STATUE, KANAK, NOUVELLE-CALÉDONIE |

Statue, Kanak, Nouvelle-Calédonie

Collection privée, France
Alain de Monbrison, Paris
Collection privée, France, acquis ca. 1995

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Parmi les témoins de la sculpture monumentale Kanak, les imposantes figures à planter occupent une place à part : « Objets possédés puis cédés, ces créations plastiques constituaient les traces d’une histoire politique des groupes et de leurs relations. Archives travaillées, expression du pouvoir de leurs créateurs, ces œuvres scellaient des alliances quand elles étaient transférées d’un groupe à un autre » (Kasarhérou et Boulay, Kanak, L’art est une parole, 2013, p. 128). Représentant un dignitaire dont elle portait le nom, chaque œuvre incarnait véritablement son sujet et rappelait à la communauté son rôle et sa puissance. Ces figures pouvaient également être plantées près de la case d’un chef défunt, le long d’une allée, ou encore dans un endroit marqué d’un interdit en gardant toujours cette fonction mémorielle. Caractéristique de l’art Kanak - sculpture frontale et symétrique, bras le long du corps, tête invariablement hypertrophiée, avec de larges yeux en amande, un nez busqué aux ailes dilatées et une bouche aux commissures relevées - cette œuvre s’impose par sa monumentalité. Elle se distingue par la puissance des masses musculaires, tout particulièrement visible dans le volume remarquable des mollets et dans la tension des courbes, que l’on retrouve sur deux grandes figures acquises in situ par Matteo Alfassa entre 1900 et 1905, autrefois dans les collections du Saint Louis Art Museum (inv. n° 1975 :356), et sur une troisième ayant appartenu à Josef Mueller (Christie’s, Londres, 20 mars 1979, n° 254).

Within the corpus of monumental Kanak sculpture, these imposing figures, which were placed in the ground, occupy a special place: "Owned and then ceded, these artistic creations bore testament to a political history of the groups and their relations. These sculpted archives, as an expression of the power of their creators, sealed alliances when they were transferred from one group to another." (Kasarhérou and Boulay, Kanak, L’art est une parole, 2013, p. 128.) As a representation of the dignitary whose name it bore, each of these pieces truly embodied its subject and reminded the community of their role and power. These figures could also be planted near the house of a deceased chief, along an alley, or in a place marked as forbidden, thus retaining their role as objects of remembrance.

Embodying the characteristics of Kanak art: frontal stance, symmetrical carving, arms at their sides, invariably hypertrophied head, with wide almond-shaped eyes, a hooked nose with dilated nostrils and a mouth with raised corners; this work is striking in its sculptural monumentality. It stands out for its powerful muscle masses, particularly noticeable in the remarkable volume of the calves and in the tension of the curves that can also be found on two large figures acquired in situ by Matteo Alfassa between 1900 and 1905, formerly in the collections of the Saint Louis Art Museum (inv. 1975: 356) and in the Josef Mueller collection (Christie’s, London, 20 March 1979, No. 254).