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Art collectors in New Guinea
“Throughout history Europe saw many of her most sacred art works disfigured and destroyed by new ideologies. The encroachment of a new way of life, new religions, and the determined onslaught of those who seek to convert art into cash, is Papua New Guinea's parallel.” Artefacts from New Guinea have been popular with museums since the 1890s. Art collectors first became interested in the 1930s, through the Surrealist movement. The Surrealists admired what they saw as the immediacy and spirituality of the works as opposed to the more ‘classical’ styles of western art at the time. Collectors in Europe and the USA increased the demand from the 1960s onwards. In New Guinea today, some peoples still sell pieces in traditional styles to art dealers. There are also art schools influenced by European ones. Older pieces, such as the ones on display in the gallery, are not common these days. ‘Bioma’ ancestor figures were displayed on pigs' skulls in men's ceremonial houses. They are flat, two-dimensional sculptures, often made from canoe hulls. Some figures have two sets of arms. This figure is from the Era River district. It is a relatively old example from about 1900. In this section
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