Museum Fünf Kontinente – författare

The Gerd and Helga Plewig Collection of Bark Paintings from Northern Australia with works mainly from the 1950s to 1970s is presently considered the best collection of its kind outside of Australia. It includes works from the Kimberley, Wadeye, the Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt by artists like Yirawala, Mawalan Marika and Mungurrawuy Yunupingu.Painting on bark is part of a continuing artistic tradition of Australian Aboriginal people intimately related to long-established practices of body decoration, rock painting and the manufacture and decoration of various objects in sacred and secular spheres. It is thought to have been practiced for centuries, but has only been known to European researchers and collectors since the early 19th century. Bark painting relates to the time of creation which underlies the present and determines the future.

This book is the accompanying catalogue to an exhibition of the same name, which has been created in close collaboration with Māori groups and individuals and marks the beginning of a revitalised connection between them and the carvings currently looked after in Munich’s Museum Fünf Kontinente.The catalogue offers a unique perspective on traditional Māori knowledge, shared through collaboration with descendants of the artists and representatives of the source communities. Showcasing around 80 masterfully crafted carvings, the catalogue offers a compelling view into the artistic excellence and cultural significance of Māori wood art.Little is known about how the Māori carvings now looked after in Munich’s Museum Fünf Kontinente came to Munich. Many were acquired by German collectors in London between 1824 and the First World War, and their exact origin in New Zealand is often unknown. Drawing on material examination of the woods involved, together with stylistic analysis of the carvings, and research into relevant pictorial and written sources, the book traces the story of these artworks and, informed by the in-depth knowledge of Māori specialists, provides insights into aspects of the Māori worldview and philosophy behind them. One chapter highlights the iwi Rongowhakaata and the pou Tāwhaki – a long-lost post-figure from that group’s meeting house rediscovered in the Munich museum.Many carvings are considered by the Māori to be as living and connected to the ancestors – all the more desirable, then, to connect them with the descendants of their original makers or owners. Searching for clues to the provenance of the collection of Munich’s Museum Fünf Kontinente reveals old and new relationships.