Ceremonial entrance panel
Perilous entrance
Douglas Newton, an esteemed curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, was traveling with the collector when this entrance panel from the Sawos people, of the Sepik River of New Guinea, was purchased. In writing about the experience, he expressed an opinion that Sepik River art has a particular leaning toward "the numinous, the awesome and the terrifying." He advocates realizing that not all art is meant to be likeable and cites an essay from 1757 by the philosopher Edmund Burke that considers "the roots of the sublime to be horror, fear, astonishment, and terror, as they are inspired in art by such masters as the Greek dramatists, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Milton." What the Sawos philosophers would have to say about this panel-and the observations it inspired-has not been recorded.
Wood, pigment, and fiber
60 5/8 x 14 5/8 x 3 1/4 in. (154 x 37.15 x 8.26 cm)
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.1458
