Sculpture by Elema artists was some of the earliest collected by outsiders and brought to Europe. In 1874 Rev. William Lawes established the first station of the London Missionary Society in Port Moresby near these communities in the eastern Papuan Gulf. Missionaries and traders passed through Sydney to purchase supplies and board ships. The curio and taxidermy shop Tost & Rohu in Sydney was a prominent seller of art and photographs from all over the Pacific, with access to visitors on their way to New Guinea and nearby regions. In the early twentieth century, anthropologist A.B.Lewis photographed and collected spirit boards from this region.

Provenance:
Todd Barlin, Sydney 2008
Tost & Rohu, Sydney