Current
Features | Previous
Features
by Chris Boylan and Greta North
The island of New Guinea has long been visited by European traders seeking the
plumes of the bird of paradise. As early as the late fifteenth century Europeans
began sporadic visits, and in 1528 the Portuguese explorer Alvaro de Saavedra
sailed along the entire north coast of New Guinea, naming it "Isla del Oro." No
doubt he saw the vast mountain ranges in the distance and assumed, as everyone
did for the next 400 years, that they were inhospitable and uninhabited.
By the end of the nineteenth century, the island's huge land mass had been
divided into three parts by Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, but it was not
until the 1930s, when Australian gold explorers began forays into the region,
that the fertile valleys and vast populations of the Highlands were encountered
by the outside world. This astonishing and hitherto unknown society based its
technology on stone tools and its economy on shells, encompassing as it had for
centuries extraordinary social and cultural diversity.
Unlike the coastal regions of New Guinea--particularly among the Asmat, Sepik
River, and Papuan Gulf cultures--where the strength and spectacle of the culture
is represented in the architecture and abundant carved images, Highlands artworks
are less conspicuous and more transitory. The greatest range of Highlands art is
traditionally realized in body art. When masks, costumes and figures are made,
they are generally constructed of ephemeral material such as bark, gourd, fiber,
mud, paint, and vegetable matter, and are produced for a specific ritual event,
after which they are discarded. Yet they possess a intelligible and evocative
power that embodies the world of the spirits no less poignantly than coastal art.
After the Second World War, colonial development came swiftly to the Highlands.
Government, missions, and anthropologists arrived in a virtual tidal wave. Within
a single generation, much of traditional Highlands art and culture from the time
of initial contact had passed away or changed, a reflection of the talents for
adapting and innovating that are characteristic of the cultures of the New Guinea
Highlands.
Anthropologists in the field rarely collected or described Highland art. Scholars
of the time preferred to explore social, political, and economic questions.
Material culture and art were generally considered peripheral. Warfare had been
well studied, for example, but shields--the most ubiquitous of Highlands carved
objects of war--and their designs were scarcely mentioned, photographed, or
collected. As such, Highlands art is both inadequately documented and
insufficiently represented in collections. In these early days most of the
Highlands objects that were collected were gathered by Australian patrol officers
(kiaps) and brought back, usually to Australia, as souvenirs. Stan Moriarty
fulfilled a unique role in these early days of contact by his methodical
collection and documentation of Highlands art.
STANLEY GORDON MORIARTY 1906-1978
Stan Moriarty's life spanned the most critical period of New Guinea's
contemporary history. He died in 1978, three years after Papua New Guinea gained
independence, having fulfilled his extraordinary desire to share his
understanding of the important, yet fragile nature of Highlands culture. Through
his systematic collecting of material culture from the region, he ensured the
survival of a unique aspect of Melanesian art.
Moriarty placed himself at the forefront of contact with isolated Highlands
tribes. Transitory by nature, much material culture from these areas and the
traditions that supported it has disappeared from the region and would be forever
lost if it had not been for his foresight. In 1970, in a letter to Laurie J.
Doolan, the district commissioner for Simbu province, that expressed his concern
for the rapid loss of skills and tradition in the Highlands as a result of
increasing contact with Europeans, Moriarty wrote, "If you want to preserve the
art, culture and handicrafts of the local people you will have to work hard and
fast as it is unbelievable the way [they are giving up their] own material
culture."
At the age of sixteen Moriarty first encountered Melanesian art at the Museum of
Victoria. Inspired, he began collecting wherever he could from curio and antique
shops. His professional career began as a commercial artist for Myers of
Melbourne. He moved to Sydney in 1935 and established a screen printing business
called Snap Adds. This successful business not only financed his passion for
exploration and collecting, but also allowed him to function as a collector who
did not have to deal commercially in ethnographic objects to fund his collecting.
Moriarty did not make his first journey to New Guinea until 1961, when in his
fifties. This was the first of regular pilgrimages over the next eleven years.
His friendship with kiaps enabled him to travel to remote and restricted areas
and gave him access to previously uncollected art forms. Convenience was rarely a
consideration, and he often had objects dispatched to Australia from these areas
even though most people would have considered them too fragile or too costly to
transport.
