Oceanic Art Society

Promoting the understanding and appreciation of Oceanic art.

All published stories from the OAS Journal

Massim canoes in the Milne Bay Province,Papua New Guinea

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by David Payne The traditional canoes of the Massim region of the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) are colourful, stylish, and sophisticated. These traditional wooden canoes are woven into the fabric of the culture with their origins dating back through countless generations, yet they are still being made and they are extraordinary. […]

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Man Who Cannot Die – Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands – Book launch talk

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Chris Boylan These shields are from the New Guinea Highlands and a major feature is their colour. This is very much part of the New Guinea tradition to have colourful shields so that when the warriors are out fighting in the hills and the valleys the shields stand out very strongly from the landscape. These […]

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Man Who Cannot Die – Phantom Shields of the New Guinea Highlands

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2021, 296 pages, Edited by Jonathan Fogel, with contributions from Chris Boylan, Bruce Cree, Hubert Langmann, Kevin Patrick, and Jessica Lindsey Phillips.  Sydney & Toronto: Boylan and Phillips. Reviewed by Noelle Rathmell-Stiels Published just weeks after the comic book superhero, The Phantom, celebrated his 85th birthday, this new book will appeal to everyone interested in a unique […]

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Georgina Beier 1938 – 2021

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By Keith Jackson Georgina Beier, called the ‘founding mother’ of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea, died in Sydney on Sunday 11 July 2021 aged 82. Her husband, Ulli Beier (1922–2011), was a German editor, writer and scholar who pioneered the development of literature in Nigeria and Papua New Guinea. Caption: Georgina Beier, Mathias Kauage, Ulli […]

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The Whole Picture

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Image: George Nuku, 2021, The red wall, lithographs of the Atlas du voyage de l’Astrolabe, reworked and polystyrene frame at Musée Hèbre Rochefort, France.  Photograph: Clémentine Débrosse. 2020, 304 pages, Alice Procter, Cassell Books, London Reviewed by Margaret Cassidy Australian born Alice Procter grew up in Hong Kong and London and completed her university studies at the University College […]

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Travels of the Lily: from Lake Sentani to the National Gallery

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by Crispin Howarth Main image caption: Le Lys as currently displayed in the exhibition ‘Emotional Bodies’ next to works by artists including Miro, Epstein and Modigliani. Image courtesy National Gallery of Australia. One object that has been almost always on permanent display since its acquisition by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in 1974 is the […]

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Solomon Islands carved coconut used in the practice of teeth blackening

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Clémentine Débrosse In 1568, Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira was the first European to visit the Archipelago now known as the Solomon Islands. At the time, Mendaña y Neira was looking for the island of Ophir on which King Solomon’s treasure was supposed to be – a story from which originates the naming of the […]

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Djalkiri-Yolŋu art, collaborations and collections

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2021, 320 pages, Edited by Rebecca J. Conway, Sydney University Press Reviewed by Lindy Allen and Louise Hamby Djalkiri-Yolŋu art, collaborations and collections is an elegantly designed book produced to coincide with the exhibition Gululu dhuwala djalkiri: welcome to the Yolŋu foundations in the University of Sydney’s new Chau Chak Wing Museum that opened in November 2020. It […]

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