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Art of Oceania
Course: Art of Oceania > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Melanesia- Melanesia, an introduction
- Ambum Stone
- Kanak Mourning Mask
- Malangan
- Mask (Buk), Torres Strait, Mabuiag Island
- Bis Poles at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- The Life of Malagan
- Tin Mweleun, Slit Gong (Atingting kon)
- Slit Gong (Atingting kon)
- Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II
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Malangan
Malangan figure
This figure was made for malangan, a cycle of rituals of the people of the north coast of New Ireland, an island in Papua New Guinea. Malangan express many complex religious and philosophical ideas. They are principally concerned with honoring and dismissing the dead, but they also act as affirmation of the identity of clan groups, and negotiate the transmission of rights to land. Malangan sculptures were made to be used on a single
occasion and then destroyed. They are symbolic of many important subjects, including identity, kinship, gender, death, and the spirit world. They often include representations of fish and birds of identifiable species, alluding both to specific myths and the animal's natural characteristics. For example, at the base of this figure is depicted a rock cod, a species which as it grows older changes gender from male to female. The rock cod features in an important myth of the founding of the first social group, or clan, in this area; thus the figure also alludes to the identity of that clan group.
This figure was collected by Hugh Hastings Romilly, Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific while he was on a tour of New Ireland in 1882-83. It was one a group of carvings made to be displayed at a particular malangan ritual. It is made of wood, vegetable fiber, pigment and shell (turbo petholatus opercula). They were originally standing in a carved canoe, which unfortunately Romilly did not collect. The whole group was presented to the British Museum by the Duke of Bedford in 1884, after Romilly had sent it to him.
Malangan mask
Malangan masks are commonly used at funeral rites, which both bid farewell to the dead and celebrate the vibrancy of the living. The masks can represent a number of things: dead
ancestors, ges (the spiritual double of an individual), or the various bush spirits associated with the area.
The ownership of Malangan objects is similar to the modern notion of copyright; when a piece is bought, the seller surrenders the right to use that particular Malangan style, the form in which it is made, and even the accompanying rites. This stimulates production, as more elaborate variations are made to replace the ones that have been sold.
Malangan ceremonies became extremely expensive affairs, taking into account the costs of the accompanying feasting. As a result, the funeral rites could take place months after a person had died. In some circumstances the ceremony would have been held for several people simultaneously.
Suggested readings:
L. Lincoln, An Assemblage of Spirits: Idea and Image in New Ireland (George Braziller, New York, in association with The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1987).
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Want to join the conversation?
- In the first paragraph, it says that the Malangan figures were made to be used on a single occasion and then destroyed. If the destruction was part of the Malangan ceremonies, then would its being "collected" rather than destroyed have been a problem to the people at the Malangan?
Did Mr Romily have permission to take the figures or did he sneak them away? I've heard of artifact collectors secretly violating the taboos of native peoples in order to acquire ritual objects.(8 votes) - Who wrote this article? It is so interesting, I would like the persons hard work to be credited(6 votes)
- No author given. Credit the good folks at the British Museum, and leave it at that.(1 vote)
- These look very similar to the masks and artwork of the Pacific Northwest tribes like the Coast Salish people and the Haida. Is there any relation?(4 votes)
- Is the mask made for anyone willing to pay for it, or was there a specific group or caste of people that the masks were used for?(2 votes)
- I did some research and it looks like the masks were only a symbolic component for the funeral rites. The masks were made then painted, and displayed on the the front of the funeral hall. Later on the masks were either burnt and disposed of, sometimes even sold to outsiders. In conclusion - There is no specific group of people the mask is made for.
ADDITIONAL SITES : http://www.turzart.com/new-ireland-malagan-mask.html.com(2 votes)
- So, were the masks ever meant to be worn or used by a human, or was their function to house a spirit of the recently deceased person?(2 votes)
- Does the symmetry in the malangan mask imply evolved geometry knowledge in the area before it was discovered by west civilizations?(1 vote)
- The fact that the people of Papua New Guinea had an exceptional knowledge and skills of geometry is obvious, and symmetry is just one aspect that proves it. The masks show that the people were excellent carvers, especially adept in carving intricate details and using negative spaces, regardless of when their area was discovered by westerners.(1 vote)
- where is malangan located?(1 vote)
- The answer to that is in the introduction article.
(I'm saying that because I don't completely remember exactly where it is, but I know which article to find it in. ;D )
(Sorry if this wasn't much help.)(1 vote)
- On the malangans are they animals?(1 vote)
- who made the masks?(1 vote)
- What language is the term "ges" from? In the article, it is defined as the spiritual double of an individual. Can anyone tell me more about this notion of ges? I found a reference to "ges" at:
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/mask-kepong-or-ges-4716
but it refers to a mask, called a kepong or ges, instead of a spiritual double of an individual.(1 vote)