A little-known collector: Wilhelm Eduard Coenraad Veen 1934–2019 Wilhelm Eduard Coenraad Veen (1890–1948) was born in Payakumbuh, in western Sulawesi, into a Dutch colonizer family. He married twice. His first marriage was celebrated in Singapore in 1917 where he wed Mary Barbera Molteni (1893–1921). Their union was short-lived as Mary Molteni died at age twenty-eight when their son Ludwik Eduard Coenraad Veen (1918–1988) was three years old. W.E.C. Veen married again in 1922 with a woman thirteen years his junior named Martha Geertruida van Huet (1903–2000). A second son was born whom they named Jozef Frederik Eugene Veen (1926–1997). W.E.C. Veen passed his colonial civil-servant exam in 1911 after which, between 1912 and 1935, he had several postings in the former Dutch East Indies, currently Indonesia. While he has objects from New Guinea in his collection, none of the newspaper articles and official documents make mention of Veen spending time in New Guinea; instead, they refer to different placements, mainly as a controller in the Sulawesi, Sumatra, and the Moluccas areas. A controller was a typical colonial civil-servant function in the Dutch East Indies that equated the position of maire (mayor) in a Dutch town. Looking at his photographic archive, there are images of Veen spending time in remote, seemingly tropical areas. Only one image shows him with young Papuan women. W. E. C. Veen with young Papuan women, probably Yapen Island, circa 1920s. I would like to thank Paula van den Berg and Koos Knol for their input on the probable location of this image. It is likely that Veen travelled to New Guinea when he was stationed in the residence of Amboina on the island of Ambon in the Moluccas, from 21 May 1913 onwards. Though it remains unclear whether he collected objects during his field trip to New Guinea, because he might also have struck up a friendship with another civil servant like himself who worked in New Guinea and collected objects on Veen’s behalf. Among Veen’s photographic possessions is an image showing several civil servants, one of whom is A.L. Vink and another W.A. Hovenkamp. W. E. C. Veen with other Dutch civil servants including A.L. Vink and W.A. Hovenkamp W.A. Hovenkamp, was Resident (Commissioner) of the Ternate district from 13 July 1926 until May 1931, and he brought ethnographic objects gathered in the Museum Manokwari to the attention of interested collectors. It is also known that the colonial official A.L. Vink was involved in packing and dispatching items to different collectors. It is evident that Veen loved objects, displaying them aesthetically in his various offices. W. E. C. Veen circa 1913 to 1916. W. E. C. Veen and wife Martha Geertruida van Huet circa 1930. Veen’s collection focuses on the Lake Sentani, Yos Sudarso (Humboldt Bay), and Teluk Cenderawasih (Geelvink Bay) areas. Objects from those areas became known to Dutch audiences from 1903 onward, the date of the North New Guinea Expedition, also known as the Wichmann Expedition, as more than a thousand objects ended up in Dutch ethnographic museums in Rotterdam, Leiden, and Amsterdam. The most avid collectors during this expedition most often named, after the German geology professor Carl Ernst Arthur Wichmann (1851–1927), were the physician Gijsbertus Adrian Johan van der Sande (1863–1910), the ship’s captain Jan Willem van Nouhuys, the zoologist Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort (1879–1968), and the amateur biologist Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz. W. E. C. Veen’s collection of Northwest New Guinea objects circa 1916. The objects The two beaded aprons are characteristic of the Teluk Cenderawasih area (Nos. 6 & 7). Both men and women would wear these beaded aprons at ceremonial dances. Traded from Asia, the beads then carried and still carry high symbolic and exchange value as they are important gifts at weddings. The aprons are decorated with precious red, imported, cotton cloth. Veen’s collection of carved wooden objects includes a few classic pieces of northwestern New Guinea art, but also a number of rather singular items. The neck rest was made by a Lake Sentani carver displaying on one end a crocodile head, characteristics of this area’s neck rests (No. 8). The other end shows an anthropomorphic carving of a male upper body of which the penis seems to have been removed. The distinctive carving of the armlets on the upper arms and wrist might be seen as a sign that the figure represents a man who participated in initiation rites. Image 8 Both the female and male carving on top of a dance staff have their hands resting on the hips and show the characteristic Lake Sentani features of a rounded head and an all-around elongated shape (Nos. 9 & 10). Image 9 Image 10 The two korwar figures are classic in shape (Nos. 11 & 12). Both korwars seem to originate from one of the Schouten Islands and are carved in the Doreh Bay–style in the west of Teluk Cenderawasih. The openwork “shield” of one of the figures has been interpreted as a real shield symbolizing bravery and offering supernatural protection or as a stylized rendering of snakes, coral, or octopus arms. It could also indicate that the korwar is male. The other korwar incorporates a smaller upright figure with spread arms and legs which almost completely take up the space of the openwork shield. Image 11 Image 12 The korwar statues served as temporary receptacles to the nin, the shadow soul or spirit