Imagining the Pacific: From Captain Cook to Disney's Moana

3 units

This freshman seminar will use a variety of materials to consider the ways in which Pacific Islanders and their culture have been viewed, construed, and (mis)understood by Westerners since the eighteenth century. Using objects, photographs, paintings and drawings, film, songs and dance, we will explore the ways in which artists and explorers responded to Oceanic culture while learning about the rich and diverse cultures of Pacific peoples. This is a two-way analysis, however, as we will further consider the ways in which Pacific Islanders have responded to Western enforced social change, their collecting of Pacific material culture, and documentation of their culture, both historically and in contemporary society. As such, we will examine and explore a variety of media to facilitate our considerations of Western and Pacific views of each other. The Oceanic collection of The Saint Louis Art Museum will help ground our understandings of Pacific art and culture, supported by Oceanic related works in the archives and other museum departments. Works by artists including Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Emile Nolde, Pablo Picasso, and John la Farge will be examined to understand the influence of Pacific art in the early twentieth century. Films will include Whale Rider and Mutiny on the Bounty.