The New Ireland mask of Edward Titchener The New Ireland mask of Edward TitchenerBy Jean-Philippe Beaulieu In northern New Ireland, the ritual life and the social organization of the clans were orchestrated by long and complex funeral ceremonies called Malagan. These highly codified and structured practices were sometimes complemented by other rites and dances, the most important of which were known as Kipong. Within the framework of the Malagan and Kipong institutions, an extraordinary diversity of statues, objects, and masks with very specific functions were created, sometimes for a single use of only a few minutes. For both the Kipong and the Malagan ceremonies, the dances were normally executed just outside the funerary enclosure, in the village square, which was shared by all the inhabitants. It should also be noted that at the heart of these institutions, there were also local specificities, sometimes shared only by a few clans or villages. For instance, there were dances where a certain mask was used, which could only be owned by one clan, while others could be more common. Moreover, specific masks were used for specific parts of the ceremonies. For example, the emblematic Tatanua masks are found throughout the northern region of New Ireland. They are always characterized by a face sculpted in a highly stylized manner with a wide jaw, motifs painted in red, yellow, and black, and topped with a large Mohawk crest of fibers. There is a huge variety of these headdresses in museums and private collections. They are an important part of ritual life, bringing the Malagan funeral ceremony for an important chief to a close by lifting the last taboos. These masks are usually danced as a group in a complex choreography just before the final exchanges between the clans. Mask haus to present the Matua and Kipong masks after their dance during a Malagan ceremony in the Hamlet of Longagon, few kilometers north of Fezoa (see the map about the club of Captain Krokinius). Photo taken by Alfred Buhler in 1931, Basel 903. © Museum der Kulturen Basel The mask of Edward Titchener is not a Tatanua mask. It is either a Matua or Kipong mask from New Ireland, most likely dating from the nineteenth century. In the corpus of New Ireland masks, the fully carved and painted wooden masks, often with elongated ears, are known as Matua (if they are part of the Malagan rituals), or Kipong (if part of the Kipong rituals). Their creation is subject to a strict set of rules and ownership. They play an important role in the rituals, as their arrival marks the beginning of the final stage of the funeral ceremony. They move slowly at sunrise, leading other masks through the village. Richard Parkinson commented: “When the Kipong and Matua masks come into view on the ceremonial site, a loud cry of grief arises from those gathered, and the names of the dead who are to be honoured by these carvings are called out aloud amidst weeping and wailing. The women tear out their hair, make loud lamentations, and behave as though they were insane with grief.” (Richard Parkinson, Thirty Years in the South Seas, page 495–496) The masks also collect shell coins and chase away the wandering spirits of the dead. Then they lift taboos that had been imposed on the community and open the entrance to the burial enclosure where the final stages of the ceremony will take place. These masks are then placed on a display next to the men’s house, but not with the Malagans. Unlike the Malagan statues, these masks could be used several times for different ceremonies. Mask Haus presenting two Matua/Kipong mask. The photo has been taken in 1908 by Edgar Walden of the Deutsche Marine-Expedition in an undisclosed location of Northern New Ireland. © Eberhard Karls Universität Tubingen Museum, photos by the author of the glass plate. The Titchener mask has all the characteristics of a Matua or a Kipong. It is a wooden helmet, with a large square jaw, armed with pointing teeth. We can notice two older wooden tenons, one on the forehead and one in the mouth. Probably at an earlier date, it might have had a bird with the head pointing down and two sharp teeth pointing up, since this would be typical of the style. On the side, we can see that there were two holes, most likely to hold two carved planks to give it elongated ears. We compared this mask with the thousand masks from the database of Michael Gunn and could not find a very close example. We found a number of helmet masks, like one from Berlin, collected in 1879 on the Northwest coast and registered as a Kepong (VI 17837). There is also one collected in the Kapsu area (Northern New Ireland) in 1884 currently in the British museum (Oc1884,0728.21). New Ireland mask from the Edward Bradford Titchener Collection The overall shape of the mask is very strictly codified, but the carver could have a bit of freedom in applying the pigments and adding some designs. We think that the suite of triangles in red against the black is something fairly unusual, and we found a similar design on a Tatanua mask from Berlin (VI 12595), collected in 1895. The Titchener mask is a nineteenth-century New Ireland mask of the Matua or Kepong type. It belongs to the older part of the corpus. It was part of the collection of a renowned professor of Psychology at Cornell University. Professor Titchener is well known for having introduced the theory of Structuralism in Psychology and has been very influential in his field. Born in England, he was Oxford-educated and spent a few months in Leipzig in 1890. He then moved to the United States in 1892. The photo shows a rich library with books up to the ceiling, two stone figures from the Barok country, a paddle, a Malagan, and Professor Titchener. He is comfortably seated in an armchair, glasses on the nose, wearing a tailored suit, a book opened on his lap, and holding a cigar. This is Ithaca, in the 1920s. Edward Bradford Titchener in his study, Ithaca, NY, circa 1920s.
