Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands

Kjellgren, Eric, with Carol S. Ivory (2005)

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Known for the elegance and complexity of their decorative art, Marquesan artists were described by Paul Gauguin as possessing "an unheard of sense of decoration" in all they created. The extraordinary ways in which Marquesans adorned their world are reflected in virtually every type of object they made and used—from sacred figures of gods and ancestors to items that were purely functional. Long admired by artists, writers, and scholars, the art and culture of the Marquesas Islands have until recently been unfamiliar to larger audiences. However, the artists of the Marquesas archipelago were among the most accomplished in the Pacific. Their work was fashioned from a diversity of materials in forms ranging from delicate ivory ornaments and luxuriant featherwork to imposing figural sculpture in wood and stone. The human body was also an important focus for artistic expression. Adorned with finely crafted ornaments, elaborate coiffures, and intricate tattoos that sometimes covered the entire body, Marquesans themselves became living art forms.

The vivid imagery of Marquesan art is testament to the myriad beings and creatures who inhabited the Marquesan universe—gods, ancestors, humans, lizards, turtles, fish—and to the islands' complex social and political organization. These art forms are explored in the present volume, published in conjunction with the exhibition "Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands," held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In their catalogue essays, Eric Kjellgren, the Metropolitan's Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator of Oceanic Art, and Carol S. Ivory, Professor and Chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Washington State University, place the artistic traditions of the Marquesas within their cultural and historical context, giving insights into their distinctive visual imagery and their enduring influence on Western art and literature.

Table of contents

Sponsors' Statement

Statement from the Marquesan People
Toti Te'ikiehu'upoko

Lenders to the Exhibition

Director's Foreword
Philippe de Montebello

Acknowledgments

Map of the Marquesas Islands

Adorning the World
Eric Kjellgren

Art and Aesthetics in the Marquesas Islands
Carol S. Ivory

Catalogue
Eric Kjellgren and Carol S. Ivory

Glossary of Marquesan Terms

References Cited

Index

Photograph Credits

About the authors

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

Carol Ivory is Professor and Chair of the Department of Fine Arts, Washington State University, Pullman.

Press reviews

Journal of Museum Ethnography

"... a valuable record of the excellent special exhibition of the same name ... but also stands as an interesting and useful publication in its own right. ... It is a well-designed and well-presented volume."

Choice Reviews Online

"... adds measurably to the academic and art-history recognition for the decorative and sculptural arts of these singular and creative Pacific Islanders."

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Exhibition

Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands

Located in the South Pacific some eight hundred miles northeast of Tahiti in French Polynesia, the Marquesas first became widely known in the West as the setting of Herman Melville's first novel Typee, based on the writer's personal experiences on the islands after he jumped ship from the American whaler Acushnet in 1842. Today, the Marquesas are perhaps best known as the final home and resting place of artist Paul Gauguin, whose later works often include imagery inspired by Marquesan sculpture and designs. Long before Gauguin ever painted there, however, the Marquesas were a world adorned. Known for its elegant stylization of the human form and intricately decorated surfaces, Marquesan art encompassed a remarkable diversity of materials and forms. From mundane items to sacred images of gods and ancestors, artists richly embellished virtually every type of object they made. Art in the Marquesas was created to honor the archipelago's diverse deities and ancestors, decorate the bodies of its people, and adorn the objects employed in daily activities. It pervaded virtually every area of sacred and secular life.