Collection of Oceanic art

In the minds of many Melanesian peoples, the early ancestors serve as role models to be emulated. The veneration of these ancestors takes many different forms, and cult images are often devoted to them to mark specific occasions. One particularly interesting aspect of such figural sculptures is the way in which the human body is translated into abstract ornamental symbols. The present work serves as a good example: it offers the sculptural suggestion of a human frame where the head, legs, and two arms extending out from the chest are discernible. The torso, reduced to little more than a spike-shaped baton, is continued downwards to form the phallus. The interplay of material and space lends the figure a three-dimensional aspect, although it is intended to be viewed from the front.

Such distinctive ‘hook figures’ (yipwon) are intended to be viewed in profile. In the present work, space is encompassed by solid form, creating an impression of volume and a sense of something intangible that is nevertheless an inherent part of the figure. The artistic form of the sculpture creates a symbiosis with its mythical significance and its practical function as a hunting aid, whereby only the external, visible aspect of the hunting aid is portrayed. As an additional, internal dimension, the hunting spirit itself is merely alluded to. It is this spirit which goes ahead to slay the soul of the animal, thus enabling the men to kill it easily during their subsequent hunt.

Uli ceremonies on New Ireland were ritual celebrations of the transition from life to death – from a visible existence in this world to an invisible one in the next. Such extremely expressive nalik figures played a key role in these rituals, and at the conclusion of the celebrations they were put on display in ceremonial houses. The figures combine female and male elements, representing the moon as the symbol of both female fertility and male regeneration. The larger of the two sculptures is particularly fascinating and is also one of the most significant works of this kind known to exist: the depiction of one figure apparently standing on top of and being supported by another can be taken as a reference to the lunar cycle.

The shields of the Asmat not only provide protection in battle; they also illustrate tradition and the line of succession. Each shield has its own name – that of a deceased relative, whose image appears as the head at the top. They are handed down to a member of the next generation, in other words, not necessarily from father to son. The shield also wards off evil spirits. The Asmat people were probably just as impressed by the protective powers of the ornamental design as we are today by the repeated asymmetrical forms and the coloration of the wooden relief: this work also demonstrates that modern forms of abstraction also appear in non-European art.

Susu masks, made by the Sulka people, are a combination of human and animal forms. Apart from some cassowary (ostrich) feathers and cone shell bottoms, they consist entirely of plant materials and completely cover the bodies of the wearers. The black-stained teeth indicate that these masks were worn at initiation ceremonies.

Matua masks are used at malanggan ceremonies where the village community bids farewell to the deceased. The masks may represent the souls of the dead or portray bush spirits. They constitute the expression of a taboo in honour of the person who has died, and this taboo remains in force until the mask has been carried through the village, accompanied by silent dances, and put on display in the mask house.

This whalebone staff has an impressively elegant form, characterized by a striking contrast between its extensive planar areas and the intricate ornamentation at the top and sides. Bone staffs of this kind are associated with Maori chiefs, who carry them with them in order to “retain in their memory the succession of generations leading back to the divine ancestors. […] Their significance becomes clearer if one considers that, according to Maori tradition, people of a common origin are descended from the same primeval canoe, and also refer to one another as people of the same bone” (Christian Kaufmann).

From a formal perspective, this strikingly elegant paddle is one of the finest objects in the collection of non-European art. The precise cultic significance of the highly stylized human form is not known. The arching browlines around the eyes also delineate the ears and converge to form the nose. The head tapers into the shape of a drop which suggests a body, with a stick-like projection that can be interpreted as a phallus. The paddle was probably used during war dances, where it would be spun around to strike fear into those present.