The Art Of Papua And New Guinea

This book gives the reader a thorough account of each of the 209 objects on display at the Masterpieces exhibition at the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery. The Introduction by the Editor, a former Curator of the National Museum, aims to give the non-Papua New Guinean reader a general idea of the significance of these objects and how they are to be understood. Two chapters by Dr Mark Busse, also a former Curator, provide a brief history of the Museum and outline its functions.

The contemporary artwork movement in Papua New Guinea is 20 years young. Spectacular carvings and painted objects, such as ancestor figures and masks, created for ritual and ceremonial purposes, are included in Contemporary Art in Papua New Guinea along with canoe prows, musical instruments, and elaborate body decorations. The accompanying text offers a personal interpretation of the current art movement and its ties to Papua New Guinea's society and culture.

This book addresses for the first time four major rock art areas of West Papua: the Berau Gulf, Bitsyari Bay, Triton Bay and the Baliem Valley. Together, they form one of the richest regions of rock art and include many newly discovered sites. These sites, located along the South Coast and in the Baliem Highlands, contain thousands of paintings. This book presents, for the first time, hundreds of original photographs including hand stencils, matutuo, faces, and abstract motifs found in West Papua. It also compiles existing hypotheses on the antiquity and origins of rock art in the region and tries to offer a stimulus for further research