Cultural History In Focus | “Atua: Sacred Gods of Polynesia” by Michael Gunn from Tribal Art Magazine
Ancestor Figure - Part of a Pou-Tokomanawa | Attributed to Raharuhi Rukupo
© National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Atua
Sacred Gods of Polynesia
by Michael Gunn
This article was generously provided by Tribal Art Magazine.
Special thank you to Michael Gunn and Alex Arthur.
Watch Atua: Sacred Gods from Polynesia featuring Michael Gunn from National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Michael Gunn
Michael Gunn was previously curator for Oceanic (Pacific) art and archaeology at the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory in Darwin (1981-1994); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1994-1999); the Saint Louis Art Museum (1999-2008); and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2008-2016). He is now an independent art historian, continuing to research art traditions in the Pacific region, in particular those of New Ireland and of Polynesia.
Gunn works with local people to document ritual art (traditional sculpture and painting) in the Pacific region. Fieldwork has taken him to New Ireland; to the Enga region in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea; to a number of regions in West Papua; to the Western Desert of Australia; and to Pulau Atauro in Timor Leste. He has worked with Polynesian cultural specialists in Tonga, Rarotonga, Tahiti, Hawai’i, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Gunn wrote the catalogue and curated the exhibition of pre-Christian Polynesian art Atua – sacred gods from Polynesia, 2014. Previous exhibitions also include New Ireland – art of the South Pacific, which he co-curated in 2006-2007 with Philippe Peltier at the musée du Quai Branly in Paris.
He has examined collections of Pacific art in more than 140 museums, as well as many collections in private hands.
He received his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, 1992. He was president of the Pacific Arts Association, 2007-2013.
Selected Publications and Reports
2019 “The Hole in the Middle : Did Malagan Evolve from Lapita?” Arts & Cultures 2019: 182-199, Genève: Musée Barbier-Mueller.
2015 The Ambum Stone - provenance report. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia. 16pp.
2015 “A New Era Begins for the PNG Museum and Art Gallery” Oceanic Art Society Journal Volume 20, Issue 5, November 2015: p9.
2015 “Le prix international du livre 2014 d’art tribal – Three Questions for Michael Gunn, author of Atua, Sacred Gods from Polynesia” Tribal Art number 75, Spring 2015: 144-145.
2014 “Art Traditions of New Ireland - an Overview”. In: Anne E. Allen with Deborah B. Waite (eds) Repositioning Pacific Arts – Artists, Objects, Histories. Proceedings of the VII International Symposium of the Pacific Arts Association, Christchurch, New Zealand. Sean Kingston Publishing: 60-73.
2014 “Atua – sacred gods of Polynesia” Tribal Art number 73 Autumn 2014: 86-93.
2014 Atua – sacred gods from Polynesia. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia. 256pp.
2006, 2007 Michael Gunn & Philippe Peltier (editors and contributors) New Ireland. Art of the South Pacific. Milano: 5 Continents Editions. 304pp. [also published in 2007 as Nouvelle-Irlande, Arts du Pacifique Sud; and Neuirland. Kunst der Südsee.]
2006 “New Ireland. Art of the South Pacific”. Tribal Art Autumn 2006 XI:1 (number 42) : 82-87.
2006 “Fragments of History: Art from Oceania” In: Christraud Geary (ed) From the South Seas. Oceanic Art from the Teel Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts: 12-17.
2004 “Mouthpieces from Northern New Ireland”. In: Dorothea Deterts (ed) Auf Spurensuche. Forschungsberichte aus und um Ozeanien zum 65. Geburtstag von Dieter Heintze. Jahrbuch XI, Überseemuseum Bremen: 131-141.
2003 “The Oceanic galleries at the Saint Louis Art Museum: recent reinstallation. Tribal, the magazine of tribal art. Number 30 Spring 2003: 48-51.
2000 “Sculpture de Nouvelle-Irlande - Effigie malanggan” and “Sculpture de Nouvelle-Irlande - Statue uli (oeuvre de type ealandik)”. In: Jacques KERCHACHE & Musée de Louvre, pavillon des Sessions. Sculptures. Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Amériques. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux & Musée du quai Branly: 287-290; 290-293.
