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Skull Rack, Basangai or Lam, 20th century
Sago palm petioles, bamboo, pigment, bindings
77 x 36 in.
Museum purchase, Mrs. Paul L. Wattis Fund 2000.172.6

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Serge Brignoni Collection, Bern, Switzerland." (Catalog #242, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 121.) EXHIBITIONS: 1985-88 - Tribal Art Centre, Basel, 1985-88, "Authority and Ornament." PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "A 'skull rack' in the Sepik region is a plaque or wood object, displayed inside the men's house, which can be many meters long and is decorated with mythological images. Overmodeled skulls are displayed on bamboo spikes above it. The left hand portion of this skull rack, which depicts another spirit face, is in the Musée d'Art Africains, Océanien et Amérindiens, Marseille, formerly in the Henri Gastaut Collection, Marseille (see Nicolas, 2000, pl. 277). Apparently, Brignoni divided it. See Kocher Schmid in Greub, 1985: 190-91 for a concise description of the function and meaning of skull racks." (Catalog #242, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 121.) 1985 - Greub, 1985, cat. 79.

Related Keywords
Lam or Basangai Rack Skull Fund Wattis L Paul Mrs purchase Museum 121 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 242 Catalog Switzerland Bern Brignoni Serge people Sawos Oceania Province Sepik East Guinea New Papua Melanesia Painting bindings pigment bamboo petioles palm Sago faces two 2002041714170017 A355937 2000.172.6 AOA