The Art of Oceania

AP Art History Where exactly is Oceania?

● One of the oldest inhabited places in the world

○ Comprised of islands around Asia in the Pacific Rim, outside of the influence of India and China.

○ Generally comprised of four different regions

■ Austronesia

■ Melanesia-North and East of Australia,

■ -North and East of Melanesia

■ Polynesia-Many islands in Eastern Pacific, triangle between New Zealand, and

● All share a similar ancestry in the Lapita people who created earliest pictures of humans on pottery shards

Apparently Primitive

● Relative isolation of the Pacific islands for thousands of years led to a distinct and unique culture.

○ Many Pacific cultures share similarities with unique differences in appearance

○ Despite novelty, Pacific art shares common features with other native cultures in terms of purpose and function.

■ Importance of ancestor worship, ancestor spirits from Dreamtime

■ The belief of a spirit or life force called ‘mana’

■ Materials chosen are significant for holding spirits

■ Art paired with ritual, objects take meaning within the ritual

■ Clans and culture are important in isolated regions Similarity in the Sea ● The sea is a critical part of Pacific culture and therefore, a central feature in the art and architecture

○ Art works are often functional and also reveal a very advanced, seafaring Shells = islands society. Wind currents ○ The Navigation Charts from the Marshall Islands (Micronesia)

■ Used as maps or navigational Water currents training aids for sailors

■ Used to navigate the many islands, especially Marshall islands which lay low to the waterline, difficult to see.

The Importance of Gender Parallelism ● In the Pacific, men and women had clearly defined roles, both equally important. Artists were the equivalent of priests

○ Gender determined who could create certain works of and in particular media.

○ Men carved, women sewed and made pottery.

■ Pacific works were made from whatever was locally available.

■ Barkcloth or tapa was made from the inner bark of mulberry tree.

● Small strips of bark are soaked and then beaten together until fused. Designs printed or dyed depending on culture

○ This practice could be seen throughout the Pacific but called different names. Bringing in the Bark Cloth ● The people of New Zealand were introduced to bark cloths from by Christian missionaries, a large bridge between Samoan and society islands .

○ Naturalization of plants, stenciling pattern with complicated geometric designs became identifiable as being distinctly New Zealand patterns.

■ Could be worn

■ Could be to honor a chief or honor a lineage of ancestors

■ Patterns resemble patterns in Lapita pottery.

■ The Nieu probably had their own style of bark, but when the missionaries arrived, they developed a more naturalized look.

Finding Mats in Fiji ● December, 1953-Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited Fiji, an English colony on a tour of the commonwealth islands.

○ Women are seen here presenting Queen Elizabeth with Masi, bark cloth that they are wearing for the special occasion and presenting her with mats as gifts.

○ The presentation was a performance, the barkcloth is part of the ceremony, which was common in social situations such as weddings

● Much more geometric and abstract than New Zealand cloth

● Women were wearing floral motifs and geometric crowns to celebrate the occasion.

Royalty in their Own Right

● Pacific societies were based on social hierarchies with chiefs, tribal leaders

○ Red was a color associated with rule and religion, a connection between the gods and rulers, especially in Hawai’i, highly stratified

○ Male rulers would wear feathers in the color red, usually in coats or capes- ahu’ula

■ Sometimes comprised of over 500,000 feathers

■ Yellow feathers became used as symbols of status due to rarity.

■ Artists were religious figures who invoked the spirit of ancestors into the cloaks for power and protection in battle.

● Believed to be protected, no two are the same.

Advanced Architecture ● Oceania even featured works of large scale architecture featuring amazing feats of architecture.

○ Architecture was used to establish a social hierarchy through separation/stratification

○ Nan-Madol was the capital city of the Saudeleur Dynasty in Micronesia, built at same time as Angkor wat and Notre Dame Cathedral!

■ Only structure entirely built on a coral reef.

■ The Venice of the Pacific

● 92 artificial islands built onto a coral reef, connected by canals

● Actually self-cleaning, sanitary, washed out by tides

Megaliths of Nan-Madol ● Structures at Nan-Madol are megalithic structures made of Basalt- Volcanic rock that breaks clean and can create large scale, precise structures, very smooth.

● Center piece is the royal mortuary.

○ The size of Nan Madol was meant to be intimidating. Rivals and subjects were forced to live in the city to be monitored, similar to Versailles From Madol to ● Other large sculptural structures existed within the Pacific.

○ Moai means statue, more than 800

○ Easter Island is the site of large scale statues, approx. 50 tons apiece, 13 feet tall

○ Volcanic rock on basalt

○ The platforms are made of stone mixed with ash from cremations

■ Could be ancestors, protective male figures, first settler kings

■ Backs placed to the sea, keeping watch over the island

■ Eyes inlaid with red stone and coral to open

Did the Statues End Easter Island?

