N O N W E S T E R N A RT

OCEANIA

OCEANIA

• Each of the groups of separate people in Oceania and Highland Asia developed their own unique, highly stylized visual traditions

• Some of the worlds most symbolic artwork has been produced in this area

• Most groups have had little or no contact with other cultures

• Some were parts of larger cultural groups- like Oceania

• Oceania is comprised of Australia, New Zealand and numerous nearby islands.

• Inner Pacific Islands fall into 3 groups- Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia

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OCEANIA AND HIGHLAND ASIA

• Highland tribes of the Southeast Asian peninsula separated themselves from the mainstream of lowland cultures at various time throughout history

• Various tribes have produced similar, but distinctive, art forms

• Houses built on stilts with steeply sloping thatch roofs predominant

• Peoples of highlands share many similarities artistically with those from the Pacific

• Created objects not just for beauty, but for functional purposes

• Art as utility and aesthetics• Many objects also have a religious element• Feature animal and geometric symbolism and symbolic

pattern

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• Paintings such as these can be found inside communal longhouses of Borneo- highly stylized- curvilinear design

Gableboard PaintingKenyah tribeBorneo

Vegetable dyes and earth colors on wood

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• Mystic designs in oceanic and highland art are often empowered with spiritual energy• Woven blanket- filled with mystic and totemic

symbols• Totem- animal or natural object that symbolizes a

clan or family• Alligators were common motifs in Oceanic art• Bird illustrated in form of army helicopter- as

indigenous people came in contact with modern technology, artwork reflects it

BlanketIban tribeSarawakEast MalaysiaCotton and vegetable dyes

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• Masks are an important part of Oceanic art and sculpture as well• Masks decorated ceremonial huts and are used in

worship• In rituals- the person who wears the mask loses

his or her identity and becomes the spirit of the ancestor or spirit represented by the mask• Spears, boats, tools and eating utensils also

carved • Mystic or animal motifs carved onto these items

invest them with life and power

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Weaving Peg (Turuturu)Date: early 19th centuryGeography: New Zealand, Whanganui regionCulture: Maori peopleMedium: WoodDimensions: H. 14 5/8 x W. 1 5/8 x D. 1 7/8 in

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Gable MaskSawos people, Upper Sepik River, Papua New Guinea, Oceania39 inches, bark, eyes, mouth and nose of woven fiber, cassowary feathers

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• Not as many ancient wooden objects bc wood is highly perishable and rots within around 250 years unless immersed in liquid• Can be eaten by insects or worn out by humans• Wood was the most popular medium for this area• Shells, nephrite (remember what this was also

called?), walrus and whale ivory also used, as well as human bones for jewelry• Lava and other volcanic stones like Easter Island

and the Society islands may have been carved by iron tools brought by westerners

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Jaw Bone necklacePapua New Guinea

The lower jaw-bone was always separated from the skull of an enemy and given to the women to wear as a necklace, this was regarded as the ultimate insult to the vanquished warrior.

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• Most wood figures found in present day are less than 100 yrs old due to deteriation

Male Ancestral FigureSepik RiverPapua New GuineaWood colored with earth pigments

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• Sarawak customs- several different tribes lived in this Malaysian state• Among them- Kenyah and Ibanwho continue to

live in traditional longhouses• Communal bamboo structures that can hold

between 10 and 40 families. Under ONE roof.

• Longhouses today

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• Painting is used to embellish carved wooden images and masks, esp in Melanesia• Papua New Guinea has one of strongest artistic

traditions• Objects for ancestor worship are often

ornamented in bright colors• Ancestral figures are carved from wood in sizes 3

in to 3 ft• Embellished with white highlights and reddish

brown paint• Brown paint symbolizes blood and continued

existence of the soul of the deceased

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Male Ancestral FigureAsmat TribePapua New Guinea

