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Fridays and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Met Holiday Mondays in the Main Building: December 28, 2009; January 18, February 15, May 31, 2010 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. All other Mondays closed; Jan. 1, Thanksgiving, and Dec. 25 closed

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PAST EXHIBITION

Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf

October 24, 2006—December 2, 2007

This exhibition presents some 60 powerful and graphically elaborate sculptures and 30 rare historical photographs from the Gulf province of Papua New Guinea. The sacred objects, alongside photographs that show them in context, demonstrate the deep connection between art and community life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawn from public and private collections, as well as the Museum's own holdings, many of the works are being exhibited for the first time in the only in-depth investigation of these art traditions in 45 years.

The selection of rare historical photographs—some exhibited for the first time—taken by early travelers to the Papuan Gulf is drawn from The Photograph Study Collection of the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

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