DOI issue:
No. 62 (April, 1902)
DOI article:Praetorius, Charles J.: Decorative art in New Guinea, 1
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22773#0116
Decorative Art in New Guinea
TYPES OF ORNAMENT :
FRIGATE-BIRD PATTERNS
Scraps of ornament and patterns
collected, grouped together, and in
many instances the origin and mean-
ing of the design discovered, form
valuable material for students en-
gaged in the study of ethnography,
especially when such books are
written by people who have had the
advantage of living in the country
and obtaining their information from
the natives. Unfortunately, from
want of interest or opportunity, early
travellers and writers paid little
attention to the decorative art of
96
these peoples. Art in New
Guinea in the present day
is more a matter of trade
production ; the natives
work in quite another way
as compared with the time
when they worked solely
with a wish to beautify
personal belongings for
their own gratification.
Weapons and utensils are
now made as imitations ot
the old ones solely for the purpose of sale. In many of the
islands of the South Pacific “ curios ” are made to meet the
demands of the globe-trotters. In
New Hebrides numbers of feathered
arrows are made, and in order to
give the appearance of age to these
weapons the manufacturers bury them
in the river mud for a short time.
When barbaric art is studied in a
scientific manner, the art is apt to
disappear, and only the dry bones of
science remain. To make a rubbing
of a scrap of ornament from an object
shows the style of pattern, but it
gives no idea of the relation the orna-
ment bears to the general design of the
object as a whole.
Accurate diagrams and heel - ball
rubbings are not a fair means of illus-
tration, for they are apt to convey a false
impression to people interested in the
artistic value, apart from ethnographical
interest. Science may be measurement,
but it is certainly not art. An examina-
tion of a few examples ot the work of
natives of British New Guinea shows that
they were possessed of a strong sense for
decorative design. In their wood carving
considerable technical skill is evident,
and some of their productions are doubly
remarkable when it is remembered under
what primitive conditions and with what
simple tools the work was produced.
The illustrations in these pages are
from objects brought from the south-east
coast of British New Guinea, Torres
Straits, and numerous islands near the
mainland. In many instances the locality
and history of the object is uncertain or
wanting; for the present purpose, there-
fore, it will be enough to regard them SPAXULA FROM tbE
as the work of natives in the islands and trobriand islands
TYPES OF ORNAMENT :
FRIGATE-BIRD PATTERNS
Scraps of ornament and patterns
collected, grouped together, and in
many instances the origin and mean-
ing of the design discovered, form
valuable material for students en-
gaged in the study of ethnography,
especially when such books are
written by people who have had the
advantage of living in the country
and obtaining their information from
the natives. Unfortunately, from
want of interest or opportunity, early
travellers and writers paid little
attention to the decorative art of
96
these peoples. Art in New
Guinea in the present day
is more a matter of trade
production ; the natives
work in quite another way
as compared with the time
when they worked solely
with a wish to beautify
personal belongings for
their own gratification.
Weapons and utensils are
now made as imitations ot
the old ones solely for the purpose of sale. In many of the
islands of the South Pacific “ curios ” are made to meet the
demands of the globe-trotters. In
New Hebrides numbers of feathered
arrows are made, and in order to
give the appearance of age to these
weapons the manufacturers bury them
in the river mud for a short time.
When barbaric art is studied in a
scientific manner, the art is apt to
disappear, and only the dry bones of
science remain. To make a rubbing
of a scrap of ornament from an object
shows the style of pattern, but it
gives no idea of the relation the orna-
ment bears to the general design of the
object as a whole.
Accurate diagrams and heel - ball
rubbings are not a fair means of illus-
tration, for they are apt to convey a false
impression to people interested in the
artistic value, apart from ethnographical
interest. Science may be measurement,
but it is certainly not art. An examina-
tion of a few examples ot the work of
natives of British New Guinea shows that
they were possessed of a strong sense for
decorative design. In their wood carving
considerable technical skill is evident,
and some of their productions are doubly
remarkable when it is remembered under
what primitive conditions and with what
simple tools the work was produced.
The illustrations in these pages are
from objects brought from the south-east
coast of British New Guinea, Torres
Straits, and numerous islands near the
mainland. In many instances the locality
and history of the object is uncertain or
wanting; for the present purpose, there-
fore, it will be enough to regard them SPAXULA FROM tbE
as the work of natives in the islands and trobriand islands