Pacific Encounters at Renovated Sainsbury Centre
Feathered head, Late 18th century. Feathers, basketry,
fibre, dog canine teeth, pearl shell, wood. h. 81.0cm. HAW 80. British Museum.
Sainsbury
Centre for Visual Arts on the campus of the University of East
Anglia, three miles west of the centre of Norwich in the county of Norfolk in
the UK.
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ UK
T: 01603 593199
21st May 2006 - 13th Aug 2006
Britain holds the most comprehensive 18th and 19th century Polynesian
collections in the world, yet much of this material is little-known and seldom
exhibited.
At 1h30 from London you can see extraordinary pieces
this summer '06. From what people told me who visited the exhibition, it
is really astonishing. After being closed for almost two years
for a £10 million revamp. The Sainsbury Centre For Visual Arts at the UEA in
Norwich has relaunched with a very special exhibition this summer.
David Norden.
Mid-late
18th century
Wood, pearl shell, boar's tusks
HAW 46
British Museum
NORWICH.- The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts presents the exhibit
Pacific Encounters: Art & Divinity in Polynesia 1760 - 1860. In Pacific
Encounters, for the first time, important Polynesian material from British and
other collections will be brought together for a major exhibition which will
substantially extend appreciation of one of the world's great art traditions.
Presenting rare and visually stunning god-images, sculptures, ornaments,
textiles and valuables to a wide audience, this exhibition will explore
Polynesia during the early period of contact with European voyagers,
missionaries and settlers.
Over 250 objects will be on display, including major sculptures in wood and
stone, feather and basketry images, feather cloaks, wooden bowls, decorated bark
cloths, ornaments and valuables of ivory, shell, bone and nephrite, and other
ritual items such as fly whisks, fans and drums. These objects represent the
major regions of Polynesia - Society Islands, Austral Islands, Cook Islands,
Marquesas Islands, Hawaii, Easter Island, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand.
From gorgeous Hawaiian feather cloaks to exquisite Tahitian fish hooks, there
will be something in this exhibition for everyone to enjoy. Polynesian art
deserves to be widely appreciated, and there is no better place to show it than
the Sainsbury Centre
In Pacific Encounters, for the first time, important Polynesian material from
British and other collections will be brought together for a major exhibition
which will substantially extend appreciation of one of the world's great art
traditions. Presenting rare and visually stunning god-images, sculptures,
ornaments, textiles and valuables to a wide audience, this exhibition will
explore Polynesia during the early period of contact with European voyagers,
missionaries and settlers.
Over 250 objects will be on display, including major sculptures in wood and
stone, feather and basketry images, feather cloaks, wooden bowls, decorated bark
cloths, ornaments and valuables of ivory, shell, bone and nephrite, and other
ritual items such as fly whisks, fans and drums. These objects represent the
major regions of Polynesia - Society Islands, Austral Islands, Cook Islands,
Marquesas Islands, Hawaii, Easter Island, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand.
From gorgeous Hawaiian feather cloaks to exquisite Tahitian fish hooks,
there will be something in this exhibition for everyone to enjoy. Polynesian art
deserves to be widely appreciated, and there is no better place to show it than
the Sainsbury Centre Steven Hooper, Exhibition Curator.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Steven Hooper, Director of the Sainsbury
Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of
East Anglia, on behalf of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and in
collaboration with the British Museum.
African
Art David
Norden |Mail|map
Sint Katelijnevest 27. B2000 ANTWERPEN-Belgium. Tel +32
3 227 35 40