Exhibits

Papua New Guinea, a Pacific Island nation-state, is home to a remarkable diversity of grand artistic traditions. This exhibition, featuring artifacts from the Museum's own collections, explores the arts of several regions and illustrates over half a century of change in design, media, and audience. Of special significance is discussioin of artistic developments sparked by the country's independence in 1975.

In addition to changing focus exhibits, the Museum's Feature Galleries offer artifacts, stories, and information about the Ancient Mediterranean, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas.

In nineteenth and early twentieth century Korea, artisans carved joyful wooden figurines depicting acrobats, clowns and mystical animals (kkoktu) to place on the funeral biers of the departed. In their first exhibition in the US, a collection of 72 kkoktu reflect the realities of rural Korean village life during a period that left few written records and open a window on a timeless, characteristically Korean attitude towards death.