5. Thurnwald, Richard, 1916. “Bánaro Society: Social Organization and Kinship System of a Tribe in the Interior of New Guinea,” in Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, vol. 3 (4), pp. 251–391. 6. Schindlbeck, Markus, 2015. “Unterwegs in der Südsee: Adolf Roesicke und seine Fahrten auf dem Sepik,” in Neuguinea, Series: Veroffentlichungen des Ethnologischen Museums Berlin. 7. Bateson, Gregory, 1958. Naven. A Survey of the Problems Suggested by a Composite Picture of the Culture of a New Guinea Tribe Drawn from Three Points of View 1936, Stanford, Stanford University Press. French translation, Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1971. 8. See among others, Mead, Margaret, 1935. Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies, New York, Perennial, 2001. French translation, Plon, Collection Terre Humaines, 1963. 9. Forge, Anthony. 1965. “Art and Environment in the Sepik,” in Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for 1965, London, Royal Anthropological Institute, pp. 23–31. 10. Bühler, Alfred, 1960. Kunststile am Sepik: Führer durch das Museum für Völkerkunde und Schweiz et Schweizerische Museum für Völkskunde Basel. Exhibition from June 11– November 30, 1960; and Bühler, Alfred and Carl A. Schmitz, 1962. Die Kunst Neu-Guineas, Basel, Kunsthalle Basel. 11. Kaufmann, Christian, 1993. “La Mélanésie,” in L’Art océanien, Paris, Citadelles & Mazenod, fi g. 845. 12. Mead, Margaret, 1934. “Tamberans and Tumbuans in New Guinea,” in Natural History, vol. XXXIV (3), pp. 234–246. 81 upon, and the house is decorated with all of its attributes, at which time it becomes hot. Initiation is the most important event in the life of a young boy. Holding the attendant ceremony requires the presence of the ancestor fi gures, which in this case appear as masks. The apparition is accompanied by rhythms pounded on large slit drums, as well as by the bird-like sounds produced by fl utes. Through these initiation ceremonies, all of the boys of a certain age become integrated into the world of men. By means of the objects, they are put into contact with the world of the ancestors and begin to learn to master the rituals on which the group’s prosperity and prestige depend. Following these ceremonies, the young initiate will work the land or become a warrior or a hunter. His success in his endeavor will depend on his respect for societal rules and the reaffi rmation of an alliance with the ancestors through offerings to the ancestor fi gures in their infi nite and powerful forms. The world of the ancestors and the ways in which it manifests itself are unstable. A Sepik man sees an image as always being in transformation. For all of the river’s inhabitants, the ancestor fi gure does not allow itself to be revealed immediately. It must be apprehended little by little in all of its dimensions. These images thus condense several states or realities. After presenting the different types of objects that correspond to places and times in a man’s life, the exhibition closes with a focus on some of these objects in particular. It also evokes a phenomenon that is surprising to Westerners: Every man, woman, and child can transform into an ancestor. To do so, he has only to prepare himself. It is not unusual to hear a man recounting an ancestral myth and substituting the word “I” for the ancestor he is referring to, and thus pursuing his journey through the images. Sepik: Arts de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée Until 4 October, 2015 Museum Rietberg www.rietberg.ch 27 October 2015–7 February 2016 Musée du Quai Branly www.quaibranly.frt NOTES 1. Kaufmann, Christian, 1993. “La Mélanésie,” in L’Art océanien, Paris, Citadelles & Mazenod, pp. 309–310. 2. Reche, Otto, 1913. Der Kaiserin-Augusta-Fluss, Hamburg, L. Friederichsen & Co. 3. Schlaginhaufen, Otto, 1910b. “Eine ethnographische Sammlung vom Kaiserin- Augustafl uss in Neuguinea,” in Abhandlungen und Berichte des Königl. Zoologischen und Anthropologisch-Ethnographischen Museums zu Dresden, vol. 13 (2), ii–iii/1–74. 4. Behrmann, Walter, 1922. Im Stromgebiet des Sepik. Eine deutsche Forschungsreise in Neuguinea, Berlin, August Scherl GmbH. FIG. 10 (below): Hourglass drum. Iatmul, Kararau village, Papua New Guinea. Wood, rattan, iguana skin, white pigment. H: 50 cm. Collected during the Françoise Girard expedition in 1955. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, inv. 71.1955.78.3. © Musée du Quai Branly. Photo: Patrick Gries, Bruno Descoings. Sepik
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