Magazines - Tribal Art  

By Ingrid Heermann

Introduction
For the first time since its opening in 1911, the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart is placing the undivided attention of its Oceanic department on its Micronesian collection. Collectors like Augustin Krämer, who first traveled to Eastern Micronesia in 1898, and Arnold Senfft, a colonial officer based on Yap and an early Western visitor to the Palauan Outer Islands in 1901, provided the core of the collection, which gradually increased over the years. Other notable pieces, such as the renowned dilukai figure from Palau (above), were collected during the Hamburgische Südsee-Expedition of 1908–1910, which also provided a wealth of information virtually unparalleled in other regions. The limited time span covered by the Linden-Museum collection has turned out to be something of an asset, since it provides a clear view of the traditional lives, the artistic and technological innovations, and the amazing creativity that enabled islanders to develop distinctive aesthetic expressions from the limited resources provided by the environment. While the long-term development of island cultures is only slowly unfolding as more archaeological work gets underway, the fundamental changes that occurred in the nineteenth century are clearly represented in the collection: New weaving techniques unfolded when Western clothing was introduced by missionaries in Kosrae; European cloth and beads were incorporated into traditional ornamentation; and Palauan artists started to experiment with new carving formats. While none of these led to new traditions, they reference the changes that were underway when the collection was formed.