THE PACIFIC
(700 - 1980 C.E.)
Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii
CONTENT: What do you see?
FORM: The details (what you see more exactly). How the artist delivers the content.
CONTEXT: Everything NOT observable.
FUNCTION: The intended purpose of the work.
Assignments:
READINGS:
UNIT Sheet: below
SNAPSHOT SHEET:
SmartHistory's - Art of Oceania including Polynesia, Melanesia, and Mircronesia.
The Pacific Unit Sheet:

The Pacific Unit Sheet:

APAH 250 Images:
(From earlier Prehistoric Unit):
9. The Ambum Stone
11. Terra cotta fragment
Applied Art:
221. Navigation chart
219. Hiapo (tapa)
220. Tamati Waka Nene Gottfried Lindauer
Objects of Power and Authority:
215. 'Ahu 'ula (feather cape)
223. Presentation of Fijian mats and
tapa cloth to Queen Elizabeth II
Sacred Objects of Ritual and Performance:
216. Staff god
- staff god (contextual image)
217. Female deity
218. Buk (mask)
222. Malagan mask
- Malagan display
Structures of Power and Authority:
213. Nan Madol
214. Moai on platform (ahu)
•deity: a god
•tapu: objects that project status
•tatu / tatau: tattoo (the first to wear those famous designs were likely the Lapita)
•mana: a person’s vital force
•malangan: refers to both the memorial ceremonies carried out after burial and mourning and the masks, figures, and posts made for use in these ceremonies
•tatanua masks: masks symbolic of important subjects including identity, kinship, gender, death, and the spirit world
•moai: monolithic statues
•pukao: the top knots placed on some moai statues on Easter Island
•monolith: a large, single upright block of stone often shaped into a pillar or monument
•‘ahu ’ula: “red cloak” refers to the red color associated with royalty in Hawaii
•Lapita: an ancient Pacific culture believed to be the common ancestor of the contemporary cultures of Polynesia, Micronesia, and some areas of Melanesia.