About Oceanic Art

Oceania is the collective term for the more than 25,000 islands of the Pacific, which are scattered across more than a third of the earth's surface. The region is home to nearly 1,800 different cultures and hundreds of artistic traditions. Oceania's diverse artistic traditions are typically divided into five primary stylistic regions: Melanesia (New Guinea and the islands of the southwest Pacific), Australia, Polynesia (the islands of the central and eastern Pacific), Micronesia (the islands of the tropical northern Pacific), and the indigenous artistic traditions of Island Southeast Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines, and neighboring areas). From the dense rain forests of New Guinea to the arid deserts of Australia, the spice-rich islands of Indonesia, and the widely scattered archipelagos of Polynesia and Micronesia, the peoples of Oceania have developed myriad artistic traditions in an astonishing diversity of forms and media. Oceanic art has a deep and ancient history; the earliest Australian Aboriginal rock paintings date back as far as 50,000 years. However, as a result of the perishable nature of the materials in which most artists worked, the vast majority of surviving works date from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

Much of Oceanic art was, and remains, inseparably linked to the region's diverse indigenous religions, portraying the gods, spirits, ancestors, and other supernatural beings whose powers sustain the vitality of the community and the world.

In Oceania, male and female artists typically work in different media. Men work in hard materials such as wood, shell, and—more rarely—stone, creating figural sculpture as well as practical and ceremonial implements. Women, by contrast, work in the fiber arts. The new galleries include, for the first time, areas specially dedicated to the display of women's art forms such as Polynesian barkcloth and the rich and varied textiles of Island Southeast Asia.

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Gallery for Melanesian Art

The centerpiece of the new Oceanic galleries is the spacious, sunlit gallery for Melanesian art, dedicated to works from New Guinea, Australia, and the islands of the southwest Pacific. Featuring a completely redesigned open floor plan, this grand gallery includes nearly three hundred works, ranging from monumental sculpture to jewelry and personal accessories. Among the most spectacular works on view are a magnificent group of nine ancestor poles (bis) from the Asmat people of New Guinea, together with the Museum's well-known Asmat canoe, which is more than forty-eight feet long and capable of carrying up to twenty people. The Asmat works on view were collected primarily by Michael C. Rockefeller in 1961.

At the center of the Melanesian gallery is a soaring, boldly colored ceiling from a ceremonial house of the Kwoma people of New Guinea. More than 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, the ceiling is composed of more than 270 individual paintings, commissioned from a group of Kwoma master artists in the early 1970s. The redesigned space allows the ceiling to be displayed at its full height, imparting a cathedral-like atmosphere to the gallery.

The Melanesian gallery also marks the debut of a rare and newly restored work from the Museum's Oceanic collection, a monumental barkcloth effigy, more than 15 feet in height, from the island of New Britain. Portraying a powerful female spirit, this otherworldly figure is the only example of its type in the United State and has not been displayed in more than four decades. This gallery also features the return of the Metropolitan's monumental slit gong from the nation of Vanuatu. The gong is carved in the form of a powerful ancestor whose voice was heard as its resonant beats. At more than 14 feet in height, it is among the largest freestanding musical instruments on earth.

A section of this gallery is devoted to the arts of Aboriginal Australia.

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Gallery for Polynesian and Micronesian Art

Adjoining the Melanesian gallery is the gallery for Polynesian and Micronesian art. Intimate in scale and atmosphere and featuring newly designed casework and lighting, the gallery is devoted to the sculpture and decorative arts of the islands of the central and eastern Pacific, including Hawai'i, Tahiti, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Highlights include the Metropolitan's renowned figure from the island of Mangareva, southeast of Tahiti. The only example in the United States, it likely portrays one of the principal deities of the Polynesian pantheon and is among only roughly a dozen examples that survived the destruction of virtually all Mangarevan sculpture in the 1830s at the behest of Christian missionaries. The gallery also includes an exquisite group of wood sculptures from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and an intricately carved temple drum from the Austral Islands. Other cases highlight the sumptuous personal ornaments and accessories created for Polynesia's elite, such as an ornate ivory flywhisk handle that belonged to King Pomare II of Tahiti. A superbly carved treasure box and other works from the Māori people of New Zealand are also on view.

The Micronesian section of the gallery presents rare examples of the region's wood sculpture, including the Museum's renowned female figure from the nation of Belau and weather charms from the Caroline Islands. Consisting of stylized human figures with legs made from the razor sharp spines of stingrays, these potent charms were used to drive off approaching storms.

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Gallery for the Art of Island Southeast Asia

An exciting new feature of the Oceanic installation is the Metropolitan's first-ever gallery devoted to the indigenous arts of Island Southeast Asia, including sculpture, jewelry, and boldly patterned textiles from Indonesia, the Philippines, and adjoining regions. Highlights include a monumental stone seat from the island of Nias. Carved in the form of a fantastic mythical animal, it served as the throne of a high-ranking noble. An extensive array of works from the Batak people of Sumatra is also on view, including the unique animated puppets known as si gale-gale. Created for the funerals of individuals who died without heirs, the puppets served as ritual substitutes for their absent children, able to dance and even weep in mourning for their departed parents. The gallery also features areas dedicated to presentations of the region's rich and varied textile and jewelry traditions.

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Exhibition Organizers

The installation is organized by Eric Kjellgren, the Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator of Oceanic Art of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Related Publication

Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring more than two hundred highlights from the Museum's Oceanic collection is now available. The book is published by the Metropolitan Museum and distributed by Yale University Press, and is available in The Met Store.

This publication is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and The MCS Endowment Fund.

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Related Programs

A variety of ongoing programs is scheduled in conjunction with this installation, including gallery talks, lectures, and family programs. Search the calendar for upcoming events.

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