Customer Reviews

Oceanic Art

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Want to refresh your eyes amongst the visual boredom of thecity landscape? Feel like having a non-occidental approach tofigurative arts and religion? Then read this book and find the amazing collection of photographs along with a concise and effective study on representative arts in Oceania by Anthony J.P. Meyer. This edition could well be recommended as an obligatory visual encyclopedia for anyone who has read studies on art, magic and religion like that of Mircea Eliade on shamanism or J.G. Frazer's Golden Bough. As a visual artist I consider that this carefully selected collection of images is a golden mine until the present day for all creative person, like it was for cubist and surrealists long decades ago. Find a brilliant example of art and tradition that has given European painting and sculpture a new vitality and a wider perspective on Man. Sit back and enjoy a lavish design and a trustworthy source of info on Oceanic art for the demanding reader.

This massive, oversize, extremely weighty and well-made (Made In Italy) book is a very broad survey of so-called Oceanic Art. This genre may be defined geographically as that area surrounding and surrounded by the Southern Pacific Ocean stretching from Irian Jaya (Indonesian Half of New Guinea), the Northern and Eastern coast of Australia stretching down to New Zealand, as far East as the Easter Islands and up North and West to the Sandwich Islands, and all of the vast number of islands that dot the surface of the ocean in between.
This is then, obviously, a huge undertaking and explains the sheer mass of this publication (along with the fact that the book's text is printed in the French, German and English languages). It also makes it inevitable that some very worthy objects will be left out or overlooked. I'll get to that but first would like to praise the author for having the foresight to place objects in the context of their cultural use, discuss the native flora and fauna (there is even a section dedicated to the ubiquitous betel nut) that go into the artwork (literally and figuratively), describe and explain the religious or secular significance of certain objects and speculate upon probable ancient migration patterns which peopled the region. There is much information here that I am certain you will be exposed to for the first time, and there is a surfeit of excellent photographic reproductions of objects and the people who created them. Because of the large scope of this survey it is likely that you will need to come back to it time and again as you make your way through the various island 'nations'. You may also wonder if, for the same reason, this book has missed anything. I think it has. For instance, I was a little disappointed to see no so-called 'Story Board' carvings from the Palau Islands. These are, as the name implies, carved pictorial representations of local legends, typically done in a single frame on a hand-carved board as long as four feet, and one foot high. There is probably a good reason for this omission, but it causes me to wonder if there are not more categories, knife sheaths, for instance, that were also left out. Still, one must trust the editorial judgment of the author if for no other reason than the overall quality of the book's content is so high that concern over possible ommissions somewhat recede into the background. At present, this book is available right here on Amazon for a ridiculously low price below the issue price. I strongly encourage anyone who collects art books to purchase this, as well as anyone who studies or is interested in the islands, people and cultures of the South Pacific, and anyone who collects books with an eye toward re-selling them for a profit as I predict that this book is one that goes into the 'rare' book category within a year or two.

I lucked into this book sometime in mid 2008. I found it in one of those shops with the big yellow and black "discount books" signs. I'd never heard of it, never seen it before, and ended up buying it for $18 simply because I'd recently bought South Pacific: Island Music. Music from Oceania, the freak luck of finding this book new for such a cheap price, and here I am writing this review.

Why 4 stars? The number one reason is ignorance. My own. This book is huge. It doesn't take much imagination to realize it'd be capable of blunt force trauma, were it called on to carry out such duty. The range of topics... the range of lands... the range of peoples... when it comes to the adornments, pipes, weapons, tools, decorated skulls, etc... of Oceania I don't even know enough to know how much I don't know. I don't know enough to be able to accurately tell someone what this book does and/or does not do well.

So why do I care? For me the book is a pictorial journey into the lives of peoples I'll never know, and peoples who in some cases no longer exist, and/or they exist genetically, but the old ways, songs, stories, carvings, beads, earrings, etc... are gone. I'll always be an outsider to the items in this book. They'll never be able to have the generations of meaning to me that they had to their societies, but I still enjoy (no matter how superficially) seeing the physical manifestations of their cultures.

Where does my imagination go with this book? As much as it pains me to say it, I envision a time in the human future where the trappings of the Western World (even if that be in China, Malaysia, etc...) have collapsed. It'll be due to many factors, and will progress at varying speeds, for varying reasons in varying places. The New Dark Ages, but much worse and much more widespread. Billions of people will die... hundreds of millions more than die in terrible conditions every year now. I envision what I think of as a remicronization of culture. No longer will your lettuce be trucked in from 1,000 miles away. No longer will people look towards celebrities for guidance. No longer will granite countertops and brand new stainless steel appliances be seen as a necessity by such a large segment of the modern population. The modern world will descend into unimaginable horror and chaos where things are infinitely harder than they were a thousand years ago simply because the knowledge is gone. The music is gone. Community is gone. The entire societal concept of having everything brought, produced, piped in, subsidized, etc... from external forces will be OVER. It is in that wake that the next human world will flounder and try to start over.

When people are struggling to survive as much in spirit as in physical health, I can see books like this taking on a new role. Call it one of the sparks of the New Mythologies. In all these thousands of isolated pockets of humanity where there is no knowledge of the natural world and its medicines and foods, where there is no one who plays any instrument at all (or can even keep rhythmically adept time via hands, voices, feet), or weaves, paints, sculpts, carves, etc... I can see one of the members of a band finding this book as she/he rummages through the wastes of society long gone.

The images in this (and other books like it, no matter what the cultures) book could be part of what those future humans use to build up new cultural wealth... part of what they use to sustain their inner lives when everything is gone, taken from them when the lights went out, when the food reached the breaking point, when fresh water became as or more scarce than humans heve ever known, etc...

Even for right now, I could see this book being quite an inspiration to everyone from jewelry makers to tattoo artists (and collectors) to painters, etc... Just imagine yourself Picasso visiting the Trocadéro and seeing all those masks and carvings from Africa. This is the hand-held (sorta. very big, bulky book), Oceanic version of that.

After reading the other reviews I was excited to get this book. Now that I have the book it's not that phenomenal and I can see why it has the price tag that it does. First of all half of the 640pgs is art from Papua New Guinea. This isn't a bad thing if you are into PNG art, but I bought this book mainly for Polynesian art, and I thought it was lacking in this area.

The Marquesas section was decent but the New Zealand section was disappointing. Hawaii was also sad along with Tonga, Fiji and Easter Island. The objects presented in the book aren't even that rare, they are easily accessible on the open art market, except for maybe a handful of the objects presented. That and the very brief object write-up says save your money and buy an auction catalog for the same price or buy Pacific Encounters: The Art of Divinity in Polynesia less pages but better pieces to look at it and study

I can scarcely add anything to the three lengthy and enticing reviews already here, except to say "I second those emotions" and that when the book came last night and I scanned through its hundreds of plates, I was deeply grateful that I somehow found this magnificent work I've been wanting at such a great price. Mine is the one volume version of the two volumes, and must weigh 30 pounds, so it will live on the coffee table where it can serve as constant great art and war club. Photography excellent, to the extent that if you open the book at random you may scare yourself silly as one old god or another glares out at you. No time to write a thesis, just wanted to say there are about 10 more used copies at great prices (under $50) - get yours, like-minded ones.

Sent on time and it was in the as stated condtion! I will order again from this company.