10 - Masque Brag, Aire Bogia, Bas-Sepik, Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée

Masque Brag, Aire Bogia, Bas-Sepik, Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée Late 19th century Carved wood and pigments H. 48.5 cm With great sculptural power, this Brag mask, set within a large, beautifully symmetrical convex oval, possesses a singular expressive force. The architectural arrangement of its powerful features, its exaggerated attributes, and the softness of its curves—which enliven and encircle its surface—make for a composition that is as bold as it is harmonious. The balance of the features is organized around the pronounced central ridge that divides and animates its structure. Its appearance, which is both human and supernatural, corresponds to its role as an intermediary between the members of the initiatory society and the ancestor (Lipset 2005). The initiatory function of these spirits is particularly important. According to ethnographic data collected in the region, the Brag could be associated with a young man’s transition to adulthood: the ancestral spirit was conceived as a power capable of symbolically “devouring” the initiate and then restoring him, transformed into an adult man. This image of death and rebirth constitutes one of the major symbolic themes of the male rites of the Lower Sepik. With its oval face, prominent brow ridges, forehead marked by concentric curves, and silent expression, this mask offers a particularly refined interpretation of Sepik artistic creation. The nuanced reddish-brown patina, alternately crusty and glossy, follows the contours of the mask and subtly reveals the wood’s natural grain. Provenance - Field-collected in the 1940s - Stanley Gordon Moriarty Collection, Sydney - Private French collection Littérature David Lipset, “Dead Canoes: The Fate of Agency in 20th-Century Murik Art,” in Social Analysis, 2005, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 109–140 Christian Kaufmann in Shadows of New Guinea: Art from the Great Island of Oceania in the Barbier-Mueller Collections, exhibition catalog [Paris, Mona Bismarck Foundation, October 4–November 25, 2006], Paris, The Mona Bismarck Foundation / Somogy; Geneva, Barbier-Mueller Museum, esp. pp. 411–412. Crispin Howarth (ed.), *Myth & Magic: Art of the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea*, exhibition catalog [Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, August–November 2015], Canberra, 2015 Kevin Conru et al., *Sepik Ramu Art*, Brussels, Kevin Conru Editions, 2019, pp. 235 ff.