He often traveled into the rugged Highlands at a moment's notice, Hasselblad
camera in hand. Through his association with the Royal Australian Agricultural
Society, Moriarty became a regular judge at the spectacular Highlands
agricultural festivals (singsings) at the provincial capitols of Mt. Hagen and
Goroka, and produced promotional posters for the former from his initial visit
onward. Though most of Moriarty's collecting of Highlands art occurred in the
field, the singsings provided him the opportunity to acquire magnificent examples
of body decorations and armaments from the performers.
Stan Moriarty shared his passion with many, and the display of his collection
throughout his home in Sydney and in the excavated gallery beneath it became a
Mecca for academics and collectors alike. The most significant of these
relationships was that with Tony Tuckson, then assistant director of the Art
Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). Tuckson shared Moriarty's perception of the
aesthetics of material culture. Their relationship yielded the landmark
exhibition Melanesian Art in 1966 as well as the opening of the Aboriginal and
Melanesian Art Galleries in 1973. The core of both displays was Moriarty's
collection. In his archives Moriarty stated that he believed "museums, dealers
and private collectors should be working hand in hand with each other for the
sole purpose of preserving the art and artifacts" of indigenous cultures. His
bond with Tuckson worked toward this end, but the opportunity for full
development of the collaboration collapsed with Tuckson's death in 1973.
Moriarty's holdings of Oceanic art eventually numbered well over 3,000 pieces,
most of which were at some time displayed in his Sydney home. The majority of the
pieces were dispersed just prior to and after his death as bequests to
institutions, or were auctioned on the world market. His legacy lives on in
carefully planned donations made to institutions such as the National Gallery of
Victoria, the Australian Museum, and Museum of Victoria, where he first
encountered Melanesian art. The most significant of his gifts and bequests
remains the donation of Highlands art he gave to the AGNSW in 1977 and 1978, and
his wife Jean continued after his death. Much of this material had previously
been on loan to the AGNSW as part of the 1973 installation.
Stan Moriarty's most critical achievement, and that of certain other collectors
like him, lies not just in his accumulation and documentation of thousands of
artifacts from Papua New Guinea, nor in his entrusting many of them to the care
of Australian institutions for study, research, and display. His greatest
contribution rests in the fact of having preserved these works, which are
examples of this unique and ancient culture at a critical stage of transition,
which would not otherwise have continued to exist for the enlightenment of
successive generations. Much of what we now know about the material culture of
this region we owe to him.
BODY DECORATION
Artistic expression in the Highlands is conveyed largely through body art.
Diverse in both media and application, the major components of Highlands body
ornamentation include bird of paradise plumes, body paint, and an enormous
variety of decorative objects made from shell, teeth, beetles, orchid stem, fur,
bone, bark, wood, and fiber. Moriarty recognized the importance of this art and
its central position in the broader context of Highlands art. A visionary in any
age, he not only developed a unique collection of body decoration from the
Highlands of New Guinea, but saw to it that this collection remained intact by
donating it to the AGNSW. Today it is part of what is possibly the world's most
important accumulation of this art.
Like most design in New Guinea art, body decoration reflects the surrounding
environment, albeit at times in abstract forms. The ongoing expansion of trade
routes from the Highlands made a multitude of new materials available. Thus the
patterns and structures of Highlands body art are not entirely fixed, but can
change and evolve as new influences and materials are discovered (fig. 3). Large
decorations supported on the shoulders and back--virtually architectural
structures--were an important part of ceremonial attire in the eastern Highlands.
These back decorations, made of tapa cloth stretched over a lightweight wood or
cane framework, are stylistically akin to headdresses used by the peoples of the
Huon Gulf and Morobe coast.
In Simbu and the Western Highlands, gerua headdresses made of lightweight wood
were fixed to the head during ceremonies to placate the gerua spirit, ensuring
the growth and development of children and pigs (fig. 6).
These anthropomorphic
headdresses are usually geometric in design and are brightly painted. The head
symbolizes the sun and the body the moon. Large geruas are among the most
graceful and elegant of Highlands objects, and are used at tribal gatherings only
by important men. Few exist in Western art collections.
