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Details
- Other Titles
- Carved figure (Grade-symbol of a male half figure)
Grade society figure (Male half figure) - Place where the work was made
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Ambrym Island
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Malampa Province
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Vanuatu
- Cultural origin
- Ni-Vanuatu people
- Date
- early 20th century-mid 20th century
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- carved tree fern (Cycas)
- Dimensions
- 79.0 x 25.0 x 31.5 cm
- Credit
- Purchased 1964
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- IA4.1964
- Copyright
- © Ni-Vanuatu people, under the endorsement of the Pacific Islands Museums Association's (PIMA) Code of Ethics
- Artist information
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Ni-Vanuatu people
Works in the collection
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About
In Vanuatu, a grade-taking system enables individuals – usually men – to rise in status and power within their community. Following nomination to enter a new grade, ritual events must be paid for and sufficient 'tusker' pigs made available for public sacrifice. Ceremonies require the wearing of grade-specific ritual paraphernalia and are accompanied by dances, initiations and feasts. Additionally, the initiand must commission a sculpture specific to their grade level. These sculptures are displayed on public platforms during ceremonies to honour the ancestors, and later left to perish and return to the bush.
Carved from tree fern, the name and grade for which this figure was made has been lost and any remnants of over-modelling or painted designs covering the surface are no longer extant.
[entry from Exhibition Guide for 'Melanesian art: redux', 2018, cat no 4]
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Melanesian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Apr 1966–22 May 1966
Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 Oct 1974 -
Melanesian art: redux, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Nov 2018–17 Feb 2019
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1964 Acquisitions, Sydney, 1964, 63. cat.no. 115
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Tony Tuckson, Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Sydney, 1973, 41. cat.no. 2
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