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Elizabeth Michie
Art History B3

Annotated Bibliography: Pacific Art

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardeners Art Throughout The Ages. 13 th Ed. Boston, Ma:
Wadsworth. 2011. Print.
Asmat Carved Bisj poles- Buepies village, Fajit River, Casuarina Coast, Irian Jaya,
Melanesia, early mid-20th century.
The Asmat people of Irian Jaya near the coast of southwestern New Guinea
are known most for their bisj poles. These poles are carved from the trunks of the
mangrove tree. Depicted on the pole were usually dead people and symbolic
animals. This was due to the Asmats belief that death was not a natural occurrence
and was only caused by assault or sorcery. They believed that spiritual balance
could only be restored through avenging the deceased. This belief led to
headhunting. Men would carve these poles and carry them into raids with them and
they represented the practice of headhunting. Symbolic animals that are often
shown on the bisj poles are fruit-eating animals like cockatoos and flying foxes. The
female praying mantis is also shown regularly due to the females ritual of
beheading her mate and eating them after mating. The Asmat found this symbolic
of headhunting. The poles were thrown out after a successful headhunt and they
were left to rot because the poles had served their purpose.

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardeners Art Throughout The Ages. 13th Ed. Boston, Ma:
Wadsworth. 2011. Print.
Iatmul Ceremonial Mens House-East Sepik. Papua New Guinea, Melanesia, mid-to
late 20th century.
The Iatmul people of Papua New Guinea live in communities based on
kinship. The social center of every Iatmul village is a large mens ceremonial house.
These mens houses are monumental inn size and dwarf all other dwellings in the
village to demonstrate their importance. These houses serve as meeting houses
that are used for ceremonies, community issues, and youth initiations. Traditionally,
the house represents an enormous female ancestor. The house and its female
figures symbolize death and rebirth. Other symbols on the structure include giant
female gable masks (ancestral mask), roof support posts with large faces
representing mythical spirits, and birds that symbolize war spirit sit above carved
headhunting victims. Carved wooden females in birthing positions were placed were
placed on the second level to symbolize female ancestors. The way the house is

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designed is symbolic as well. The meeting house is separated into 3 parts, each part
representing a different clan that assisted in constructing the building.

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardeners Art Throughout The Ages. 13th Ed. Boston, Ma:
Wadsworth. 2011. Print.
Row of moai on a stone platform, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Polynesia. 10 th to 12th
centuries.
The moai sculptures found on Easter Island are some of the biggest and most
dated pieces of art found today. The sculptures are as big as 40 feet tall and can
weigh up 100 tons. They are mostly figures of East Islanders believed to be a
lineage of chiefs and their sons. It is also believed by some scholars that these
sculptures are meant to hold spirits or deities of the Easter Islanders. The figures
are very large and blocky with exaggerated, linear facial features. According to one
scholar, it would take a full year to carve one moai sculpture and another three
months with ninety men to move it from the quarry to its present location.

Stockstad, Marilyn. Art History. Prentice Hall. 2004. Print.

Mimis and Kangaroo Prehistoric rock art, Oenpelli, Arnhem Land, Australia.
The aboriginal inhabitants of ancient Australia used a technique that
historians call X-Ray style painting. This type of painting was done on rock and tree
bark. The Mimis and Kangaroo piece incorporates this X-ray style using a kangaroo.
The artist depicts the bones and organs of the animal in a silhouetted form. In this
piece, the Kangaroos spinal cord, lungs, heart, and stomach are shown. The
Kangaroo is painted over a very old ancestral painting that dates to around 18,000
years ago. The kangaroo covers Mimi figures. Mimi figures are depictions of the
Aborigines ancestral spirits.

Stockstad, Marilyn. Art History. Prentice Hall. 2004. Print.