In Enga and the Southern Highlands, ritual headdresses primarily take the form of
human hair wigs. These wigs tend to be compact in the eastern part of the region,
but become quite elaborate towards the west among the Engans, the Huli and the
Duna. All are extravagantly decorated with feathers. Among the Huli, these wigs
were used in the bachelor initiation rites and ceremonies, and were of such
importance that they became the focus of the tribes' successful communication
with the spirit world; hair growth (and beautiful wigs) was equated with
spiritual benevolence. Moriarty's collection has many of these wigs and
headdresses. They are extensions of the painted face and decorated body,
incorporating the abstracted and metonymical symbols of the tribe, which
represent survival despite human enemies and malevolent spirits.
MASKS
Masks represent the spirit world and are to be distinguished from the painted
face, which represents aspects of humanity and attests to the triumphs of the
individual and the clan. Highland masks are relatively simple in form and are
generally worn on the face. The body is covered with robes of tree moss or
disguised by paint, feathers, and talon-like extensions to the fingers. The
otherworldliness of these masked figures is emphasized by their erratic dance and
performance, and they usually appear within the context of a large ceremonial
gathering, surrounded by decorated and regimented dancers. Masks can be
representational, or they can evoke concepts. The boni kofa gourd mask of the
Avanofi in the Eastern Highlands, for example, relates to leprosy, a curse of
angry spirits. The Huli in the Southern Highlands use a gourd mask in the tiri
yagua ceremony that depicts a feared female deity. Moriarty found masks in all
the major Highlands regions and collected them assiduously. Today they are less
commonly used. He discovered the greatest numbers of masks in the Eastern
Highlands. This concentration may be due to influences from the trade routes
through the Markham Valley to the north coast, where mask making is prolific.
The most common and widespread mask type is the gourd mask (fig. 10). Made from a
half gourd, with holes cut for the eyes and mouth, sometimes with a nose made of
tree resin, they are simply decorated with paint, teeth, seeds, and feathers.
Tree moss often covers the wearer's body. Other masks are made of palm spathe,
sometimes with burnt designs. The Asaro of the Eastern Highlands paint their
spathe masks half orange and half yellow; here they represent bush spirits. Tree
ferns are carved into masks or three-dimensional heads. In the Henganofi area of
the Eastern Highlands these heads are placed on top of growing cane stakes or on
the ridge spire of the Men's House. They are said to have protective powers.
SHIELDS
Warfare is a major aspect of Highlands life, and shields are the supreme
artistic expression connected with it. Made by all Highlands cultures, these
works are colorful and abstract in design, and reflect many elements found in
both body decoration and other ephemeral art objects of the area. In keeping with
Highlands ceremonial traditions, shields are used in dramatic mass displays for
wartime. Among the most durable of Highlands art works, they are generally made
of hardwood and are carefully preserved between battles.
Shields are arguably the most representative and powerful expression of New
Guinea Highlands arts. They are the only genre of carved and decorated object
found throughout the region. Though primarily functional, shields carry on their
carved and painted surfaces a power and meaning beyond mere visual impact.
Highlands shields are used exclusively for combat and are not related to
ceremonial occasions as they are in other parts of Melanesia. During periods of
peace they were usually stored in their owner's abode above the fire or in the
Men's House. The smoke of the fire blackened and hardened the timber so that
shields often lasted a century. Periods of peace were always unstable due to
ever-changing alliances. When warfare inevitably erupted, these stored shields
were brought down, repainted, and used.
Under the Australian colonial rule policy of "pacification," which was initiated
in the Highlands from first contact in the 1930s through Independence in 1975,
large-scale inter-tribal warfare all but ceased, and even the smaller skirmishes
were largely contained. Many shields and other weapons were burned during this
period, but during the late 1970s, both warfare and shield production began to
revive. In the 1980s, the introduction of shotguns into tribal wars modified
warfare strategy. Steel shields were made from car roofs or 44-gallon oil drums.
Designs on these steel shields usually employed enamel paints and often featured
concepts and symbols from their Western-influenced surroundings (fig. 16).
High-powered guns have recently made these shields obsolete.
Highlands shields traditionally take three basic forms:
- Large rectangular shields made from wood or bark, which more or less cover the body (figs. 12 and 15). These tend to be used in highly organized, almost ritualized battles that occur on the open valley floor. In these, few people are killed but maximum display is achieved.
