A Kowar Headrest collected by Jacques Viot

Date: 19th century

Period: 1750-1850, 1850-1900, 19th century

Origin: Melanesia

Medium: Wood

Dimension: 33 cm (13 inches)

Provenance:
Collected in the field by Jacques Viot circa 1929. An inventory lable on the underside of the baseplate in French script : “Oreille…/( sing.../village de …/ile Jappen…/(il n'y a pas d…/dans cette ile …/les legends en… “. This label is written in Viots handwritting of the mid to late 1930's and appears to be an explicative description of the piece with more detail then usually offered on the field inventory labels. The label is of similar paper and dimensions to those used by Viot on the pieces he collected in the area in 1929. The field inventory label is now missing on this headrest. Viot, an artist on the fringe of the Surrealist movement went to Dutch New Guinea as an agent for the gallerist Pierre Loeb and is famous for bringing back to France most of the sculptures from Lake Sentani. He also visited the Korwar area collecting extensively on Jappen (Yapen) and Kurudu Islands and in the general area.

Ex coll. : Philippe Bourgoin - acquired from André Fourquet & Ascher Eskenazi along with a group of objects collected by Viot ; Gal. Meyer, Paris ; private collection, Paris.

Literature: Published : Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995, page 58, fig. 36/37.