104 F I J I A N A R T Tradition and Innovation ART on view By Steven Hooper FIG. 16 (above): Long decorated barkcloth sheet, masi bolabola (detail). Fiji. 1870s. Paper mulberry, pigment. L: 758 cm. Collected in the 1870s. Cambridge, MAA. inv. Z 4164. For a long time there was a widespread assumption among tribal art enthusiasts, especially those of the Pacifi c, that authentic traditional art had a particular look and character, and that in tribal societies it had remained the same until the intrusions of Europeans brought metal, trade, new ideologies, and an inevitable decline in quality. The “pre-contact” piece was lauded for its purity and compared favorably to the “post-contact,” even though this involved the logical fallacy that to have been collected by a European meant that even the earliest pieces were by defi nition “post-contact.” Pieces were also classifi ed positively as “made for tribal use” or “ritual use” and negatively as “made for trade,” despite the fact that many things were, in tribal use, made to be traded or exchanged. In most Pacifi c societies, trade/exchange was a highly ritualized process, and whether exchange partners were other tribespeople or Europeans often made little difference to the nature or quality of the thing exchanged. One of the aims of the exhibition Fiji: Art and Life in the Pacifi c (Sainsbury Centre for
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