Gope Boards: Shadows of Heaven
Gope Boards: Shadows of Heaven
By Michael Hamson
Interior of Kau ravi at Kaimari Village, 1921 by Frank Hurley.
Courtesy Australian Museum Sydney, item V4835
Even to the fairly knowledgeable admirers of New Guinea art, when one thinks of the Papuan Gulf one object inevitably comes to mind—the gope board. And yet, as ubiquitous, and familiar as gope are, very few of us have much more than the thinnest knowledge of their use and significance. Thus, I thought it useful to write a brief overview of this iconic, but little understood, form of New Guinea art.
The flat oval slabs of wood commonly known as gope boards in the West are found throughout the Papuan Gulf from Kiwai Island and the Fly River in the west, where the term gope seems to have originated, to the far eastern boundary of the Gulf, where the Elema people refer to them as hohao. In the Namau area of the Purari Delta they are called kwoi, while further to the west they are known as kaiaimunu.
Characterized by an elongated elliptical shape that is rarely more than an inch thick, gope verge on two-dimensionality. In some instances, the elliptical shape is broken by a head carved free from the top as with entries 10 and 11 in this catalog. And in even more rare circumstances boards have legs and/or the contours of a body as with item 12. Most have a prominent and recognizable spirit face atop a body that is either very stylized or diminutive.
There has been some question as to what the boards actually represent. Alfred Haddon, writing in 1919, was one of the earliest to offer an opinion— “gope or koe are personal imunu—probably ancestral tablets, or at all events, representations of dead relatives” (Haddon, 1919, p. 179). Writing five decades later with the benefit of being an Orokolo native himself, Albert Maori Kiki stated that the principal function of a hohao was to receive the magical “charge” of an ancestral spirit (Kiki, 1970, p. 19). Yet F. E. Williams, the early Papuan government’s official resident anthropologist who spent over 16 months in the Orokolo area between 1923 and 1937, is clear that these boards represent not ancestral spirits but “various spirits of the bush—and bear the names of such spirits” (Williams, 1940, pp. 155-56). And Robert Welsch, doing more current work, has interviewed a number of Papuan Gulf elders who unanimously confirmed the spirits represented on the boards are not ancestral but bush spirits (Welsch, 2007, p. 6). Douglas Newton seems to cover all bases by stating the “boards have individual names after ancestors or places” (Newton, 1961, p. 16). Be they ancestral or bush spirits, the gope nonetheless represent spirits—probably not actual deceased relatives as Haddon initially suggested. So, I am adopting Welsch’s term, “spirit board,” henceforth in this catalog.
The ethnographic literature is also ripe with insights into the use and significance of the spirit boards. For example, while much of Williams’ research dealt with the elaborate masking festival called hevehe, he did note the importance and sacredness, often in contradiction of their apparent neglect, of the hohao boards. He was one of the first to remark that they were often carved from the curved sides of old broken canoes and that important ones were given personal names (Williams, 1940, pp. 154–55). He goes on to say that hohao were often made by individuals “in the interest of private magic,” but over time they became the property of all the members of the eravo ceremonial house. It was the responsibility of the eravo caretaker to repaint, keep bug-free and offer tokens of food to the hohao “to put them in a good humour” (Williams, 1940, p. 157).
Paul Wirz, the Swiss anthropologist, was active in the Gulf in the early 1930s and made some important distinctions with regards to the kaiaimunu, or gope boards. He notes that there are three classes of gope with the most important having their own personal names and whose use is under the care and protection of the entire clan. Below these are boards, smaller in size generally, that are kept by individual men in their own living area. And the last category are the smallest boards for the young, where every youth had one for protection and to provide “growing strength” (Wirz, p. 410).
Several decades later, in 1970, Ulli Beier and Albert Maori Kiki chronicled the decline of the hohao boards within the Orokolo area and made a last-ditch effort to record the myths and history of the few remaining old examples. Because Kiki was himself an Elema and clearly saddened by the hohao’s abandonment, his efforts are that much more poignant and impressive.
Kiki states that hohao were often charred before carving so that the burnt board left a bold, raised, black outline of the design (Beier and Kiki, 1970, p. 27). The design itself was often centered around a circle or star navel that symbolized the place of origin for the clan. And it was that connection to a tribe’s origin that was essential in renewing spiritual and magical powers (Beier and Kiki, 1970, p. 15). The magical powers once essential to warfare still had relevance to successful hunting in Kiki’s time. He relates how hohao spirits were invoked for hunting magic. A hunter would take his weapons in the eravo to be blessed by the hohao. The hohao had power to make wild pigs weak, so that they fell easy prey to the hunter (ibid., p. 15). And it was Kiki that wrote of the Orokolo term kaia muru (shadow of heaven) that expressed the divine origin of the clan design and was synonymous with the hohao boards.
