Sepik Ramu Art
Edited by Kevin Conru. 296 pages illustrating 170 objects from three private collections. Photographs by Hughes Dubois. Edition limited to 500 copies, €295. Conru Editions, released in May 2019. Review …
Stories from all OAS Journal Volumes
Times Are A Changing
In this issue of the of the OAS Journal we are fortunate to have Dr Maia Nuku, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, chart the evolution of …
Pacific Arts Association International Symposium, March 24 – 28, Brisbane
By Pierre Laffont The XIII Pacific Art Association (“PAA”) international Symposium took place over four days on 24-28 March in Brisbane. It was organised by the Queensland Museum in partnership …
Bridge and barrier: Torres Strait and curious artefact distributions between Queensland and New Guinea
In this talk, Ian McNiven will outline what he calls the “Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere” as a framework to help shed light on why some ethnographic artefact types are …
Expanding the Visual Canon: Fifty years of Oceanic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1969-2019)
By Maia Nuku The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Oceanic art includes over two thousand works of art from the Pacific: ancestral treasures handed down across the generations that …
Review: Oceania
by Marina Garlick Oceania is the title of the catalogue of the eponymous exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London to mark 250 years since James Cook …
Collectors and Collections: OAS Forum 2019 a Triumph
The 2019 Oceanic Art Society Forum was an intellectual and emotional odyssey. Oceanic art represents and encompasses many things: sublime beauty and irresistible mystery; cultural treasure; markers of colonial dispossession …
Melanesian art: redux
By Natalie Wilson, Curator Australian & Pacific Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales In November, the Art Gallery of New South Wales will celebrate the life and art of …
Interview: Crispin Howarth on Maori Markings: Ta Mokoat the NGA
Jim Elmslie interviews Crispin Howarth, Curator of Pacific Arts at the National Gallery of Australia on the stunning new exhibition of Maori facial markings that will open in Canberra on …
A Successful Year – President’s Report on 2018
The Oceanic Art Society’s Annual General Meeting was held on 10th November at the Middle Harbour 16ft Skiff Club, Mosman NSW – a lovely venue on a sunny day. Twenty-one …
New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw
by Barry Craig My first experience of New Guinea was at Telefomin 1962-1965. I had graduated with a degree in Social Anthropology at University of Sydney 1960, gained a Diploma …
A Short History of the Tribal Art Market
by Antony JP Meyer It all began with the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492 at the very end of the 15th century when he met with …
Masterpieces of Oceanic Art from the Todd Barlin Collection during OAS Forum February 2019
by Todd Barlin A passion for collecting over 40 years will showcase not only Oceanic Art but also Artworks from SE Asia, Tibet and Japan. The small group tours will …
Oceania: Royal Academy of Arts, London, 29 September to 10 December 2018
by Michael Martin The Royal Academy in London is holding a major exhibition of the art of the Pacific from the 29th September to the 10th December 2018. Entitled “Oceania”, …
The Elizabeth Pryce Collection on Centre Stage in Paris
Elizabeth (Beth) Pryce is well known to Oceanic art lovers throughout Australia and around the world. A founding member of the OAS and inaugural Secretary, Elizabeth is one of the …
The Art of Collecting
By Jim Elmslie Oceanic Art means different things to different people. Made by indigenous peoples for traditional cultural and utilitarian practice, artefacts are now prized by many people far removed …
New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw
Wednesday 19 September – OAS Lecture, 6:30pm, Australian Museum. Barry Craig will be presenting an illustrated talk on: New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw I went to …
Ninth OAS Forum in Sydney
Aboriginal and Pacific art: Collections and artists, then and now. OAS in conjunction with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Australian Museum, 1-3 February 2019 After the stunning …
Aesthetics of New Guinea Art – Part II
Lecture by Michael Hamson, Savage Club, Melbourne, 21 October 2017 This article continues on from Part One which appeared in the last edition of the OAS Journal where Mr. Hamson …
The Sam and Sharon Singer Collection of Oceanic Art
Based on a presentation by Sam Singer at the OAS Savage Club Forum, 2017 I want to thank OAS for bringing all of us, scholars, collectors, museums, dealers, and auction …
Different Ways of Seeing
by Jim Elmslie Oceanic art creates fascination on many levels. In this edition of the OAS Journal we look at two quite different ways of seeing traditional artefacts. To Dr. …
The Social Life of Aboriginal Breastplates: Encoded Objects of Colonisation
By Angel Bottaro The preservation of Aboriginal breastplates, with a degree of empathetic imagination, evoke powerful stories of colonisation. The physical weight of the objects around one’s neck and the …
SAWIYANO: Life in the East Sepik Province
Betni Kalk is a professor of Design at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. As the daughter of missionaries, Betni grew up in the East Sepik Province in Sawiyano territory. She …
Aesthetics of New Guinea Art
Lecture by Michael Hamson, Savage Club, Melbourne, 21 October 2017 Introduction Aesthetics by definition are subjective — being one’s response to and appreciation of beauty. That subjective dimension becomes even …