BEAK STYLE

Painted wooden neckrest in the beak style with cowrie-shell decoration, c. 1870, from the 1/4 distinctive use of birdlike forms in human figures carved in wood in the lower Sepik and Ramu regions of Papua New Guinea. The head of the figure is generally placed on a short neck that connects it to a thick body, over which a long, beaklike nose often projects. Facial features have a thin, linear quality that emphasizes the downward thrust of the nose and contrasts with the robust heaviness of the limbs of the full-length figures. Examples of the beak style are seen in masks, statues, and utilitarian objects such as headrests, which are frequently painted and decorated with shells, tufts of hair, feathers, and bits of fibre and cloth. A sculptural form similar to the beak style is known in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) and New Caledonia.