Skip to main content
Grade Statue, 20th Century
Banks Islands, Torba Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root
…
Grade Statue
Grade Statue, 20th Century
Banks Islands, Torba Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root
…
Grade Statue, 20th Century Banks Islands, Torba Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia Tree fern root L.2015.22.2 Loan courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Gayle Roski

Grade Statue

ClassificationsSculpture
Date20th Century
Made AtTorba Province, Vanuatu
MediumTree fern root
Credit LineLoan courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Edward and Gayle Roski
Object numberL.2015.22.2
DescriptionGrade statues from the Banks Islands are similar to those made on the nearby islands of Vanuatu, examples of which can be seen in this gallery. They too signify an individual's passing into a higher rank and status among the living and the spirits worlds. Moving up in grade is achieved by completing tasks, both political and religious, that become more rigorous the higher one ascends. In the Banks Islands grade statues are placed in front of private homes as symbols of the owner's wealth and most likely as symbols of the powerful ancestors the inhabitants are aligned with.

Factors like limited food, high rates of disease, and constant battles over land made traditional life throughout Melanesia uncertain at the best of times. In an effort to control these unknowns and improve their lives, the peoples of New Guinea often turned to gods, spirits of the forest, and their own ancestors. Every village found a unique balance between the physical and spiritual worlds, using belief systems and ritual objects developed over thousands of generations to influence outcomes for the better. Consequently, what has evolved in New Guinea is today one of the world’s richest animistic belief systems as witnessed through the island’s art.
On View
On view
Grade Statue, 20th Century
Banks Islands, Torba Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root; …
20th Century
Grade Statue, early 20th Century
Ambrym Island, Malampa Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fer…
early 20th Century
Grade Statue, early 20th Century
Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root, ochre and …
early 20th Century
Grade Statue, early 20th Century
Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root, ochre and …
early 20th Century
Grade Statue, 20th Century
Ambrym Island, Malampa Province, Vanuatu, Melanesia
Tree fern root…
20th Century
Ikenga Figure, 20th Century
Igbo culture; Nigeria
Wood and paint; 20 1/2 x 7 x 5 in.
91.52.1…
Igbo
20th Century
War Shield, mid 20th Century
Asaro culture; Otomanaro, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New G…
Asaro
mid 20th Century
Monkey-Man Figure, mid 20th Century
Palau, Micronesia
Wood and shell; 9 × 5 1/8 × 4 3/4 in.
…
mid 20th Century
Monkey-Man Figure, mid 20th Century
Palau, Micronesia
Wood and shell; 7 3/4 × 5 1/8 × 4 3/4 i…
mid 20th Century
Monkey-Man Figure, mid 20th Century
Palau, Micronesia
Wood and shell; 10 × 3 × 4 in.
2019.17…
mid 20th Century
War Shield, early 20th Century
Jimi Valley, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia
Wood…
early 20th century
Monkey-Man Figure, mid 20th Century
Jimmy Mtoched (Palauan); Koror Island, Palau, Micronesia
…
Jimmy Mtoched
mid 20th Century