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Processional Mask, Semese., 19th century
Fiber - bark , bamboo, rattan, Pigment - red, black, white
175 x 72 x 55 cm (68 7/8 x 28 3/8 x 21 5/8 in.)
Gift of Marcia and John Friede in honor of Diane B. Wilsey and Harry S. Parker III 2007.44.33

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "W.D. Webster Collection, Oxon, England; Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset; de Menil/Carpenter Collection, New York." (Catalog #429, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 156.) 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 technical tour de force, this complex mask is comprised of bark cloth stretched on a bamboo and rattan framework. Meticulously appliquéd strips of cane are used to create the amorphous shapes on the front of the mask representing plants, parts of animals, sea foam and clouds. (1) Semese masks represent supernatural sea spirits and the clan designs, arranged symmetrically on a vertical axis, denoting historical or mythological associations. (2) They were worn with “a cloak of shredded fiber that covered their torso leaving only their legs and feet visibile.” (3) These dramatic and large-scale semese masks of the Elema were worn by dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of dancers in ceremonial processions. Men created the masks over many months in the secrecy of the men's house, eravo. These huge ceremonial houses facing the sea served as the center of ceremonial and community life in Elema villages. Sacred and ceremonial objects were kept there including drums, carved wooden tablets (hohao), masks, and other cult objects. (4) During the ceremonial cycle, men wore the masks and assumed the identity of the spirit. (5) They emerged from a concealed vertical opening in the front of the men's house and showed themselves to the community, drums in hand and played in unison. At the culmination of the ceremonies lasting years, the sea spirits in the masks symbolically returned to the sea; the masks were destroyed. This is a very rare example collected in 1895. The only other mask in this style from the Toaripi subgroup in the Berlin Museum has endured." FOOTNOTES (1) Dirk Schmidt, personal communication with John Friede. (2) Paul S. Wingert. Primitive Art: Its Traditions and Styles (NY: Meridian books, 1970) 222. (3) Robert Welsch, Sebastine Haraha and Virginia-Lee Webb. Coaxing the Spirits to Dance:art and society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea. (NH: Dartmouth College, 2006). 11. (4) Newton, Art Styles of the Papua Gulf, 25. (5) Robert Welsch. Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: art and society in the Papuan Gulf. (NH: Dartmouth College, 2006), 22. 2005 - "The domain of the Elema covers a wide coastal area, from Cape Possession in the east to the Purari River in the west (see Eoe, 1984 for a short introduction to the Elema). This geographical region can be divided in some twelve areas linked to Elema subgroups by language or dialect. This type of mask, called hevehe among the western Elema of Orokolo Bay, is used during a monumental cycle of ritual festivals which may take one to two decades (see Williams, 1969; see also Mamiya and Sumnik, 1982). The masks represent supernatural sea spirits. The design groups in symmetrical fashion along the vertical axis are derived from the natural world such as plants, part of animals, the sea foam, and clouds (Dirk Smidt, personal communication). See Newton (1961: 90) for a discussion of stylistic variations of these masks among the Elema. The only other published example of this type of mask from the Toaripi subgroup is in the Berlin Museum, which is illustrated on a mannequin in Newton, 1961, fig. 240, and in Kaeppler, Kaufmann, and Newton, 1997, fig. 644. The two eastern Elema clubs, pl. 430 and 431, are reportedly from the same village. See Holmes, 1905: 19, fig. 3 for a photo of a semese mask at Orokolo surrounded by dancing girls; and Lewis, 1931, pl. xxiv, fig. 2 (also published in Welsch, 1998: 453, fig. 7.1) for a photo of a group of semese masks during a dance performance at Kerema (about 40 kms northwest of Motu Motu) witnessed by A.B. Lewis in 1912. One of these is now in the Field Museum, Chicago (see Newton, 1961, fig. 236). See also Williamson, c. 1915, fig. on p. 100 for a photo of such a mask in situ. According to the caption, "these masks are worn by kaiwakuku or men who act as temporary police to guard crops and food which have been made taboo. Women and boys are taught to believe that the kaiwakuku are supernatural and to run away at their approach. The masks are kept in a circular enclosure to heighten the mystery." (Catalog #429, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 156.) 1985 - Webster, W.D., June 1895, no. 204; Meyer and Parkinson, 1985, vol. 10, 19, pl. x.

Related Keywords
Semese Processional III Parker S Harry Wilsey B Diane honor Gift 156 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 429 Catalog York Carpenter Menil de Dorset Farnham Museum Rivers Pitt England Oxon Webster D W speakers language subgroup Toaripi people Elema eastern village Motu Oceania Province Gulf Guinea New Accessory Costume white black red Pigment associations mythological historical denote designs Clan spirit supernatural Represents fiber shredded cloak Worn clouds foam sea animals parts plants representing mask front shapes amorphous used cane strips Appliqu*d framework rattan bamboo stretched cloth Bark 0709200406050458 A361036 2007.44.33 AOA