A Don't-Miss Exhibit

courtesy of the Honolulu Academy of Arts

HEADS UP: Sunday, May 14, is the last chance for Honolulu residents to take in an impressive collection of precontact Pacific Island artifacts, on public display for the first time at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

The exhibit, "Life in the Pacific of the 1700s: The Cook/Forster Collection of the Georg August University of Göttingen," comprises household goods, clothing, tools, weapons and other items collected during Capt. James Cook’s travels throughout the Pacific between 1768 and 1779. There are items from New Zealand, Tonga, the Marquesas, Hawai'i, the Northwest Coast of America and elsewhere.

Since the 18th century, most of these pieces have been in Germany, amazingly well preserved and available for anthropological study, but locked away from the general public. The collection is now on loan from the Institute of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the Georg August University of Göttingen.

Highlights include intricate kapa and rare feather work from Hawai'i, a broad selection of war clubs, bows and arrows from all over the Pacific, and ceremonial garb such as this taumi (breast ornament, pictured) from Tahiti. Admission is free. Honolulu Academy of Arts, 900 S. Beretania St., 532-8701.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to HONOLULU Magazine »