ETHOC 013099

applique de porte de case jövö

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013099
Jövö door jamb
New Caledonia
Kanak. Late 19th-early 20th century
Houp wood (Montrouziera sp.), pigments. H 218 cm, W 60 cm
Acquired in Paris in 1930
MEG Inv. ETHOC 013099
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Called "guardians of the door to the Grand Hut", these sculptures are made from the wood of a large houp tree knocked down by the wind, because it could not be felled by the traditional techniques. The dead tree is the equivalent of a dead person. Therefore, the sculptures are themselves associated with an ancestor, and even more frequently with the community of ancestral spirits.
These sculptures were attached on either side of the entrance to the Great House, by means of creepers threaded through the hole at the top and attached to the band of niaouli bark (eucalyptus family) encircling the hut. The top suggests a face with a herring-bone patterned crown representing the slingshot that the men wore in their hair as part of their coiffure.

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The Kanak, the first inhabitants of New Caledonia

One morning in September 1774, the explorer James Cook sighted islands on the horizon which he called New Caledonia, because the landscape reminded him of Caledonia, the old name for Scotland, his country of origin.

And yet the island had been inhabited by the Kanak for over 3,000 years. Despite variations in their social systems and art styles, they all share a close relationship to the land and ancestors.

The Grand Hut, personification of the Kanak culture

The Grand Hut is one of the most powerful symbols in Kanak society. In each village, it stands on a hummock at the end of an avenue lined with New Caledonia pines and coconut palms. The most important events take place in the central avenue: the announcement of deaths, marriages, mourning, presentation of the harvests, dances and exchanges.

The Grand Hut is circular in shape representing the society organised around a pre-eminent figure considered to be the intercessor between the living and the ancestors. It is an architectural structure, but also a place for meetings and discussions, and the evocation of the chief's authority. The Grand Hut symbolises the relationship that the Kanak maintain with their land and their history.

Bibliograpy

  • Boulay, Roger (dir.). 1990. De jade et de nacre. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux
  • Kasarhérou, Emmanuel et Roger Boulay (dir.). 2013. Kanak. L'art est une parole. Paris: Musée du quai Branly, Actes Sud

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