ANCESTRAL VISIONS
65
their research. They were not so much interested
in the material culture of their subjects as they
were in the societal structures and nuances that
they observed, particularly those of the Iatmul
and the Biwat (Mundugumor), the latter of the
Yuat River, a tributary of the Lower Sepik. Ian
Hogbin also wrote extensively about his observations
among the coastal Wogeo peoples from
fieldwork performed between the wars.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the areas between the
Middle Sepik and the bordering mountains were
more fully explored and their cultures revealed
to the wider world. Perhaps foremost among
these are the people living along the Karawari
River and its tributaries and the inhabitants of
the nearby mountainous Hunstein Range. Likewise,
the 1950s found heightened interest in the
cultures north of the Washkuk Hills, including
the Abelam and Boiken in the Prince Alexander
Mountains. The post-war, pre-independence
period was a time of heightened acculturation,
with local communities rapidly dispensing with
traditional ways and beliefs as they embraced,
for better or worse, modernity. Christianity, first
brought to the Lower Sepik by Catholic evangelists
of the Societatis Verbi Divini (Society of
the Divine Word) in 1913 when they opened
a mission station at Marienberg, soon spread
throughout the region with stations opened on
the Keram, Karawari, and Middle Sepik Rivers.
These stations later became part of the governmental
administration complexes and served
to further spread change. In addition to their
roles in transforming spiritual beliefs, the mission
stations, and particularly the one associated
with Father Joep Heinemans (SVD) at Wewak,
became important posts for the dispersal of artifacts
newly decommissioned from traditional
use. Up until independence, when cultural export
controls became more stringently enforced,
there were a substantial number of field operatives
who sought artifacts for trade as their
primary activity. The important collections of
George Kennedy, Bruce Seaman, and Douglas
Newton were mainly formed with pieces from
the upper reaches of the Sepik, including many
art styles that were unknown to previous generations
of collectors and would have been completely
foreign to German-era connoisseurs.
Concurrently, the efforts of Dirk Schmidt and
FIG. 9 (facing page):
Ancestor figure, kandimbong.
Murik Lakes or Coastal Sepik,
Papua New Guinea.
19th century.
Wood, tapa, rattan, shell, pigments.
H: 121.5 cm.
Ex Frau Zimmer, Munich.
Photo: Hughes Dubois.
FIG. 10 (left):
Flute stopper, wusear.
Mundugumor; Yuat River,
Papua New Guinea. 19th
century.
Wood, pigment, cassowary feathers,
fiber, boar tusks, turtle shell, conus
shell, mother-of-pearl, human hair.
H: 50 cm.
Ex Bisseling Collection, The Hague;
Jef Vanderstraete, Lasne, Belgium.
Photo: Hughes Dubois.
FIG. 11 (above):
Flute stopper, wusear.
Mundugumor; Yuat River,
Papua New Guinea. 19th
century.
Wood, shell, pigments. 50 cm.
Ex Birger Mörner, Stockholm,
1906–1912.
Photo: Hughes Dubois.