Creative Expression: Anthropology and the Arts

1
Chapter 15

• Creative Expression Anthropology and the Arts

2
Chapter Outline

• Some Characteristics of Art
• Some Functions of Art
• The Arts and the Expression of Cultural and
  Personal Identity
• The Artist in Society Artists and Their
  Audiences
• Marketing Cultural Identities Through the Arts

3
Art

• Universal means of expressing the identity of a
  culture.
• Evidence of art appears early in the human fossil
  record.
• There is no known culture without art.

4
Understanding Art in Culture

• In most societies, art is inseparable from other
  activities.
• Separation of art from social behavior is
  characteristic of modern society.
• In non-industrial societies, art is embedded in
  all aspects of culture.

5
Question

• Emphasis upon both the ways in which non-Western
  art is produced and is viewed within a culture
• is a major focus of art historians' approach to
  non-Western art.
• is considered by anthropologists to be essential
  for understanding the meanings of all forms of
  artistic expression.
• is traditionally an important aspect of museum
  displays prepared by art historians.
• is central to approaches of both art historians
  and anthropologists.

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Answer b

• Emphasis upon both the ways in which non-Western
  art is produced and is viewed within a culture is
  considered by anthropologists to be essential for
  understanding the meanings of all forms of
  artistic expression.

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Five Types of Arts

• Graphic and plastic arts
• Music
• Dance
• Folklore
• Sports and games

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Functions of Art

• Communication with and control over nature and
  the supernatural.
• Display of cultural themes.
• Cultural and social integration.
• Express cultural identity and history.

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Communication With Natural World

• Cave paintings represent the restoration to
  nature of the animals that are killed.
• Ritual art, dedicated to the spirits who protect
  life, lessens danger.
• Dance movements imitating animals are believed to
  exert control over animals.

10
Question

• Prehistoric cave paintings of an animal's image
  or contemporary hunter and gatherer's dance
  movements that imitate the movements of animals
  illustrate all except which of the following
  statements?
• Hunter-gatherers primarily created art and dance
  for its own sake.
• Art was used as a protection from danger.
• Art styles reflect a cosmology that included an
  active and personal force of nature.
• Art had a central function as part of ritual acts
  to maintain or control the relationship with
  nature.

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Answer a

• Prehistoric cave paintings of an animal's image
  or contemporary hunter and gatherer's dance
  movements that imitate the movements of animals
  do not illustrate the following statements
• Hunter-gatherers primarily created art and dance
  for its own sake.

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Symbolic Communication

• Symbolic elements in art are culturally specific
• In Western culture, the phrase once upon a time
  is a signal for a fairy tale.
• Totem poles reflect the social hierarchy in their
  societies.

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Foster Harmony in Society

• The arts make dominant cultural themes visible,
  tangible, and more real.
• The arts give voice to disunity and conflict
  within a society.

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Express Cultural Identity and History

• In many cultures, the most important artistic
  efforts represent ancestors.
• In Imperial China, the arts were central in
  legitimizing the emperor.

15
Deep Play Balinese Cockfight

• Symbolic contest between male egos.
• Expresses Balinese social hierarchy.

16
Question

• Which of the following does not illustrate ways
  in which art conveys important information about
  the social hierarchy?
• portraits of Inca kings commissioned by Inca
  royalty after the Spanish conquest
• totem poles of the Northwest Coast Native
  Americans
• memory boards of the Luba of Zaire
• Balinese cockfights
• paleolithic cave paintings

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Answer e

• Paleolithic cave paintings do not illustrate ways
  in which art conveys important information about
  the social hierarchy.

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Ledger Drawings

• Drawings, in ledger books, made by some Native
  American peoples to record personal and
  historical events.

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Types of Art

• Body Art
• Marking and adorning the body as an expression of
  cultural and personal identity, or which serves
  other functions.
• Orientalism
• Scholarship and art generated by Europeans
  focusing on the Middle East.
• Primitive Art
• The term used by the Western art world for the
  art of non-Western, tribal societies.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. From the broad anthropological perspective
  taken in this chapter's discussion and analysis
  of art and artistic expression, it appears that
• what is "art" can be determined by universal
  standards.
• the phrase "art for art's sake" is the most
  useful way to understand the place of artistic
  expression within diverse cultures.
• art is inseparable from other activities in most
  non-Western societies, and is not produced or
  performed solely for giving pleasure.
• art and artistic expression must be viewed as
  outside of its specific cultural context.

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Answer c

• From the broad anthropological perspective taken
  in this chapter's discussion and analysis of art
  and artistic expression, it appears that art is
  inseparable from other activities in most
  non-Western societies, and is not produced or
  performed solely for giving pleasure.

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• 2. Creative acts such as dancing, weaving,
  singing, or playing a musical instrument in
  non-Western societies
• do not necessarily occur as an 'art form' or
  'artistic performance' in itself.
• are generally expected to adhere to tradition, a
  high value being placed upon following or
  repeating the traditional form
• are characterized by innovations or new designs
  or movements.
• reflect their culture's expectation that artistic
  expression be unique and original.
• rest upon the reputation and recognized skill of
  the individual artist/performer.

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Answer b

• Creative acts such as dancing, weaving, singing,
  or playing a musical instrument in non-Western
  societies are generally expected to adhere to
  tradition, a high value being placed upon
  following or repeating the traditional form.

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• 3. Changes in artistic style, along with
  innovations in technique, appear
• in cultures where artistic production is not
  generally valued.
• to increase when art is not primarily associated
  with religion.
• to have been much more significant in prehistoric
  times, as documented by archaeologists.
• in all cultures at approximately the same rate.
• to be more frequent in sedentary agricultural
  societies, where there is more time for creative
  expression.

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Answer b

• Changes in artistic style, along with innovations
  in technique, appear to increase when art is not
  primarily associated with religion.