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• Totemism common in Melanesia- making of totems of masks• Masks- permanent dwelling of spiritual forces• Masks, statues and other cult worship objects

used to identify kinship

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Ancestor SkullAsmatPapua New Guinea

eyes and nasal cavity filled with beeswax and inlaid with grey and red seeds

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• Native art in northern Papua reflects blend of island, coastal and mountain cultures• Wood carvings show variety in subject matter and

expression• Detailed and well-carved wooden images

embellished with shells, dog’s teeth, feathers, animal, paint or natural earth• Images either ancestral masks, ceremonial masks

or fertility images

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Female Ancestor FigureAsmatPapua New Guinea

Child on back, ceremonial drum (tifa) on front

Weirdly- usually only men carried/ used the drum…

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• In contrast to the carvings and woodwork of the Melanesians, Polynesian objects of worship stress the grain of the wood, not adding and relying on bright color

Seed canisterDayak TribeBorneo

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• Although Easter Island is Chilean, the tribes that built Easter Island were Polynesian• More than likely used tools brought in by

westerners• Rapa Nui- Easter Island• Rongorongo- glyphs found on Easter Island, never translated

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• Maori peoples were the original inhabitants of New Zealand- migrated from other Pacific Islands• Best stone carvers in Polynesia• Carved deep-green nephrite into ornaments,

working for months to drill sculptural images of ancestral symbols• Touching nephrite was said to cure kidney

diseases, thus the name nephrite from the Greek word nephros, meaning kidney

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A finely carved four-inch long Maori nephrite neck pendent (hei tiki) stems from the Rotorua area, North Island, New Zealand. The desirable pendant was expected to bring as much as $8,000 when offered by Bonhams & Butterfields in San Francisco, saw highly competitive bids, selling for $45,750. Collected in the 1850s and purportedly traded for gold, the hei tiki had been within an Australian museum collection

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• Maori arts incl poetry, storytelling, dance, music and carving

• Maori chief’s house and clans’ meetinghouse decorated with carved figures and hangings- status symbol for the whole tribe

• Chief- direct descendant of a tribal ancestor, house showed link bt past and present

• Carvings represented ancestors, symbolic images carved thought to neutralize spirits

• Carvers considered mediators bt real and otherworld spirits

• Also have common jobs like carving canoes, weaponry, tools, musical instruments, etc

• Maori cultural traditions continue today in rural New Zealand

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Examples of Maori meetinghouses

OCEANIACarved Wall PanelInterior of a Maori meetinghouseLate 19th century

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• Some think that tattoo work on the human body originated in the Marquesas (west of Australia)• Started as an under the skin dyeing process that

took years• Traditionally covered men’s bodies with geometric

designs

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An example of a modern day tatau

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• Australian aboriginal culture shared stylistic and media similarities with Oceanic and highland peoples• Aborigines produced a tradition of bark painting

on flattened bark• Bark was then usually placed on the inside of

their temporary shelters

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After further stripping back to the point where only the inner layer of smooth fibre is left, the bark is placed over an open fire, outer side down, and it slowly uncurls in the heat. This also chars the outer bark and stripping can then be completed. The bark is then laid in the sun and compressed with heavy stones. Once flat and dry, the bark surface is ready and painting can begin. The materials used for painting on bark are red, brown, rust, yellow, black and white earth pigments, fixatives as well as a range of brushes and applicators. 

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• Kangaroos, birds, fish, snakes, tortoises and alligators are all common subjects

• X-ray effect used • Designs of humans, mammals, birds, fish and

reptiles were also abraded, pecked or hammered into surfaces of rocks

• Common to find geometric designs carved into earth or trees as part of initiation ceremonies

• The vast history of this entire region has only been discovered in the 20th century

• So far, the art heritage has been more closely studied by anthropologists that art historians

• We have a lot to learn yet!

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Aboriginal Rock PaintingsWestern Arnhem IslandAustralia

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• Describe the totemic symbols found in the Iban Tribe/ Sarawak blanket.

• What does totemic mean?• How has the artist combined contemporary culture symbols

with traditional design in this blanket?• What does the red brown paint on New Guinea wooden

ancestral figures symbolize?• How are Melanesian wood carvings different from Polynesian

wood carvings?• What type of unusual art is found on Easter Island?• Where is one of the places tattoo design was thought to

originate?• List some of the animals painted on the bark by the

aborigines. • How did these artists show two views of the same animal at

the same time? What is the word for it?