Oceanic Art
Hamlyn | 1970 | ISBN: 0600367029 | English | 166 pages | PDF | 17.7 MB

From the time of the first Pacific explorers, the Western World has been fascinated by the romance of the South Seas. Sophisticated men have longed to return to the simple, primitive life epitomised by those enchanted islands. In fact, the natives of this earthly paradise inhabit a world of surprising complexity. Their lives are bounded by myths and legends which may vary from area to area but are intimately dependent on the power of supernatural forces. The art of Oceania is the key to this enthralling world where a prow ornament becomes the guardian spirit of a ship, a statuette becomes an ever-watchful ancestor and a painted mask becomes the temporary residence of a god. The seventy-one marvelous colour plates in this book vividly depict the drama and mystery which are the essentials of Oceanic art