CROCHET ANTHROPOMORPHE, VALLÉE DU MOYEN SEPIK, PROVINCE DE L'EAST SEPIK, PAPOUASIE-NOUVELLE-GUINÉE |

Crochet anthropomorphe, Vallée du Moyen Sepik, Province de l'East Sepik, Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée

Collection Nicolai Michoutouchkine (1929-2010), acquis in situ en 1967
Collection Elizabeth Pryce, Sydney

Port Vila, N. Michoutouchkine - A. Pilioko foudation, Ethnography and art of Oceania, 1978 - 1989 

Ivanova et Michoutouchkine, Ethnography and art of Oceania of N. Michoutouchkine - A. Pilioko foundation / Ethnographie et art de l'Océanie de la Fondation N. Michoutouchkine - A Pilioko, 1989, p. 31 et 112

Excellent condition overall. Minor chips, scratches, marks and abrasions throughout consistent with the object’s age and use within the culture. Some minor insect damage to the bottom of the hook. Original cowrie shells remain and remnants of red and white pigments remain. Fine patina encrusted in places. Square hole to underside with metal inlay, for modern stand. Small label bearing Elizabeth Pryce collection inv. no. EP-25 on reverse of hook, along with label reading "129" and small white handwritten numbers, barely legible.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Artiste engagé et collectionneur passionné, Nicolaï Michoutouchkine fut un défenseur chevronné de l’art océanien : « il l’a fait connaître au reste de la planète bien avant les grands musées. Il a passé sa vie à chercher les connexions esthétiques entre les différentes formes d’art à travers le monde. Beaucoup d’artistes ont emprunté après lui les pistes qu’il a défrichées et se sont inspirés de ce qu’il a révélé » (Kasarhérou, Les Nouvelles calédoniennes, 2010, p. 1). L’ensemble d’œuvres qu’il réunit tout au long de sa vie, qu’il exposa dans sa fondation à Port-Vila au Vanuatu illustre ce goût singulier qui rendit précocement hommage à la puissance de l’art océanien. En témoigne notamment ce crochet anthropomorphe, acquis dans la vallée du Moyen Sepik au milieu des années 1960. Conservé dans la maison cérémonielle des hommes, on y suspendait des sacs contenant les objets importants du clan ou des offrandes présentées à chaque ancêtre clanique.

Ici, le traitement du visage expressif, aux yeux incrustés de cauris, évoque par ses volumes certains crânes d’ancêtres surmodelés. Lui répondent les scarifications ornant la zone ventrale du personnage, qui font référence aux marques rituelles des jeunes initiés « soulignant le caractère exceptionnel de la figure » (Kaufmann in Peltier, Ombres de Nouvelle Guinée. Art de la grande île d’Océanie dans les collections Barbier-Mueller, 2006, p. 404) et rappelant « la transformation de tout homme en ancêtre mythologique » (Peltier, Schindlbeck et Kaufmann, Sepik. Arts de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, 2015, p. 149).

A militant artist and passionate collector, Nicolaï Michoutouckine was a staunch defender of Oceanic art: "He revealed it to the world well before major museums did. He spent his life searching for aesthetic connections between different art forms around the world. Many artists followed in the tracks he first made and were inspired by what he uncovered” (Kasarhérou, Les Nouvelles calédoniennes, 2010, p.1).

The pieces he collected throughout his life - and which were exhibited at his foundation in Port Vila, Vanuatu - are a perfect embodiment of this unique eye that recognized the full force and power of Oceanic art ahead of its time. This anthropomorphic hook, acquired in the Middle Sepik valley in the mid-1960s, is a particularly striking exemplar. Kept in the men's ceremonial house, bags containing important objects of the clan or offerings presented to each clan ancestor were hung from them.

Here, the treatment of the expressive face, with its eyes inlaid with cowrie shells, evokes in its volumes certain overmodeled ancestor skulls. It is echoed in the scarification pattern on the navel area of the human figure, which evokes the ritual markings of young initiates “thus highlighting the exceptional nature of the figure” (Kaufmann in Peltier, Ombres de Nouvelle Guinée. Art de la grande île d’Océanie dans les collections Barbier-Mueller, 2006, p. 404) and recalling “all men’s transformation into mythological ancestors” (Peltier, Schindlbeck and Kaufmann, Sepik. Arts de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, 2015, p. 149).