Oceanic Art Society
Promoting the understanding and appreciation of Oceanic art.
A paper by Dr Michael Mel, Australian Museum. Reviewed by Bill Rathmell Michael Mel, the Manager of Pacific and International Collections at the Australian Museum in Sydney, is well known …
13 August 1938 – 10 November 2019. By Ron May Barbara Perry was a larger than life character, well known in Oceanic art circles in Sydney, and later in Brisbane. …
Edited by Bill Evans, Two Volumes, 518 pages, 140 Shields illustrated with additional images, eight essays and introduction. Published by William Nathaniel Evans, Woollahra, NSW, Australia, 2019. Reviewed by James …
By Krisztina Turza When I boarded the plane from Brisbane to San Francisco in February as a last minute decision, I could not have imagined that rather than the first, …
by Jeffrey Mellefont, Honorary Research Associate, Australian National Maritime Museum The subject of my recent lecture to Oceanic Art Society (OAS) in March – the artistry that can be found …
Modern research continues to reveal secrets long held in uncatalogued documents and artefacts in rich archives. The centrepiece of this edition is the story of current research to identify which …
Story by Brent Kerehona | Image Caption: Bust of Hongi Hika, possibly self-portrait, carved 1814 in Parramatta, NSW Australia. Brighton Hove Museum, United Kingdom, photo © Brent Kerehona. Ki te …
Story By Crispin Howarth | Photo Caption: Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Moai Kavakava, 18th-mid 19th century. Wood, bone, obsidian. Private Australian collection. There is perhaps nowhere in the world as isolated …
Interview by Jim Elmsie | Photo Caption: Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Moai Kavakava, 18th-mid 19th century. Wood, bone, obsidian. Private Australian collection. Jim Elmsie: Warren Campbell, can you explain what Bubble Art …
2019, 2 vols boxed, 484 pages, Bill Evans (ed), private press Bill Evans, Sydney, 750 copies. Reviewed by Crispin Howarth This is an ambitious work, signalling the culmination of a …
Story by Reg MacDonald | Photo Caption: The late Leonard French in his home cum studio, a 19th century mill at Heathcote, Central Victoria. In the shadow box above his …
Image: Mathias Kauage at Ray Hughes Gallery February 1999. Image by Ben Rushton. Mathias Kauage O.B.E. was Papua New Guinea’s best known and most highly awarded artist of the contemporary …
by Bill Rathmell The Tribal Art Fair Sydney, held by the Oceanic Art Society at the National Art School on 17 August, may not be described as the only one …
One of the early French navigators whose collection will be viewed in La Rochelle on the OAS Pre-2020 Parcours Tour of South West France. By Pierre Laffont Dumont d’Urville survived three circumnavigations …
Pre-2020 Parcours des Mondes If enough members are interested in viewing the Oceanic Art collections from early French navigators and collectors, the Oceanic Art Society, under the direction of Pierre Laffont, …
by Jim Elmslie Caption: The Awan with Sophie Parker, of ArtLab, Adelaide, South Australia. Image credit: Alice Beale. This large body-mask, called a tumbuan in tok-pisin, comes from the Iatmul people of the …
Image: Centre: Poka Francis in Koranigle, 2017. Photo courtesy Helen Dennett. Left: Arbelo ensnared by python c2002. Right: Soldier c2002. Poka Francis lives in the village of Koranigle, in Simbu Province, …
by Noelle Rathmell-Stiels It’s still really the only one of its kind in the world! The eighteenth iteration of the Parcours des Mondes International Art Fair was held from 10 to 15 …
Image: Mathias Kauage ‘Independence Celebration 1999’, Andrew Baker Collection. Image by Mick Richards. The desire to know – curiosity – has long been a motivating force in human endeavour. In …
With so much information available in the modern digital age it sometimes feels that we know, collectively, almost everything. In this edition Professor Ian McNiven shows us that this is …
By Bill Rathmell, OAS President Half-a-dozen members of the Oceanic Art Society were present on 30th July at the opening of the “Cultural Collections Centre”- the new storage for the …
By Professor Ian J. McNiven, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University, Melbourne During the nineteenth century Europeans became increasingly aware of …
by Chris Boylan Dominating the hill overlooking Cannes city and the Mediterranean is the ancient medieval castle and tower, now the ethnological museum, of Cannes, Le Musée de la Castre. The …
Tasman Light Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Sydney – 1 August to 29 September 2019 The Massim culture of Papua New Guinea is home to a unique collection of colourful outrigger …
