LACMA’s Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific is the first and most comprehensive exhibit in America on the art of Fiji, an archipelago of more than 300 islands. Mostly on loan from other museums and private collections, namely the Fiji Museum, British Museum and Smithsonian, the nearly 300 items explore the art and culture of the South Pacific country — especially its relationship with the ocean — from the 18th century to the present. Divided into eight thematic sections, the objects include sculpture, weapons, textiles, bowls, personal adornments, model temples, pearl shells and whale ivory, in addition to European watercolors, paintings and 19th-century portraits drawn from LACMA’s own collection. A highlight is a newly commissioned, 26-foot-long canoe made without metal, but entirely out of wood and coconut-husk fiber.

LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles; Dec. 15-July 19; Mon.-Tues. & Thurs., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fri., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; $20, $16 seniors & students,  free children. (323) 857-6010, lacma.org.

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