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Canoe Model

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Canoe Model, 20th Century, Wood, Fiber, and Pigment

Sepik Region, Papua, New Guinea
Gift of Martha and Robert Fogelman
There is a sculpture in the museum’s collections that I have always been quite fond of. This particular wooden carving is a canoe model made by the Sepik peoples of New Guinea. Nearly five feet long the wooden carving is intricately carved and decorated with a variety of geometric and floral shapes with which the artist took the time to completely cover the surface. The prow of the canoe is carved in the shape of a crocodile’s head with fully exposed teeth thus emulating the dangerous crocodiles in the Sepik river region of Papua in New Guinea and posing a stark contrast to the decorative carvings on the body of the canoe. Four tassels adorn the rim of the canoe add to the intricate carvings raising the canoe model to more than a canoe but to a very decorative piece of sculpture.

–Neil O'Brien, Exhibition Specialist