DOI Heft:
No.127 (October, 1903)
DOI Artikel:Praetorius, Charles J.: Art in British New Guinea
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19880#0072
Art in British New Guinea
pigments were used as a distemper or mixed with as rattles. The drum being a religious instrument,
shark oil. Yellow was occasionally used. With it is likely that the curious figures and animals
the introduction of trade more colours were obtain- often carved on them had their particular
able and were employed with garish effect. symbolic meaning.
There was much noisy drumming and singing Great drum-beating took place when there was
when young girls of British New Guinea were a new moon or when there was sickness about,
publicly introduced into society. For the occasion When starting for a fight the drums were taken,
they dressed in a stylish arrangement of shells and and if victorious there was drum-beating galore,
feathers. A short petticoat of leaves was specially The geographical distribution of certain patterns
made for the event. or the evolution of some form of ornament in one
Drums were carved from a log of soft cedar- or more tribes are not questions from which artists
like wood; over the top was stretched a piece gain much by investigation. Given a certain
of snake or lizard skin. The drum-handle was number of examples of a people's art (savage or
frequently a conventionally treated form of frigate otherwise), the facts speak for themselves. The
bird's head. Attached to these drums were palm- individuality of Papuan art is unquestionable ; the
leaf streamers and many seed-pods, which served sense of decoration is there. What their earliest
and first efforts were we do
not know. Like the pre-
historic men who made pic-
tures on bone, the same
art instinct existed in the
Papuans. The specimens
selected for illustration may
be taken as some of the best
examples of Papuan work.
Since these objects were
made decadence has set
in, and may be said to
have started with the introduc-
tion of new occupations which
came with civilisation, intro-
duced by the missionaries and
traders.
Drawings of human figures
among the Papuans are of
such a poor description as
to be hardly worth notice.
It is curious to observe how
much more accurate are their
representations of animals and
fish. Being keen observers
of nature, and well able to
distinguish one plant from
another, they have names for
certain forms, and they carve
with enough accuracy for
identification.
Very few human figures
were carved in the round.
The examples to be seen
present a great contrast
to their decorative produc-
carved canoe ornaments from the trobriand islands tlOnS, in which the Value
drawn by c tr/Etorius of curves is so well under-
55
pigments were used as a distemper or mixed with as rattles. The drum being a religious instrument,
shark oil. Yellow was occasionally used. With it is likely that the curious figures and animals
the introduction of trade more colours were obtain- often carved on them had their particular
able and were employed with garish effect. symbolic meaning.
There was much noisy drumming and singing Great drum-beating took place when there was
when young girls of British New Guinea were a new moon or when there was sickness about,
publicly introduced into society. For the occasion When starting for a fight the drums were taken,
they dressed in a stylish arrangement of shells and and if victorious there was drum-beating galore,
feathers. A short petticoat of leaves was specially The geographical distribution of certain patterns
made for the event. or the evolution of some form of ornament in one
Drums were carved from a log of soft cedar- or more tribes are not questions from which artists
like wood; over the top was stretched a piece gain much by investigation. Given a certain
of snake or lizard skin. The drum-handle was number of examples of a people's art (savage or
frequently a conventionally treated form of frigate otherwise), the facts speak for themselves. The
bird's head. Attached to these drums were palm- individuality of Papuan art is unquestionable ; the
leaf streamers and many seed-pods, which served sense of decoration is there. What their earliest
and first efforts were we do
not know. Like the pre-
historic men who made pic-
tures on bone, the same
art instinct existed in the
Papuans. The specimens
selected for illustration may
be taken as some of the best
examples of Papuan work.
Since these objects were
made decadence has set
in, and may be said to
have started with the introduc-
tion of new occupations which
came with civilisation, intro-
duced by the missionaries and
traders.
Drawings of human figures
among the Papuans are of
such a poor description as
to be hardly worth notice.
It is curious to observe how
much more accurate are their
representations of animals and
fish. Being keen observers
of nature, and well able to
distinguish one plant from
another, they have names for
certain forms, and they carve
with enough accuracy for
identification.
Very few human figures
were carved in the round.
The examples to be seen
present a great contrast
to their decorative produc-
carved canoe ornaments from the trobriand islands tlOnS, in which the Value
drawn by c tr/Etorius of curves is so well under-
55