A Rare Old New Guinea Highlands Ancestor Figure Eastern Highlands Province Papua New Guinea

A Rare Old New Guinea Highlands Ancestor Figure Eastern Highlands Province Papua New Guinea

This finely carved & decorated female Ancestor Figure is from the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, figurative art in the Papua New Guinea Highlands is rare, they were not prolific carvers of ceremonial art as with the Sepik River cultures or the people in the Papuan Gulf area, they were great farmers & warriors and their artistic expression was mainly in the form of elaborate body decoration for ceremonies and daily life.

Shells, feathers & pig tusks were all a form of traditional wealth and could be worn by both men & women, the highlands cultures have style, and they know how to decorate themselves in the most beautiful ways.  This figure shows these traditions.  These types of figures are rare, some were collected by Stan Moriarty (see photo of three similar figures collected by Moriarty)  in the 1960s and are now in the collection of The Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney,  others were collected a bit later by the intrepid field collector and friend Peter Hallinan ( see field photo with Hallinan and Wanamera circa 1969)

Provenance: Field Collected by Peter Hallinan (1938-2015) Hallinan was one of the early field collectors in The Eastern Highlands Province.

The Todd BArlin Collection of Oceanic Art 

I first went to Papua New Guinea in 1985 for an adventure & what I found was that I really enjoyed being with the people of New Guinea, over the next 38 years I spent extensive time spent collecting and documenting traditional art & ceremonies in remote areas of Papua New Guinea & West Papua, The Solomon Islands & Vanuatu & the other Pacific Islands countries. During these travels, I made major collections of New Guinea & Oceanic Art for major Museums and Public Art Galleries

I was honoured by being in the prestigious Louvre Museum Magazine for the collections I made for The Museum of African & Oceanic Art Paris in1996 (now the Musee Quai Branly) for the exhibition “Asmat et Mimika d’ Irian Jaya April 1996 At THE MUSEE NATIONAL des ARTS D’AFRIQUE et d’ OCEANIE, Paris

See all of the links & photos in my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY and there is the link to the article in the prestigious Louvre Magazine 1996

I have artwork for Museums & 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 specialises in New Guinea & Oceanic Art. Sydney is just a couple hours’ flight to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbours.