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Tiki have ranked among the most prestigious Pacifi c objects in both public and private major collections worldwide since the end of the nineteenth century, and they were objects of fascination for Western avant-garde artists such as Gauguin. Some years later, Picasso, the Surrealists, and the Dadaists were also infl uenced by the power of these abstract human representations. The word tiki describes the anthropomorphic statuary of the peoples of the Marquesas Islands as well as those of many other cultural groups throughout Polynesia. Comprehending the symbolic meanings of the term requires an understanding of the various underlying ideas associated with it. Tiki designates not only statuary but any human representation, whether sculpted, tattooed, or engraved. As a proper noun, the name Tiki refers to the mythological hero and creator of humanity. In addition to all this, the word can also designate the male sex organ in certain mythical stories. Among the Maori of New Zealand, for example, tiki is used to refer to the genitalia of the god Tane. A common thread throughout these defi nitions is that they all reference the capacity of the male to procreate. According to anthropologist Bruno Saura, tiki incarnate the power of fertility in nature, and in the catalog that accompanies the exhibition Tiki, which is the subject of this article (on view at 82 Tiki of the Marquesas Islands By Tara Hiquily ART on view


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