Traditional Kanak art
The modes of expression that dominate the origins of Kanak culture are sculpture and petroglyphs. Far from being reserved for an ancestral era, the practice of rock carving has continued until recently.
Traditional sculpture is closely linked to the hut. On the doorframes, as on the spire of the houses, finely worked protective symbols appear. These monumental sculptures have a protective function. Their vocabulary calls for the representation of the ancestors, or for belonging to a clan. Wood, the preferred material, is used to make more modest statues, which can also be made of stone. All the works are stylized, whether they represent the human body, a face with an oversized nose or borrow their motifs from the bestiary.
The sculpted mask, on the other hand, is intended for funeral ceremonies. As these were reserved for chiefs, the mask became by extension a symbol of power. The aesthetic characteristics of the face are reminiscent of the ornamentation on the posts and carved doorframes.
The tradition of engraved bamboo is a symbol of Kanak identity. This art form originated in the 18th century in the Canala region. The bamboo was initially decorated with simple geometric motifs. Later, with the contact of Europeans, scenes are elaborated. Engraved, they are carbonized to encrust them in the bamboo. The ancients used this method to record the great moments of the tribe's history. The travelers took along an engraved bamboo to protect themselves in their adventure. Due to colonization, the technique was forcibly abandoned in 1917.
All these aspects of New Caledonian culture can be discovered at the Tjibaou Cultural Center.
European contributions
In the last decades of the 19th century, a literary and artistic life was born in New Caledonia. The origin of this development must be sought in the prison. Indeed, the convicts formed a brass band that played in public, wrote poems or devoted themselves to the plastic arts. The convicts exhibited their creations: a certain Alexandre Bertrand unveiled his terracotta sculptures, Julien Devicque produced lithographs of the island's landscapes. The manufacture of artistic objects gave rise to a clandestine industry. The "camelote" offers for sale engraved shells, of which those of Jean-Baptiste Gilet and Joseph Muller will be noticed, or objects made of bone or coconut. Emile Girault made meticulous drawings of life in the penitentiary which constitute precious documents.
Louis Alfred Fellière and Adrien Marion painted naive scenes in oil on wood panels or cardboard sheets. If the lack of technique is visible in their production, a few of them demonstrate their know-how. Some inmates are outstanding engravers who have switched to forgery. They mastered the academic codes and the reproduction of classical masterpieces.
For a century, art arrived in New Caledonia through the intermediary of prisoners.
New Caledonian painting
The next generation, that of the descendants of the settlers, will lay the foundations of a New Caledonian art.
In 1904, the "Caledonian Art Society" was founded with the aim of promoting local creation. While it is true that it supports the fine arts, the association tends to smooth out the production by favoring a certain academicism. The ingenuity of the artists of the time, who had only limited material at their disposal, must be commended. To compensate for the absence of canvas, they turned to wooden panels of reduced dimensions. In the absence of a school, they were all self-taught.
In this context, the landscape genre was favored by artists, seduced by the natural beauty of the islands. In fact, the subjects were mainly colonial, leaving aside the life of the tribes and the daily life of the Kanaks.
Mascart, father and son
The native populations will appear in the paintings only in the period between the two world wars, under the brush of Paul and Roland Mascart.
The customs officer Paul Mascart, born in 1874 in Rouen, participated in collective exhibitions in mainland France. He was then appointed to Nouméa between 1929 and 1935. During this stay, he produced numerous oils and watercolors, which were exhibited there and then on his return, on the occasion of the international exhibition in Paris. The Musée du Quai Branly in Paris holds several of his landscapes, including Rade de Nouméa.
Mascart documented the daily life of the Kanak population, as seen in Case kanak. In his landscapes, his impressionist style evolves towards a more radical modernism. As for his portraits, they are snapshots of great depth, always taken from life. Mascart's approach, who lives in immersion in the tribes, deserves the term ethnographic.