2000 “Taxonomic structure and typology in the Malagan Ritual Art Tradition of Tabar, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea”. In: Craig, Kernot, Anderson (eds) Art and Performance in Oceania: 154-173. Bathurst: Crawford Press.
1999 “Ozeanien. ”In: Christoph Vitali & Hubertus Gaßner (eds). Kunst über Grenzen. Die Klassische Moderne von Cézanne bis Tinguely und die Weltkunst - aus der Schweiz gesehen. München:Prestel: 376-393.
1998 “Tabar Islands” In: Adrienne Kaeppler & Jacob Love (eds) “Australia and the Pacific Islands”. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Garland Publishing: 628-629.
1997 Ritual Arts of Oceania: New Ireland. Skira: Milano; Mona Bismarck Foundation. 161pp. (also published as Arts rituels d’Océanie. Nouvelle-Irlande dans les collections du musée Barbier-Mueller)
1995 Michael Gunn & Niesje Manembu. “Sabalhe Ancestor Boards of the Yali, central Irian Jaya - a transformation from ritual to pictorial art.” Baessler Archiv, Neue Folge, Band XLIII (1): 127-165.
1993 Fieldwork Report: Malagan Ritual Art on Tabar, New Ireland 1982-84. Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory: Darwin, Australia. 346pp. (10 copies distributed).
1992 Malagan Ritual Art on Tabar, New Ireland. PhD Thesis, University of Otago, New Zealand. 319pp.
1988 “Transformers and Terrorists - the Usage of Malagan Masks on Tabar, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea”. The Beagle - Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 5(1): 175-183.
1987 “The Transfer of Malagan Ownership on Tabar.” In: Lincoln, Louise (ed) An Assemblage of Spirits: Idea and Image in New Ireland. George Braziller: New York (in association with The Minneapolis Institute of Arts): 74-83.
1987 “Descriptive note on an outrigger canoe from the Wakde Islands, north coast Irian Jaya.” The Beagle - Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 4(1): 129-132.
1987 Application for Registration of Kutal as an Aboriginal Site of Significance (Site No. W1578). Report in four parts : i: Data Backing the Application ii: Tape Transcripts iii: Edited Transcript of the Notebook iv: Photo Index. 72pp.
1986 “Rock art on Tabar, New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea.” Anthropos 81:455-467.
1986 Michael Gunn & Mella Parshen-Kempfer (translators). Death Ceremonies and Malagans of Northern New Ireland. A translation of E. Walden & H. Nevermann 1940 "Totenfeiern und Malagan von Nord-Neumecklenburg". 35pp. (10 copies distributed)
1985 “A Headrest from the Adzera, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.” The Beagle - Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 2(1): 139-141.
1985 “A brief note on the malagan Churwunawungga from Tabar, New Ireland Province”. Oral History 13(1): 15-18. Reprinted in: The Beagle - Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences 1990. 7(2): 83-88.
1984 “Tabar Malagan, an outline of the emic taxonomy”. In: Developments in the Arts of the Pacific (ed. Philip J. C. Dark). Pacific Arts Association Occasional Papers No. 1: 81-92.
1983 “Tabar malagan - an initial report on field-work”. COMA - Bulletin of the Conference of Museum Anthropologists 12: 30-32.
1983 Tabar Malagan 1982 - a report on field-work May & June 1982. Museums & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory: Darwin, Australia. 10 copies distributed. 285pp illus.
1981 “The material composition of malanggans - a preliminary approach toward a non-destructive analysis”. COMA - Bulletin of the Conference of Museum Anthropologists 8: 17-21.
1980 “Etak and the Ghost Islands of the Carolines”. Journal of the Polynesian Society 89(4): 499-507.
1979 Etak and other concepts underlying Carolinian navigation. MA Thesis, Dept of Anthropology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. 107pp.
Disclaimer: Art of the Ancestors is a strictly non-commercial educational platform and has no vested interest or business relationship with Tribal Art Magazine. We do not take any responsibility for the content they publish; their opinions are their own.
Colophon
Author | © Michael Gunn
Publication | Tribal Art Magazine
Issue | #73 | Autumn 2014