Oceania Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Eric Kjellgren

In aesthetic quality, significance and scope, the Metropolitan Museum's Oceanic or Pacific Islands collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world. This generously illustrated volume features some 200 masterworks from the more than 2,600 objects currently in the collection, and it is published to coincide with the opening of the Museum's new galleries of Oceanic art. An overview of Oceanic art and a history of the Metropolitan's collection are followed by detailed chapters devoted to each of the five major cultural regions of the Pacific: Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and the islands of Southeast Asia. Among the notable works discussed are a monumental Baining barkcloth figure, a spectacular shield from the Solomon Islands, the Museum's renowned Torres Strait mask and acclaimed Mangarevan wooden male figure, a weather charm from the Caroline Islands, and textiles from the regions of Lampung and Sumba, in Sumatra. A glossary and selected bibliography conclude this essential guide.

Eric Kjellgren is Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Associate Curator for Oceanic Art, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He is the principal author of Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands (MMA/Yale, 2005) and of Splendid Isolation: Art of Easter Island (MMA/Yale, 2001).

"A magnificent work of scholarship, a monumental achievement in publishing, and a brilliant contribution to the rapidly expanding field of non-western art history. . . . This handsome book will be the standard, the indispensable reference on the indigenous art history of the region." -;i>Art New Zealand."--Jonathan Mane-Wheoki"Art New Zealand" (02/28/2013)