Douglas Newton provides us with potentially the most telling account as to the spirit boards’ significance— “Early European visitors to Kerewa villages (Goaribari Island) were met on shore by crowds of men waving palm branches (a sign of peace) and gope” (Newton, 1961, p. 16). So in viewing the spirit boards represented in this catalog I suggest you keep in mind their many uses and considerable magical significance, their use in hunting and warfare, their protective abilities and that when faced with the arrival of the obviously bewildering power of the first Europeans, it was the gope board that they chose to hold in their hand when confronting this great unknown.
Spirit Board, Gope or Kaiaimunu, Goaribari Island or surrounding area, Kerewa culture, pre-contact and stone-carved, 19th century, 73¾” (187.3 cm) in height, collected by Dick Randolph in the 1960s, Richard Aldridge Collection.
This large and impressive gope board was carved by stone and shell tools well over a hundred years ago. It is of a rare type found among the Kerewa people with an openwork section cut out between the ancestral figure’s legs. The carving is done in high relief with a simple bold design classic to the region. Robert Welsch notes that the openwork area found on some Goaribari boards was so that it could be carried above a man’s face during an obina dance—thus transforming the board into a kind of mask (Welsch, 2007, p. 40). I find the belly design on this board very striking, and it seems uncannily similar to the opposed-hook motif found on Hunstein Mountain and Karawari River material. This connection is not entirely out of the question, as Douglas Newton notes the theory that the settlement of the Papuan Gulf originated with people from New Guinea’s north coast migrating south across the Sepik River and over the Central Mountain Range (Newton, 1961, p. 8).
Richard Aldridge, who has field collected in this area, was told that the spirit of such boards would go into battle with the men who worshipped it—both protecting them and causing confusion amongst the enemy (Aldridge, pers. comm., 2 December 2009). A gope board’s fighting and protective function has been noted repeatedly in the ethnographic literature. Leo Austen, writing in 1934, gave the following account: “Before a fight gope are taken out and held—village names are called out and the gope turned in that direction—should the gope move—that is the village to be raided” (Austen, 1934, p. 8). Ulli Beier and Albert Maori Kiki recount that before a battle warriors sat in silence in front of the spirit board and with the use of magic invoked its assistance in the fight to come. When the ritual was over the shell trumpets were blown and the leader gave out his orders (Beier and Kiki, 1970, p. 12). Douglas Newton as well remarked that in battle gope boards were thought to have gone on ahead of the warriors to “sap the strength of the prospective victims” (Newton, 1961, p. 17).
Richard Aldridge was told that the last time such boards were used in conflict was during WWII, when the locals held a ritual asking for its assistance in the upcoming war—their effectiveness was obviously proven out by the fact that all eight members of the Papuan Infantry from this Kerewa village came back alive (Aldridge, pers. comm., 2 December 2009).
Spirit Board, Gope or Kaiaimunu, Goaribari Island, Kerewa culture, pre-contact and stone-carved, late 19th/early 20th century, 60¾” (154.3 cm) in height.
The gope boards from the Kerewa people of Goaribari Island are some of the most aesthetically pleasing of the entire Papuan Gulf. As this example beautifully illustrates, the boards often have a large central ancestral face above a diminutive body. The eyes have black circular pupils above inverted cone-shape elements that curve up and over the eyes and down again to form a triangular nose. In a similar fashion of one feature morphing into another, the bent arms flow upwards and connect to form the outline of the face. Because the carving is done in relief with the raised portions painted in black or red against a sunken background of white, the design tends to visually pop out. It is this high-relief carving accentuated by juxtaposing light and dark colors combined with a crisp innovative design that accounts for the strong graphic quality of gope boards. This example is especially fine, as the bold aesthetics are tempered with the smoothness of age.
Spirit Board, Gope, or maybe a Bioma, Era River/Urama Island area, pre-contact and stone-carved, 19th century, 47½” (120.7 cm) in height, collected by Dick Randolph in the 1960s, Richard Aldridge Collection.
This ancient piece occupies the realm between a figurative gope board and a chunky bioma figure. The stout body and layered symmetry convey a gravitas not often encountered in the sometimes-whimsical art of the Papuan Gulf. The circular eyes are steady and unrelenting. The mouth is less a smile than a gape or a grimace. The torso is thick and compact without cut-out arms to give the piece the lightness occasioned by openwork. The phallus is pendulous, reaching halfway down his legs. The black-and-white color scheme adds to the solemnity of the spirit rendered. The unusually shaped navel is suspended between pincer motifs that come in from the sides. The crescent design below the neck probably refers to the kina shell necklaces worn as items of wealth and prestige.
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Kópe
Collected at Kinomere village on Urama Island, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Collected by Thomas Schultze-Westrum in 1966
John and Marcia Friede Collection
Schultze-Westrum comment: A very fine example of the design that was in the course of the Great Migration carried up to the Purari Delta (western branch of the river, in the Koriki area). Many Namau (Purari) kwói present a similar design.
Pre-contact, stone-carved, 19th century
35” (89 cm) in height
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Kópe
Nahoromere village, Era River (Urama speakers), Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Collected by Thomas Schultze-Westrum on 16 April 1966
Schultze-Westrum Collection 383 and 16.4.66
Michael Kremerskothen Collection, Dortmund, Germany
Schultze-Westrum comment: An important object because of the repetitive design (titi) below the head.
