Oceanic Art (World of Art)

This updated edition of Nicholas Thomas's authoritative World of Art volume is a comprehensive look at Oceanic art, and includes a new chapter on contemporary art.

The dazzling colors and patterns of the art of the Pacific Islands have long entranced Western audiences, including artists such as Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso. In Oceanic Art, Nicholas Thomas looks beyond the familiar, stunning surfaces of spears and shields, carved canoe prows and feather capes to discover the significance of art, past and present, for the people of the Pacific.

In this second edition, which includes a new chapter on globalization and contemporary art, Thomas shows how each region is characterized by certain art forms and practicesamong them Maori ancestral carvings, rituals of exchange and warfare in the Solomon Islands, the production of barkcloth by women in Polynesiaeven as it is shaped by influences from within the Pacific and beyond.