The sacred revealed: An iconographic study of the Berndt Collection of Arnhem Land bark paintings at the American Museum of Natural History.
Item
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Title
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The sacred revealed: An iconographic study of the Berndt Collection of Arnhem Land bark paintings at the American Museum of Natural History.
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Identifier
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AAI3287109
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identifier
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3287109
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Creator
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Caglayan, Emily Rekow.
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Contributor
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Adviser: George A. Corbin
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Date
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2005
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Museology
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Abstract
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Bark painting, the act of applying natural pigments to flattened, dried and smoothed sheets of eucalyptus bark, is an indigenous art form of Australia. Although it was once widespread throughout the entire continent, the tradition of bark painting (which continues to the present day) is most often associated with Arnhem Land, a region that is primarily an Aboriginal reserve located in the northeastern section of the Northern Territory. Early Arnhem Land bark paintings served both secular and sacred functions, depending upon the context and audience for whom they were made.;This dissertation is the first comprehensive art historical study of Western and Northeastern Arnhem Land bark painting to focus on critical analyses of style and iconography. No scholar to date has done a diachronic analysis of bark paintings utilizing multiple collections from two distinct regions of Arnhem Land. The primary focus of this dissertation is on the AMNH Berndt Collection, a series of ninety bark paintings, collected by the social anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt in 1958 for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), New York.;The AMNH Berndt Collection of bark paintings reflects traditional styles and subject matter, since it was acquired prior to the establishment of a commercial art market. Significantly, it is one of the earliest bark painting collections to be thoroughly documented with the artists' names, social groups, and detailed explanations of the painted imagery. Moreover, it encompasses, within a single collection, artwork from both Western Arnhem Land and Northeastern Arnhem Land, and includes works by twenty-nine artists from fourteen clans or language groups.;Using the AMNH Berndt Collection as a baseline, this dissertation explores how Arnhem Land bark paintings have changed (both stylistically and iconographically) over time. Works from both earlier and later collections of Arnhem Land bark paintings have been analyzed, specifically eight important and related collections created over the fifty-eight year period between 1912 and 1971. Although the majority of the works included in this study remain unpublished, they are significant in terms of establishing regional artistic styles, as well as charting the introduction of innovative trends in Arnhem Land bark painting.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
