Anthropomorphic figure

Our statuette is depicted in the classic bero kandimbong position , standing with arms detached from the body, hands resting on the hips, legs slightly bent.
The smiling face, with its large forehead divided by a midrib, supports the kaup headdress . The septum and top of the headdress are pierced for the attachment of ornaments.
The naturalistic nose indicates that this is a representation of an ancestor.
Scarification marks are depicted on the torso, shoulder blades and buttocks. The statuette still has its tapa loincloth. According to ethnographic notes by the missionary of the Société du Verbe Divin congregation, Father Joseph ^Schmidt1, the kandimbong were superior spirits. He referred to them alternately as idols or ancestor figures. This type of figure, of medium size, was carved for an important member of the clan and given to his son or nephew. During the initiation period, the figurine was removed from the men’s ceremonial house, where it was usually kept.
The bero kandimbong figurines were kept close to the initiates, who slept beside them while isolated for months in the bush.
The figurine became the initiate’s companion during tribulations. Serge Brignoni (1903-2002) Born in Ticino, Serge Brignoni came to Bern with his parents at the age of four.
From 1919, he attended the School of Arts and Crafts and the School of Painting.
After transitional periods at the Accademia di Brera in Milan and the Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, he moved to Paris in 1923, studying and working temporarily at the Academy of cubist André Lhote.
He soon rubbed shoulders with the circle of great avant-gardists such as Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst and André Breton.
It was in the French capital that he discovered his passion for collecting non-European art, particularly that of Oceania.
In 1940, World War II forced Brignoni and his wife to return to Switzerland.
In 1985, Serge Brignoni bequeathed part of his vast collection to the city of Lugano.
In 1989, this 541-piece collection gave rise to the Museo delle Culture de Lugano.
Then, in 1998, he decided to bequeath another part of his collection to the Kunstmuseum ^Bern3.
Serge Brignoni kept the pieces that were closest to his heart in his Berne home.
Works from the Brignoni collection at the Museo delle Culture have been exhibited on several occasions at museums such as the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and the Museum Rietberg in Zurich.
They are the expression of a refined choice that favours the best-executed artefacts.
Overall, Brignoni’s taste was clearly inclined towards works of a sculptural nature, and it is worth noting his sensitivity in his very particular choice of sculptures exclusively in boi Notes: 1- Schmidt, P. Joseph.
1933. Neue Beiträge zur Ethnographie der Nor-Papua (Neu-Guinea).
In Anthropos 28, pp. 676-678 2- Beier, Ulli & Aris, Peter 1975. Sigia: Artistic design in the Murik Lakes.
Giribori, A magazine of Papua New Guinea culture, Vol 2, n°2, Port Moresby, p.24 3- In 2018 the Kunstmuseum decided to donate 25 masterpieces from Indonesia, Oceania and Africa to the Museo delle Culture, which are now reunited with the large collection donated by Brignoni to the City of Lugano in 1985.
The remainder of the collection, the most important, was donated shortly afterwards by the Bernese museum to the Musée d’Ethnographie in Neuchâtel. Price: €22,000