25 years of the OAS
Photo Caption: The 2012 OAS Forum at the SA Museum. Photo by Michelle Haywood. 2020 is a very significant milestone in the history of the Oceanic Art Society. As is outlined …
Volume 25
Creating change for a quarter of a century: The Oceanic Art Society
by Crispin Howarth The Australian-based international Oceanic Art Society (OAS) is celebrating its quarter of a century recognising and appreciating non-western arts of Australia and the Pacific. It began with …
Oh boy… 25 years already!
by Anthony Meyer I remember the inception of the Oceanic Art Society when Harry Beran first mentioned the idea in the early 1990s. We discussed it face to face during …
Comments on the Oceanic Art Society
by Michael Hamson I have been a part of the Oceanic Art Society for so long I cannot remember ever NOT being a member. In fact, I don’t even ever …
A Bird-Headed Kanak club in Norwich
by Carolina Gallarini While objects from Oceania can be viewed in several museums in the United Kingdom including the British Museum in London, the National Museums of Scotland or the …
Profile: Todd Barlin
by Margaret Cassidy Photo caption: Todd Barlin with his shields – Oceanic Arts Pacifica Casula Powerhouse, 2014. Down a quiet tree-lined street in inner-city Paddington sits the last remaining physical gallery in …
Jutta Malnic (1924 – 20 October 2020)
by Chris Boylan Photographer and author; above all, a person of great learning, wisdom and generosity. Jutta was educated in Switzerland where her father was the German Consul-General, but after his death …
Oceanic art market in the time of COVID
This edition of the Journal features Barry Craig’s account of the Pacific collection at the new Wantok Place Museum in North Adelaide as well as Jim Elmslie’s story behind the recent sales with remarkable provenance of works from the Hermannsburg school in Central Australia. We’ve introduced a new feature, the President’s Corner, where Bill Rathmell interviewed Nick Mitzevich, Director of the National Gallery of Australia, following news reports of the deaccession of Pacific pieces from the collection.
A New Museum in Adelaide
Read Barry Craig’s account of the Pacific collection at the new Wantok Place Museum in North Adelaide.
Albert Namatjira, Rex Battarbee and the Birth of the Hermannsburg School
By Jim Elmslie | Water colour paintings of the Hermannsburg School are instantly recognizable by their subject matter, form and the delicate hues employed. These landscape paintings of the ranges of central Australia, many near the eponymous Hermannsburg Mission, are distinctively unique.
Nick Mitzevich, Director of the National Gallery of Australia
Bill Rathmell Interviews Nick Mitzevich, Director of the National Gallery of Australia, following news reports of the deaccession of Pacific pieces from the collection.
The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist
Margaret Cassidy reviews 'The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist' - Three Lives in an Age of Empire by Kate Fullagar, Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
OAS responds with flexibility during COVID-19
The worldwide virus lockdown has hit all aspects of art and culture particularly hard. Cultural spaces and gatherings are often run on a low budget and it is hard to …
Navigating for a Place in the Museum: Stories of Encounter and Engagement between the Old and the New from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea
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 …
Obituary – Barbara Perry
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. …
War Art & Ritual: Shields from the Pacific
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 …
San Francisco Art Fair 2020
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, …
Noah’s Art – Floating art galleries of Indonesia
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 …
Hongi Hika: The Legacy Continues
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 …
Three busts and a cape – the adventurous life of Hongi Hika
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 …
Easter Island at the NGA
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 …
Warren Campbell of Bubble Artefacts
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 …
War Art & Ritual Shields from the Pacific
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 …
Leonard French – An Australian Artist Inspired by Melanesia
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 …