60
ART on view
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Ancestral Visions
Art from the Sepik–Ramu
FIG. 1 (left):
Head.
Porapora River, Papua New
Guinea. Early 20th century.
Terracotta. H: 7 cm.
Ex Ulrich Kortmann, Dortmund;
John and Marcia Friede (Jolika
Collection), Rye, New York;
Bruce Frank, New York.
Photo: Hughes Dubois.
FIG. 2 (right):
War shield.
Lower Sepik River or Ramu
River, Papua New Guinea.
19th century.
Wood, fi ber, pigments. H: 154 cm.
Ex Herrmann Seeger, Stuttgart.
Photo: Hughes Dubois.
of objects amalgamated the holdings of a few
important Low Countries private collections,
which were mainly formed in the mid twentieth
century, with other pieces brought to Europe
from New Guinea during the pre-WWI period
of German colonial mercantile and scientifi c activity
there. Most of the pieces presented in the
exhibition and book can be ranked among the
fi nest extant examples we now have on record.
A non-commercial event, the exhibition will be
presented in the elegant Lempertz showrooms,
near the Sablon district of Brussels, from May
24 until June 28, 2019. The exhibition opening
will coincide with the launch of the eponymous
book, a lavishly illustrated volume with contributions
from leading scholars in the fi eld. While
many shows are accompanied by catalogs, in
this case, the primary focus can be seen to be the
book, to which the show serves as a spectacular
adjunct.
The confl uence of the Sepik and Ramu Rivers
forms the largest freshwater catchment area
in Papua New Guinea and, from a cultural and
environmental perspective, is one of the most
important regions of its kind in the world. It is
arguably the least-developed freshwater system
Ancestral Visions: Papua New
Guinea Art from the Sepik–Ramu is a joint exhibition
and publishing project embarked upon
with the idea of creating a synergetic dialog between
outstanding works of art, in-depth scholarship,
and visual stimulation. It was conceived
with a focus upon a geographic and cultural region
of Oceania that offered the possibility to
gather a related and well-considered group of
artworks that would be of interest to the connoisseur
as well as to the general public. While
there are many great art-producing regions of the
Pacifi c, the Sepik–Ramu area stands out as being
on a level of breadth and distinction with those
of the Maori in New Zealand and of pre-contact
Hawaii, though it is only through projects such
as this that the region is coming to be perceived
as such. Indeed, the Sepik and Ramu are often
considered separately (or the Ramu not considered
at all), though they are inextricably linked
both culturally and geographically. With the
abundance of books, papers, and other texts on
the subject of New Guinea art, it was decided
to highlight works that are relatively unknown
yet can be brought together within the wider
context of an oeuvre. To this end, the selection
By Kevin Conru