Arts Primitifs dans les Ateliers d'Artistes." PUBLICATIONS: 2009 FAM Bulletin entry (unabridged) - "Along the Karawari (Korewori) River, a tributary of the Sepik River, figures known as Yipwon are found in the back of ceremonial men's houses. They have been supremely powerful carvings of ancestral spirits who could be called up to assist with warfare, headhunting, and big game hunting of wild boar, cassowary birds and other creatures of the forest. The story (1) is told in many variations that the Yipwon spirits arose from wood chips left when Sun, a male being, carved the primordial slit drum from a tree into which a mythical woman had transformed herself. The spirits resided with Sun in the men's house as his “children.” One day while Sun was out hunting, his relative visited. The Yipwon enticed him into the men's house to look at the drum and they murdered him. Moon, the mother of the Sun, witnessed the murder and beat the drum to notify Sun. He returned to find his relative dead and the men's house silent. The Yipwon had fled to the back of the men's house transforming themselves into silent wood figures. In his rage, Sun left the earth, leaving the Yipwon as hunting charms for the human beings in the primordial village. (2) The Yipwon spirits, their images once anointed and activated with offerings that made them 'hot', went collecting food and hunted the prey in advance of a hunting party. They deposited all the food in the vicinity of peoples' home. Upon returning from a hunting expedition, ritual offerings were made to the successful yipwon, some figures were adorned with paint. Figures considered as not being helpful were left unattended, yet kept in the men's house. (3) Each yipwon has its own name, which may indicate a relationship to a specific ancestor. Yipwon are often kept for generations as the property of clans or families while much smaller ones are individually owned as amulets. In Melanesian pidgin they were also called wanleks, referring to their single leg. (4) Yipwon figures are comprised of echoing inward-curving hooks representing ribs surrounding the heart, a single straight projection in the center, and a bent leg extending from the spine. The body is abstracted but the head is quite naturalistic and emphasized as the most spiritually important part of the body. This masterfully carved yipwon was formerly in the collection of Chilean-born Surrealist artist Roberto Matta (1911-2002) whose own work explored the elemental and inner aspects of biomorphic forms in space. (5)" FOOTNOTES (1) Adapted from: John Friede, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, exh. cat. (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2005), 125; Haberland, Eike, “The Caves of the Karawari Mountains”, in: The Caves of Karawari New York, D'Arcy Galleries, 1968, pp. XII, XIV, XIV and XVIII [English version of The Adventures of the Sun-Hero], Haberland, Eike and Seyfarth, Siegfried, Die Yimar am oberen Korewori, series: Studien zur Kulturkunde vol. 36, Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner 1974, 338-349 with the original version to Haberland's edited version of 1968. (2) Haberland and Seyfarth 1974:342-343. (3) Haberland and Seyfarth 1974, 365-370, Meyer, Oceanic Art, p.235. (4) Friede, 2005, 125. (5) This work was included in the the Musee de L'Homme exhibition, Arts Primitifs dans les Ateliers d'Artists in 1967, cover and fig 140. See also: Ed. William Rubin, “Primitivism” in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and Modern (NY: Museum of Modern Art,1984), 607 and L'oeil, Nov. 1968, 25. 2005 - "These figures represent powerful mythical ancestors who were of great importance in warfare, headhunting, and big game hunting. Each yipwon had its own name, which may indicate a relationship to a specific ancestor. In Melanesian Pidgin they were also called wanleks, referring to their single leg. In mythical times, the wanleks were said to have been the children of the sun, the primordial life-giving spirit. They killed their creator-father and were turned into wood objects. Large yipwon such as this one were the property of clans or clan segments while much smaller ones were individually owned. The section between the head and the leg is a stylized rendering of the rib cage with the heart (marbir) placed in the middle of it. See Haberland and Seyfarth, 1974: 364-77 for a discussion of the yipwon and pl. 21-27 for illustrations of a number of such figures showing variations in design. See Smidt, 1990: 278-85, cat. nos. 106-07 for a summary of the available information. When I purchased the figure from Matta, he gave me a 'sales receipt' on which he drew a creature combining his yipwon with a Spanish toro bull, which is also in the collection of the Fine Ars Museums of San Francisco." (Catalog #266, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 125.) 1968 - L'oeil, Nov. 1968: 25. 1967 - Musée de l'Homme, 1967, cover and fig. 140.

Related Keywords
Yipwon figure Spirit Fund Wattis L Paul Mrs purchase Museum 125 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 266 Catalog Paris Echaurren speakers language Alamblak people Yimar Yimam Oceania Province Sepik East Guinea New Sculpture Wood spine extends leg bent center projection straight single heart surrounding ribs represent hooks curving inward abstracted body part important spiritually as emphasized naturalistic quite head 2002 1911 Matta Roberto artist Surrealist born Chilean Formerly 0308200411220016 A355925 2000.172.1 AOA