- Ovoid wooden shields, which are smaller and are supported on the shoulder by a rope sling (fig. 18). These are used in fighting that requires maneuverability and speed. They are usually carried by a spearman or bowman.
- Shoulder shields, also of wood, and found only in the Southern Highlands (fig. 13). Their unusual notched form allows a bowman to use his weapon, while the shield slung from the shoulder protects the underarm torso. Its form closely relates to the shields of the Papuan Gulf and suggests influence from the south coast. Anthropomorphic designs on Southern Highlands shields, not found elsewhere, add weight to this link with Papuan design.
Highlands shields were traditionally stone-adzed, but the introduction of steel
blades has resulted in little alteration in shape, size, or design. The patterns
on the surface are often rendered as bold slabs of color. These patterns are
generally geometric, with circles and triangles being the predominant motifs.
Grooved channels may be cut into the wooden surface to form a bold design, or the
designs may be punctuated. In certain areas the surface of the shield is pecked
and more often than not painted red.
Color is an important element in any Highlands gathering. In war the body is
painted black and the bright feathers of ceremony are generally absent, although
some feathers and body ornamentation may be worn, especially in the large ritual
wars. Shields are, however, painted boldly and brightly. Brilliant colors reflect
the warrior's physical and spiritual superiority over his enemy. The shield is
given its own headdress when carried to war. This takes the form of rows of
cassowary feather spikes along its upper edge (fig. 15).
Highlands shields are not heraldic emblems. Each tribal group has a recognizable
style of design and color use, but within these boundaries individuals have as
great a degree of scope to paint their shields as desired, sometimes changing the
colors and even design between uses. Creativity, however, is tempered by the
knowledge that shield and war magic must follow certain prescribed canons to work
effectively, as well as by the fact that ancestral ghosts are ever-present to
judge the living by customary ancestral law.
Shield designs are generally geometric, and although there are similarities to
body and face design, by and large they cannot be equated. The circle is a
pervading design, described as a navel or the sun, an important symbol in
Highlands myth and ritual. Various designs are described as "butterfly wings"
(bold opposing triangles), the "spider," "teeth," "waterfall," or "man." Some
sources attribute different meanings to the same design. The anthropomorphic
images of the Southern Highlands range from being obviously representational to
entirely abstract. When individuals are questioned, the motivation they express
for depicting the human form on a shield varies considerably, but what becomes
apparent is that specific combinations of elements and colors are considered
meaningful. These designs symbolize that which may not generally be verbalized
and serve as a direct and graphic expression of a message of deep spiritual or
cosmological significance.
PREHISTORY
The prehistory of the Highlands of New Guinea is still unfolding, raising
intriguing questions. It is thought that people arrived 30,000 to 40,000 years
ago as hunters and gatherers. In the high fertile valleys, with consistent
rainfall, agriculture developed early, making New Guinea Highlanders among the
world's first agriculturists. Excavations in the Wahgi Valley have revealed
sophisticated irrigation channels, employed to drain the swampy valley floors for
crop production. These date back 9,000 years and are on par with developments in
Europe and the Middle East.
Elegant carved stone objects--mortars and pestles, pounders and figurines--are
found buried in Highlands agricultural plots. The stone mortars are often knobbed
or ridged around the side and rim. Occasionally anthropomorphic and zoomorphic
images are incorporated into the designs. The pestles and pounders are often
simple, but can also take the form of penises, women's breasts, or birds. They
are believed to be at least 3,000 years old and suggest a society of seed
grinders, although this practice has not taken place in the region within living
memory. The rare and enigmatic figurines were probably carved for cult purposes
and the best can be ranked among the world's sculptural masterpieces (fig. 2).
Today both mortars and figurines are used in magic rituals and are treated as
objects of power.
Ritual caves and rock paintings found throughout the Highlands (fig. 22) have
been used until recent times. Some designs are remarkably similar to those found
on shields and other objects in current use, particularly the segmented, colored
circle. Though the designs have a consistency, the meaning of the same design
varies.
