Mask

DateLate 19th century

Dimensions28 3/8 inches (72 cm)

MediumWood, human hair, shell, seedpod, fiber, pigment, melo shell and coix seeds

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of C. O. Miniger and Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange

Object number

2015.55

Not on View

Label TextSaibai Island masks, like this 19th-century example, are among the rarest and most spectacular works of historical art created by the indigenous artists of the Torres Strait Islands, located between the northern coast of Queensland, Australia and the southern coast of Papua New Guinea. Torres Strait Islanders, along with Aboriginal Australians, have among the oldest continuous cultures in the world, with a legacy of tens of thousands of years. Wood masks with a scooped, crescent profile, human hair, and shell eyes are believed to represent mythical heroes whose presence signal important events and rites of passage. Few historical examples of the art of the Torres Strait Islanders survive because most of it was destroyed by Christian missionaries who arrived on the islands in the late 19th century. Today, Torres Strait Islanders’ artistic culture is perpetuated and made available to a wider public by artists working with traditional art forms. Similarly, some contemporary Aboriginal Australian artists, uncluding the painters Emily Kngwarreye and Tjungkara Ken, whose work is also represented in the Museum's collection, create works of art for the general public that incorporate traditional cultural themes and disseminate sacred knowledge that is obscured and kept secret from non-members.Published ReferencesMeyer, A.B. (Adolf Bernhard), Masken von Neu Guinea und dem Bismarck Archipel/ Unterstutzung der Generaldirection der Koniglichen Sammlungen fur Kunst und Wissenschaft zu Dresden, Dresden, Stengel & Markert, 1889, Bd. VII, Taf. II and V, pp. 3, 4, and 6.

Fraser, Douglas, Torres Strait Sculpture: A Study in Oceanic Primitive Art, Ph.D dissertation, Columbia University, 1959, plate 37.

William Rubin, ed. "Primitivism" in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1984, vol. 1, p. 108.

Friede, J.A. et al (ed.), New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, San Francisco, 5 Continents, 2005, Volume 1, no. 498 and Volume 2 p. 169.

"A Rare Acquisition" and "Auction News", Tribal Art, no. 79, Spr. 2016, p. 24, 62, repr. (col.).

"Acquisition of the Year", Apollo, December 2016, repr. (col.) p. 60.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, The Museum of Modern Art; Detroit, The Detroit institute of Arts; Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art; 'Primitivism' in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, September 27, 1984-January 15, 1985; February 26-May 19, 1985; June 23-September 1, 1985.