african & oceanic art history

8/8/2019 African & Oceanic Art History

1/4

Art, life, and the social order in oceania

Type to enter textArt reflects humanitys attempt to use creative imagination to cope with the existential process... the

attempt to give meaning and purpose to these elements...

Using the imagination to personify what is otherwise invisible (or out of the realm of our senses.)

Art, sculpture, music, dance

ViSUal and PerforMing arts.Constitute aspects of the same phenomenon.

Performative aspect of life, of process...

dance: emphasis is on duration, temporal.

Ancient times: time-based art existed for the time: the process was the art...

now we have scores and video...

OCEANIA:

ocean so immense

it constitutes life

but danger also: volcanoes,

waves,

dangerous

animals. Natures generosity//danger.

ART: attempts to come to terms withENVIRONMENT: physically,

spiritually...

Canoe figurehead (Nguzunguzu)

(Solomon Islands), Mixed media

19th/20th century

greeting hand gesture

together and outfront

a bird who knows how to flythrough danger, over ocean

invocation equals stabilization

FORCES behind phenomena:

waves... spirits....

BOATS

MAKEMAKE (Easter Island) (of which there are many)

Rock Formation representing this Supreme Deity,

reminds of his presence elsewhere, evidence...

[[DIOS REMOTOS (universally common)]]

Creation:: deity replicates::

Ratonga*: started creating

itself.

Elements of the male and

female.

Sacrifice: the gods sacrificed

themselves and so we too

should be ready to return thefavour

Rangi and Paapa: m, f... DIAD

In the beginning: PO: darkness

(when Paapa and Rangi were

close together) Had many

children: natural phenomena

(thunder...) After sometime they

seperated. Some say it was

Ratona who separated them...

and the sun appeard: AO: light.

emale suspension hooks inside a

mens house

atmul, Sepik, Middle Sepik River

sland New Guinea), Wood 20th c.

ooks for hanging charms, other

mpowering materials

*****squatting females: regenerativeower of female body. Male element

part of this: It takes too.

Mother plays a major role: giving

irth, nurturing. Image of Volvano Goddess

PELE, Hawaii, Polynesia.

Pre-20th Century

MANA:: hence head-hunting

opposite:

Tapu: negative force able to destroy

ones mana: hence avoidance

((taboo))

Through the veneration of deities...

Humanity creates a mode of

communication...

Emphasis on aggression: survival

over here depends on personal

harnessing of MANA


2/4


Creative

being.

At a different

level

Sisters:

agents:terrestrial

level

ankawwu and his two sisters.

rkalla, Arnhem Land

ood, pigment

te: 20th century

Creative potential in everyone. It is

those who harness this potential ion

a certain level become artists....

vision: to see beyond the visual

implying a

The first artists in many

culture were assoc

with//were thought asspirits...

FUMERIPTS: Asmat:

first deity to descend

from the sky,

became lonely: thought

occured to him to create

companions.

Went to woods, carved

beings. Put images in

hut, beat the drum he

made and the images

gradually responded to

his drumming.

Result: architechture is

associated with the

female, with the womb.

So many times,squating females in front

of doors

IPILA: New Guinea, created

the first human figure.

Went to forest, sago (plant)

produces milk-like juices.

After creating images, IPILA

covered them with milk-like

juices: female aspect.

Gradually the images

started moving.

Similar to Malagasee: Man

and a woman, man carved a

doll, then wife carried the doll

and raised it and started

dancing with it and the doll!

turned into a living creature!

Creative process ritualized

artists seen in society as special,with extra powers.

Body as work of art: ability to create

is potential in everybody: even

animals..

((Beauty and danger))

Those with special talents occupy a

different plane...

healing power...

Looking at wood, the images tha

be carved are revealed to the ar

The artist plays music, must lea

music...

Ability to create is a special pow

Activation of art work with chants,

with dances

power of AFFECT

Affectivity: the ability of a subject,

object, image to affect or influence

((term in aesthetics))\

Incantations

adition dictated that women could

t carve, as they made living

ms... To attempt to represent

uld be to deprive.

ocreation: associated with

male body: through which

GODDESS

great mother,

generous, jealous

LIFE

Interface between waking

Sleeping

Sleeping is a kind of death

Like returning to the womb

of the ancient mother:

wake up refreshed


3/4


DOOR

to mens house: so small

one must crawl.

as into the womb...

Young ladies carrying Billum bags

that will be used to carry babies

Ancestor worship

The belief in life after death:

body as mask

Existential performance

Skull preservation:

kept and remodeled, so that the living

may continue to harness the power of

particularly fertile, beautiful or

otherwise powerful people...

((Melanesia))

SKULL AS PILLOW, Pendant....

osmosis! ::::::::::::::

KORWAR ANCESTOR FIGURES

(containers for skulls... MASKS::::

TOTEMS

EMPHASIS ON HEAD::

masks. giving deities headsgives focus for communication: altars

Numinous: the sacred, the sublime

Faces representing different forces::

plant forces EMPATHIC

RESPONSE

to human situations: symbolic

TOOLS

not until the arrival of Europeans in

he 18th century did mining for metal

begin: thus most tools were in the

orm of stones, bone, wood, rope

Artists were able to use these tools in

a way that proved them to be highly

creative: detail etc

EMPHASIS ON

LANDSCAPE::

Bugs on face: part

of painting::

MATERIAL

METAPHOR::

shells: are currency

may be used as

eyes to signify the

wealth of vision

assoc. with the

ancestor

ADORNED WITH VEGETABLES.TOMATOES

PAINT

BUGS

MUD

GRASS

LEAVES

Rarity...

FEATHERS

SHELLS

TEXTILES not developed here

until recently... (weaving)

FABRIC though...General

Oceania

emphasis onpatterns

(some)

scholars

mention the

waves of the

sea as

influence...

Melanasia:

emphasis on sculpture,

freq. painted(related to body, adornmen

Australia:

2-d emphasis

painting on bark, rocks...

Polynesia:

tattoo

sculpturerelief images


4/4

Art, life, and the social order in oceaniaBoDY Adornment:

the way you dress can generate

AFFECT, charisma

At one point: body adornment merges with masking

Dress itself is a source of interpretation at different levels.

Awareness at this level allows conscious decisions.

DRESS

More than protection from the

elements

Social, spiritual, political dimensions

Environment DOES have a major

influence:::::(Shows slides of PICTURESQUE))

COLOR COLOR Patterns...

fish, birds, snakes, reptiles, plants,

sea life, flowers, insects...

ELEMENTS

african & oceanic art history

Documents