FIGURES
Figurative sculpture in wood, so abundant in coastal New Guinea, is virtually
absent in the Highlands. Headrests in the form of abstract lizards or dogs (which
protect the elaborate ritual coiffure while sleeping) are the most significant
wooden sculptural tradition. Some carved wooden figures were collected in the
Highlands in the 1950s and 1960s by Moriarty and others, but these reflect
contact with the outside world and may be associated with the notion of a cargo
cult, inspired by the massive shipments of material during World War II.
A tradition of figurative sculpture in composite ephemeral materials does exist,
however. These works were intended to serve as a focus for cults or ceremony.
Pre-contact Highlands figures are usually associated with ancient rituals of pig
sacrifice and magic stone veneration. The yupin figures of Enga (fig. 23), the
anthropomorphic gerua headdresses of the Wahgi Valley and Simbu, and the
timbuwarra images of the Southern Highlands all have these ancient associations.
Figures were generally kept hidden in the Spirit House--a conical-roofed structure
built some distance from the village. The early colonial days saw many Spirit
Houses burned with their contents.
A figurative form often referred to as a "payback doll" is found in the Western
and Southern Highlands. In the Western Highlands this anthropomorphic figure,
made of tightly bound vegetable matter, is mounted on a long stick. Its function
generally relates to vengeance for a war death, a common practice in Highlands
society. Satisfaction may be attained through the "payback" death of a member of
the enemy tribe, or an arranged compensation payment. The figure, it seems,
focuses attention on this act of recompense. When the act is achieved, whether
through another death or payment of prescribed wealth items, the figure is of no
further importance and is discarded. In the Mendi Valley of the Southern
Highlands, the figures are similar but do not have sticks. There is some evidence
that these dolls have cult associations. A female figure from Goroka (fig. 24) is
very similar in form to payback dolls. Although Moriarty recorded no information
about this figure, it is plausible that it is part of this tradition.
Certain post-contact works that Moriarty acquired, such as wooden masks and
life-size guardian figures (both now at AGNSW), mark a portentous transitional
period in Highlands art and its response to an emerging art market. Some of the
artworks in this article have been structurally refined by the availability of
materials, new influences, and commercial savvy, all indications of the fresh
traditions of the vibrant adaptable culture that has emerged. Recent innovations
in the decoration of Highlands shields were explored in the 1993-94 exhibition
Paradise: Change and Continuity in the New Guinea Highlands at the Museum of
Mankind, London, curated by Mike O'Hanlon. It is unfortunate that these
developments in material culture have not been more thoroughly documented.
note concerning illustrations:
Alphanumeric reference numbers containing "M"
refer to catalogue numbers attributed by Moriarty to each of the works in his
collection.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abramson, J.A. "Style in New Guinea Highland Shields." Mankind 7 (1969).
Aufenanger, H. "The Gerua Cult in the Highlands of New Guinea." Anthropos 60 (1965).
Lawrence, P. & M. Meggitt. Gods, Ghosts & Men in Melanesia. Melbourne and New York: Oxford University Press, 1965.
Lowman, Cherry. Displays of Power. New York: The Museum of Primitive Art, 1973.
Moriarty, Stanley Gordon. Diaries and letters, 1961-1972 (ms).
O'Hanlon, M. Paradise: Portraying the New Guinea Highlands. London: Crawford House Press, 1993.
Reading the Skin. London: Crawford House Press, 1989.
Ryan, D'Arcy J. "Some Decorated Shields from the Mendi Valley." Mankind 5 (1958).
Sillitoe, Paul. Made in Niugini. London: British Museum Publications, 1988.
Strathern, A.&M. Self Decoration in Mt. Hagen. London: Backworth, 1971.
White, P.J. "Ethno-Archaeology in New Guinea." Mankind, vol 6, No 9, 1967.
Chris Boylan managed New Guinea Arts, Sydney, for 12 years, has worked as a cultural officer
in PNG, and has been vice president of the Oceanic Art Society. He has recently partnered with
Todd Barlin in a new gallery of Oceanic art in Sydney.
Greta North adminsitered the Moriarty art collection at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
from 1991-1998, has worked for the cooperative Aboriginals Ltd. at Tranby College in Sydney, and is
now a curator at the Cambelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery.
TOP
Current
Features | Previous
Features
