The presentation of art

In European and American private and public collections of 'primitive' or Oceanic artifacts, specimens of the Asmat culture, in the southwestern coastal region of Irian Jaya, rate as spectacular.In this respect, the Asmat area is sometimes even referred to as the Sepik area of West Irian!It is probably less well known that the artistic achievements of the Mimika people match the accomplishments of their eastern Asmat neighbours.The two areas are linguistically and culturally related, and significantly different.This invites comparison.Unfortunately, in terms of completed and published research, the situation is uneven: ethnoaesthetic investigations, particularly by A. A. Gerbrands, both in the field and in museum collections, supported by outstanding films and various exhibitions, such as the current one at the Rotterdam Ethnographic Museum, highlight Asmat artistics skills.However, a monograph on Asmat culture is still sadly lacking, in spite of fieldwork by and the considerable store of knowledge accumulated in the heads, fieldnotes and scarce publications of Father Zegwaard m.s.c, Father Trenkenschuh o.s.c, the Dutch linguist C. Voorhoeve, and the American anthropologist David Eyde.Consequently, the ethno-aesthetic knowledge of Asmat art exists in a socio-cultural vacuum, which is apparent from films and exhibitions.For Mimika the reverse obtains: there is a Mimika monograph, as well as a follow-up of various articles and papers written by the present reviewer.However, ethno-aesthetic fieldwork has not been carried out here.The publication of Kooijman's book, based on a painstaking analysis of collections in ethnographic museums at Leiden, Breda, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Cambridge and London, therefore, meets a distinct need.For information on the meaning, functions, and socio-cultural context of the objects, the author was dependent on invaluable typed reports and oral information provided by Zegwaard, on my own publications, on written information concerning objects collected by me, and on personal communications.Kooijman dearly wished to cooperate in a joint venture, in which I was invited to participate.Unfortu

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