Bark cloth mask
20th century, 1950–2000
Object PlaceGazelle Peninsula, New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Medium/TechniqueWicker, bark cloth, pigment
DimensionsOverall: 97 x 80 x 50 cm (38 3/16 x 31 1/2 x 19 11/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Geneviève McMillan in memory of Reba Stewart
Accession number2009.2751
On View
Not on viewClassificationsMasks
Collections
Even today, masquerades play an important part in Baining ceremonial life, and Baining artists create spectacular masks, most of which represent spirit beings-here the spirit of a tree fork. At times masquerades are staged especially for visitors. Westerners, attracted by the dramatic arrangements and startling effects of Baining masks, began collecting them in the late nineteenth century, even though such masks were commonly meant to be discarded in their traditional context.
Inscriptionsred plastic label under chin:"100"Provenance1954, acquired in Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea by Geneviève McMillan (b. 1922 - d. 2008), Cambridge, MA; 2008, to the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation, Cambridge; 2009, gift of the Geneviève McMillan and Reba Stewart Foundation to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 17, 2009)
Artist Unidentified, Pacific Islander
mid to late 20th century
late 19th century
late 19th–early 20th century
19th century