Pre-contact, stone-carved, 19th century
⅝” (95.5 cm) in height
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Kwoi or Gope
Era River, Urama Island or Coastal Namau area, Papua New Guinea, pre-contact and stone-carved, late 19th/early 20th century, 53 3/4" (136.6 cm) in height, collected in situ by Thomas Schultze-Westrum in 1966, ex. John and Marcia Friede Collection, Rye, New York.
Hohao Spirit Board, Elema Culture
Elema area, eastern section of the Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea.
19th century, 45 ⅛” (114.6 cm) in height, ex. Fenton & Sons, London; ex. Augustus-Henry-Lane-Fox-Pitt-Rivers, May 27, 1895; Wayne Macedo Collection, San Francisco, California. Illustrated on p. 1111, vol. 3, catalog of Pitt-Rivers, second collection. Written in white on reverse is “B. T. of Fenton, May 1895, Motu Motu Shield, New Guinea.”
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Gope
Wapo Creek/Era River area, Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea, pre-contact, stone-carved, late 19th/early 20th century, 29 ⅝” (75.2 cm) in height. Ex. Mert Simpson; ex. Damon Brandt; ex. de Young Museum, San Francisco, California.
This gope board was acquired by the de Young Museum of San Francisco in 1982 from the New York dealer Damon Brandt. At the time, Douglas Newton, Chairman of the Department of Primitive Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wrote the de Young curator, Kathleen Berrin, recommending the acquisition of the board. Newton remarked the gope had “all the requisite design elements in a tight, integrated assembly.” Besides the somewhat surreal multi-limb body and stylized face, the board itself is compact and carved from a hardwood with a great, dark, aged patina from generations of use. The completeness of the design, the lack of flaws and the glossy patina of the reverse give the piece a jewel-like quality rarely encountered with gope boards.
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Gope
Omauamere village, Urama Island, Urama language, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Field collected by Thomas Schultze-Westrum in 1966
Ex. Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede
Ex. Tomkins Collection (TC 578)
Illustrated in Schultze-Westrum’s Neu-Guinea: Papua-Unvelt im Aufbruch 1972, Fig. 47
Friede, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marica and John Friede, 2005, Fig. 469
Virginia-Lee Webb’s Embodied Spirits: Gope Boards from the Papuan Gulf, 2016, Fig. 119
Pre-contact, stone-carved, 19th century or earlier
31 1/8” (79 cm) in height
According to Schultze-Westrum this gope was part of a skull shrine (awae) named Paiadai that was displayed in a ceremonial house in Omaumere village. I consider this one of the greatest gope boards ever. It has great age, very deep carving, a beautiful graphic design and a powerful expression.
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Gope
Meagoma village, Gope culture, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Field collected by Thomas Schultze-Westrum in 1966
Ex. Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede
Tomkins Collection (TC 499)
Illustrated in Virginia-Lee Webb’s Embodied Spirits: Gope Boards from the Papuan Gulf, 2016, Fig. 93
Pre-contact, stone-carved, late 19th century
56 ¾” (144.3 cm) in height
This monumental spirit board blurs the boundary between gope and bioma. The piece has an unusual almost arrow-shaped head with the area by the ears cut out from the body. There are defined legs and a pendant penis completing the obvious anthropomorphic form. The wood is heavily curved and thick—probably from the side of a large old canoe. All the edges are rounded and smooth as characteristic for a stone-carved ancient spirit board.
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Gope
Gope culture area, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Ex. Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede
Tomkins Collection, New York
Pre-contact, stone-carved, 19th century
37½” (95.3 cm) in height
One of the best diagnostics of an early Papuan Gulf spirit board is the depth of carving. Later boards are stiff compositionally and shallow in the carved design. The older, pre-contact examples such as the present one have actual volumes in the primarily two-dimensional graphic element. Look at how the top face wedges up to the nose, expanding outward from the flat background. The same is true of the smaller, stylized face below. The studied asymmetry of the eye motif is also a feature of an early piece.
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Kwoi
Maipua Village, Purari culture, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Collected by Rosenkrantz von Holstein-Rathlou in 1909
Ex. Simon Eilers, Copenhagen
Ex. John Darell, Copenhagen, 1975
Ex. Jan and Anita Lundberg, Malmo, 1975–1992
Ex. Anita Schroeder, Munich, 1992–2008
Ex. Lars Berglund Collection, Malmo
Published von Holstein-Rathlou, 1914, p. 111
Exhibited in Humlebaek, Denmark, in 1991
Mid/late 19th century
37⅜” (95 cm) in height
Papuan Gulf Spirit Board, Gope or Bioma
Wapo or Era culture, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
Collected by George Craig prior to 1955
John Edler, Indianapolis
Scott and Tanya Rodolitz, New York
Tomkins Collection (TC 471)
Published in Embodied Spirits: Gope Boards from the Papuan Gulf, Webb, 2015, no. 87
Exhibited: Measure of All Things: The Human Scale, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, 2007
Late 19th/early 20th century
36¾” (93.3 cm) in height
