art history

Presentation of Fijian mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II. Fiji, Polynesia. 1953 C.E. Multimedia performance (costume; cosmetics, including scent; chant; movement; and pandanus ber/hibiscus ber mats), photographic documentation.  On December 17, 1953, a newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, arrived on the island of Fiji, then an English colony. The first thing you might notice in the photograph is the procession of Fijian women making their way through a group of seated Fijian men and women. Several of the processing women are wearing skirts made of barkcloth painted with geometric patterns. Barkcloth, or masi, as it is referred to in Fiji, is made by stripping the inner bark of mulberry trees, soaking the bark, then beating it into strips of cloth that are glued together, often by a paste made of arrowroot.  Bold and intricate geometric patterns in red, white, and black are often painted onto the masi; o...

Malagan display and mask. New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea. c. 20th century C.E. Wood, pigment, fiber, and shell. This figure was made for malangan, a cycle of rituals of the people of the north coast of New Ireland, an island in Papua New Guinea. Malangan express many complex religious and philosophical ideas. They are principally concerned with honoring and dismissing the dead, but they also act as affirmation of the identity of clan groups, and negotiate the transmission of rights to land. ​ Malangan sculptures were made to be used on a single occasion and then destroyed. They are symbolic of many important subjects, including identity, kinship, gender, death, and the spirit world. The figure also alludes to the identity of that clan group; talks elements from an animal which represents the clan.  It was one a group of carvings made to be displayed at a particular malangan ritual. It is made of wood, vegetable fiber, pigment and shell (turbo petholatus ope...

Navigation chart. Marshall Islands, Micronesia. 19th to early 20th century C.E. Wood and fiber. The Marshall Islands in eastern Micronesia consist of thirty-four coral atolls consisting of more than one thousand islands and islets spread out across an area of several hundred miles. In order to maintain links between the islands, the Marshall Islanders built seafaring canoes. These vessels were both quick and maneuverable. In order to determine a system of piloting and navigation the islanders devised charts that marked not only the locations of the islands, but their knowledge of the swell and wave patterns as well. The charts were composed of wooden sticks; the horizontal and vertical sticks act as supports, while diagonal and curved ones represent wave swells.  Cowrie or other small shells represent the position of the islands.  The information was memorized and the charts would not be carried on voyages.

 Tamati Waka Nene. Gottfried Lindauer. 1890 C.E. Oil on canvas. Paintings record likenesses and bring ancestral presence into the world of the living.  this portrait is not merely a representation of Tamati Waka Nene, it can be an embodiment of him.  Portraits and other taonga tuku iho (treasures passed down from the ancestors) are treated with great care and reverence.  After a person has died their portrait may be hung on the walls of family homes to be spoken to, wept over, and cherished by people with genealogical connections to them. Māori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. The subject of this portrait, Tamati Waka Nene, was a Rangatira or chief of the Ngāti Hao people in Hokianga, of the Ngāpuhi iwi or tribe, and an important war leader. He was probably born in the 1780s, and died in 1871. He lived through a time of rapid change in New Zealand, when the first British missionaries and settlers were arriving.  In this portrait, N...

Hiapo (tapa). Niue. c. 1850–1900 C.E. Tapa or bark cloth, freehand painting. Women's arts historically utilized soft materials, particularly fibers used to make mats and bark cloth. Women’s arts included ephemeral materials such as flowers and leaves. Terminology, decorations, dyes, and designs vary through out the islands. Generally, to make bark cloth, a woman would harvest the inner bark of the paper mulberry (a flowering tree). The inner bark is then pounded flat, with a wooden beater or ike, on an anvil, usually made of wood. Methods vary per culture.  Design illustrations involved geometric motifs in an overall ordered and abstract patterns. The most important traditional uses for tapa were for clothing, bedding and wall hangings. Textiles were often specially prepared and decorated for people of rank. Tapa was ceremonially displayed on special occasions, such as birthdays and weddings. At times of death, bark cloth may be integral part of funeral and burial rit...

Polynesia means literally “many islands.” South Pacific.  Our knowledge of ancient Polynesian culture derives from ethnographic journals, missionary records, archaeology, linguistics, and oral traditions. Polynesians represent vital art producing cultures in the present day. Polynesians were distinguished by long-distance navigation skills and two-way voyages on outrigger canoes. Native social structures were typically organized around highly developed aristocracies, and beliefs in primo-geniture (priority of the first-born). At the top of the social structure were divinely sanctioned chiefs, nobility, and priests. Artists were part of a priestly class, followed in rank by warriors and commoners. Polynesian cultures value genealogical depth, tracing one’s lineage back to the gods. Oral traditions recorded the importance of genealogical distinction, or recollections of the accomplishments of the ancestors. Cultures held firm to the belief in mana, a supernatural power associate...

