AP Art History Unit 9 Flashcards: The Pacific

Click a card to reveal key facts

Nan Madol

Pohnpei, Micronesia · ca. 700–1200 CE

Micronesia

Key Facts

Artificial island complex of 92+ islets built on tidal flats
Basalt log-stack walls — no mortar; interlocking system
Saudeleur dynasty seat of power; "city" in the ocean
Nandauwas islet: mortuary center with huge basalt tomb
Oral tradition says basalt logs were flown by magic

Moai on Platform (Ahu)

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) · ca. 1100–1600 CE

Polynesia

Key Facts

Carved from tuff (volcanic ash) at Rano Raraku quarry
Represent deified ancestors (aringa ora = "living faces")
Ahu = stone platform; moai face inland to protect community
Pukao: red scoria topknots on some moai — high rank
Largest standing moai: ~10 m; some weigh 80+ tons

Female Deity

Nukuoro, Micronesia · ca. 1800–1900

Micronesia

Key Facts

Carved wood; extremely reductive, minimal features
Cylindrical body, schematically indicated breasts
Represents a deity (akua) — not a portrait
Kept in men's house; used in healing rituals
Contrasts with more elaborate Polynesian figural style

Buk (Mask)

Torres Strait Islands · ca. 1885

Torres Strait

Key Facts

Turtle shell (hawksbill), feathers, human hair, fiber
Worn horizontally — performer looks through open mouth
Represents ancestral turtle spirit; used in male initiation
Torres Strait = between Australia and Papua New Guinea
Collected by Europeans during colonial period; now in museums

Malagan Display

New Ireland, Papua New Guinea · 20th c.

Melanesia

Key Facts

Malagan = mortuary ceremony AND the carved objects displayed
Intricate openwork carving; fish, birds, human figures
Displayed once at the feast, then destroyed or sold
Activates rights to land, names, and ritual knowledge
Impermanence is the point — image released after ceremony

Navigation Chart (Rebbelib)

Marshall Islands · 19th century

Micronesia

Key Facts

Palm midribs, pandanus fiber, cowrie/cone shells
NOT a map — encodes swell patterns and island positions as mnemonic
Read by feeling, not seeing; navigators memorized it
Rebbelib = large-scale chart for multiple island groups
Mattang = smaller training chart for a single island group

Hiapo (Tapa Cloth)

Niue · ca. 1850–1900

Polynesia

Key Facts

Hiapo = Niuean term for tapa (bark cloth)
Made from paper mulberry (wauke) bark, beaten and felted
Geometric patterns in curvilinear Niuean style
Contact-era influence: European quilt patterns absorbed
Used in gifting ceremonies, life-transition rites

Staff God (To'o)

Rarotonga, Cook Islands · early 19th c.

Polynesia

Key Facts

Wooden core wrapped in fiber binding; small deity figures along shaft
To'o = image of the god Tangaroa (sea god)
The wrapping IS the god — divine power resides in the binding
European missionaries collected and destroyed many; survivors in museums
Cook Islands: between Samoa and Tahiti in central Polynesia

Feather Cloak (Ahu 'Ula)

Hawaii · 18th century

Hawaii

Key Facts

'O'o and mamo bird feathers knotted onto fiber netting
Red = sacred (restricted); yellow = extremely rare, highest rank
Only ali'i (chiefs) permitted to wear; encodes mana and kapu
Thousands of feathers; some cloaks represent years of bird capture
Captain Cook received one at Kealakekua Bay, 1779

Tapa (Kapa)

Hawaii · ca. 1800–1820

Hawaii

Key Facts

Kapa = Hawaiian term for bark cloth (tapa)
Made from wauke (paper mulberry); beaten with decorated beaters
Beater patterns transfer geometric designs directly onto surface
Used for clothing, bedding, ceremonial wrapping
Hawaiian kapa tradition collapsed after 1820s missionary contact

Tattooed Man (after John Webber)

Polynesia · ca. 1784 · Engraving

Polynesia

Key Facts

John Webber was the official artist on Cook's third voyage (1776–80)
Drawing documents Marquesan tattoo traditions
Full-body geometric tattoo = autobiography, genealogy, rank
European document of Pacific culture = colonial gaze AND primary source
Tattoo (from Polynesian "tatau") introduced to English via Cook's voyages

Female Figure (Tiki)

Marquesas Islands · 19th century

Polynesia

Key Facts

Carved tridacna shell (giant clam) — rare, high-value material
Large round eyes = classic Marquesan style
Tiki = carved human figure representing deified ancestors
Worn as pendant by high-ranking individuals
Marquesas Islands: French Polynesia, northeast of Tahiti

Tamati Waka Nene (Portrait)

Gottfried Lindauer · New Zealand · 1890

Māori

Key Facts

Oil on canvas by German-born painter Gottfried Lindauer
Subject: Tamati Waka Nene, prominent Māori chief and Treaty of Waitangi signatory
Tā moko (facial tattoo) depicted with ethnographic accuracy
Huia feather in hair = highest rank (bird now extinct)
Colonial-era portrait: European medium, Māori subject asserting identity

Presentation of Fijian Mats and Tapa

Fiji · 1953 · Painting

Fiji

Key Facts

Documents the 1953 presentation of mats and tapa to Queen Elizabeth II
Fijian mats (i'ie) and tapa (masi) = highest-value traditional gifts
Gift exchange enacts traditional political alliance — vakavanuatū (chiefly protocol)
Painted record of a colonial-era ceremony; sovereignty and tradition coexist
Tapa and mats remain living material culture, not museum relics

Māori Meeting House (Wharenui)

New Zealand · 19th–20th c.

Māori

Key Facts

Wharenui = "big house"; the building IS an ancestor's body
Ridge pole = spine; rafters = ribs; façade = face
Interior carved panels depict specific named ancestors
Community gathers inside the ancestor — meetings are literally held within the body
Tukutuku (woven lattice panels) alternate with carved poupou (ancestor posts)

Bis Pole (Ancestor Pole)

Asmat, Papua New Guinea · 20th c.

Melanesia

Key Facts

Carved from a single mangrove tree with root as projecting "wing" (cemen)
Stacked ancestor figures represent recently deceased community members
Carved to motivate headhunting raids — avenge the dead
After ceremony, poles are left to rot: decomposition completes the ritual
Asmat region, West Papua; UNESCO-listed cultural practice

Fatu Feu'u, Contemporary Pacific Work

Samoa/New Zealand · late 20th c.

Contemporary

Key Facts

Samoan-born artist living in New Zealand — Pacific diaspora
Paintings merge traditional Samoan siapo (tapa) patterns with Western painting
Addresses cultural displacement, identity, and belonging
Uses bark cloth geometry in acrylic — traditional form, contemporary medium
Broader theme: Pacific contemporary art asserts living cultural continuity