His son Roland Mascart (1909-1988), also a painter, is also a photographer. Both of them are qualified as "painters of the Caledonian light". In his style, his view of the indigenous population and nature, he follows in the footsteps of his father. However, he evolved towards a fauve painting. Frequent exhibitions are dedicated to him in the archipelago as well as in mainland France. A retrospective of his work took place in 1975 at the Museum of New Caledonia. This place, dedicated to the Melanesian heritage, focuses on the Kanak culture from the 1930s.
Paint
In their wake, many artists have defended the heritage of the Pebble. Marcel Pétron (1927-1998), painter, author of the coat of arms of the city of Nouméa, is to be mentioned.
André Deschamps (1909-1980) began painting portraits of Kanaks in the 1930s and, more occasionally, panoramas of Nouméa and still lifes. Very early on, the magistrate Eric Rau selected several of his creations and those of the Mascarts to assemble his book Institutions et coutumes canaques. During the war, Deschamps was sent to France where he remained to teach drawing and painting in Tarbes. Nostalgia undoubtedly inspired him to create two large paintings in the 1950s. One represents a collective Kanak dance, in colorful tones. The other, a night scene in the bush, is lit by a campfire that spreads an exceptional light over the characters and the vegetation. Settlers and Kanaks listen to a central storyteller.
Renewal of Kanak art
The year 1986 is the year of the officialization, thanks to the exhibition of contemporary Kanak art: "Art Kanak".
The techniques and symbolism of traditional sculpture are found in contemporary production, but adapted to the concerns of today's society. In 1990, an inventory was made of about a hundred Kanak artists.
Some contemporaries, also painters, have specialized in the art of engraved bamboo such as Gérard Bretty (1947-2007), Micheline Néporon, Paula Boi Gony, Kofié Lopez Itréma, Stéphanie Wamytan, Yvette Bouquet.
Professionalization
Four Kanak women are considered pioneers: Paula Boi-Gony (born 1963), Yvette Bouquet (born 1955), Micheline Néporon (born 1955) and Denise Tiavouane (born 1962). In defiance of the patriarchal system, they managed to make a rapid breakthrough in the contemporary art world, well beyond the borders.
They made their first steps on the art scene in the 1980s. This was shortly after Mélanésia 2000, the first Melanesian arts festival, which took place in 1975. It was at the heart of the cultural renaissance that they entered the Nouméa Academy of Painting. There, they were taught by Jean-Pierre Le Bars. One of them, Micheline Néporon, continued her studies in Bordeaux, while the others familiarized themselves with foreign cultures.
At the beginning, they realized exclusively figurative scenes. Landscapes, legends and scenes of everyday life are transcribed in drawings or paintings. They are at the origin of the revival of the engraved bamboo technique, at the initiative of Paula Boi-Gony. Far from returning to ancestral themes, they develop current issues such as identity. Politics plays an increasing role in their approach, which is moving towards feminist activism. In 2017, Denise Tiavouane organized the exhibition "Totems" with Juliette Pita and Réapi Blyde. In 2018, the exhibition "Women" brings together around her work Juliette Pita and Paula Boi.
In addition, they participate in the recognition of the status of artist in New Caledonia. Since 2012, this fight is relayed by the Case des artistes.
Contemporary art
The ADCK - Tjibaou Cultural Center has welcomed an invaluable collection of contemporary art: the FACKO or Kanak and Oceanian Contemporary Art Fund. A thousand works cover the whole diversity of Melanesian creativity. Painting, photography, sculpture, video art and installations attest to a permanent renewal of inspirations.
The Festival des Arts du Pays brings together artisans, visual artists, performing arts and video. Woodcarving has not lost its dynamism. Calixte Ourignat, originally from the Borendi tribe in Thio, perpetuates the themes of Kanak tradition. Marie-Jeanne Nemba and Alexandre M'Boueri create sand paintings; Mériba Kare, after training in Melbourne, has specialized in photography.
Among the dedicated places, the Arte Bello gallery in Nouméa has a 320 square meter space for temporary exhibitions, a permanent collection and a workshop. Several cultural centers have an exhibition room, including the Voh Cultural Center, the Dumbéa Cultural Center and its Studio 56. As a high place of creation, artists come from all over New Caledonia to put on shows and present the most original works!
