Il lotto Lotto n° 11
Titolo : Sculpture Representant Probablement Une Tete De Calao A Carving, Probably Representing The Head Of A Hornbill, EPOCA : 1640
Provenienza : Collectée dans le village de Suagup par Wayne Heathcote
Collection Douglas Newton, New York, acquis auprès de ce dernier (cette
information nous a été confirmée par les Archives de Douglas Newton.
Tous droits réservés. (C) Virginia-Lee Webb 2002-2013)
Marcia et John Friede, New York
Collection Jolika, Fine Arts Museums de San Francisco, deYoung
Museum, Don de Marcia et John Friede, inv. no.L05.1.339, (acquis en
partie avec les fonds de la Evelyn A.J. Hall Charitable Trust)Literature : Friede, J.A. et al (ed.), New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika
Collection of Marcia and John Friede, San Francisco, 2005, Volume 1,
p.375 et Volume 2, cat. No.345Note : This Jolika carving is related to the finial of another mask, also
formerly in the collection of Douglas Newton now in the Musée du Quai
Branly in Paris, inv. no.70.2007.66.2 (published in Le Fur, 2009,
pp.230-231, fig.91, and Newton, 1971, p.49, fig.87). See also Kelm
(1966, vol.I, n.18, fig.18.) for a related mask in the Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin.
This rare carving of a bird likely served as a finial for a mask
representing a water spirit. These types of masks were worn in the
dances of the Mbangk ceremonies once a year during the dry season (cf.
Newton, ibid, pp.36-37). According to Newton, after the ceremony, the
mask portion was left at the site of the dance, but he hornbill head was
taken back to the ward of the performer (ibid.). The strength of this
image through economical use of line and volume, with a graphic
painterly surface, to create this enigmatic representation of a
spirit-bird demonstrates the intelligent range of New Guinea artistic
sensibility.
Douglas Newton collected works of art in the Lower April River region of
Papua New Guinea in 1965, 1967, and 1970. Many of the Ngala objects he
collected were in his publication Crocodile and Cassowary, New York.
Museum of Primitive Art, 1971, (Virginia-Lee Webb, personal
communication, March 2013).
Douglas Newton's career as director of the Nelson Rockefeller's Museum
of Primitive Art and, later, Chairman of the Department of Africa,
Oceania and the Americas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is
well-documented. What is lesser known is his personal passion for the
works of art themselves, and his life as a collector. In her recent
essay, Virginia-Lee Webb (2013) maps out Newton's special talent for
artistic discovery and gift for teaching through his quietly powerful
and intelligently produced exhibitions. The following is an excerpt from
Webb's article noting the genesis of Newton's interest in New Guinea
works of art, in particular: 'Douglas' passion for the arts of
non-Western cultures began in London and continued throughout his life.
He noted that the arts of Egypt and the African continent first caught
his attention, but credits his interest in New Guinea art to the London
art dealer John Hewett (1919-1994). In 1949, Hewett showed him two
objects that were illustrated in Otto Reche's book Der
Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss (1913) and came from the Museum für Völkerkunde,
Hamburg, the sculptures were two slender, flat figures with hanging
heads from the Sepik River. Soon after, Douglas saw them in a private
collection and years later they entered Nelson Rockefeller's collection
and now are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ancestor Figures
1979.412.727 and 1979.412.728). The same evening Hewett showed Douglas
the publication Les arts indigènes en Nouvelle-Guinée by Stéphen
Chauvet. Seeing these objects and publications was a turning point in
his life. I could not understand these extraordinary images, so unlike
anything else I knew-how the human imagination could even conceive them,
let alone what they could possibly signify. One figure published in
Chauvet also became part of the Metropolitan Museum's collection
(1978.412.722). This curiosity and passion for the arts of New Guinea
continued throughout his life, and he became one of the world's leading
authorities on the subject. It was during the years 1964-1973 (summers
1964 and 1965, winters 1967 and 1970, January-March 1973) that Douglas
carried out five periods of fieldwork in New Guinea conducting research
on the interrelations of oral history, art and mythology mainly in the
Ambunti subdistrict, Sepik River area, East Sepik Province, Papua New
Guinea. He wrote, Being on the Sepik in the 1960s was the best time of
my life.' (Webb 2013, p.12)
Douglas Newton's collecting in New Guinea was methodical and focused.
'He personally collected a significant number of objects, [many of which
went into important Museum collections, and, later, like this Lower
April River hornbill carving, in private collections]'.Christie's, banditore, Paris, FR
🔓Senza carta di credito.
Titolo di vendita : Collection Jolika, chefs-d'oeuvre de Nouvelle-Guinée provenant des Fine Arts Museums de San Francisco
Data della vendita : 19/06/2013
🔓Senza carta di credito.
Riferimento dell'asta : Live Sale
