An introduction to the tribal art of the numerous groups of the Indonesian archipelago, as it evolved from the Dong-son culture of northern Vietnam and developed as a result of common beliefs in animism, ancestor worship, and customary law (adat).

Numerose sono le isole dell'Insulindia che vantano colossali monumenti e statue di pietra tali da gareggiare con i giganti dell'isola di Pasqua; nonostante ciò queste affascinanti manifestazioni artistiche sono state finora oggetto solo di studi specialistici, rimanendo in gran parte sconosciute al grande pubblico. Il volume, che comprende i saggi di Alan Viaro, Arlette Ziegler, Jean Paul Barbier e Janet Hoskins, analizza le diverse tipologie, significati e funzioni di queste suggestive sculture monumentali attraverso una selezione di cinquanta esemplari delle straordinarie collezioni del Museo Barbier-Mueller. Annotation Supplied by Informazioni Editoriali

Anthropologist Shelly Errington argues that Primitive Art, invented as a new type of art object at the beginning of the 20th century, has died. Errington's dissection of discourses about progress and primitivism is a lively introduction to anthropological studies of art institutions and a dramatic contribution to the growing field of cultural studies. 106 illustrations.

There exist numerous free-standing figurative sculptures produced in Java between the eighth and fifteenth centuries whose dress display detailed textile patterns. This surviving body of sculpture, carved in stone and cast in metal, varying in both size and condition, remains in archaeological sites and museums in Indonesia and worldwide. The equatorial climate of Java has precluded any textiles from this period surviving. Therefore this book argues the textiles represented on these sculptures offer a unique insight into the patterned splendour of the textiles in circulation during this period. This volume contributes to our knowledge of the textiles in circulation at that time by including the first comprehensive record of this body of sculpture, together with the textile patterns classified into a typology of styles within each chapter.