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Figure
Figure

Figure

20th century
Object PlacePapua New Guinea
Medium/TechniqueWood, pigment
DimensionsOverall: 152.4 cm (60 in.)
Credit LineBequest of William E. Teel
Accession number2014.307
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsSculpture
ProvenanceAbout 1960, acquired, possibly in Roma village, Papua New Guinea by Father Heinemann of the Catholic Mission at Wewak; 1960s, sold by Father Heinemann to Ronald Clyne (b. 1925 – d. 2006), New York [see note]. Wayne Mones, New York. August 26, 2001, sold by David F. Rosenthal (dealer), San Francisco, to William Teel, Marblehead, MA; 2014, bequest of William Teel to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 26, 2014)

NOTE: Provenance information was provided by the dealer at the time of Mr. Teel's purchase. Father Heinemann reportedly sold and exported works of art from Papua New Guinea to raise money for his missionary order. Clyne purchased a number of works of art from him, including this figure and a comparative figure, now at the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin (acquired from Clyne in 1967); they were photographed together in Papua New Guinea around 1960. It is not known exactly when or how Heinemann obtained the two figures.