The Keepers of the Female Figurine

The keepers of female figurine

By Fanny Wonu Veys

On Tuesday, 15 April, 1997, Leendert van Lier (1910–1995) had his collection of African, Oceanic, and Indonesian art auctioned off posthumously at Christie’s Amsterdam. This female ancestor figure korwar constituted lot 184 in the sale.1 In this article, I will trace the hands through which the figure passed, proposing a possible original collector and other owners of the objects.

LEENDERT VAN LIER Born in Amsterdam, Leendert van Lier was a successful expressionist painter and graphic artist of still lifes, landscapes, and village views. He combined his artistic expression with a passion for collecting, setting up his art dealing practice in 1950 at Kunstzaal Van Lier. The business was founded in 1927 on the Rokin in Amsterdam and centred around rotating exhibitions by modernist artists, including the magical realists Wim Schuhmacher, Raoul Hynckes, and Albert Carel Willink; neorealists Dick Ket, Edgar Fernhout, and Henry van de Velde; and expressionists Jan Sluijters, Charley Toorop, Hendrik Chabot, and Jan van Herwijnen. The work of these core artists was complemented with international artists such as Georg Grosz and Max Beckmann. Kunstzaal Van Lier also became known for its pioneering work in dealing in ethnographic art mainly from Africa and Asia.2

Although Carel van Lier (1897–1945), the founder of the gallery and a namesake, was not related to Leendert van Lier, the latter made use of the good reputation and international renown of the business.3 The exhibition of paintings by former Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands in March 1951, and of work in September 1951 by the avant-garde painter Karel Appel, testifies to his wide-ranging taste. Still, he had a clear preference for modern early-twentieth-century art and ethnographic objects. Indeed, at the age of eighteen, Van Lier bought his first object, a Batak staff from Indonesia. At almost 85, this exact same object was the last one he sold.4

THEO VAN BAAREN Van Lier provided important Dutch collectors such as Theodorus Petrus van Baaren (1912–1989) and Cornelis Pieter Meulendijk (1912–1979) with their objects. Interestingly, this korwar came into the collection through Van Baaren whom Van Lier met at the art society Kunstliefde (Art Love). Ever since its founding in 1807, this Utrecht society has united artists and art lovers and is among the oldest art societies in the Netherlands.5

A poet, translator, theologist, professor, and artist, Theo van Baaren was a versatile personality. He studied Egyptology in Utrecht and developed his love for non-Western art when he met Van Lier through the Kunstliefde art circle. He focused mainly on West African masks and Pacific objects, which reflected his attraction to surrealism. The members of this art movement were fascinated with dreamlike subjects and processes of transformation and felt these aspects existed in some ethnographic art,in particular that from the Pacific. Van Baaren and his wife Gertrude Pape (1907–1988) were active representatives of the surrealist art movement in the Netherlands, which led to the founding of the surrealist journal De schone zakdoek (The Clean [or Nice] Handkerchief).

1 Christie’s Amsterdam 1997 2 Warren 1997 3 Lier 2003 4 Warren 1997 5 Kunstliefde 2021

Leendert Van Lier. Copyright W. L. den Beer Portugael

In 1952 Van Baaren was appointed professor in Theology and Egyptian language and literature at the University of Groningen with a doctoral thesis entitled Voorstellingen van openbaring phaenomenologisch beschouwd (A phenomenological appreciation of representations of revelation). His appointment was controversial, because he examined religion from an anthropological viewpoint. Throughout his career he continued this approach, publishing widely about religions using oral histories for his analysis.6

Van Baaren donated his ethnographic collection to the University of Groningen on 24 September, 1968, with the purpose of making the collection accessible to a wider audience. Oceania was best represented with 999 pieces; then came West and Central Africa with 764 objects; 198 originated from Indonesia; and 92 items hailed from North and South America. Another reason for donating his collection was that its size had outgrown the capacity of his house. Every nook and cranny was filled with objects. On 16 June, 1978, the museum with his collection finally opened. Van Baaren named it after his faculty predecessor Gerardus van der Leeuw, professor of Comparative Theology and former Minister of Education. The choice for Van Der Leeuw was telling as he was one of the first scholars in the Netherlands to reject the assumption of western superiority.7

6 Arnoldus-Schröder 1998: 7 7 Arnoldus-Schröder 1998: 7–8

THE ORIGINAL OWNERS The korwar figure that ended up in the Van Lier collection followed an unusual route. Instead of first beng acquired by Van Lier who then sold it to Van Baaren, this figure went from Van Baaren to Van Lier. Van Baaren had a special affinity with korwar figures, which is apparent from his book Korwars and Korwar Style: Art and Ancestor Worship in North-West New Guinea (1968). The two main chapters discuss consecutively the function and the morphology of korwar figures. Van Baaren would probably have identified this korwar as of the “Waigeo-Ajau Islands” [Waigeo-Ayau] type.8 With its concave face, earrings, topknot, and large head with straight angular nose, the style of this korwar matches the description of Ayau korwars that Raymond Corbey gives in his book entirely dedicated to these early figures: “the Ayau Atoll korwars do not hold a shield, a small figure or snakes. … In general, the female korwars have ear pendants. The nose is not arrow-shaped.”9 The Ayau Atoll is part of the Raja Ampat archipelago and situated north of its main island Waigeo. In 1913 a Dutch government post was established in Sorong on the Bird’s Head Peninsula coast, which was used as a base for missionising in the area. In a letter dated 16 July, 1937, the protestant missionary Freerk Kamma (1906–1987) noted several korwars in his terms “heathen practices” that centered around ancestor cults and their images.10

