standing male figure holding a human head

unrecorded Ifugao artist, artist

standing male figure holding a human head, 1950s

Where object was made: Ifugao, Philippines

Material/technique: staining; dyeing; cloth; wood; weaving; carving

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): 59.5 x 24 x 31 cm
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): 23 7/16 x 9 7/16 x 12 3/16 in

Credit line: Gift of the Olga E. and Lt. Colonel Raymond H. Hollis family

Accession number: 2007.3126.a,b

Not on display

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Empire of Things

This dynamic scene, rendered in ebony-stained wood, tells a grim story. An imposing man towers above a lifeless human body prone at his feet. Still clutching the victim’s decapitated head, the standing figure seems unconcerned with the dog scavenging flesh from the corpse. This carving shares telling traits of the sculptures produced for tourists who inundated the Philippine province of Ifuago in the aftermath of World War II. By perpetuating stereotypes of the head-hunting barbarian, native sculptors deliberately marketed their products toward the Euro-American fascination with the macabre, if oftentimes imagined, life of the “primitive other.”