Coaxing the Spirits to Dance

Download or read book Coaxing the Spirits to Dance written by Robert Louis Welsch and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coaxing the Spirits to Dance explores the relationship between social life and artistic expression since the nineteenth century in one of the most important art-producing regions of Papua New Guinea. It includes a stunning presentation of hand-carved and hand-painted ancestor boards, masks, drums, skull racks, and personal items. Each society on the Papuan Gulf had its own elaborate traditions of carved, painted, or decorated masks, boards, and hand drums that filled the men's longhouses for use in dances and performances. Today these art objects offer a glimpse into the varied cosmologies and ritual lives of these surprisingly diverse societies before they were changed significantly through their contact with the West.