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Spirit figure, yipwon
Spirit figure, yipwon
Date:
19th century
Location:
de Young
Gallery 30
Century:
19th Century AD
Media:
Wood
Dimensions:
85 7/16 x 5 1/2 x 11 13/16 in.
Department:
Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Object Type:
Sculpture
Country:
New Guinea
Continent:
Oceania
Culture/People:
Yimam (Yimar) People; Alamblak Language Speakers
Provenance:

"Roberto Matta Echaurren Collection, Paris." Catalog #266, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 125.)

Accession Number:
2000.172.1
Acquisition Date:
2000-12-14
Credit Line:

Museum purchase, Mrs. Paul L. Wattis Fund

Exhibition History:

2005 - New Guinea Art. Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 2005.

1967 - Musée de L'Homme, Paris, 1967, "Arts Primitifs dans les Ateliers d'Artistes."

Formerly in the collection of Chilean-born Surrealist artist Roberto Matta (1911-2002). The head is quite naturalistic, emphasized as the most spiritually important part of the body. The body is abstracted: inward-curving hooks represent ribs surrounding the heart, a single straight projection in the center. A bent leg extends from the spine.

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Contemporaneous Works “Art from the same century and country”

Mask
Mask (19th–early 20th century)
Suspension hook
Suspension hook (19th–early 20th century)
Staff finial
Staff finial (19th–early 20th century)
Pounder
Pounder (19th–early 20th century)