A Fine Old Asmat Figure Group Asmat People West Papua Irian Jaya Indonesia New Guinea

A Fine Old Asmat Figure Group, Asmat People, West Papua, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, New Guinea

This very beautiful old ancestor figural group or kawe is one of my favorited Asmat sculptures that I have ever owned.  This is the old style of Asmat Art, the figures carved from a single piece of lightwood mangrove tree.

Comprised of two ancestor figures, a head and a dog, all seen only in profile. The thin, elegant figures may represent a family group with dog, the single head would likely relate to the headhunting that the Asmat were once famous for.

Old Asmat Ancestor Figures never had a flat base because they were tied to the wall inside the men’s ceremonial house or jeu.  The figure has an old, dry patina, as really old Asmat pieces should have.

The main Asmat creation myth is about their creator being Fumeripitjs, who was lonely, so he carved figures from wood, and then he made a drum. When he played the drum, the carved wood figures came to life, and that is how the first Asmat people were created.  For the Asmat, the connection between trees, people, and the forest is profound.

Provenance: Ex-Catholic Mission Merauke, South Coast, West Papua. The priests and brothers at the Catholic Mission in Merauke had carvings like this figure that were collected over 50 years of their colleagues working in many of the remote areas of the Asmat.

The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic Art (acquired from above 1985)

Many of the artworks that I have collected in the Asmat & Mimika are now in important Museum collections around the world, like the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, France. When you walk into the Oceanic Art pavilion, the first thing you see are the monumental Ancestor Poles from the Asmat & Mimika Cultures, along with Shields & Dance Costumes, all of which I field collected.  These artworks were in a superb exhibition in 1996, The Asmat et Mimika at the National Museum of African and Oceanic Art in Paris (now part of the Musee du Quai Branly) and published in the prestigious Louvre Museum Magazine the same year 1996.

See my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY  showing the Museums and Art Galleries Exhibitions that I provided artworks for over the past 40 years. There is a link to the article about my artworks published in the prestigious Louvre Magazine in 1996

I have artwork for Museums and art Galleries, but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands, and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery. I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specializes in New Guinea and Oceanic Art.  Sydney is very close to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbours.

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