Oceanic Art from the Sepik River Region of Papua New Guinea On permanent exhibition, Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums A collection of objects from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea will be the focus of a special installation at the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, beginning October 29, 2003. The exhibition will remain on permanent display. Oceanic Art from the Sepik River Region of Papua New Guinea consists of more than twenty-five of the forty-two artifacts given to the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, by Mrs. Inger Rice. The objects were acquired by Mrs. Rice and her husband, the Honorable Walter Rice, who served as United States Ambassador to Australia from 1969 to 1973. Featured in the installation are intricately carved male figures, painted rectangular shields, orator’s chairs or podiums, carved house boards, pottery vessels, spears, canoe prows, masks, carved poles, as well as various tools and implements.
A collection of objects from the Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea will be the focus of a special installation at the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, beginning October 29, 2003. The exhibition will remain on permanent display. Oceanic Art from the Sepik River Region of Papua New Guinea consists of more than twenty-five of the forty-two artifacts given to the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, by Mrs. Inger Rice. The objects were acquired by Mrs. Rice and her husband, the Honorable Walter Rice, who served as United States Ambassador to Australia from 1969 to 1973. Featured in the installation are intricately carved male figures, painted rectangular shields, orator’s chairs or podiums, carved house boards, pottery vessels, spears, canoe prows, masks, carved poles, as well as various tools and implements. Art is an important means by which visual and oral traditions are interpreted in Papua New Guinea. Sepik art, often metaphorical in meaning, is based on a number of cultural referents and is essential to a vast range of social practices. In addition to use in religious ceremonies such as initiation rituals, objects are made for many purposes, including utility, creativity, visual pleasure, and for trade or sale. There are more than twenty-five large villages in the Middle Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. Residents of each village have signature styles that are recognizable through the repeated use and combination of specific design elements, colors, and the addition of natural materials, such as shells, bones, fiber, and human hair. The installation highlights two Orator’s Chairs (or Podiums) that share a common purpose, although they are dissimilar in appearance. The larger of the two features two male figures carved from wood, with a second figure standing at the back of a circular platform. The smaller chair is elaborately carved to resemble a human form and rests on tripod legs, each having a carved face in miniature. Orator’s Chairs are symbols of authority, kept in the men’s spirit house and used in political and ritual practices. Also included in the collection is a Mai mask, probably from the Latmul culture in the East Sepik Province. Using a base of soft wood, artists carve masks to resemble exaggerated human faces. Paints mixed from natural elements decorate the surface, which is further embellished with shells, fibers, pig tusks, and feathers. The masks represent powerful spirits, and participants wear or display them during the young men’s initiation and other ritual ceremonies. Life and culture in New Guinea has been shaped by a turbulent history over the last 175 years. The Dutch established the first European settlement in West New Guinea in 1828 and retained control of the western half of the island until it became an Indonesian province in 1962. The eastern half of the island was apportioned between the British and the Germans in 1884. In 1907, Australia took over the administration of the southern section (Papua) from the British and the northern section from the Germans in 1914. The territory was governed under a League of Nations mandate, and became a United Nations Trust Territory administered by Australia jointly with Papua. In 1975 Papua New Guinea attained independence. The islands of Papua New Guinea have a diverse geography. The Star Mountains divide the island and are the source of four river systems. The Sepik River of Papua New Guinea meanders for 650 miles through the northeast section to the coast, eventually spilling into the Bismarck Sea. Residents during the twentieth century included explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists, one of the most well known being Margaret Mead. When conducting research there in 1928, she described, “a strange, widely flung culture. . . a new culture bred of the contact of the white man and the native, a culture that is breaking down barriers hundreds, perhaps thousands of years old.” Organized by the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums, the curatorial team for this project and installation was led by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Assistant Director, University Museums, and included Sandra Higgins, Collections Manager, University Museums; Virginia Carlson (SCS’00), 2002 Summer Curatorial Intern, University Museums; and Leslie Bishop (AW’04), senior art history and studio art double major at the University of Richmond and a 2003 Summer Fellow, University Museums.