Malagan Sculpture
- Culture
- northern New Ireland artist
- Date
- 1908–9
- Classification
- Sculpture, wood
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 12 x 86 in. (30.5 x 218.5 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 59:1977
NOTES
Malagan sculptures were typically made for funeral ceremonies. Malagan imagery is not easy to interpret; the malagan we see today are versions of original masterworks created many hundreds of years ago. Each sculpture is re-created from a verbal description. The copyright for each design has been passed from one generation to the next. New relanders know this sculpture belonged to the malagan sub-tradition called Walik. One of the identifying characteristics of Walik is the “eye of fire,” — the red and black section with a central raised eye in the middle of the sculpture. There are different interpretations of the tusked fish at each end. Mainland New Irelanders say that they represent sharks; however, the people on the Tabar Islands never portray sharks on malagan sculpture because sharks are viewed as an essential aspect of their own life force.
Provenance
c.1908/09 - 1913
Prof. Dr. Augustin Krämer, Germany, collected in New Ireland [1]
1913 -
Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, Germany [2]
- 1973
Everett Rassiga Inc., New York, NY, USA
1973 - 1977
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Everett Rassiga Inc. [3]
1977 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [4]
Notes:
[1] The Linden-Museum's listen (registration) number for this object was 95546, which falls within the sequence of numbers the Linden-Museum assigned to objects acquired from Kramer in 1913 [research notes of Michael Gunn, SLAM document files].
[2] See note [1].
[3] An invoice dated February 7, 1973 from Everett Rassiga Inc. to Morton D. May documents the purchase of this object, listed as "AR1162 New Ireland - Muligan [sic, Malagan] - bas-relief" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[4] A letter dated March 1, 1977 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, April 14, 1977.
Prof. Dr. Augustin Krämer, Germany, collected in New Ireland [1]
1913 -
Linden-Museum, Stuttgart, Germany [2]
- 1973
Everett Rassiga Inc., New York, NY, USA
1973 - 1977
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Everett Rassiga Inc. [3]
1977 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [4]
Notes:
[1] The Linden-Museum's listen (registration) number for this object was 95546, which falls within the sequence of numbers the Linden-Museum assigned to objects acquired from Kramer in 1913 [research notes of Michael Gunn, SLAM document files].
[2] See note [1].
[3] An invoice dated February 7, 1973 from Everett Rassiga Inc. to Morton D. May documents the purchase of this object, listed as "AR1162 New Ireland - Muligan [sic, Malagan] - bas-relief" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[4] A letter dated March 1, 1977 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, April 14, 1977.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.