that roamed the earth. The help of the korwar spirit was invoked at significant life events such as births, marriages, deaths, or illness. The korwar could offer protection and success when curing people, on head-hunting raids, or on dangerous sea journeys when collecting trepang or catching tortoises. Conversely, korwar were employed to make people ill and even kill them. From the late 1880s onwards, many korwar images were destroyed upon the instigation of Protestant missionaries. Others were collected after they had been surrendered under pressure or because Papuans themselves deemed the particular korwar figure to have lost its power. Korwars are no longer made. Conversion to Christianity has, however, not necessarily led to a complete destruction of the korwar’s significance. Image 13 One korwar-style figure arrests the attention (No. 13). The head shows characteristic korwar features, complete with blue beads testifying to the trade relations that existed between Teluk Cenderawasih and Insular Southeast Asia. The blue-glass eye beads might refer to the clear blue eyes of some of the white foreigners, who were often regarded as ancestors returning from the realm of the dead. Usually korwar figures show a crouching position. This figure has small arms carved in relief high up the chest and has curved legs of which the coloured stripes accentuate their elongation. This type of curly legs is characteristic of the korwars from the multiethnic and multilingual island of Yapen. The broad mouth with visible teeth and the nose tip reaching the upper lip also point to that origin. The label at the bottom of the piece suggests that it was collected in Waropen and belonged to the Yapen Islanders living on the Waropen mainland. Image 14 The object headed by two male figures with their backs turned towards each other is an example of a sculpture that has been associated with the Humboldt Bay and Wakde Island (No. 14). The colour scheme of red, black, and natural wood colour, and the carving style with arms in slight relief point to that area. The bottom part of the object is carved in slight relief reminiscent of surface carving on lime containers or the flat surfaces of canoe ornaments. Image 15 The most singular carving is that of a crouching figure on top of a staff (No. 15). Some of the stylistic elements including the treatment of the eyes, and the large paddle-like hands refer to the carving of the Humboldt Bay area. The label, in Dutch, of which only a few words can be deciphered seems to suggest this was a “secret” (geheim) carving that was “rare” (zeldzaam) and could not be seen by women. The word “patong” is used, which usually refers to large wooden carvings in Borneo. This carving is clearly from western New Guinea. While little is known of W.E.C. Veen as a collector, he seemed to have had a good eye or good connections with people collecting in the field during the first half of the twentieth century. The love for his objects is apparent in the image taken in his office in Majene in Sulawesi in August 1930, where he and his wife are surrounded by collections. References Aneta. 1929. Wetenschap De Nieuw Guinea-expeditie. De Maasbode, 16/04/1929, http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=MMKB04:000198225:mpeg21:p009 (accessed 9 February 2021). Corbey, Raymond. 2017. Raja Ampat Ritual Art. Spirit Priets and Ancestor Cults in New Guinea’s Far West. C. Zwartenkot Art Books, Leiden. Corbey, Raymond. 2019. Korwar: Northwest New Guinea ritual art according to missionary sources. Leiden: C. Zwartenkot Art Books. Eerde, Johan C. van. 1929. “Kort verslag nopens de studiereis van den directeur der afdeeling Volkenkunde naar Nederlandsch-Indië (4 april–21november 1929)”, in Koloniaal Instituut (ed.) Koninklijke Vereeniging “Koloniaal Instituut” Amsterdam. Negentiende Jaarverslag, 49–60. Druk de Bussy, Amsterdam. Kooijman, Simon and Hoogerbrugge, Jac. 1992. “Art of Wakde-Yamna Area, Humboldt Bay, and Lake Sentani”, in Suzanne Greub (ed.), Art of Northwest New Guinea. From Geelvink Bay, Humboldt Bay, and Lake Sentani, 56–126. New York: Rizzoli. Kuik, B. J. 1941. Verslag van een reis naar het rivierengebied der Jabi's en naar het Jamoermeer, van 5 April 1929 tot 6 Mei 1929, door den assistent-resident t/b. te Manokwari. Tijdschrift “Nieuw-Guinea” 5:245–262. Sellato, Bernard. 2007. Borneo 2007. Three European Exhibitions. Moussons 11: 243–247. Smidt, Dirk A. M. 2011. “Lake Sentani Art: Connecting Ancestors and Descendants, Chiefs and Community”, in Virginia-Lee Webb (ed.), Ancestors of the Lake. Art of Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, 22–29. New Haven and London: The Menil Collection; Yale University Press. Veen, L.J. 2022. “Stamboom Veen”, Wilhelm Ed.Coenraad [Vlll 109] Veen (1890–1948), Genealogie Online, https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-veen/I718.php, consulted 27 June 2022. Veys, Fanny Wonu. 2013. “Ancestor figure from Northwest Papuam” in Francine Brinkgreve and David Stuart-Fox (eds), Living with Indonesia. The Frits Liefkes Collection, 308–309. Leiden: Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde/National Museum of Ethnology. Veys, Fanny Wonu. 2018. “Papua collections on the Netherlands: a story of exploration, research, missionization and colonization”, in Lucie Carreau, Alison Clark, Alana Jelinek, Erna Lilje and Nicholas Thomas (eds), Pacific Presences. Oceanic Art and European Museums, 169–196. Leiden: Sidestone Press.