THE ORIGINAL COLLECTOR It is unclear when the figure entered Van Lier’s collection. However, as the figure was not inventoried as part of the donation to the University of Groningen, it must have already been part of Van Lier’s holdings before 1968. The question remains of how Van Baaren got hold of the female korwar. It is known that the missionary and anthropologist Kamma acquired nineteen pieces on the Ayau Atoll in the mid-1930s.11 Originating from Wierum, a small village on the Frisian coast, Kamma trained at the theological college in Oegstgeest, near Leiden and arrived in Manokwari, New Guinea in 1931 as a missionary from the Utrechtse Zendingsvereniging (the Utrecht Missionary Society). Soon he received his own post in Sorong and became responsible for its hinterland including the Raja Ampat islands, proselytizing in the area until 1942. From the start, Kamma had a keen interest in anthropology. In 1954 he submitted his PhD thesis entitled Koreri Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. This major contribution to understanding religious experience in northwest New Guinea was translated into English in 1972.12

Kamma had his collection shipped to the Netherlands and sold at least sixteen pieces to August Floris Charles André van Heyst (1887–1962), a Dutch collector from Rotterdam, who subsequently donated eight to the current Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam.13 Van Heyst probably had personal discussions with Kamma when he was on leave in the Netherlands between July 1938 and January 1940. The result of these exchanges with Van Heyst’s personal consideration on the sixteen korwars was published in a 1941 article with the unusual title “Amfjanir,” referring to the correct name for korwar that Kamma had given.14 I would surmise that this female korwar constitutes one of the three pieces that were never published, but that were collected by Kamma and sold to Theo van Baaren. Moreover, it shows great similarity with figures currently held at the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam (WM28228, WM-28226). They were both donated by Van Heyst in 1937 and collected by Kamma in the mid-1930s.

8 Baaren 1968: 77–78 9 Corbey 2019: 198 10 Corbey 2017: 5 11 Corbey 2017: 101; Heyst 1941: 193 12 Kooijman 1988: 412–413 13 Heyst 1941 14 Heyst 1941: 193

PEDIGREE This female ancestor figure originated in the Ayau Atoll where it was probably made to commemorate a deceased family member. The protestant missionary Freerk Kamma collected this figure on one of his many visits to the area. Actually, the Ayau atoll constituted one of his favorite areas, of which he greatly appreciated the beauty of its beaches and the intense silence.15 The figure was probably sold to the poet, artist, and academic Theo van Baaren and finally ended up in the collection of the artist and dealer Leendert van Lier.

REFERENCES Arnoldus-Schröder, Victorine. 1998. ‘Preface: Reflections on Theo van Baaren (1912–1989)’. In The collection Van Baaren, edited by Victorine

Arnoldus-Schröder, pp. 7–8. Groningen: Volkenkunde Museum ‘Gerardus van der Leeuw’. Baaren, Theodorus Petrus van. 1968. Korwars and Korwar Style: Art and Ancestor Worship in North-West New Guinea. Paris: Mouton & Co. Christie’s Amsterdam. 1997. African, Oceanic and Indonesian Art from the Van Lier Collection, Tuesday, 15 April 1997. Amsterdam: Christie’s. Corbey, Raymond. 2017. Raja Ampat Ritual Art. Spirit priests and ancestor cults in New Guinea’s far West. Leiden: C. Zwartenkot Art Books. Corbey, Raymond. 2019. Korwar: Northwest New Guinea ritual art according to missionary sources. Leiden: C. Zwartenkot Art Books. Heyst, A.F.C.A. van. 1941. Amfjanir. Cultureel Indië 3: 193–200. Kamma, Freerk Christiaans. 1954. De Messiaanse Koréri-bewegingen in het Biaks-Noemfoorse cultuurgebied. Doctor, Letteren en

Wijsbegeerte, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden. Kamma, Freerk Christiaans. 1959. Spiegel van het verleden I: De vreemdelingen van het gestrande schip. Nieuw Guinea Koerier, de groene: onafhankelijk dagblad voor ned. nieuw guinea 74: 3-woensdag 1 april. Kamma, Freerk Christiaans. 1972. Koreri Messianistic movements in the Biak-Numfor culture area. Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en

Volkenkunde, Translation Series 15. ‘s-Gravenhage: Nijhoff. Kooijman, Simon. 1988. In memoriam F.C. Kamma. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 144(4): 411–418. Kunstliefde. Ruimte voor beeldende kunst. Historie. https://www.kunstliefde.nl/historie, accessed 14 June 2021. Lier, Bas C. van. 2003. Carel Van Lier Kunsthandelaar, Wegbereider, 1897–1945. Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Thoth. Warren, Hans. 1997. Leendert van Lier (1910–1995). In African, Oceanic and Indonesian Art from the Van Lier Collection, Tuesday, 15 April 1997, edited by Christie’s Amsterdam, p. 12. Amsterdam: Christie’s.

10 Papuan Gulf Shoulder Shield

Coastal Namau culture area, Purari Delta, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea Collected by Australian Army medic Allan Henrey Skiller in the 1940s By descent through the family Late 19th/early 20th century 16” (40.8 cm) in height

Shoulder shields are some of the rarest forms of Papuan Gulf art. Generally rectangular in shape, with a cut out at the top, so the shield fits under the arm to protect the side of the upper torso facing the enemy when the bow is pulled back to launch an arrow. Predominantly, the shields feature a spirit face that probably provided both magical-protective and offensive-empowering properties. As is thought to be the case, the formidable spirit is then believed to walk in front of the warriors, leading them into battle.