"Tapa" painting ·  Papua New Guinea - Bismarck Archipelago - New Britain, Island of Arawe · ID: 3038397

Description

barkcloth, black and red pigment, natural-coloured ground, painted in black with hook- and band-motifs, line pattern inbetween, slightly dam., minor missing parts, stained, spread on black cardboard, black windowframe (h: 220 cm, b: 40,5 cm);
the island of New Britain is situated in the Bismarck Archipelago, it is part of Melanesia and politically it belongs to Papua New Guinea. The Arawe islands (even called “Lovely Islands”) are situated in the southwest of New Britain.
Tapa cloth was used variously, for traditional clothing for example. In Polynesia the deceased were wrapped in tapa and valuable presents were handed over wrapped in tapa.

Comparing literature

Heermann, Ingrid (Hg.), Form, Farbe, Phantasie, Stuttgart 2001, p. 162, ill. 98