The Kanak Mask The Kanak Mask By Philippe Bourgoin The oldest New Caledonian mask known in Europe was acquired by a naturalist on the expedition led by Rear Admiral Antoine Bruny d’Entrecasteaux (1737–1793), that left France in 1791 to search for explorer Jean-François de Galaup, Count of Lapérouse (1741–1788). There had been no news from Lapérouse after his stopover in Australia in March of 1788. (Engraving, Jacques-Julien Houtou de la Billardière [1755–1834], pl. 37, Atlas du Voyage à la recherche de La Pérouse, Paris, 1800.) One of the first eyewitness accounts of the actual wearing of a mourner’s costume was given by Captain Julien-Laferrière (1806–1880), commander of the Bucéphale, in his Voyage aux îles Tonga-Tabou, Wallis et Foutouna, à la Nouvelle-Calédonie et à la Nouvelle-Zélande, exécuté du 1er novembre 1843 au 1er avril 1844 (Paris, 1845). He saw it after dropping off four Marist Fathers led by Mgr. Guillaume Douarre (1810–1853) at Balade on December 20, 1843. Julien-Laferrière’s objective was the annexation of New Caledonia, and that of the Fathers was to evangelize and convert the people there and to the counter the expansion of the English Protestant missionaries’ influence. Postcard Nouvelle Calédonie — Fétiches utilisés comme masques de guerre (New Caledonia – fetishes used as war masks). Édition de la Commission Suisse de la Mission de Paris. No 51. Cliché Ph. Delo-- ? Imp. Rotogravure, Plainpalais-Genève. 9.2 x 14.3 cm. This was probably PHiladelphe Delord (1869-1947), Pastor for the Missions Evangéliques de Paris (Evangelical Missions of Paris). The mourner’s costume on the left is complete with its notou (Goliath imperial pigeon) feather mantle and its human hair coiffure. © Private Collection. It was not until the 1860s that systematic collecting activities began and that officers and civil servants became involved in them. The accounts and research of Auguste Bérard (1796–1852), during his world tour (from 1817 to 1820), the essential work of missionaries such as Mgr. Douarre and Father Xavier Montrouzier (1820–1897), between 1846 and 1897, of Father Pierre Lambert (1822–1903) from 1855 to 1903, of Pastor Maurice Leenhardt (1878–1954) from 1902 to 1926, of Swiss scientist Fritz Sarasin (1859–1942) in 1911 and 1912, and of Jean Guiart (1925–2019) all contributed to our knowledge of New Caledonian art and ethnology in general and of the masks specifically. Westerners viewed these masks as “horrible” and the missionaries strongly disapproved of their use in rituals. It must be conceded that the sudden appearance of this austere character of a dancer with a frightening grin, often armed with a spear and a club, could not have had any other effect than to instill fear! Father Pierre Lambert (1822-1903), Le porte-masque (The Mask Wearer), engraving after a drawing by convict Pierre Bournigal (1837-?), Mœurs et superstitions des Néo-Calédoniens (Customs and Superstitions of the New Caledonians), Nouvelle Imprimerie Nouméenne, Nouméa, 1900., p. 73, fig. 17. © Private collection The mask, traditionally carved from the wood of the giant Houp tree (Montrouziera cauliflora), was the main component of the mourner’s costume, and was covered with a thick black coating obtained from the burnt nuts of the Candlenut tree (Aleurites Moluccana). The mask’s open mouth, through which the wearer could see, was adorned with a long beard made of braids of human hair mixed together with vegetable fibers. The eyes were never hollowed out, and a tongue was never present. A neck covering served as a base for the tidi headdress, a sort of plaited cylindrical armature made of plant fibers that was worn by important figures, which in turn supported an enormous, dome-shaped mass of hair made from the mourners’ hair and reminiscent of the latter’s spectacular turbans. A large mantle of long, fine black gallinaceous feathers, tied in small bundles onto a fishing net, covered the body of the wearer, leaving only his arms and lower legs visible. These feathers are found on the oldest masks, but they disappeared from the majority of the mantles in the second half of the nineteenth century, at which time they began to be replaced by the feathers of the goliath imperial pigeon (Ducula goliath), sometimes in combination with those of other bird species, in particular those of birds of prey, probably used to fill out the costume. The reason for their use, however, has not been clearly established. While they do display a certain homogeneity, the masks evolved in different styles throughout the main Grande Terre Island. Father Léopold Verguet (1817-1914), Masque de Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonian Mask), watercolor drawing, 14 x 21 cm. © Archives des Pères