Figure of a male Bioma ancestor -Urama language... Lot 38

Figure of a male Bioma ancestor -Urama language group, Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea Carved wood. Ochre pigments, traces of lime Restoration to right arm Height: 26 cm Provenance: - Collected by Thomas Schultze Westrum in the village of Kinomere, Urama Island, 1966 - Thomas Schultze Westrum Collection G562 (label on back) - The Jolika Collection of Marcia & John Friede. Rye, New York Artistic emblems and inescapable entities in the communities of the Gulf of New Guinea, the Bioma figures, remarkably inventive, combining abstraction and minimalism, mostly made from damaged pirogues*, were kept in the breasts of the long clan houses, sanctuaries of the spiritual world, which included a wall of imunu with which the men interacted. Placed above the crocodile skulls, not far from the Gope planks, they had to be captivating enough to attract the spirit and keep it there (R. Welsch, Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art and Society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea, Hanover, 2006, p. 90, no. 148). Temporarily sheltering the spirits of ancestors, reminding the living of their presence, they protected their owners. Distinguished from the traditional corpus by its small dimensions, this representation is animated by an exceptional dynamic rendered by the elaboration of its construction, the rhythm imparted by the two-dimensional stylized volumes, and the pictorial decoration of reliefs magnified by its beautiful polychromy alternating between ecru, ochre, brown and orange. The free movement of the stylized body elements is intensified by her gestures; the curvilinear arms brandished towards the sky convey an impression of movement and powerful spiritual communication, while the bowed legs complete the figure's striking sense of aspiration and celestial elevation. The whole is remarkably focused on the striking, captivating expression of the face. A rare example of this size, encapsulating the richness of traditional New Guinean art and culture New Guinea, while embodying the complex beliefs and rituals of the region's communities. *According to T. Schultze Westrum, during his stay on the island of Urama, was told by informants that the wood used to make the Bioma was that used to build a new pirogue, and not old boats.