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Bark Cloth, Maro , 20th century
Bark cloth, pigment
71 x 138 cm (27 15/16 x 54 5/16 in.); 156 x 85 x 5 cm (61 7/16 x 33 7/16 x 1 15/16 in.)
Gift of Marcia and John Friede in honor of Diane B. Wilsey and Harry S. Parker III 2007.44.41

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Paul S. Wingert Collection, New York." (Catalog #556, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 182.) EXHIBITIONS: 2005 - New Guinea Art. Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 2005. 1959 - Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1959, "The Art of Lake Sentani." PUBLICATIONS: 2009 FAM Bulletin entry (unabridged) - "The proliferation of bodies on this bark cloth includes two large sawfish surrounded by smaller fish, flying fox, and sun or starbursts. There are also a few stylized human figures, one positioned outside the delineated frame. Lake Sentani women make this cloth, called maro, by pounding the inner bark of young trees. Men paint designs on the surface of the bark cloth. (1) Maro is a specific type of barkcloth, though cultures throughout the Oceania produce a similar textile generally called tapa. It varies in color, evenness, and transparency each time it is produced. (2) Steven G. Alpert notes this maro is one of the finest pieces in the United States, and suggests that its figurative design addresses issues of fishing magic. (3) Lake Sentani women traditionally wear maro on festive occasions, during mourning, and for burial upon death. It is a versatile garment, alternately worn as a skirt, neckpiece, or headdress. Since young girls wear no clothing, maro marks their transition to adulthood. (4) It is unclear whether this traditional bark cloth was undecorated or painted with rigid geometric designs, but it seems likely that as a result of Dutch colonial influences in the region, men developed the loose figurative painting style exhibited in this piece. Decorative bark cloth production emerged, or reemerged, during the 1920s and 1930s. (5) Lake Sentani is located on the north coast of New Guinea though it is, linguistically, more closely related to Indonesia than Melanesia. (6) Artworks from this region have had a distinctive presence in seminal exhibitions such as the 1946 show, “Art of the South Seas,” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York curated by Ralph Linton, René d'Harnoncourt, and American art historian Paul S. Wingert. (7) This maro was part of Wingert's personal collection." FOOTNOTES (1) John and Marcia Friede, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, exh. cat. (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2005), 183. (2) Suzanne Greub, Art of Northwest New Guinea: From Geelvink Bay, Humboldt Bay, and Lake Sentani (New York: Rizzoli, 1992), 127. (3) Steve Alpert, personal communication (December 20, 2007). (4) Paul Wirz in Friedes, New Guinea Art, 182-83; S. Kooijam, The Art of Lake Sentani (New York: The Museum of Primitive Art, 1959), 24. (5) Greub, Art of Northwest New Guinea, 127-128. (6) Steve Alpert, personal communication (December 20, 2007). (7) Ralph Linton and Paul S. Wingert in collaboration with Rene D'Harnoncourt, Arts of the South Seas, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1946), 133. 2005 - "Painted bark cloths, called maro, are described by Hoogerbrugge as having an ambiguous history regarding when the figurative type originated, in contrast to a more curvilinear type that apparently preceded the figurative one. Traditionally, maro were worn by marriageable girls and married women, wrapped around the waist in skirtlike fashion. Since young firls wore no clothing, the maro marked the transition to adulthood. Also, women in mourning wore a cape made of bark cloth (see Wirz, 1929, pl. xxv, fig. 5; and Wirz, 1929, pl. 100), and the dead were wrapped in bark cloth for burial. Although early 20th century photos by Van der Sande (1907) and Wirz (1929, pl. 23-25, 27, 30-32, 34-37) show women wearing undecorated maro only (with perhaps one exception), it is assumed that in the past decorated maro were worn, as can be concluded from mid-19th-century drawings made by European travelers (see Hoogerbrugge in Greub, 1992: 126-27). A unique photo of a decorated maro, suspended beside the grave of a girl, would suggest that the bark cloth with designs of interlocking spirals, as is found in Sentani woodcarving, was traditonally worn (see Wirz, 1929, pl. 102; and Hoogerbrugge in Greub, 1992: 130, pl. 5). Besides the more "rigid" traditional style, a "freer" style developed at a later stage, possibly in the context of contact situations as described by Hoogerbrugge (1992 and 1995). This maro is an example of the latter type. It is characterized by a "figurative" design showing animal figures and cosmic elements. Two large sawfish are surrouned by smaller fish, flying fox, sun motifs, and even one or two stylized human figures, among others. Like the earlier type, such maro were made by women from the inner bark of a tree, which they pounded with special beaters, but it was probably the men who applied the patterns with charcoal, lime, and ochre. This example is imaginative, and even "amusing," if one considers the individual on the right who is "out of the box."" (Catalog #556, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 182.) 1992 - Hoogerbrugge in Greub, 1992: 135, pl. 12. 1959 - Kooijman, 1959, fig. 101.

Related Keywords
Maro III Parker Harry Wilsey B Diane honor Gift 182 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art 556 Catalog York Wingert S Paul Sentani Lake Oceania Jaya Irian Papua West Guinea New Painting pigment cloth meaurement Second outer allow re removed reluctant seems owner sags padding mounted poorly Very frame delineated outside positioned one figures human stylized Also starbursts sun fox flying fish smaller by surrounded sawfish large two design figurative Painted bark tree inner Pounded 0709200406050476 A361057 2007.44.41 AOA