Oceanic Art: Tapa, Plant Fabric With Geometric Decorations

Oceanic Art: Beautiful Tapa model with black and reddish geometric decorations. In a modern frame with black baguette, on panel. Geometric patterns typical of the craftsmanship of this region of the world, a series of stylized flowers in its center. Good general condition, very decorative.
Tapa is a plant fabric obtained by the beaten bark technique, made in the Pacific Islands. It is obtained after felling the tree then extracting the bark from the wood, after multiple strikes on the tree bark until the bark expands to give the fabric and drying in the sun to give this result.
"Tapa is the generic name given to beaten bark fabrics which replace, in certain tropical regions of the globe, woven materials. This art caught the attention of travelers from the South Seas in the 18th century who used a word borrowed from Polynesian, tapa, to designate all fabrics made from beaten bark, and who brought back many pieces to Europe. The manufacturing technique would have accompanied the islanders who came around 1300 from Southeast Asia to settle in the Tonga and Samoa islands. Until the arrival of Westerners, the Polynesians had only this fabric, often made by women, to dress both men and effigies of the gods, to receive newborns and serve as a shroud for the dead, to decorate and separate collective spaces. Tapa is a material that links the world of men and that of the gods. It still plays a very important role today in ceremonies and social obligations, particularly in exchanges in Western Polynesia. The softest tapa are made from the inner bast of the paper mulberry tree from China, while others, more rustic, are made from the bark of the breadfruit tree and several types of fig trees. As identity supports, they allow each island society to mark its specific ethnic style. Tapa bear printed or hand-painted decorations made with plant or mineral dyes, the styles of which vary from one island to another. In Melanesia, the bark was mainly used in the manufacture of masks. Today in Oceania, tapa is a witness to tradition. It also remains a very living art. »
Source: https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/tapa-polynesie/
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