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artist
Ancestral Board, Gerua Wenena , 20th century
Wood, pigment
150 x 48 x 2 cm (59 1/16 x 18 7/8 x 13/16 in.)
Gift of Marcia and John Friede in honor of Diane B. Wilsey and Harry S. Parker III 2007.44.31

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Collected by S.G. Moriarity in Siane area. S.G. Moriarity Collection, Sydney." (Catalog #574, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 186.) 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) - "A gerua wenena is a carved and painted board made of a light wood and worn like a headdress in ceremonial dancing at the culmination of the grand Pig Festivals. Important men (referred to as "Bigmen"), who have many pigs and several wives, wear these large, elaborate headpieces. Smaller gerua decorate children and are found over a wide area of the New Guinea Highlands, but it is with the Siane people of the Eastern Highlands that the gerua reaches its artistic heights. Made by specialists, this board, in its graceful, simple form with delicate geometric painted motifs, is one of the most elegant of Highland artworks. The gerua wenena has the anthropomorphic form of a squatting figure, combining elements of easthern Highland creation myths that often feature the sun and the moon: the circular head, fo numunc (house of the sun), the diamond body, afanili (hand of the moon), and the lithe hands or wings, oma (the way, or the road). The Gerua spirit is a powerful force among these Highland people. It directly controls the health, growth, and well-being of pigs and children. The gerua wenena symbolize the potent presence of this powerful spirit that demands respect and pig sacrifice. Stanley Gordon Moriarty collected this spirit board in the 1960s. He was a passionate collector who filled his house with New Guinea sculpture, excavating caves beneath his Sydney home to display them when the upstairs was full." 2005 - "The figure was worn attached to the head of a dancer; the inverted U-shape at the bottom would fit over the head while its two "legs" would serve as handles enabling the dancer to hold the piece (see Lenars, Strathern, and Stewart, 2004: 28-29). There are holes along the inside of the legs, and the upper and lower points serve to help hold it in place. In some areas the dancer is flanked by two other men (or children) who are connected to the gerua by means of strands attached to the upper holes (Sterly, 1997: 23). The gerua figures served in special dance ceremonies as "soul nets" to recapture the souls, or auna, of pigs slaughtered as part of fertility ceremonies, and to preserve the spiritual integrity of the clan. (David Gillison lecture, Pacific Arts Association Europe, Hamburg meeting, 2004.) The recaptured souls of the pigs are returned to the ancestors who are thought to be present during the ritual. These dance figures or boards (gerua) are named after a spirit cult. There is a connection between the ancestors and the gerua cult but the boards themselves probably do not represent the ancestors but mythical supernatural beings (Sterly, 1977: 68). At some stage in the past the ancestors may have received boards from the mythical spirits, carried them through their lives, and passed them on to their descendants (ibid.). Gerua spirit boards, used in connection with pig and initiation rituals, occur in a wide region encompassing groups in the Simbu, as well as Eastern and Western Highlands Provinces, including the Kuma, Gende, Nondugl (middle Wahgi Valley), Siane, and Gururumba (Dosedla, 1978: 95-96). The Siane have several types of gerua. The largest, such as this one, is the wenena gerua (human gerua). A special type, called ruwefa gerua, was made for the largest pigs to be slaughtered to function as the seats or containers of their souls. Another type, called vau gerua, played a role in the context of the initiation of girls. The latter gerua was much smaller than the wenena gerua and was characterized by an oval-shaped hole set in rays, not unlike the symbol for the sun (ibid.). The large wenena gerua were more important than the smaller gerua, and were only owned and displayed by important men who possessed many pigs (ibid., 24). The round head is called "house of the sun" (for numuna); the diamond-shaped torso is called "hand of the moon" (afaniki); while the limbs are called "road" (oma). Sun and moon, master of the day and mistress of the night, complement one another; together they are symbols of fertility and power. They refer to the fertility-promoting aspects of the wenena gerua boards in the widest sense; not only the fertility of pigs, children, and garden products were fostered but also health, wealth, and power (ibid., 44). In that sense, the dance with the wenena gerua was a demonstration and strenthening of the powerof the influential leaders and family heads (ibid., 44). Several authors have reported on the gerua cult in various areas of the highlands (covering the Simbu as well as the Western and Eastern Highlands Provinces). For an extensive overview, including firsthand accounts of the process of manufacture and interpretation of the designs of smaller gerua boards, as well as meaning and funtion, see Sterly, 1977; for an earlier overview see Aufenanger, 1965. For other published wenena gerua, see Newton, 1967, pl. 96; Parsons, 1975, pl. 64; and Meyer, 1995: 303, pl. 333. For a rare photo of their use in ritual, see Lenars, Strathern, and Stewart, 2004: 28-29." (Catalog #574, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 186.)