Maori Art of New Zealand

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MAORI ART OF NEW ZEALAND MAORI ART OF NEW ZEALAND is written in a concise popular style with facts presented in such a way as to inform and make the subject both interesting and comprehensible to the non-specialist reader. No author has previously attempted a comprehensive review of Maori art in the manner of this book. The persistent theme of the work is that Maori art is best understood in terms of traditional Maori society, economy, Polynesian religion, and the unique New Zealand environment. Objects are not regarded as dead relics of dusty museum cases but as expressions of a vitai culture that adapted post-European life, when stone tools gave way to steel tools, to the needs of a new Maori society. It is made clear that Maori art passed through several distinct epochs or phases. The text is illustrated and enlivened by 68 black and white and colour photographs which were chosen by the author specifically to complement the discussion and description of the text. The treatment of... Tovább

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MAORI ART OF NEW ZEALAND MAORI ART OF NEW ZEALAND is written in a concise popular style with facts presented in such a way as to inform and make the subject both interesting and comprehensible to the non-specialist reader. No author has previously attempted a comprehensive review of Maori art in the manner of this book. The persistent theme of the work is that Maori art is best understood in terms of traditional Maori society, economy, Polynesian religion, and the unique New Zealand environment. Objects are not regarded as dead relics of dusty museum cases but as expressions of a vitai culture that adapted post-European life, when stone tools gave way to steel tools, to the needs of a new Maori society. It is made clear that Maori art passed through several distinct epochs or phases. The text is illustrated and enlivened by 68 black and white and colour photographs which were chosen by the author specifically to complement the discussion and description of the text. The treatment of the subject progresses logically from the introductory chapter PERSPECTIVE IN MAORI ART (covering such essential matter as the settlement of New Zealand by Polynesians and the discovery of them by the Western world), to specific chapters as follows: VILLAGE SOCIETY & THE CRAFTSMAN; THE ARTS OF PERSONAL ADORNMENT; MAORI RELIGION & THE ARTS; SYMBOLS OF THE WOODCARVER'S ART; TOOLS & TECHNIQUES OF THE WOODCARVER; SURFACE DECORATION & LOCAL STYLES OF SCULPTURE; THE ARTS OF WORK, HOME AND LEISURE; and MAORI ART IN THE SERVICE OF THE DEAD. OQO DR TERENCE BARROW, a New Zealanderby birth, is descended from pioneer British settlers who sailed to the South Pacific from England and Scotland over a hundred years ago. He has known the Maori people as friends and companions from his earliest years and much of his professional life has been associated with Maori culture. He entered the service of the New Zealand Government in 1949 when he secured employment in the Maori division of the Dominion Museum (now National Museum of New Zealand), Wellington. For about a decade prior to his leaving that museum in 1965 he was in charge of the Maori art collections, an occupation which brought him into direct contact with Maori folk at all levels of society. From 1966 to 1969 Dr Barrow worked with the Bemice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, and later with the State of Hawaii to plan a State-wide survey of historical and archaeological sites, museums and related places of cultural importance. The author of books and scientific papers on Maori and other Polynesian subjects - including Decorative Arts of the New Zealand Maori (1972) and Art and Life in Polynesia (1972) - Dr Barrow has travelled widely in search of Maori art objects scattered throughout the world. He graduated Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at New Zealand universities, then attained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, England. He alsó holds a diploma of the Museums Association (London, England), and is a fellow of several professional societies including the Art Galleries and Museums Association of New Zealand. His work with overseas museums includes a term spent in Thailand as museum consultant for Unesco. Currently Dr Barrow lives and works in Honolulu, Hawaii, where the diversity of races and cultures is particularly favourable to his study of Pacific peoples and their arts. He has a Japanese wife and two young sons. Vissza