Last year the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) acquired five pieces of historic importance from the Pacific. One of those brings together two nations: Samoa and Scotland.
The Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson, lived, worked and died in Samoa as he attempted to recover from ill health. (You can read about his journey here.) He and his family collected art and memorabilia, including textiles from the Pacific, some of which you can see in the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in California.
The pieces that LACMA now has include a siapo from Samoa that would have been made for a chief or his children to wear for status and prestige. It was made by rubbing pigment on barkcloth over a raised board, creating a background pattern of lines.
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