Its amazing linguistic diversity, its hostile, untamed nature and fierce natives: New Guinea, the largest of all Melanesian islands, is a land of enduring mystery. Through the masterpieces of the Barbier-Mueller collection, a singular and complex culture whose austere force fascinates and disturbs, is finally unravelled. Mixing exclusive archives and contemporary photographs, this superbly illustrated book offers a thorough panorama of the various local artistic forms thanks to its structure based on twelve distinct and ground-breaking essays--one for each of the stylistic areas in New Guinea--written by prominent anthropologists and curators. A major contribution to a better understanding of non-Western art.