Male 'malagan' figure with crossed arms
Heinrich Hense (1888 to mid-1960s), Altengeseke / Lippstadt, Germany (coll. in situ, before 1918)
Family-owned since then
Heinrich Hense was born in Altengeseke in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1888. Trained as a locksmith, he worked as a repairman for Heinrich Nordhaus, a bicycle, sewing machine and motor vehicle dealer in Münster, from 1907 to 1909. He then joined the Imperial Navy, where he travelled for long periods in Oceania and the South Seas. This is documented for the years 1911 and 1912 by dated letters on the letterhead of the shipping company “Norddeutscher Lloyd”. According to this, he travelled on the steamer “Prinz Ludwig” in 1911 and on the Reichspostdampfer “Königin Luise” in 1912.
Description
wood, pigments, clay-like mass, lime, sea snails, worked on short stake, plus: grass fibre skirt
In northern New Ireland, ‘malagan’ is the collective name for a series of ceremonies, as well as the masks and carvings associated with them.
‘Malagan’ celebrations only take place some time after the death of a person, as a long period of preparation is required to make the sculptures and provide the food needed for the celebration.
Still practiced today, these rituals are held primarily in memory of the dead and combined with initiation ceremonies in which young men symbolically replace those who have died.
The ‘malagan’ carvings of northern New Ireland, the northeasternmost province of Papua New Guinea, are among the most intricate sculptures in Oceania. They are displayed in special enclosures, sometimes in considerable numbers, during feasts honoring both the dead and the donors of the carvings. Once they have served their purpose, ‘malagan’ carvings are usually abandoned or destroyed.