FIJI ON EXHIBITION

The 26’ double-hulled sailing canoe (drua) newly commissioned for the exhibition. Joji Marau Misaele, head of School of Mechanical Engineering at Fiji National University, led a group of skilled carvers and mat sail makers to build the canoe in Fiji using traditional materials and techniques, without any metal components.

The first substantial project on the art of Fiji to be mounted in the United States of America, Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific features over 280 artworks drawn from major international collections, including the Fiji Museum, British Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Cambridge), the Smithsonian, and distinguished private collections.

Currently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles, California, the exhibition includes figurative sculpture, ritual kava bowls, breastplates of pearl shell and whale ivory, large-scale barkcloths, small portable temples, weapons, and European watercolours and paintings.

The exhibition was organized and curated by Professor Steven Hooper, Dr. Karen Jacobs, and Ms. Katrina Igglesden at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, England, where it was previously on view. With additional major loans from U.S. collections, the California exhibit has been reformatted for the presentation at LACMA, the largest art museum in the western USA.

24 Double Portable Temple (bure kalou), Fiji, early 19th century, coir, wood, reed, and shells, 44 x 25 x 21 in., Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, gift of Joseph Winn Jr., 1835, photo © Peabody Essex Museum, by Jeffrey Dykes.

Currently on view until July 19 th 2020 Resnick Pavilion Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.

It is curated by Nancy Thomas, LACMA’s senior deputy director, art administration and collections, with support from the organizing curators. Additionally, the museum features historic photographs from LACMA’s Blackburn collection, as well as a newly commissioned 26’ double-hull sailing canoe (drua) constructed in Fiji using traditional materials and techniques. Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific showcases the enormous range and quality of artworks from the past two centuries, especially the 19th century, and highlights the skills and creative adaptability of the artists and craftspeople who made them. Compared with other Pacific Island groups, indigenous Fijians produced the greatest variety of artworks - including sculpture in wood and ivory, textiles, pottery, and basketry - distinguished by skillful execution and imaginative design. All were made in the context of Fijian daily or spiritual life, centering on honour and respect and observing the highest standards of craftsmanship.

The artworks are presented in eight thematic sections, including: Voyaging, Fiber and Textile Arts, Warfare, Embodying the Ancestors,

Constance Gordon Cumming, Levuka in Ovalau, Fiji, 19 th September 1875, watercolor, 19 3/16 × 28 in., Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge: 1998.55, photo reproduced by permission of the Museum Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

Adorning the Body, Chiefly Objects, Respecting the Ancestors, and Fiji Life. The later section illustrates 19 th -century Fiji with 22 remarkable photographs including studio portraits, landscapes, architecture, and other features of daily life.

Breastplate (civavonovono), Fiji, early to mid-19 th century, sperm whale ivory, and black pearl shell, diameter: 9 1/4 in., lent by Mark and Carolyn Blackburn, photo courtesy of the Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Research for the project was informed by over 40 years of collaboration with indigenous Fijian and international scholars and support from the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Fijian government, resulting in this deeply researched and comprehensive exhibition.

Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific is presented in the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, a major expansion of LACMA’s campus made possible through a landmark gift from trustee Lynda Resnick and Stewart Resnick, the philanthropists and entrepreneurs behind The Wonderful Company and FIJI Water. FIJI Water is the exhibition’s presenting sponsor.

Following the presentation at LACMA, the exhibition will be on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, from September 12 th 2020 through January 3 rd 2021. FIJI Water is also the presenting sponsor of the Peabody Essex Museum presentation.

Text and photos provided by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Missile Club (iula tavatava), Fiji, early to mid-19 th century, wood and sperm whale ivory, length: 18 3/4 in. Fiji Museum, Suva: 78.670, collected by Reverend James Royce 1857–61; given to him by Ratu Seru Cakobau, Vunivalu of Bau, photo © Trustees of the Fiji Museum.

Double Figure Hook, Fiji/Tonga, 18 th to early 19 th century, sperm whale ivory, fiber, and glass beads, length: 4 7/8 in., Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, collected by Sir Arthur Gordon, Viti Levu, 1876: 1955.247, photo reproduced by permission of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

Installation photograph, Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, © Museum Associates/LACMA.