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artist
Figure , 19th century
Wood, pigment
60 1/4 x 10 5/8 x 8 11/16 in.
Gift of Marcia and John Friede 2001.62.10

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Collected by Karl Wandres in 1909. Ernst Heinrich Collection, Bad Canstadt, Stuttgart." (Catalog #370, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 145.) EXHIBITIONS: 2005 - New Guinea Art. Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 2005. PUBLICATIONS: 2009 FAM Bulletin entry (unabridged) - "Compelling and at the same time enigmatic due to its rarity, this highly decorated figure is giving birth. Carvings of women are not uncommon in the corpus of figurative sculpture from New Guinea. But, representations of birth scenes are extremely rare. (1) In his book Oceanic Art, Carl Schmitz indicated that, “The execution of the breasts with their sea-shell ornaments shows a certain tendency to realism. It is not clear whether the representation concerns the birth of a human being, or the legend of a female divinity who gave birth to yams as well as people, and was the founder of mankind.” (2) In the Astrolabe Bay, carvings of ancestor figures were sometimes carved as support posts for the ceremonial men's houses. (3) However, the original disposition of this figure is not known. Umboi (Ruk) Island or Karkar Island, off the northeast coast of New Guinea, may be the figure's place of origin, although it could also be from the Rai Coast on the mainland. A smaller female figure collected on Karkar Island in 1905 and now in the Museen Dahlem Ethnologisches in Berlin closely resembles it, although that one is not giving birth. The Jolika figure shows characteristic aspects of sculptures of Tami Island and the Huon Gulf region including: the geometrically shaped face, position of the arms, belt and distinctive boars tusk chest ornament (from the Rai Coast), ornaments hanging from extended pierced earlobes, hat/head covering and facial painting typical of the people of the area. Tami Island men and women painted their faces with the same motifs on ceremonial occasions. (4) Michael Kisombo, of the National Museum and Art Gallery, has indicated that the figure appears both male and female based on the face and adornment articles. New Guinea origin stories often reveal epic relationships between female and male ancestors including transposable and/or mutable roles and qualities." FOOTNOTES (1) Höltker, Georg. “Abermals: Mutter-Kind-Motiv und Verwandte Vorstellungen in der Holzplastik Neuguineas.” In Menschen und Kulturen in Nordost-Neuguinea: Gesammelte Aufsätze: Festschrift, Herrn Prof. Dr. Georg Höltker zu seinem 80. Geburtstag vom Anthropos-Institut gewidmet, 193-229. Studia Instituti Anthropos, vol. 29. St. Augustin bei Bonn: Verlag des Anthropos-Institut, 1975. Originally published in Jahrbuch des Museums für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig 27 (1970): 134-59. (2) Schmitz, Carl. Oceanic Art: Myth, Man and Image in the South Seas. (NY:Abrams, 1969), 72. (3) Meyer, Anthony J. P. Oceanic Art / Ozeanische Kunst / Art océanien. (Cologne: Konemann, 1995), Vol. 1, 169. (4) Smidt, “Catalogus Oceanië / Catalogue Oceania.” In Sculptuur uit Afrika en Oceanië: Een keuze uit de collectives van leden van de Vereniging Vrienden van ethnografica / Sculpture from Africa and Oceania: A Choice from the Collections of Members of the Association of Friends of Ethnographica, edited by Toos van Kooten and Gerard van den Heuvel. Exh. cat. (Otterlo: Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller,1990). 314. 2005 - "The figure wears a Tami bowl on its head and a boar tusk pectoral ornament on its chest. Despite the traditional assignation to Umboi Island in the Vitiaz Strait, stylistically I believe it is more likely to originate from the north coast of the Huon Peninsula, east of the Rai coast. Carl Schmitz states, "It is not clear whether the representation concerns the birth of a human being, or the legend of a female divinity who gave birth to yams as well as people, and was the founder of mankind" (ibid., 72). As Höltker's survey of New Guinea's mother and child figures shows, carvings depicting birth scenes are extremely rare (see Höltker, 1975: 156-231)." (Catalog #370, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 145.) 1975 - Höltker, 1975: 185. 1971 - Schmitz, 1971, pl. 116. 1955 - Christensen, 1955: 138.

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Gift 145 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 370 Catalog Stuttgart Canstadt Bad Heinrich Ernst 1909 Wandres Karl by Collected Oceania Province Morobe Madang Guinea New Architectural pigment Wood area people typical painting facial covering head hat earlobes pierced extended hanging ornaments Coast Rai ornament chest tusk boars distinctive belt arms position face shaped geometrically including region Gulf Huon Island Tami sculptures aspects characteristic Shows birth giving figure decorated Highly 0308200411220017 A355932 2001.62.10 AOA