Overview: Art in New Guinea
New Guinean art is many-sided and complex. The sheer diversity of cultural groups existing in the region have resulted in many unique styles of cultural expression, from art and architecture to music and weaponry.
Ancient Sculptures
Traditional art of New Guinea falls under the greater classification of Oceanic art—art made by the native peoples of the Pacific Islands and Australia. The earliest examples of art in New Guinea are thought to have appeared around 1500 BCE in the form of early Oceanic sculptures. These sculptures, found throughout the island but mostly in the mountainous highlands, first appeared as stone figures that took the shape of mortars, pestles, or freestanding figures. Imagery including birds, human heads, or geometric patterns were often carved onto the tops of pestles or mortars or into the freestanding figures. While the original significance of these pieces is unknown, they may have been used in the context of rituals.
Wood Carvings
The region of New Guinea is perhaps most famously known for its tradition in wood carvings, which are especially prevalent along the Sepik River of Papau New Guinea (an Oceanian country that occupies the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia). Elaborate carvings often took the form of sculptures, masks, canoes, drums, and storyboards, with many held today in overseas museums.
Hand drum, Papau New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, East Sepik Province, Eastern Iatmul People, circa 1909
The Bisj Poles of the Asmat
The Asmat are an ethnic group of New Guinea, residing in the Papua province. They have one of the most well-known woodcarving traditions in the Pacific, and their art is sought by collectors worldwide. Asmat art consists of elaborate stylized wood carvings, such as the bisj pole, that are designed to honor ancestors.
A bisj pole is a ritual artifact that can be erected as an act of revenge, to pay homage to the ancestors, to calm the spirits of the deceased, and to bring harmony and spiritual strength to the community. Carved out of a single piece of a wild nutmeg tree, bisj poles can reach heights of up to 25 feet. Their carvings depict human figures standing on top of each other, as well as animal figures and carvings in the shape of a canoe prow. Bisj poles are carved by Asmat religious carvers (known as wow-ipits) after a member of their tribe or community had been killed by an enemy tribe. The Asmat believed that if a member of the community had been killed, his spirit would linger in the village and cause disharmony. Bisj poles were erected in order to satisfy these spirits and send them to the afterlife (known as Safan) across the sea.
A bisj pole of the Asmat
Carved out of a single piece of a wild nutmeg tree, bisj pole carvings depict human figures standing on top of each other, as well as animal figures and carvings in the shape of a canoe prow.
Many rituals involved the bisj poles, including dancing, masquerading, singing, and headhunting—all performed by men. Bisj poles often had a receptacle at the base that was meant to hold the heads of enemies taken on headhunting missions. Canoe prow symbols represented a metaphorical boat that would take the deceased spirits away to the afterlife; the human figures would represent deceased ancestors. Although the practice of headhunting ended in the Asmat region in the 1970s, the poles are still used in rituals today.
Papau New Guinean wooden sculpture
A Papua New Guinean wooden sculpture, Stanford University New Guinea sculpture garden.
Development of Art Over Time
New Guinean artistic tradition continued even with increasing trade and interaction with European explorers through the 17th and 18th centuries. The latter half of the 19th century saw a decline of some traditional art forms as westernization began taking its toll on the area. In the 20th century, however, New Guinean and other Oceanic art began making a comeback.
The first wave of contemporary New Guinean artists included Mathias Kauage,Timothy Akis, Jakupa Ako, and Joe Nalo. Kauage, whose work included drawing, painting, and woodcuts, won Australia's Blake Prize for religious art; four of his works are in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, and he had a solo show in 2005 at the Horniman Museum entitled "Kauage's Visions: Art from Papua New Guinea." Other noted Papua New Guinean visual artists include Larry Santana, Martin Morububuna, and Heso Kiwi.