SOLOMON ISLANDS ART: The Conru Collection

Waite, Deborah & Kevon Conru

ISBN 10: 8874394934 / ISBN 13: 9788874394937

Published by 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008

About this Item

4to, 199 pp, near fine in lightly shelf-rubbed pictorial dust jacket over matching boards. 125 full-page color plates + b&w text illustrations & map. Bibliography.

Seller Inventory # 12571

Bibliographic Details

• Title: SOLOMON ISLANDS ART: The Conru Collection
• Publisher: 5 Continents Editions, Milan
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 8874394934
• ISBN 13: 9788874394937
• Binding: Hard Cover in Dust Jacket
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

The sea is the single greatest source of inspiration for the art of the Solomon Islands, which are located northeast of New Guinea. Artistic forms, embellishments, designs, functions, and materials are drawn from a watery muse that is subtly nuanced yet richly homogenous. In the art of the Solomons, there is a link between the visual and the practical. Objects are created with an understanding of pure, aquiline forms, and are shaped to give the most graceful outline and poised balance.

This book presents the Conru collection of art from the Solomon Islands, which encompasses a broad assortment of images, weapons, body ornaments and other artifacts. So numerous and diverse are the objects from this island group that it is difficult for a single collection to be totally representative. However, the collection approximates a representative status, comprising masks from Nissan and Buka, a large figure from Bougainville, as well as imagery and other artifacts from the western down through the southeastern islands. The artworks range from the 18th to the early 20th centuries.

About the Author

Kevin Conru has written on the photographic work of Hugo Bernatzik and on the arts of Southern Africa. He is a museum studies graduate of the London University, and currently works in the field of Oceanic ethnography.

Deborah Waite teaches Pacific and African art history in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Hawai'i. She has written two books on art from the Solomon Islands in other collections: Art from the Solomon Islands in the Barbier-Mueller Collection, Geneva (1983) and the Julius Brenchley Collection of Art from the S.I. (British Museum 1987).