*Statue, Sepik River, Papua New Guinea H.... - Lot 59 - De Baecque et Associés

Lot 59
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Estimation :
10000 - 15000 EUR
*Statue, Sepik River, Papua New Guinea H.... - Lot 59 - De Baecque et Associés
*Statue, Sepik River, Papua New Guinea H. 54 cm Provenance: Museum of Peoples and Cultures, Sankt-Augustin, Germany Private collection, Switzerland Exhibition : Geneva, Opera Gallery, Jean Dubuffet | Pierre Soulages - Fundamental, January 29 - February 22, 2020. Through its plastic solutions, its refined and sophisticated style concentrating forms, and the colorful refinement of its graphics, the artistic production of New Guinea conquered the poets and artists of the early 20th century. The Oceanian sculpture, magnificent artistic testimony of the universality and the power of the forms was particularly appreciated by the surrealists. "It is only in the light of poetry that one can touch the creative mystery of Oceanian art." (Tristan Tzara, Art and Oceania, 1920) This extraordinary link between two creative worlds, from the Papuans to the surrealists, is the work of a duo of collectors with seasoned eyes and avant-garde ideas. Upon his return from New Guinea in 1929, Jacques Viot contributed fervently to the promotion of the sculptures he had collected. Art dealer for Jean Arp, Joan Miro, he organized exhibitions of Oceanian art with Pierre Loeb at the Pigalle Gallery. Strength and charisma emerge from this majestic statue, with its characteristic features of the Sepik River. The character is camped on long legs slightly bent, maintaining marked hips, intensified by a relief surround encircling them, thus giving rhythm to the posture, the silhouette. The bulging belly, the massive bust, the angular shoulders from which fine arms stand out. The skill of the play of volumes between the members of the upper part of the body, underlining the importance of the corpulence, concentrating the glance towards the gesture of the arms folded in a solemn way under the chin, leading the glance on the strength, and the intensity of expressiveness of the face. The frontality of the face is marked by its pointed nose with hemmed nostrils and by the intensity of the look supported by the refinement of its treatment. The elongated oval eyes, stretched in slight relief, are enhanced with red ochre pigments, their edges finely hollowed. The eyebrows are connected, in relief, subtly taking up the acute shape of the nose and are accentuated by a yellow coloring. The whole look is surrounded by a fine incised engraving forming an abstract mask, these scarifications would represent the external symbol of the initiation for the second birth in the world. A large incised smile appears, the mouth enhanced with red pigment. According to Schmidt, this color refers to the complex ritual of the maro: their faces were revived with layers of a mixture of terracotta and vegetable oil, thus glowing and shining in the image of the mythical ancestors (Schmidt, 1923-24: 705). At the top of the skull appears a lizard, with an angular face, whose tail descends to the nape of the neck. Disturbing and enigmatic presence, captivating expression of this beautiful character from which emanates a vital energy. This lot is temporarily imported and is subject to a 5.5% buyer's fee in addition to the sale's costs and the hammer price.
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