The extreme separation of the sexes found in Melanesian culture, the relationship of the dead to the living among the peoples of that region, and the role that art plays in culture are themes that will be explored in the exhibit "Spirit Images: The Lidz Collection of Southwest Pacific Art," which opens on Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
The 75 works in the show are drawn from the private collection of Theodore and Ruth Wilmanns Lidz, two psychiatrists who first became interested in primitive art when they were stationed in the Fiji Islands during World War II. In the early 1970s, the Lidzes traveled and collected extensively in Melanesia. Their collection documents the culture of Vanuatu and remote parts of Papua New Guinea, just as those areas were beginning to experience extensive contact with other cultures. In 1986, the couple gave 120 artifacts from Melanesia to the Peabody Museum.
"Spirit Images" focuses on the Sepik River region of New Guinea. The second largest island in the world, New Guinea is divided into two distinct cultural areas, according to Leopold J. Pospisil, professor emeritus of anthropology and curator emeritus at the Peabody Museum, who has studied the region extensively. The peoples of the Central Highlands place great importance on economic success, have little or no cult life or religious ceremonies, do not venerate war heroes and lack art forms other than singing and body decoration, notes the professor. In contrast, the people of the Lowlands -- including the peoples of the Middle and Lower Sepik River -- emphasize ceremonial warfare (sometimes combined with cannibalism), are preoccupied with religious ritual and cult life, and have rich artistic forms, most notably woodcarving, he says.
Since prehistoric times, the Sepik River on the island of New Guinea has served as an artery along which aboriginal traders have transported and sold objects carved by master craftsmen for use in secret rites and public ceremonies.
The Sepik peoples produced a wide variety of decorated objects in a range of styles. These include canoe prow figures, flute stoppers, architectural masks and plaques, shields, slit gongs, bone knife handles, chair-shaped lecterns and even painted corpses. Although interest in these art forms waned in the early 20th century, when the Sepik peoples were converted to Lutheranism by German missionaries, those traditions have seen a revival since World War II.
To mark the opening of "Spirit Images," Professor Pospisil will screen his historic 16mm films of village life in the New Guinea interior and discuss the region's tribal and village societies at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 13. The talk and screening are free with museum admission.
"Spirit Images: The Lidz Collection of Southwest Pacific Art" will be on view through Sept. 27, 1998, and is supported by a grant from Theodore Lidz in memory of his wife, Ruth.
The Peabody Museum of Natural History, located at 170 Whitney Ave., is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed on Dec. 24, 25 and 31. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 3-15 and senior citizens over age 65, and free for members of the Yale community with a valid I.D. For information on events and parking, call the InfoTape at 432-5050.