- Frieze of the Black Horses - Lascaux II - France
- Piss Christ - Andre Serrano - 1987
- Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers - Van Gogh - 1888
- The Mona Lisa - Da Vinci - 1503-1505
- Migrant Mother - Dorothea Lange - 1936
- Square Dancing - Laird Goulet - around 2010
What is Art?:
- Artifacts of human creation
- Created through exceptional skill
- Intended to affect the senses
- Shares stylistic conventions with similar works
- Art is guided by aesthetics:
o Philosophies about what ahs beauty and value in art
- Cultural assumptions about appropriate:
o Media for making art
o Styles of painting, sculpting, oral traditions
o Dance movements
Cultural Aesthetics:
- Attitudes toward art and artists vary cross-culturally
- Aesthetic paradigms - art may be:
o Mimetic
o Representational
o Instrumental
o Emotionalist
o Formalist
Mimetic Art:
- The mimetic paradigm is concerned with the art work itself
- It is a reflection of nature
- The work is a correct representation of reality
- Ex: “A Young Hare” - Albecht Curer 1502
Representational Art:
- Art that imitates, idealizes, or symbolizes form and experience
- Ex: “The Oath of the Horatii” - Jacques-Louis David 1784
Instrumental Art:
- Art that attempts to have a beneficial effect on society, enriching peoples lives, teaching moral lessons, and providing insights for improving and changing the world
- Ex: “The Third of May” - Francisco de Goya 1814
- Ex: Michael Jackson and Bubbles - Jeff Koons 1988
- Ex: Banksy - Follow you dreams, cancelled
Emotionalist Art:
- Art that attempts to express the artist's feelings or to release the feelings of the viewer
- Ex: “Composition VII” - Kandinsky 1913
Formalist Art:
- Abstract art that focuses on the formal qualities of art - colour, composition, sound, words, or movement
- Ex: “Composition with Gray and Light Brown” - Piet Mondrian 1918
- Ex: “Earth and Green” - Mark Rothko 1951
Body Art:
- Scarification
o Artistic and ritualistic scarring of the face or other parts of the body in particular designs - commonly used to mark transitions to adulthood
- Tattooing
o Injecting inks or dyes under the skim to produce designs
- Piercing
- Clothing
- Body painting
- Jewelry
Origins and Functions of Art Objects:
- Embellished utilitarian objects
o Crafts
- Artisans: specialists in the production of works and art - crafts perform artisans
- Gender differences in art production
o Men did wood carving and painting = art
o Women were trained, but their work was never taken seriously - not art
o Women did blankets, baskets, beadwork = craft
o Art will always been more important/greater than craft
- Ritual/ceremonial art
o Sand paintings
Art vs. Craft:
- Art requires creativity, takes time and resources, free from financial constraints - does not need to be sold
- Craft requires skill and a commercial mind, but no creativity
- Craft is performed by artisans
The Origins of Art:
- 30,000-50,000 years ago
- Meanings and purpose unknown
o Cave paintings
o Rock paintings
o Venus figurines
- Oldest = willendorft venus - stylized image of female body (pregnant) o Squatting goddesses in India
- Birthing position
- Women as a vessel of reproduction
The Arts of Sound and Movement:
- Musical styles
- Sacred or secular
- Song
- Dance
- Ethnomusicology: the study of music from an anthropological perspective
Oral Literature and Written Texts:
- Oral literature: stories that people tell about their sacred past, their secular histories, and their personal lives
o Stories we tell ourselves about ourselves
- Folktales: secular stories that relate events that teach moral lessons or entertain listeners
o Part of socialization and enculturation - everyday childhood
o Ex: Hansel and Gretel - moral: stranger danger, don't be greedy
- Stylistic features of narratives
o Begin “once upon a time”, “long, long ago”, with a flood
- Storytelling and performance style
- Proverbs - traditional advice and admonitions
- Riddles - impart cultural knowledge and wisdom (help enculturate children)
- Written texts and visual beauty
Art and Globalization:
- Global processes
o Effects on indigenous arts
o Reproducing art that is not part of their culture
- Diffusion of art styles
o Colonialism
o Travel: performers and tourists
o Migration
- World music
o Removed from lived contexts
■ Ex: listening to afrocuban music in Canada - it changes and does not make sense in this context always
o Blending of styles
Art and Identity:
- Art objects and styles as carriers of cultural identity
- Art and ethnicity in multiethnic societies
o Iconic use of dance and music
o Ex: Indian student groups in univ, putting on bollywood dance performances (expressing Indian-ness
- Control of nation identity in states
o Banning certain arts
o Nature, beauty, children = encouraged
o Anything negative or non-soviet were banned
Art in the Global Economy:
- Incorporation of indigenous peoples into regional, national, and global networks
- Influence of market demands on styles and motifs
- Art for export market may be major sources of income
Art and Tourism:
- Ecotourism and cultural tourism
- Traditional meanings and sacred forms transformed as entertainment