Masque-crochet, Bahinemo, Village de Gahom, Monts Hunstein, Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée

Collecté par Wayne Heathcote dans le village de Gahom, en 1963/64
Collection Douglas Newton
Collection John et Marcia Friede, New York
Collection privée

New York, The Museum of Primitive Art, Crocodile and Cassowary : religious art of the upper Sepik River, 1971

Newton, Crocodile and Cassowary : religious art of the upper Sepik River, 1971, p. 29, n° 42

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En 1971, Douglas Newton présentait au Museum of Primitive Art, à New York, l'exposition Crocodile and Cassowary - manifestation pionnière qui révéla au public américain la richesse des arts de Nouvelle-Guinée. Une dizaine de rares masques garra des monts Hunstein y figurait, dont celui-ci. En 1963/64, Wayne Heathcote collectait  le premier ensemble - remarquable - de sculptures et de masques de cette région, qui composa l'essentiel de cette section de Crocodile and Cassowary. Acquis par Douglas Newton avant l'exposition, il demeura dans sa collection jusqu'à sa mort, en 2001.

Face à l'apparente « fraîcheur » de plusieurs masques garra exposés en 1971, s'imposent dans le catalogue trois fragments - collectés dans le village de Gahom (Newton, 1971, n° 46 et 47), parmi lesquels celui-ci, dont l'intégrité de la forme fut restituée après l'exposition. Il s'inscrit dans le corpus très restreint des témoins les plus archaïques de l'art abstrait des monts Hunstein. Voir Sotheby's (3 décembre 2009, n° 19) pour un masque comparable, qui figura également dans la collection John et Marcia Friede. 

Le visage humain – réinventé - se devine dans le contour de la face en deux dimensions d'où jaillissent les yeux tubulaires aux mouvements divergents, tandis que la bouche en croissant s'ajoure sur le dessin irrégulier des dents taillées en pointes. Les crochets en forme de becs d'oiseaux s'alignent sur l'axe médian du nez s'étirant en volutes. La ligne pointillée cernant le visage en accentue la prégnance, tandis que les traces de polychromie - ocre rouge, ocre jaune et blanche -  ajoutent à la dimension picturale de l'œuvre.

Les masques garra ne sont pas conçus pour être portés. Ils sont suspendus à l'intérieur de la Maison des hommes et sortent, tenus dans les mains des danseurs durant les cérémonies d'initiation. D'après Newton (1971, p. 20), les masques garra sont identifiés tant aux esprits de la brousse qu'aux hommes âgés du clan. Leurs crochets représentent des becs de calaos – oiseaux censés nicher dans les endroits où vivent ces esprits - et dont la chair ne peut être consommée que par les hommes âgés.

Bahinemo hook mask, Gahom village, Hunstein Mountains, Papua New Guinea

In 1971, Douglas Newton presented an exhibition entitled Crocodile and Cassowary at the Museum of Primitive Art in New York. This pioneering exhibition showed the American public the richness of the art of New Guinea. A dozen very rare garra masks from the Hunstein Mountains, including the offered lot, were included in this exhibition. In 1963/64, Wayne Heathcote collected the first remarkable group of sculptures and masks from this region. These objects went on to comprise most of the Bahinemo section of Crocodile and Cassowary. The offered mask was acquired by Douglas Newton prior to the exhibition and remained in his collection until his death in 2001.

Three fragments stand out in the catalogue in contrast to the apparent "freshness" of the other garramasks exhibited in 1971. These three examples were all collected in the village of Gahom (Newton, 1971, nos. 46 and 47). The offered lot, the shape of which was reconstituted after the exhibition, was one of the three, and it is part of the tiny corpus of the most ancient examples of the abstract art of the Hunstein Mountains. See Sotheby’s (3 December 2009, lot 19) for a comparable mask also formerly in the collection of John and Marcia Friede.

The reinvention of the human face can be discerned in the outline of the two-dimensional plane. Two diverging tubular eyes spring from the surface, whilst the crescent-shaped mouth opens with a line of pointed teeth. The hooks, which are shaped like bird beaks, are aligned on the central axis of the nose, the nostrils of which are in a whirling form. The dotted line encircling the face accentuates its outstanding quality whilst the traces of red ochre, yellow ochre and white pigments add to the pictorial dimension of the piece.

Garra masks are not designed to be worn. They are hung on the walls of the longhouse and when they come out they are held by dancers during initiation ceremonies. According to Newton (1971, p. 20), garra masks are identified both with bush spirits and with clan elders. Their hooks represent the heads of hornbill birds which are thought to nest in locations where the spirits dwell. The hornbill is closely associated with older men, who are the only people permitted to eat its flesh.