This extensively researched catalogue makes a significant contribution to the discipline of the art history and anthropology of Melanesia, representing the first comprehensive study of this material since the late Douglas Newton’s Art Styles of the Papuan Gulf of 1961. Coaxing the Spirits to Dance emerges from over ten years of research by the catalogue’s authors both in Papua New Guinea and with the Hood Museum of Art’s collections of Oceanic art. It explores the relationship between artistic style and expression and social life in the Gulf of Papua New Guinea, opening up new resources to readers and researchers alike. This volume presents ancestor boards, masks, drums, skull racks, and personal items for the first time within the social and cultural context of their creation, and with a rich variety and depth of perspectives, despite the difficulties of reconstructing much of what has been lost. The catalogue reveals new documentation of the nature of complex religious differences and the physical links between the human and spirit worlds among the many societies in the Gulf of Papua New Guinea. How religion distinguishes, rather than unifies, these groups is evidenced in the complex artistic practices of board carving and mask making. Although many object types were carved in virtually every region, the designs and characteristics of these objects are individual to a given region and directly linked to the society and practices of the people who made them. This volume takes great strides in igniting the dialogue about the diversity of those cultures, and it will hopefully inspire many years of further close examination of the art and society of Papua New Guinea.

104 pages, 130 illustrations (70 in full color), 9 in. x 12 in. Paper.

Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art and Society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea
03-018363
Member Price: $36.00 each
Non-Member Price: $40.00 each


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