"East of the Wallace Line: Monumental Art from Indonesia and New Guinea" explores the cultural characteristics of eastern Indonesia and coastal western New Guinea. Taking as its jumping-off point the “Wallace Line,” an ecological demarcation first recognized by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that runs through Indonesia between Bali and Lombok and between Borneo and Sulawesi, the exhibition presents intricately decorated, large-scale sculptures and textiles, as well as more intimate personal and domestic objects. With more than 120 works from the 17th to 19th century, the exhibition features highlights from the Gallery’s permanent collection and select loans, many either too large or too fragile to be regularly displayed.

Alfred Russel Wallace, who together with Charles Darwin developed the theory of evolution, first identified the division that bears his name on a trip to Bali and Lombok in 1859, during an eight- year stay in the East Indies. Wallace discovered significant faunal differences between Bali and the lands to the west of the Lombok Strait and Lombok and the islands to the east.