Art in Oceania: A New History

The arts of Oceania are astonishing: great statues, daunting tattoos, dynamic carving, dazzling woven and painted fabrics, intricately carved weapons, and a bewildering variety of ornaments, ritual objects, and utilitarian but beautiful things. This landmark book breaks new ground by setting the art of Oceania in its full historical context and capturing an up-to-date understanding of the field. From archaeological findings of prehistoric art to the impact of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial historical processes, it explores influences such as migration, trade, missionaries, pacification, tourism, nationalism and contemporary market factors, offering abundant new interpretations and addressing significant gaps in other publications. Factors that have been largely neglected until now, including the role of museums, the significance of colonial photography, indigenous modernisms and contemporary Pacific art, are covered alongside the familiar canon. This beautifully illustrated volume will appeal to general readers interested in world art, collectors, university students, scholars and museum professionals in the field.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction • 2. Art in Early Oceania • 3. New Guinea 1700–1940 • 4. Island Melanesia, 1700–1940 • 5. Eastern and Northern Oceania, 1700–1940 • 6. Art, War and the End of Empire, 1940–1988 • 7. Art in Oceania Now, 1988–2010 • 8. Epilogue

About the Author :
Nicholas Thomas is Professor of Historical Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Among his previous books are Oceanic Art in the World of Art series and Islanders: the Pacific in the Age of Empire, which won the Wolfson History Prize in 2010. Peter Brunt is Senior Lecturer in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington.

Review :
'A magisterial, nearly encyclopaedic volume on a so far relatively neglected field that is beginning to attract increasing scholarly and popular interest. This one should be on every art lover’s bookshelf' - Loyd Grossman (Judge for the Art Book Prize) 'A brilliant and highly original achievement. Nuanced, multi-disciplinary and fully collaborative in authorship and spirit … this book will undoubtedly stand as the definitive introduction and reference work on the rich and diverse arts of Pacific peoples for many years to come' - Ruth B. Phillips, Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal Art and Culture and Professor of Art History, Carleton University 'Ambitious and brilliantly successful. The collaborative scope is unprecedented. Each chapter is a revelatory essay, filled with astonishing images and evocative quotations … This volume sets a new standard for the cultural history of a complex, dynamic region' - James Clifford, University of California 'Extraordinary … the sheer magnitude of knowledge to which this book extends far surpasses any studies conducted previously' - Aesthetics 'Coming from Thames & Hudson it goes without saying that the book is well designed, superbly illustrated, with sufficient footnotes to satisfy even the fastidious reader, a sound bibliography and index … this volume must stand as the authoritative overview of the art of a region of the world that has both a rich history and a lively contemporary art community' - The Burlington Magazine 'As beautiful in its way as the objects it describes' - Daily Telegraph