Oceanic Art

The cultures of Oceania developed on the three distinct island groups of Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia. The people who lived there believed that pervasive invisible forces and spirits had a powerful influence on the events of life. If proper rituals were held, these forces could bring benefits The most important spirit whose assistance was sought was that of the ancestor. It might be a clan ancestor or a mythical culture hem who could aid the community or a family forebear whose intercessions were sought by his direct descendants. The art made to honor such spirits was necessarily of human form, but because the spirits come from the unseen world, they are non-naturalistic and in some cases highly stylized.

As in Africa, the art of Oceania is essentially made of wood, but many other materials appear as well. These include fiber and grasses for basketry, carved human and animal bones, whale ivory, and marine and turtle sheik. Inorganic substances such as day for pottery, stone for large and small figures, and earth pigments were used by various artists. Carving was originally done with shell- or stone-bladed adzes, but with the coming of the outside world to the Pacific at the end of the 18th century, iron rapidly replaced them. Exotic pigments, trade cloths, and other foreign goods gradually became incorporated into the arts as well. Except in some of the remote areas of the larger Melanesian islands, little legitimate native art is being created in Oceania today.

Melanesia

Of the three regions, Melanesia includes by far the largest land area. It is dominated by New Guinea, and its islands and archipelagoes lie northeast of Australia. These include New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomons, New Britain, New Ireland and the Admiralties. Habitable environments range from river basins, swamps, and rain forests to savannas and volcanic highlands. Agriculture was the chief livelihood, supplemented by fishing and limited hunting of meat. The diversity of environments and cultures has produced a richness and profusion of art styles, and objects of daily use are typically as heavily decorated as those made for ceremonial purposes. This reflects the belief that the spirit world is ever present, and the distinction between utilitarian and religious objects is often blurred.

Among the religious objects are a large number and variety or dramatic masks, highly stylized human figures, and relief-ornamented dance shields that represent real or mythical ancestors. Some incorporate animals, birds, or fish into their compositions to show a clan or family totem from which descent can be claimed. They were used in myth-reenacting ceremonies—accompanied by drumming and music from flutes, panpipes, and trumpets of wood and bamboo—that included life-passage observances such as the taking of a name, marriage, accession to a position of leadership, and death. On some islands, men strove to reach ever higher levels in their societies through the acquisition and distribution of goods, the giving of feasts, and pig sacrifice. The right to display certain figure sculptures, masks, ana other art objects accompanied each level achieved.

Much art was also made as architectural ornament for the large cult houses where men gathered for their secret society meetings, slept, socialized, and cared for their ritual paraphernalia. Gable masks, fully carved house posts and door posts, roof finials, and large strips of bark painted with human figures and faces decorated such structures. Canoes and their ornamentation compose another body of monumental art in Melanesia.

Polynesia

Polynesia occupies a large triangular area of the eastern Pacific, with the islands of Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island at its points. The other islands and archipelagoes are Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Mangareva, the Australs, the Societies, and the Cooks.

Polynesian art was made to reinforce beliefs in the existence of gods who governed daily activities and crafts, and ancestors. The Polynesians also believed in an ever-present force called mana. This power resided in all things, especially humans and the objects they owned. It was acquired by inheritance and certain actions such as success in battle. Objects gave evidence of mana through their association with powerful individuals and their own efficiency. For example, a well-balanced adze, fitted with a hard, sharp blade that was the property of a master carver, had greater mana than a tool of average effectiveness with no history. Sculptures representing important ancestors owned by powerful chiefs were similarly regarded, and they gained more power when passed from one generation to the next.

Objects were therefore carefully kept and are not ephemeral, as with much Melanesian art. Masks were not made, and, with the exception of some animal imagery seen in the art of Easter Island and New Zealand, sculpture is mostly of human form. Some pieces represent war gods, patron deities of crafts, local deities, and culture heroes. Many depicting ancestors are idealized and formal in appearance and have little surface ornament. Works were frequently destroyed or left to decay under instructions from missionaries, and some expressions are extremely rare today.

A number of artifacts of daily use such as weapons, food bowls, eating implements, and carving tools are richly decorated with meticulously applied relief ornament in repeated geometric patterns. Through the labor, time, and attention they gave to their creation, artists sought to imbue their own mana into their works. Other highly developed art forms were tattooing, particularly among the Maori of New Zealand and the Marquesas islanders, and the making of tapa cloth decorated with repeated stamped patterns.

Micronesia

The many small islands of Micronesia are divided into four archipelagoes, the Marshall, Carolines, Gilberts, and Marianas, almost all low-lying coral atolls with limited natural resources. Much time was given to survival rather than to the enactment of elaborate ceremonies and the making of art. Absence of large trees on most islands forced Micronesian artists to fashion objects of small scale and economical form. Simple utilitarian items such as bowls, coconut graters, and weapons were made. Some examples composed of more than one piece of wood are skillfully lashed and caulked together, little or no surface ornamentation is applied. Sculpture is rare, and when the human figure was carved, it was reduced to its most essential forms.

In the Pacific, the idea of creating art of traditional and quasi-traditional forms for sale to outsiders followed close on the heels of the arrival of the first whalers, missionaries, and adventurers at the end of the 18th century. Today most art is being made to satisfy an ever-expanding market for curios. While some of the objects are well crafted, they no longer serve the same purposes for which they were originally made.

See also:

- Western Art
- Asian Art
- African Art
- Native American Art
- ArtWorks as an Investments