Maristes, Rome. The masks were probably more archaic in the North, where they were strongly connected with the institution of chefferies, and they personified deceased chiefs who had returned to be among the living. While daily life In the Kanak world unfolded under the active power of a community of ancestral spirits, it was around the person of the chief, the symbolic link between the world of the living and that of the dead, that the group was structured and that its vitality was expressed. The masks could also evoke the spirits of the forests, the mythical ancestor who founded the lineage, or various other entities. The masks appeared primarily during funeral rituals for deceased chiefs, but they were also used in customary exchange ceremonies and at other events that marked milestones in the stages of an individual’s life cycle. No custom or legend survives, however that indicates that the masks appearances occurred within the context of the activities of a secret society. After having performed the funerary rites, the mourners appointed to care for the deceased’s remains had to observe many taboos, and in particular, to refrain from cutting their hair, which they concealed beneath a large turban, or their beards until the ceremonies that concluded the mourning period had been completed. For an important individual, that might not be until several years after his death. These masks were formerly present in the northern and central parts south of Grande Terre, as well as in portions of the southern area, but they were absent in the extreme south and in the Loyalty Islands. They can be divided into three main groups, the first two corresponding to the archaic masks of the North, and the third to the masks of the central and more southerly areas. In the North, the face is rounded, the eyebrow arches are joined and in relief, and the protruding nose with enlarged and very exaggerated nostrils occupies most of the mask. The masks taper toward the top, and they are usually equipped with a hole near the summit which was used to suspend the whole costume. The mouth is equipped with teeth. The disconcerting grin generally extends very high up both sides of the face. Kanak Mask, Northern New Caledonia. Collected by James Johnson Gerlach, an Army Medical Corps officer, in 1949. Late 19th century, 21 ¾” (55.1 cm) in height. In the more central area of Grande Terre, the masks characteristically display powerful rounded reliefs, a very protruding nose which can be either gathered up or extended, or, in some cases, may coil into an imposing volute whose pointed end reaches all the way back to the mouth. The latter is provided with lips, openwork teeth and a broad, threatening grin. The smooth forehead is often convex. The eyes are bulging and oval, and the arch of the eyebrows is usually very prominent. The teeth and eyes are often painted white and the lips red. The importance of the nose was apparently an indication of virility as well as of strength and wisdom. Many masks from this region had proper names. As the masks spread southward, they gradually lost their social and religious significance and personification of the presence of deities. They could refer to wars or conflicts, or they might constitute nothing more than a simple entertainment that was displayed during festivals to entertain guests, eliciting both terror and joy through their appearance. This third group of masks brings together a wide variety of styles with sharp angles and volumes treated in lower relief, and wider, flatter, and more-stylized faces. The forehead, often domed, is sometimes striated with parallel broken lines, and the eyebrow arches, the eyes, and the nose are sculpted as projections. The eyes are geometric, and often lozenge or diamond-shaped. The mouth, which is generally rectangular, is sometimes decorated with red seeds (Arbrus precatorius) that are glued around its periphery. The abode of the dead was both underwater and on land. They were believed to lead a form of existence in underwater paradises, representations of the inverted world, while a part of their individuality could continue to inhabit the places of their past life. Thus, while the hair of the mourners referred to the world of the deceased, the net used as the frame of the mantle referred to the undersea world. In a culture in which speeches, legends, songs, and dances punctuated the rituals as customary gestures, one cannot help but be fascinated by these spectacular costumes whose intimidating sculpted masks can be the subjects of the most fantastic interpretations. It is the souls of the dead that inhabit them. Contemplating, discussing, and exhibiting them today enable them to continue to live on in some way.
