Artwork information

Ha’apai is one of the islands of Tonga, where Webber, the artist on Cook’s third Pacific voyage, sketched the locals and their customs. The exoticism of Polynesian dances made a strong impression on early European observers and they were widely written about and illustrated throughout the 19th century. The rather rigid formal structure of the

composition indicates the engraver’s ‘enhancement’ of Webber’s original study to emphasise the rhythmic movement and to dramatise the atmosphere of the event. (Te Moananui a Kiwa, 2005)