Chapter 20 - Arts of the Pacific and the Americas

Moai, or mo‘ai are human figures carved from rock on the Polynesian island of Easter Island, Chile between the years 1250 and 1500.  The moai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna). The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island, but most would be cast down during later conflicts between clans.

Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as Île Marchand and Madison Island. Above is A warrior of Nuku Hiva with a spear and a hand fan by Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau, 1813.

Ritual Mask. Aztec, early 16th century.

Johnnie Davis, Crooked Beak, 19th Century.

Masks are used for dance by many people of the Pacific Northwest mostly to tell tales of mythical creatures. They also had a long history in Meso America.