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 members were present, with apologies from three more. After the formalities, the President, Bill Rathmell, provided a brief report on the state of the Society, […]
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 of Education 1961 and signed up as an Education Officer with the Department of Territories administration in Papua New Guinea. While at Telefomin, I hosted […]
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 the Täino culture of Haiti and Santo Domingo, although by the middle of the 15th century the Portuguese were already trading with Africa and the […]
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 be on the day before the OAS Forum on 31 January 2019. I will give two small group private tours of my collection at 2pm […]
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”, it is the first major exhibition of its type to ever be held in London and marks the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the […]
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 select few to have received the distinction of being made an Honorary Life Member of the OAS in return for her many years of service […]
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 from their geographical origins. Just why this is so is sometimes hard to fathom. In the last edition of the OAS Journal, and continuing in […]
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 New Guinea in 1962 as an Education Officer (‘chalkie’) and asked to be posted to Telefomin where I remained until 1965. I returned to Telefomin […]
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 success of the 8th OAS Forum at the Savage Club in Melbourne in October last year, the Forum 2019 Subcommittee convened by Chris Boylan is […]
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 looked at the criteria of Age; Technical Virtuosity, and Clarity in assessing New Guinea art. Colour It is hard to over-emphasize the importance of colour […]