Peabody Museum (Cambridge) Tiki, looking for info...anyone?? BigBro??

Mrs. Lurker and I just got back from Boston. We ran across this tiki at the Peabody Museum in Cambridge. Couldn't find any info on it there so was hoping the Ohana could help. This thing is awesome about 20 feet tall with some interesting details.

The tiki is amazing. Were you maybe in Salem when you saw this guy? Unless you have uncovered a new museum with oceanic arts, I'm pretty sure the museum is in Salem Mass.

Here's the website: Peabody Essex Museum

Beth

Oh geee, I wanna go there so badly, a classic old style museum...

And they had no plaque for that? That's an ancestor or Bis pole from the Asmat. The Asmat were a lovely people, living in a tropical paradise :) :

This is a good text to read whenever you feel dissatisfied with the place you live in...actually it sounds like some Tikiphiles nowadays: "...their seemingly compulsive preoccupation with (-) art was a direct result of their desire to contain, subdue, or simply forget their environment.."
It also drives home how during the post war primitive art boom, Melanesian art flooded the market.

The posts were erected as revenge memorials for family members who had lost their heads (literally, of course). They are carved from one piece, out of a mangrove tree set upside down, with one root being left intact and carved into the ornamental prow/penis.

Thanks BigBro! And yes this one and the Essex branch in Salem are awesome and have some outstanding pieces well worth the trip! And as for the "no plaque" the Mrs. and I looked all over the room and could find nothing! And no Docents to ask about the piece, But I knew I could count on you, Mahalo!

Ia Orana, Tei hea te fare inuinura'a? Hina'aro oe e inu? Or Hello, Wheres the bar? Do you want a drink?

[ Edited by: Hinano_Paul 2008-01-23 19:09 ]

On 2008-01-23 18:14, Tikisgrl wrote:
The tiki is amazing. Were you maybe in Salem when you saw this guy? Unless you have uncovered a new museum with oceanic arts, I'm pretty sure the museum is in Salem Mass.

Here's the website: Peabody Essex Museum

Beth

Beth,

There are two Peabody Museums in Mass. The Peabody in Cambridge by Harvard and connected to the Natural History Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum is in Salem, Both have amazing pieces.

On 2008-01-23 19:11, Hinano_Paul wrote:

On 2008-01-23 18:14, Tikisgrl wrote:
The tiki is amazing. Were you maybe in Salem when you saw this guy? Unless you have uncovered a new museum with oceanic arts, I'm pretty sure the museum is in Salem Mass.

Here's the website: Peabody Essex Museum

Beth

Beth,

There are two Peabody Museums in Mass. The Peabody in Cambridge by Harvard and connected to the Natural History Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum is in Salem, Both have amazing pieces.

Good thing we have tourists! As a native I pay no attention huh? Thanks for the tip now I will have to go to both! Beth

no wonder why the Salem PEM volunteers looked so confused when i asked where the Moai were.
the Oceanic Arts in the Salem location were outstanding. we didnt take pictures, because we weren't supposed to..sure wish they'd sell postcards or something ..

Both will let you take pics just no flash.

Dogbytes,

Saw no Moai but saw this Easter Island guy at the Essex in Salem.

And these two incredible BirdMan of Rapa Nui carved stones at the Cambridge location.

Ia Orana, Tei hea te fare inuinura'a? Hina'aro oe e inu? Or Hello, Wheres the bar? Do you want a drink?

[ Edited by: Hinano_Paul 2008-01-23 22:09 ]

NOW if SALEM can only get a real excellent TIKI restaurant!!! Nothing good around here.

While in Cambridge, found this Tiki today...

Unidentified Artist
Tiki stone - Two Figures
Sculpture
Polynesian, 19th-20th centuries
Stone
42 x 20 x 10.8 cm (16 9/16 x 7 7/8 x 4 1/4 in.)
Creation Place: Marquesas Islands
Harvard Art Museum/Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell, 1988.474
Department of Modern & Contemporary Art

From the collection of that same Museum:

Jack Gould
American
Untitled (people in costume at Beaux Arts Ball, chicken and tiki-god), c. 1950
Series: American Professional Photographers Collection
Photograph
Slide, 35 mm, color
6 x 12 cm (2 3/8 x 4 3/4 in.)
Creation Place: United States
Harvard Art Museum/Fogg Museum, On deposit from the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, American Professional Photographers Collection, 4.2002.15657
Department of Photographs

I LOVE ART!!!

Should I start a thread about the Harvard Art Museum/Fogg Museum just for this two specimens posted above? I don't think it's worth it, but I don't think they belong in this thread either...

If it gets more people to post pictures of the place, sure! I love old style ethnological museums, and this one I really wanna visit some day. But in the meantime we all could explore it more via photos posted here.

Love those costume photos. They beg the age-old question: What came first- the chicken or the Tiki?

Here's a link to the Peabody Essex collection pictures on their web site.

http://www.pem.org/collections/6-oceanic_art

Hard to get the feel for the size of this Ku, he's a big boy!

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2010-03-24 05:53 ]

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2010-03-24 05:54 ]

Here's the Hawaii section at the Peabody Museum at Harvard

http://140.247.102.177/col/shortDisplay.cfm?StartRow=1

And this from their PNG collection. The first Coconut Monkey?!??!

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2010-03-24 06:40 ]

This is a fantastic thread!

I had trouble with that link, however.

Here's one that goes straight to the Oceania Collection overview...
http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/node/202

And, not only does The Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology have one
of the most extensive online databases of their collections, it contains many examples
of iconic pieces used as inspiration for other artists and designers.
Here's just a sample...

I especially love the vintage photographs...

Better link, thank you!

As you said, they have such an extensive online database, I kind of got lost and never saw those incredible examples you found!