A Fine Old New Guinea Flute Stopper Sepik River Area Papua New Guinea 19th Century

A Fine Old New Guinea Flute Stopper from the Coastal Sepik River Area  in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea 

This old and well-used Flute Stopper is from the Coastal Sepik River area of Papua New Guinea. In the form of a standing male ancestor figure holding his hands to his chest, the figure has a presence that the older New Guinea sculptures often have.  The energy and presence in New Guinea Art is what inspired many of the early 20th-century Western modern artists; painters and sculptors have been greatly inspired and influenced by the tribal arts of Oceania. Since the turn of the century when Gauguin, Picasso, Matisse, and others first acquainted themselves with masks and sculptures from these areas, modern artists have continued to display a strong interest in the art and culture of tribal societies.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York had the ground-breaking exhibition “Primitivism In 20th Century” in 1984 that showcased Oceanic & African Art along with Gauguin, Picasso, Brancusi, Modigliani, Klee, the Expressionists, and Surrealists–most deeply involved with Oceanic Art.  This is a must-own publication if you can find a copy.

For many New Guinea people, flutes are among the most sacred and important of all musical instruments. Sacred flutes were made from hollow cylinders of bamboo and played, like a Western flute, by blowing through a hole in the side of the instrument near the upper end. The tops of these flutes were almost always decorated with Flute Stoppers depicting important ancestors or totemic animals.  Some of the finest artworks made in the Sepik River area were the sacred Flute Stoppers.

These sacred flutes were used in pairs and were kept hidden in the Men’s Ceremonial House or haus tambaran.  The sound of the flutes are the voices of specific honoured ancestors or spirits and the flutes have their own personal names.

Flutes are also associated with crocodile spirits and flutes were used during initiation rites in which novices had cuts made on their backs and chests that healed into permanent scarification that resembled crocodile skin and marked them as initiated individuals.

Provenance: The John Friede Collection ( Joika Coll) New York.  The Todd Balin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art 

See my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY  showing the Museums and Art Galleries Exhibitions that I provided artworks for over the past 40 years. There is the 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 neighbors.

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