DescriptionAncestor Figure, New Ireland
Height: 38 ¼ in (97 cm)Condition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact paul.lewis@sothebys.com ProvenancePossibly Gabriel von Max (1840-1915), MunichReiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim (inv. no. Sü 1678), acquired in 1917, possibly as part of the estate of the aboveMaurice Bonnefoy, New York and Paris, acquired by 1966Christie’s, Amsterdam, December 6, 1999, lot 82, consigned by the aboveAcquired after the above auctionLiteratureAlfred Bühler, Art océanien, Neuchâtel, 1970, p. 88, cat. no. 1141 (listed)Philip C. Gifford, The Iconology of the Uli Figure of Central New Ireland, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1974, n.p., cat. no. 124Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, Uli: Powerful Ancestors from the Pacific, Bornival, 2021, p. 324, cat. no. U10-11ExhibitedMusée d’ethnographie de Neuchâtel, Art océanien, June 27 – December 31, 1970Catalogue note“Tu fais peur tu émerveilles.”(You frighten. You astonish.)
André Breton, Uli, 1948 The surrealist Andre Breton’s famous verse, inspired by and addressed to the uli statue in his own collection (formerly in the collection of Roland Tual), captures the response of Western artists and collectors upon the ‘discovery’ of this magnificent Melanesian art form during the interwar period in Europe. The Uli would become one of the icons of Pacific Art in the eyes of the world, known for their imposing scale, elaborate regalia, and especially for their fearsome, piercing gaze. The island of New Ireland is situated close to the equator in the Bismarck Archipelago at the heart of the Pacific region of Melanesia, and is today a province of Papua New Guinea. This island was home to several of the iconic art traditions of the Pacific, including the wide array of masks and sculpture created for malagan ceremonies in the north of the island, and the stone kulap figures from the south. Most imposing and distinctive are the statues of clan leaders known as uli, created in the mountainous interior of central New Ireland. Accounts written by Europeans who came into contact with New Irelanders before the disintegration of their traditional religion provide a fragmentary basis for the interpretation of their complex ritual practices. The primary historical source for the ritual context of the Uli ceremonies is Augustin Krämer (1865-1941), a naval surgeon, naturalist, and ethnographer who authored Die Malanggane von Tombara, Munich, 1925, including descriptions of uli ceremonies he witnessed circa 1909 which were among the final such rituals ever performed. Krämer's research, conducted during a seven-month visit, suggests that these figures were images of ancestral clan leaders, embodying the traits of strength and aggression, as well as nurture and protection.
DescriptionAncestor Figure, New Ireland
Height: 38 ¼ in (97 cm)Condition reportFor further information on the condition of this lot please contact paul.lewis@sothebys.com ProvenancePossibly Gabriel von Max (1840-1915), MunichReiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim (inv. no. Sü 1678), acquired in 1917, possibly as part of the estate of the aboveMaurice Bonnefoy, New York and Paris, acquired by 1966Christie’s, Amsterdam, December 6, 1999, lot 82, consigned by the aboveAcquired after the above auctionLiteratureAlfred Bühler, Art océanien, Neuchâtel, 1970, p. 88, cat. no. 1141 (listed)Philip C. Gifford, The Iconology of the Uli Figure of Central New Ireland, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1974, n.p., cat. no. 124Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, Uli: Powerful Ancestors from the Pacific, Bornival, 2021, p. 324, cat. no. U10-11ExhibitedMusée d’ethnographie de Neuchâtel, Art océanien, June 27 – December 31, 1970Catalogue note“Tu fais peur tu émerveilles.”(You frighten. You astonish.)
André Breton, Uli, 1948 The surrealist Andre Breton’s famous verse, inspired by and addressed to the uli statue in his own collection (formerly in the collection of Roland Tual), captures the response of Western artists and collectors upon the ‘discovery’ of this magnificent Melanesian art form during the interwar period in Europe. The Uli would become one of the icons of Pacific Art in the eyes of the world, known for their imposing scale, elaborate regalia, and especially for their fearsome, piercing gaze. The island of New Ireland is situated close to the equator in the Bismarck Archipelago at the heart of the Pacific region of Melanesia, and is today a province of Papua New Guinea. This island was home to several of the iconic art traditions of the Pacific, including the wide array of masks and sculpture created for malagan ceremonies in the north of the island, and the stone kulap figures from the south. Most imposing and distinctive are the statues of clan leaders known as uli, created in the mountainous interior of central New Ireland. Accounts written by Europeans who came into contact with New Irelanders before the disintegration of their traditional religion provide a fragmentary basis for the interpretation of their complex ritual practices. The primary historical source for the ritual context of the Uli ceremonies is Augustin Krämer (1865-1941), a naval surgeon, naturalist, and ethnographer who authored Die Malanggane von Tombara, Munich, 1925, including descriptions of uli ceremonies he witnessed circa 1909 which were among the final such rituals ever performed. Krämer's research, conducted during a seven-month visit, suggests that these figures were images of ancestral clan leaders, embodying the traits of strength and aggression, as well as nurture and protection.
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