AP® Art History review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/art-history/units/9)
Unit 9
About 4% of examThe Pacific, 700–1980 CE
Unit 9's 11 works come from islands spread across Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, where the ocean connected people instead of separating them. Many works deal with rank, ancestors and spiritual power (called mana in many Polynesian cultures), and many are made of fragile materials like feathers, bark cloth and fiber or are tied to performances. You'll also see how contact with Europeans changed what was made and how it was shown.
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Big ideas
- The ocean linked Pacific peoples through voyaging, trade and shared ideas
- Art often marks rank, family lines and spiritual power
- Many works are ephemeral, or made for performance and gift exchange
- Feathers, shell, bark cloth and stone carry prestige
- Contact with Europeans brought new materials, beliefs and power struggles
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Topics
Pacific artists turned natural materials into objects of great prestige. A Hawaiian ‘ahu ‘ula is made of thousands of small bird feathers tied onto a netted fiber base, Nukuoro carvers made smooth, simplified wooden deity figures, and Niuean hiapo is bark cloth (tapa) painted freehand with fine designs.
Key terms
- featherwork
- ‘ahu ‘ula
- mana
- tapa (bark cloth)
- hiapo
- freehand painting
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
These works show exchange within the Pacific and with outsiders. Marshall Islands navigation charts record ocean swell patterns used in voyaging, Rarotongan staff gods were handed over to Christian missionaries in the 1800s, Gottfried Lindauer painted the Māori chief Tamati Waka Nene in a European oil-portrait style, and in 1953 Fijians presented mats and tapa cloths to Queen Elizabeth II.
Key terms
- wayfinding
- stick chart
- missionaries
- colonialism
- gift exchange
- tā moko (Māori tattoo)
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.
Scholars still debate how and why some of these works were made. Nan Madol's islets of stacked basalt columns on Pohnpei were the ceremonial and political center of the Saudeleur dynasty, the moai of Rapa Nui are thought to represent important ancestors watching over their communities, and malagan carvings from New Ireland are made for funeral ceremonies and then left to decay, destroyed or given away once the rites are over.
Key terms
- Saudeleur dynasty
- moai
- ahu (platform)
- malagan
- ephemeral art
- ancestors
A few quick questions on this topic, with the answers explained.