Canoe Prow- Kaniet Manus Province, Papua New guinea.
Canoes were important to the people that occupied the different islands of
Oceania. Canoes were there only source of transportation from one island to
another. This affected trade relations with other tribes and boats gave populations
the ability to go to war. War canoes were generally more respected and were more
elaborately designed and decorated. When going to war, the islanders wanted to

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have a dramatic and lasting impression on their own population as well as their
enemies. They designed the prows and sterns of the boats bigger than they needed
to be. They wanted to intimidate with the size of the boats. The prows, or front, of
the canoes were often highly decorated in ornately carved, symbolic animals and
geometric shapes. The prows were painted and decorated with shells and other
artifacts from the islands. New Zealand and the islands that surround New Guinea
generally had very dramatic war time canoes. An example of this is Canoe ProwKaniet Manus Province, Papua New guinea.

http://www.randafricanart.com/Tatanua_masks.html
Tantua Masks New IrelandIn central and northern New Ireland, the islanders create Tatanua masks for
the Tatanua dance or masquerade. There are hundreds of similarly styled masks
that are all significant in representing something in the dance. The masks are
carved out of wood, some having several different pieces of carved wood are tied
together with string or barkcloth. The masks most often take a shape similar to how
the men would have worn their hair, shaved on the sides and styled up almost in
what looks like a Mohawk. These crests are made from yellow and red brown fibers.
Each side of the crest of the mask is decorated differently in patterns made of
materials like wool, shells, sticks, feathers, and seeds. The face part of the masks
were painted in white, black, and red brown geometric patterns. The eyes of the
masks would be inlaid with painted snail shells. The mouths of the masks are
usually depicted open to show the teeth and the earlobes are elongated and
pierced, similar to African masquerade masks. These masks were ornately
decorated with very symbolic materials that all represented a person or an ancestor
in the Tatanua dances. Tatanua mask, Malanggan culture, New Ireland, Melanesia,
20th century. Carved and painted wood, dyed fiber, yarn, tin disks, and glass.Gift of
Henri Gaillard

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2000-2015. n.p. n.d. Web. March, 15 2015.
Ancestar Figure- Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province, Yamok village,
Middle Sepik River region.
In the Sepik River Valley of Papua New Guinea, the Sawos people are
separated into many clans. Each clan is has a very specific totemic animal and
ancestral spirit. The Sawos people represent their individual ancestral spirits in the
form of wooden figures that are kept safe in the mens ceremonial houses. The
figures are named after actual clan ancestors, but they represent a much more

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powerful ancestral force which the Sawos people refer to as Wan. This specific
example is named Mnjemtimi and is known to have made the village kwalunggei. It
is symbolic of a story in which a village was raided and the ancestor rose up to
defend the village, but was hit by a spear and was turned into a wooden figure.
These figures were very important to the clans and were kept safely away to be
worshipped by the older men in the villages in the mens houses.
Trustees of the British Museum. The British Museum. N.p. n.d. March 15, 2015.
Hawaiian RegaliaHelmets, capes, and cloaks were all worn by male chiefs in the Hawaiian
islands to demonstrate and signify their status to their subjects. This regalia was
worn during battle as well to scare enemies. The majority of the time, however, it
was worn during ceremonies that took place in temples. The helmets were called
mahiole were made from the roots of the ieie vine and woven into a frame that
was made individually for a chiefs head. These helmets were important because
the Hawaiians believed that the head was the most sacred part of the body. All of
the chiefs regalia was considered to have sacred power, this was called tapu. This
meant that no one but the chief could wear these clothes. The helmets were
decorated with feathers that were gathered by specialists from the honeycreeper
bird and a honeyeater bird. The honeycreepers had red and black feathers and the
honeyeaters had some, but very few yellow feathers. So when a chief was wearing a
helmet or cape of yellow feathers, people knew he was extremely important. The
designs on the helmets and cloaks resembled typical mens hairstyles and tattoos.
The extravagance of the chiefs regalia was meant to show his power, glory, and
that he should be feared.

Stockstad, Marilyn. Art History. Prentice Hall. 2004. Print.

Carved Lintel- New Zealand, Polynesia. Maori.
The Maori people of New Zealand are known for their wood carving. The
Maori people believed that carving, as well as weaving and tattooing, was shown to
them from the realm of the underworld. The Maori people carved many things for
their meetinghouses, but in particular, their carved lintels are some of the most
ornately carved pieces in all of Oceania. The Carved Lintel would hang over the door
way of a meetinghouse. In the center of the Lintel is a carved tiki figure. The figure
is depicted with wide eyes, a gaping mouth with a protruding tongue, and large
arms and legs that are disproportionate to the body. This tiki figure is supposed to
communicate power and authority to the viewer. Surrounding the tiki are multiple,
interwoven creatures like a fish and a whale. This piece is meant to show that the
owner of the meetinghouse where the piece is hung is strong, powerful, and
respected.

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