Oceanic Art

by Kaeppler, Adrienne L.; Kaufmann, Christian; Newton, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9780810936935
• ISBN10: 0810936933
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-09-01
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Summary

Oceania -- Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia -- is made up of thousands of islands, from the vast territory of New Guinea to a myriad of tiny coral atolls. Its indigenous peoples have developed civilizations of infinite variety. In most of these societies, art holds a crucial position in both social and religious life and includes not only architecture, painting, and sculpture, but also music, dance, prayer, and body decoration. This comprehensive volume by a team of top-ranking scholars addresses the arts of these Pacific islands. The first major survey in more than 30 years, it brings together a vast number of important discoveries and the results of several in-depth studies of Oceanic arts. It also provides an introduction for the general reader through a series of remarkable texts and 900 illustrations, more than one-third of which have never before been published. A documentary section on the principal cultural groups of the region provides an essential reference.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION	7	(14)
Douglas Newton
POLYNESIA AND MICRONESIA	21	(138)
Adrienne Kaeppler
PROLEGOMENON TO THE STUDY OF POLYNESIAN ART	21	(18)
Collecting and Collectors of Polynesian Art	23	(2)
Polynesia and its Arts: an Overview	25	(14)
THE MYTHOLOGICAL CHARTER	39	(22)
Space, Time, and the Gods	39	(1)
The Organization of Space and Time	39	(4)
Space and the Built Environment	43	(1)
Hawaiian Heiau	43	(2)
Maori Marae and Canoes	45	(2)
Settlement Patterns and Spatial Orientation	47	(2)
Household Furnishings	49	(12)
SCULPTURAL MANIFESTATIONS OF MYTHOLOGICAL CHARTER	61	(22)
Visual Results of the Work of the Gods	61	(2)
Visual Manifestations of Hierarchy	63	(3)
Visual Results of Complementarity	66	(5)
Female, Male, and Androgynous Figures	71	(12)
SACRED FIBERS, FEATHERS, AND INNER BARKS	83	(22)
Materials of the Gods, Symbols of Rank	83	(1)
Twisting, Braiding, Knotting, and Entangling Divinity	83	(3)
Cloth Valuables and Entangling Mana	86	(1)
Plaiting and Weft-Twining	86	(2)
Pounding and Printing	88	(3)
Design, Entangling and Disentangling	91	(14)
PROPRIETY, PRESENTATION, AND AESTHETICS OF THE BODY	105	(30)
The Art of Presentation	106	(2)
Tattooing	108	(2)
Ornaments and Objects of Authority	110	(1)
The Evolution and Flowering of Polynesian Art	111	(1)
Intervention by Explorers	111	(1)
Intervention by New Gods	112	(1)
Polynesian Art Today	113	(22)
MICRONESIAN ART	135	(24)
Studying, Collecting, and Exhibiting Micronesian Art	135	(2)
Micronesia and its Arts--an Overview	137	(1)
Sailing the Sea, Navigating the Arts	138	(1)
Organizing Space, the Buildings of Social Relationships	139	(3)
Tattooing: the Body as Aesthetic Object	142	(1)
Weaving and Plaiting: the Social Fabric of Aesthetic Intention	143	(1)
Presenting the Self: Jewels from the Land and Sea	144	(15)
MELANESIA	159	(246)
Christian Kaufmann
INTRODUCTION	159	(2)
SOME PRINCIPLES OF MELANESIAN ART	161	(20)
WHY IMAGES?	181	(36)
Point of Departure	181	(1)
How Our Eyes Were Opened	182	(4)
Questions Science asks of Melanesian Art	186	(3)
From the Work and its Motifs to the Image	189	(2)
The Organization of Memory	191	(26)
THE IMAGE AND ITS INTERPRETATION	217	(30)
Initial Selection: A Detailed Study	218	(7)
The "Squatting" Figure	225	(2)
The "Head and Bust" Motif	227	(1)
The Figure's Potential for Movement as a Subject of Representation	228	(1)
Masks	228	(1)
The "Fusion of a Resting Figure with a Tree Trunk" Motif	229	(2)
Relations Between Mode of Expression, Artistic Discipline, and Image	231	(1)
The Viewer's Interpretation of the Image	232	(15)
ARTIST-IMAGE MAKER	247	(28)
The Contemporary Artist: the Awareness of Tradition and the Search for Novelty	253	(22)
FROM IMAGE TO COSMOS	275	(34)
Ritual and Symbolic Organization of Life	275	(3)
The Canon: a Filter of Social Memory	278	(1)
Multiple Mental Worlds: the Yafar of New Guinea	279	(2)
The Material Reflection of the Iconic World: the Kanak Culture of Central New Guinea	281	(28)
CONTENT AND FORM	309	(30)
The Canon: Ordering Iconic Ideas	309	(4)
Styles: Sign of Identification or Ideal Form	313	(1)
Three Historical Perspectives	314	(2)
Style and Canon in the Mask Motif	316	(23)
PERCEIVING COLOR AND FORM	339	(26)
The Problem of the Local Aesthetic	339	(2)
Polychromy and Image	341	(24)
ART AREAS OF MELANESIA	365	(40)
A Short History of Oceania	365	(5)
New Caledonia	370	(3)
Vanuatu	373	(2)
Solomon Islands	375	(2)
New Britain	377	(1)
New Ireland, Lavongai Island, and Other Islands	378	(1)
Admiralty Islands	379	(1)
New Guinea	380	(25)
DOCUMENTATION	405	(110)
MAP	515	(4)
PRINCIPAL OCEANIC CULTURAL GROUPS	519	(96)
Western Polynesia	519	(12)
Eastern Polynesia	531	(16)
Micronesia	547	(5)
Melanesia	552	(63)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	615	(12)
INDEX	627