Title
Decorated male figure
mid 20th century
collected 1964
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Male figure to guard men's house
- Place where the work was made
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Indona village
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Okapa District
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Eastern Highlands Province
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Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Awiyaana (Auyana) people
- Dates
- mid 20th century
collected 1964 - Media categories
- Sculpture , Ceremonial object
- Materials used
- wood, split rattan, sedge grass, seeds, pig tusks, cowrie shells (Cypraeidae), yellow orchid stem fibre (Dendrobium), plant fibre string, feathers, natural pigments
- Dimensions
- 163.5 x 32.0 x 25.0 cm overall
- Credit
- Gift of Stan Moriarty 1977
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 644.1979.a-i
- Copyright
- © Awiyaana (Auyana) people, under the endorsement of the Pacific Islands Museums Association's (PIMA) Code of Ethics
- Artist information
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Awiyaana (Auyana) people
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Constructed from an astounding array of natural materials, this figure is dressed in the everyday attire of a village man, including a woven belt with wooden 'bat-winged' codpiece, cowrieshell waistband, woven armbands, nose peg and feathered headbands.
Stan Moriarty described these figures as 'decoy figures' noting their placement inside men's houses and in gardens, with the aim to confound enemy assailants.
[entry from Exhibition Guide for 'Melanesian art: redux', 2018, cat no 38]
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
The 'Moriarty' exhibition, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, 01 Nov 1964–31 Dec 1964
Melanesian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Apr 1966–22 May 1966
Melanesian art: redux, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Nov 2018–17 Feb 2019
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Tony Tuckson, Melanesian art, Sydney, 1966, 18. cat.no. 242
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