Openwork Figure, Kopar / Angoram
Openwork carved figure, Kopar / Angoram style, with white stripes, red and yellow pigment, shell and rope ornamentation. Anthropomorphic.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes a similar openwork figure attributed to the collection of Wolfgang Paalen, a Surrealist painter (1905-1959). as being used perhaps as dance wands. The long beak-like nose and lean body likely represent powerful spirits.
Similar figure held by the Uebersee-Museum in Bremen, Germany is described by Suzanne Greub (see Similar items below) in 1985 “In the area of Angoram … , figures of this kind seem to have been carried at dances tied to short bamboo wands.”
Locale: Lower Sepik River
Country: Papua New Guinea
Date: 1936 or earlier
Material: Wood, pigment, shell, rope
Dimensions: H 26″ / 66 cm
Technique: Carved
