Photo Bank: Pre-Contact Oceanic Carvings & Artifacts - Tiki Carving

C Cammo Member San Diego Joined: May 18, 2006 Posts: 2041	C Cammo Posted posted on Mon, Jun 4, 2007 4:03 PM More Carvings! Balega, Congo, 5.5" tall. This one is so simple, but wild. Love to carve something similar. Belega, Congo. 6.25" tall. From the Belgium African Museum. Nigeria, 6.5" tall. Buzzy liked this one - Wish this guy was in color - Congo, Ivory, 4.5" tall. Reliquary Figure, used to ward off evil spirits from the bones of relatives. Bakota, Gabon. 2 feet tall - And this is the big one. This carving, it's not a mask, started in a collection way back in the 1820's. It's been passed off, bought, acquired, and appreciated by artists and the collecting elite since then, and finally ended up in the NY Museum of Primitive Art started by the Rockefellars. It's more or less the centerpiece of the collection, and may be the one carving outside of the Trocadero exhibits that started the whole rush to actually collect African Art! It's currently at the Met in NYC, I saw it a few months ago and was blown away by it's lines and style. What this photo barely shows is that it's carved in two totally different fashions, divided exactly down the center. The hairline and back are perfectly geometric, the face is all swooping curves. It's so well done when you see it in person, and just so modern, it's astounding. Nobody knows who carved it. Gang, Gabon, 1790's?

More Carvings!

Balega, Congo, 5.5" tall.

This one is so simple, but wild. Love to carve something similar.

Belega, Congo. 6.25" tall. From the Belgium African Museum.

Nigeria, 6.5" tall. Buzzy liked this one -

Wish this guy was in color -

Congo, Ivory, 4.5" tall.

Reliquary Figure, used to ward off evil spirits from the bones of relatives.
Bakota, Gabon. 2 feet tall -

And this is the big one. This carving, it's not a mask, started in a collection way back in the 1820's. It's been passed off, bought, acquired, and appreciated by artists and the collecting elite since then, and finally ended up in the NY Museum of Primitive Art started by the Rockefellars. It's more or less the centerpiece of the collection, and may be the one carving outside of the Trocadero exhibits that started the whole rush to actually collect African Art!

It's currently at the Met in NYC, I saw it a few months ago and was blown away by it's lines and style. What this photo barely shows is that it's carved in two totally different fashions, divided exactly down the center. The hairline and back are perfectly geometric, the face is all swooping curves. It's so well done when you see it in person, and just so modern, it's astounding.

Nobody knows who carved it.

Gang, Gabon, 1790's?

Post #310924 by Cammo on Mon, Jun 4, 2007 4:03 PM