  Buk (mask). Torres Strait. Mid- to late 19th century C.E. Turtle shell, wood, fiber, feathers, and shell. Torres Strait - series of islands between Australia and New Guinea; Mabuiag Island; Turtle shell mask; human face; on top face/body of a bird; feathers We only find this material in the Torres Strait. Raffia resembles hair; frigate bird.  Pieces stitched together; feathers, shell; textured. One part of an elaborate costume; used in costume; audience; wind would affect the hair/feathers. Meant to be dynamic, moving.  Bird seen as a totem; connected to lineage; connected the culture to the supernatural; turtle shell was actively traded; many masks destroyed; outsiders collected them; created for tourism?  Items had prestige. 

Female deity. Nukuoro, Micronesia. c. 18th to 19th century C.E. Wood. Nukuoro is a small isolated atoll in the archipelago of the Caroline Islands. It is located in Micronesia, a region in the Western Pacific. An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. Archaeological excavations demonstrate that Nukuoro has been inhabited since at least the eighth century.  All the sculptures, ranging in size from 30 cm to 217 cm, have similar proportions: an ovoid head tapering slightly at the chin and a columnar neck. The eyes and nose are either discretely shown as slits or not at all. The shoulders slope downwards and the chest is indicated by a simple line. Some female figures have rudimentary breasts. Some of the sculptures, be they male, female or of indeterminate sex, have a sketchy indication of hands and feet. The buttocks are always flattened and set on a flexed pair of legs. Local deities in Nukuoro resided ...

Staff god. Rarotonga, Cook Islands, central Polynesia. Late 18th to early 19th century C.E. Wood, tapa, fiber, and feathers. Representations of the deities worshipped by Cook Islanders before their conversion to Christianity included wooden images in human form, slab carvings and staffs such as this, known as "god sticks." It is made of ironwood wrapped with lengths of barkcloth. The upper part of the staff consists of a carved head above smaller carved figures. The lower end is a carved phallus. Some missionaries removed and destroyed phalluses from carvings, considering them obscene. The shaft is in the form of an elongated body, with a head and small figures at one end. The other end, composed of small figures and a naturalistic penis, is missing.  The only surviving wrapped example of a large staff god, this impressive image is composed of a central wood shaft wrapped in an enormous roll of decorated barkcloth. There are no other surviving large staff-gods fro...

‘Ahu ‘ula (feather cape). Hawaiian. Late 18th century C.E. Feathers and olona fiber. The Hawaiian male nobility wore feather cloaks and capes for ceremonies and battle. Such cloaks and capes were called 'ahu'ula, or "red garments." Across Polynesia the color red was associated with both gods and chiefs. In the Hawaiian Islands, however, yellow feathers became equally valuable, due to their scarcity. Tiny bundles of feathers were attached to the netting in overlapping rows. This small cape has a shaped neckline which would closely fit the wearer. Large numbers of feathered cloaks and capes were given as gifts to the sea captains and their crews who were the earliest European visitors to Hawaii; passed onto patrons/leaders who financed their voyages.  It is not known who brought this particular cape to England.

 Moai on platform ( Hoa Hakananai'a ) . Rapa Nui (Easter Island). c. 1100–1600 C.E. Volcanic tuff gures on basalt base. Easter Island is famous for its stone statues of human figures, known as moai (meaning “statue”). The island is known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. The moai were probably carved to commemorate important ancestors until the second half of the seventeenth century. Over a few hundred years the inhabitants of this remote island quarried, carved and erected around 887 moai. The size and complexity of the moai increased over time.  It is one of only fourteen moai made from basalt, the rest are carved from the island’s softer volcanic tuff.  It would have stood with giant stone companions, their backs to the sea, keeping watch over the island. Its eyes sockets were originally inlaid with red stone and coral and the sculpture was painted with red and white designs.  It has a heavy eyebrow ridge, elongated ears and oval nostrils. The clavic...

Nan Madol. Pohnpei, Micronesia. Saudeleur Dynasty. c. 700–1600 C.E. Basalt boulders and prismatic columns. Off the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia, lies the ancient city of Nan Madol, the only ancient city ever built upon a coral reef. no records exist as to when exactly it was built, where the enormous rocks came from, how they were transported there, and for what reason it was constructed on top of a reef. They were deeply religious and sometimes cruel, and modern Pohnpeians view the ruins as a sacred and scary place where spirits own the night. Most of the islets served as residential area, however some of them served special purpose, such as food preparation, coconut oil production or canoe construction.  There are no sources of fresh water or possibilities to grow food on Nan Madol so all supplies had to be brought in from the mainland. The population of the city probably included a large number of commoner servants. Nan Madol had been abandoned by the time the fir...