ART ON VIEW 106 the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles (Te Fare Manaha) until March 19, 2017), Serge Dunis speaks of it as “the human capacity to reproduce on the same land despite and in opposition to everything.” The tiki fi gure is the embodiment of the fundamental and founding masculine principle among Polynesian peoples. Despite its name, the sculpted tiki does not represent the mythical culture hero Tiki but rather the founding ancestor of a clan, and it is a symbol of the enduring ability to procreate over the course of generations. Erect and pointing toward the sky, the tiki affi rms its power. Marquesan statuary, which is the subject of this exhibition, is arguably the most articulated form of the formal and intellectual development of the concept of the anthropomorphic tiki statue, the original form of which may have been a simple upward-pointing stone. Despite their importance, tiki remain enigmatic. Unfortunately, the collection histories of these objects provide little information—at best the year and the place of collection and the identity of the collector. Apart from that, we know very little about these objects. Exactly whom do they represent? What kinds of ritual worship were they intended for? These are some of the questions that the exhibition attempts to answer. Tiki Statues Tiki statues embodied either the spirits of chiefs (haka’iki) or those of priests (tau’a). The latter were considered to be the most formidable and aweinspiring. Western visitors noted their surprise at the lack of respect that priests and their assistants FIG. 5 (right): Tiki post. Hohoi, Ua Pou, Marquesas Islands. Wood. H: 173 cm. Ex Papeete Museum. Musée de Tahiti et des Îles – Te Fare Manaha, inv. 567, donated in 1947. Photo: M. H. Villierme. FIG. 6 (below): Tiki. Probably from Havao Valley in Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands. Similar to the example collected by Henri Jouan in 1856 (von den Steinen, 2005, vol. 3, B 9). Volcanic stone (tufa). H: 32 cm. Ex Papeete Museum. Musée de Tahiti et des Îles – Te Fare Manaha, inv. 427. Photo: D. Hazama. FIG. 7 (below center): Tiki. Marquesas Islands. Volcanic stone. H: 52 cm. Ex Papeete Museum. Musée de Tahiti et des Îles – Te Fare Manaha, inv. 423. Acquired in 1935. Photo: D. Hazama. FIG. 8 (facing page): Tiki post, probably from Taipivai Valley, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands. Wood. H: 164 cm. Ex Butteaud Collection, acquired by the Papeete Museum in 1928. Musée de Tahiti et des Îles – Te Fare Manaha, inv. 386. This example is similar to the one in the collection of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia (inv. 18033), which was collected before 1874. Photo: D. Hazama.
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