The masks of the Duke of York Islands, between New Britain and New Ireland, are part of a broader masking tradition that originally extended from southern New Ireland to the Tolai people of northern New Britain. Known by variants of the name lor, which means skull in Tolai, the masks have white faces with mouths that often appear to be smiling. The significance of lor masks in the Duke of York Islands is uncertain, but they likely played similar roles to those of Tolai, where the tradition persists. Today, Tolai lor masks are worn by performers in a dance called tambaran kakao (spirit that crawls). The masks reportedly represent a spirit that comes to a local leader in dreams and reveals the details of dance paraphernalia and choreography.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Mask (Lor [?])
Date:late 19th–early 20th century
Geography:Papua New Guinea, New Britain
Culture:New Britain
Medium:Wood, paint, fiber
Dimensions:H. 26 × W. 13 × D. 4 in. (66 × 33 × 10.2 cm)
Classification:Wood-Sculpture
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1967
Accession Number:1978.412.1514
Raymond and Laura Wielgus, Chicago; William Struve, Glenview, Ill., until 1967; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1967–1978
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 61.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 119.
Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 93.
Corbin, George and Sarah. East New Britain. 1999, p. 264.
Parkinson, Richard Heinrich Robert. Thirty Years in the South Seas: Land and People, Customs and Traditions in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999, p. 259, 297, pl. 44.
Heermann, Ingrid, ed. Form, Colour, Inspiration: Oceanic Art from New Britain. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2001.
Kjellgren, Eric. Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, p. 158, no. 93.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
![Mask (Lor [?]), Wood, paint, fiber, New Britain](https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ao/web-additional/DP145504.jpg)
![Mask (Lor [?]), Wood, paint, fiber, New Britain](/Rodan/dist/img/1x1-d7dcde.gif)
![Mask (Lor [?]), Wood, paint, fiber, New Britain](/Rodan/dist/svg/rolling-0.9s-30px.svg)
