Resource Spotlight | “Uli: Powerful Ancestors from the Pacific” by Jean-Philippe Beaulieu

 

Uli | New Ireland
© Museum Rietberg | Switzerland

 
 
 

ULI

Powerful Ancestors from the Pacific

 
 

by Jean-Philippe Beaulieu

 
 
 

Created by the Mandak people of central New Ireland, uli figures were the centerpieces of elaborate funerary cycles. The majority of known examples were collected by German colonial personnel in the early twentieth century, a time when uli rituals were being discontinued in favor of other funerary celebrations. These large and remarkable figural sculptures quickly became the most sought-after artworks for German institutions and, later, private collectors.

In this luxurious slipcased volume, Jean-Phillipe Beaulieu presents a catalogue raisonné of known ulis, extant and lost, 231 examples in all, 205 of which are illustrated. Detailed entries provide all known information on provenance along with stylistic notes and other particulars. Text chapters delve into the history of New Ireland, the German colonial presence there, and what little information is known about the uli rituals. The impact of ulis upon the European art scene of the early twentieth century, particularly that of the surrealists, is also explored. Biographical detail is presented about the various “uli hunters”—anthropologists, missionaries, and adventurers, most of them German, who acquired the examples that are now so treasured in Western collections. This beautiful book is printed in a limited edition of 100 copies, and it will be a welcome addition to any library, whether its focus is Pacific artifacts or general fine art.

 
 

Uli | New Ireland
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin | Germany

Uli | New Ireland
© Los Angeles County Museum of Art | California, USA

Uli | New Ireland
© Museum Rietberg | Switzerland

Uli | New Ireland
© The Brooklyn Museum | New York, USA

Uli | New Ireland
© Musée du quai Branly | France

Uli | New Ireland
© Linden Museum | Germany

Uli | New Ireland
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen | The Netherlands

Uli | New Ireland
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin | Germany

Uli | New Ireland
© Museum Fünf Kontinente | Germany

 
 

Click the image below to watch In Dialogue: Funerary Figures and Remembering the Living with Jean-Philippe Beaulieu.

 

Jean-Philippe Beaulieu joins Paul R. Davis, the Menil’s Curator of Collections, to discuss uli figures and their role in the Malagan funeral rituals of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Beaulieu’s monograph on uli sculptures, featuring a notable example from the Menil’s collection, will be released later this year.

 
 
 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Art of the Ancestors does not receive a commission should any of our readers purchase the aforementioned book. Art of the Ancestors is a strictly non-commercial educational platform and has no vested interest in the professional activities of the author listed above.

 
 

Colophon

Author | Jean-Philippe Beaulieu
Publisher | Primedia, Belgium
Date of Publication | 2021