Asmat Art: Woodcarvings of Southwest New Guinea - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9625933840 ISBN 13: 9789625933849

Publisher: Periplus Editions, 1999

Synopsis

Used. Very Good conditions. May have soft reading marks and name of the previous owner.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The elaborate woodcarvings of the Asmat, who inhabit western New Guinea's coastal swamps, make the spirit world tangible. Head-hunting--practiced until the early 1960s--and ancestor worship figure prominently in this fierce people's intricate art. Spectacular, phallic bisj poles depicting human figures one above the other embody Asmat warriors' promise to avenge the deaths of the people carved into the pole. Abstract motifs on war shields symbolize deceased relatives; the Asmat believe these shields give warriors supernatural support in battle. Canoe prowheads, paddles, figure sculptures, eerie mask costumes and "soulships" carrying spirit passengers all reflect the Asmat preoccupation with the netherworld. Smidt, a curator at the Netherlands' National Museum of Ethnography, leads a team of scholars, collectors and anthropologists in ably discussing Dutch colonial contacts, Asmat festivals, religion and motifs.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Periplus Editions
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 9625933840
• ISBN 13: 9789625933849
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Smidt Dirk A. M.