Melanesian

The cultures of a region of the Pacific Islands that includes New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.

Dates

Places

Oceania > Melanesia

Basics Works of Art Artists Periods, Cultures, Styles

Melanesian

The cultures of a region of the Pacific Islands that includes New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Fiji.

Dates

Places

Oceania > Melanesia

Basics Works of Art Artists Periods, Cultures, Styles

Basics to get you started

Art Appreciation: Religion—comparisons and connections

Melanesia, an introduction

Works of Art

Gazellah Bruder, Goddess I Am and Feeding the Gods of Melanesia

2019

2021

Nguzunguzu (canoe prow figurehead)

late 19th–early 20th century

Tin Mweleun, Slit Gong (Atingting kon)

1960s

Chief Roi Mata’s Domain

early 17th century

Gwaikwavi Wakaaniambi, Yam mask or Bapamini

c. 1980

Ivory breastplate (civavonovono), Fiji

c. 19th century

The Life of Malagan

late 19th–early 20th century

Malagan at the British Museum

1882–83

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Artists

Yam mask or Bapamini, made by Gwaikwavi Wakaniambi, fiber and pigment, made by Wosera Abelam, Papua New Guinea, 34 cm high (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Yam mask or Bapamini, made by Gwaikwavi Wakaniambi, fiber and pigment, made by Wosera Abelam, Papua New Guinea, 34 cm high (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Gazellah Bruder

Gwaikwavi Wakaaniambi

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Periods, Cultures, Styles

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Inlaid bird bowl, likely 18th century, wood, inlaid with shell, from Belau, Micronesia, 93 x 53 cm (with lid), collected by Captain Henry Wilson (© The Trustees of the British Museum)

Palauan

Mask (Buk), Torres Strait, Mabuiag Island, mid to late 19th century,turtle shell, wood, cassowary feathers, fiber, resin, shell, paint, 21 1/2 inches high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City)

Torres Strait Islander

Yam mask or Bapamini, made by Gwaikwavi Wakaniambi, fiber and pigment, made by Wosera Abelam, Papua New Guinea, 34 cm high (© Trustees of the British Museum)

Wosera

to today

Tin Meweleun (commissioned by Tain Mal), Slit gong (Atingting Kon), 1960s, wood and paint, 175.2 x 28 x 23.5 inches (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Vanuatu

to today

Fish (detail), Funerary Carving (Malagan), late 19th–early 20th century, Papua New Guinea, New Ireland, New Ireland, wood, 280.7 x 87.6 x 26.7 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo: Steven Zucker)

New Ireland

to today

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