● When the Europeans found Easter Island and the great statues, they did not believe such a small group of poor people could have made them.

○ The Polynesian people of Easter Island may have destroyed their own society by over depleting resources in a tribal race to create them bigger.

○ Not all the statues look the same (example: top knots on some)

■ Depleting volcanic soil

■ Cutting down trees for transportation

■ Eroding the soil

● May have actually led to the destruction of From 2015: Apparently the Heads have Bodies Making Art for Religious Reasons

● As with the art of Africa and the Americas, many works of Pacific art were created for religious purposes.

○ Communication with ancestors or spirits

○ Worship of deities

○ Invocation of spirits to bless rulers and bring prosperity.

■ The arrival of Europeans led to the banning, destruction or collection of many of these works of art during attempts at colonization. The Spirit in the Sculpture ● Pacific peoples believe in the Dreamtime, that ancestral spirits created all the features of the earth and then returned to them.

○ Materials were often used to create the deities that inhabit them

■ Wood or stone, carved to represent a particular spirit.

■ In Nukuoro, Micronesia, wooden figures were created (breadfruit tree)

● Each with a name that represented the deity

● Each was associated with a particular family/ancestry

● Simple geometric forms, likeness not necessary since not representing anything earthly.

○ Lines are used to indicate dividing lines of the body

The Turtles of the Torres Strait ● Torres Strait is a water passageway between Australia and New Guinea

○ Turtles = a sea animal

○ Often sacrificed by Polynesian cultures, sometimes using eels (Nan Madol)

○ Turtle masks unique to people of the Torres Strait

■ Used to make Buk masks that invoked different spirits

■ Could portray human or animal or composite spirits.

● Worn in ceremonies for male initiation or funeral ceremonies to invoke and recreate ancestral beings. The Art of the Afterlife : Funerary Functions

● In , Malagan mortuary ceremonies are conducted to send the souls of the deceased on their way to the otherworld.

○ Ceremonies could began after funerals and could last from days to years.

○ Preparation is needed to create masks, sometimes comprising multiple figures

■ Very expensive (usually paid for in pigs or shell money), so usually held to commemorate multiple people at once.

■ Masks represent the relationship of figures with the ancestors and their family connections.

● Non-representational, not an actual likeness, but a portrayal of a life force. The Corresponding Colors

● Black: Violence

● Yellow: War

● Red: Magic The Malagan Display

● After ceremonies, Malagan masks are displayed in temporary homes built to show the masks and sculptures of the deceased

○ Once the spirits have left the world of the living, the sculptures are destroyed or left to rot.

○ Because of detail, only the masks are preserved for future use.

The Rarotonga Staff God

● Since many Oceanic peoples were isolated on islands, fertility and continuation/reproduction of ancestral peoples is critical.

○ Staff gods of the near New Zealand represented a creator God, Tangaroa

○ Most sacred objects of the rarotonga

■ Elongated body wrapped in bark cloth

■ Different layers contain different elements of the spirit such as shells

■ Carved head at the top

■ Male phallus at the end

■ Carved figures on the spine depict males with

The Creation of the Cook Islands ● In 1773, Captain James Cook of Britain settled the islands, leading to the arrival of Christian missionaries.

○ 14 of the staff gods were presented to a visiting reverend

○ Many of the staff gods were destroyed or at least the sexual references removed.

○ Others were taken back to Britain.

■ Caption of this image, “And the idols he shall utterly abolish,” Isaiah 2:18 A Portrait Picture, Not a Portrait Sculpture Watch me , Watch me Nene

● Tamati Waka Nene was a Maori Chief in New Zealand who lived through the arrival of the British.

○ Was baptized into the Wesleyan faith and became absorbed into the new culture.

○ Tamati Waka Nene was a name taken for Thomas Walker, an English missionary

■ Maori people believed that a picture of a person wasn’t just OF them, it WAS them.

● Think of the photographs in Harry Potter

■ Fascination of the Maori people led to patronization of photographs and paintings, especially of chiefs/rulers as a parallel to their own. How Would You Describe Lindauer’s Style? How does Lindauer establish that Tamati Waka Nene is a person of status and rule?

What contextual and formal elements does he use? From Photograph to the Frame

● Tamati Waka Nene had died 3 years before Gottfried Lindauer painted this work.

○ Drew his creation from photographs taken by a journalist in black and white.

○ Added color to emphasize elements of rule

■ The (moko) on the face is a rite of passage, the more elaborate, the more important or revered.

■ The staff with the eye in the center

■ Elaborate feathers on the staff

■ Emerald/jade earing