Pacific Art

Navigation chart

Marshall Islands, 19th-20th Century, wood and fiber

Are each navigation chart the same?

Nope it depends on how each navigator sees the ocean

What do navigation charts illustrate?

Swells, currents, and landmarks of the ocean seas

Describe the difference between the curved/diagonal bars and horizontal/vertical bars

Curved and diagonal bars represent swells and locations of islands, where as horizontal and vertical bars are for structure

What do the shells represent in navigation charts

Islands

Were charts brought on voyages?

The information was memorized and the charts would **not** be carried on voyages.

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. How did they maintain links?

Built large sea faring canoes and wooden navigation maps

Moai on a platform (ahu)

Rapa Nui (Easter island), 1100-1600, volcanic tuff figures on basalt base

Where do the stone monuments on Moai face?

Some inland, some put to sea

What do the Moai represent?

Ancestors and ancestral connections happen through them.

What restricted ancestral practices with the Moai statues

Colonial law

What brought the Moai sculptures to life?

Drawing eyes on them, important to culture and communication

Why did the Moai statutes topple?

The island’s fragile ecosystem had been pushed beyond what was sustainable. Over time only sea birds remained, nesting on safer offshore rocks and islands.

Describe the faces of the Moai

They are 3/8 of the body and of ancestors

What were the factors that lead to the abandonment of the Moai statues

European invasion

• Introduction of rats

• Lack of confidence in ancestors after ecological collapse

Nan Madol

Pohnpei, 700-1600, basalt boulders and prismatic columns

What artifacts are found at nan madol?

Stone and shell tools, jewelry, pottery, cookware

Total weight of nan madol

750,000 metric tons

Describe the columns of nan madol

Columns of basalt are stacked in intersecting formations, making raised platforms, ceremonial sites, dwellings, tombs, and crypts

Is there mortar or concrete with nan madol

No, only positioning and a little coral to fill

What was the function of the most elaborate building in nan madol

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Royal mortuary

Function of nan madol

Political and ceremonial center for the ruling chiefs, burial sites, and housing

What were hundreds of Moai placed upon after being transferred around the island?

Ahu

What were carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, believed to be charged by?

A magical spiritual essence

Did those who commissioned Moai wish for theirs to be the highest?

Yes, it meant they had more of the magical spiritual essence

Where is Nan Madol?

Micronesia

In Nan Madol, we’re there rocks found on the other side of the island in the raised platforms, tombs, ceremonial cites, and crypts

Yes

What does the immense human power in Nan Madol suggest?

Impressive display of power from the rulers. Economic and ecological systems to support a busy workforce

What was the population less than in Nan madol

>30,000

How big was the most elaborate building in Nan madol?

The size of a football field

What is remarkable about the columnar grey basalt in Nan Madol?

It could be up to 20 feet long and was naturally flat sided columns

Female Deity Identifiers

Nukuoro Micronesia, 18th-19th century, wood

What did the old Polynesians and the new settlers of Nukuoro atoll combine?

Aesthetic principles and ideas of hierarchy and rank along with the art of canoeing and navigation

What led for the Nukuoro wooden sculptures to be discarded? (Female deity)

The embracing of Christianity

How were the surfaces of the Nukuoro wood figure smoothed (female deity)?

With pumice rock

Describe the head and neck of female deity

Ovoid head that tapers slightly at the chin and a columnar neck

Describe the mid region of female deity

Shoulders slope down and breasts are slightly indicated

Where were Local deities in Nukuoro believed to reside in?

Animals, stone and wood representations

Could you see the eyes in Nukuoro wooden figures

They were suggested as slits or nothing at all

What types of very important religious ceremony were Nukuoro figurines part of?

One celebrating harvest

Did the Nukuoro figures represent a specific deity linked with a specific family or group of a specific religious temple?

Yes

Where were the Nukuoro figures placed?

In a temple decorated with looms and such

We’re western sculptors influenced by Nukuoro figures?

Yes, they were seen as the purest form of human art

What external factors influenced pacific art?

Commerce, colonialism, missionary activity

What internal influences shaped Pacific art?

Ecological situations and social structure. A variety of mediums were used

What type of objects were constructed to preserve human history and social continuity in Pacific Art?

Shields, family treasures, and ancestral representations

Ships and other objects of navigation were built to promote what?

Exploration, migration, and the exchange of goods and cultural patterns across the Pacific

What did the feather capes that protected the rulers of Hawaii do?

Announce their status and shield them from contact

‘Ahu’ula Feather Cape Identifiers

Hawaii, late 18th century, fibers and feathers

Ahu’ula Feather Cape What was the color red associated with across Polynesia

Gods

When were Ahu’ula Feather Capes worn by males?

Battle or ceremonies

How was Ahu’ula Feather Cape made?

By fibers weaved in a straight row with pieces joined and cut together to get the desired shape. Bundles of feathers were attached to the ends.

What is the circular shape of Ahu’ula Feather Cape a development from?

A trapezoidal shape

What earlier piece can Ahu’ula Feather Cape be likened to?

Montezuma headdress

Staff God Identifiers

Rarotonga, Cook Islands, central Polynesia, 18th-19th century, wood, tapa, fiber, and feathers

What does the upper end of a Rarotongan staff god depict

A carved head above similar carved figures

What is the lower end of a staff god called?

The phallus

What does the layered barkcloth made by women on the staff god protect?

Mana (magical, spiritual power) protecting the ancestral power of the deity

What is bound in one end of a staff gods ear

A feather pendant

Describe the form of a staff god

Elongated body with head and small figures at the end. The other end with small figures and a penis is missing. The wooden core was made by male carvers

What could the other figures facing outwards depict on a staff god?

Women in childbirth

Why were the phalluses of staff gods removed?

Considered obscene by missionaries. Staff gods had a sexual quality since they featured male and female reproductive qualities

What was the function of the sacred staff god

To represent a god-potentially a creator god

Hiapo (tapa) identifiers

Niue, 1850-1900, tapa or barkcloth, freehand painting

Describe the progression of the design motifs of Hiapo (tapa) 

The motifs decrease in size from the border to the center

What was significant about Niuean motifs (Hiapo (tapa))?

They were naturalistic and the first olynesians to introduce the human figure to barkcloth

What is considered women’s wealth in Polynesia (Hiapo (tapa) )?

Barkcloth. Women would present it in exchange for work, food, or to mark special occasions

What were the mist important uses of tapa Hiapo (tapa)?

Clothing, bedding, wall hanging