The reading Agent Provocateur? The African Origin and American Life of a statue From Cote d’Ivoire by Monica Blackmun Visona focuses on the ever-changing narrative of an object as it moves through different cultures, times and spaces, as well as how these different environments can change an object's meaning or influence. Furthermore, this article discusses how a singular object can transform the relationships between different arts versus different cultures. Visona discusses how a change of culture and time can drastically change the practice or purpose of an object. In the article, the author makes an informed conclusion that the Fisk Figure in its original place of origin in Cote D'Ivoire was likely used in dance performances or as a diviner
In conclusion, scholars have come to identity “Ethiopia Awakening” as one of Fuller’s most meaningful works. 34 The sculpture demonstrated multiple and diverse meanings. “Ethiopia Awakening” embodied symbolic language that pointed to the struggles of contemporary African Americans. Fuller’s use of symbolic language demonstrated that like music and religion, art has the power to express emotion. Today, “Ethiopia Awakening” stands in the reading room of the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City. The sculpture reminds researchers to recover, document, write and share African American history.
The statue of Hatshepsut seated down is made with the material limestone. This limestone is lightly colored, which created a larger contrast with the other statues nearby. Her face was carved bringing out her eyes, eyebrows and other facial features. Her eyebrows also come slightly together towards the middle. Her lips forming a slight archaic smile. The dimensions are larger than an average female size. The statue is of great size, yet still in proportion. The body and head fit well with each other overall. However, it is greatly exaggerated in size.
The Statue of a kouros and the Portrait statue of a boy both depict similar subjects, however are greatly different in how they accomplish this task. Through detail, or lack there of, the Greeks and Romans are able to display a certain value they have in its members. These two statues were made about 500 years apart and approach the sculpting process quit differently. The Greek statue seems to use geometric exaggerated lines to form the body while the Romans use a more realistic approach and sculpt the body with a more rounded finish. Statue of a kouros, from about 590 B.C and Portrait of a boy, from about the first century, do not share any great technical aspects and are basically nothing alike.
The Portuguese arrived in Benin, in modern Nigeria, between 1472 and 1486 to find an established and ancient kingdom with remarkable social and ritual complexity, with art that was comparatively naturalistic, and with a political system that was, on the surface, recognizable to the Europeans: monarchy. Even more importantly, they found a land rich in pepper, cloth, ivory, and slaves, and immediately set out to establish trade (Ben-Amos 35-6). Though we often imagine "first contacts" between Europeans and Africans as clashes of epochal proportions, leaving Europeans free to manipulate and coerce the flabbergasted and paralyzed Africans, this misjudges the resilience and indeed, preparedness, of the Benin people. The Benin were able to draw on their cultural, political, and religious traditions to fit the European arrival in an understandable context. Indeed, as the great brass plaques of the Benin palace demonstrate, the arrival was in fact manipulated by the Benin to strengthen, not diminish, indigenous royal power.
In my examination of the works, I came across a particular sculpture that portrayed both beauty and craftsmanship. A 15th century sculpture (1490), made in Venice, Italy by Tullio Lombardo, shows a life-size figure of Adam. Titled Adam, the work is the most prominent in the gallery mostly because of its 6-foot standing. It immediately caught my attention and gave me a very realistic impression. One beige color and made of marble, Adam is depicted simply, yet the statue has intense emotions. His meaningful glance is seen in the upward and tilted head position. Adam has almost lifeless looking eyes and seems to be staring into the distance. With these sagging eyes, parted lips, and lacking posture I feel Adam’s guilt is displayed in this figure.
...best case for the retention of the British Benin sculptures is to accord them the unique status they deserve as exceptional artworks and exhibit them appropriately in a prestigious national art gallery, for everyone to appreciate fully.
s a conceptual artist, Willem Boshoff challenges his viewers to consider the interplay of words, textures and visual elements, and in the case of Prison Hacks/Prison Sentences (2006, installation of black Zimbabwe granite slabs; Constitutional Court, Johannesburg) it’s important to take into consideration not only the name of the work and its execution, but the materials used and the location in which the work is installed, as all have bearing on the ultimate meaning and, consequently, the choice of name. It can also be argued that the decision to change the name of the work is also part of the overall presentation of the installation and the understanding that one can gain from discussion of this discourse.
When walking into a modern American museum, many of the artworks are from the white American perspective, only leaving a small space for artworks done from the perspective of people of colour. For African-American art, mainstream museums seem to either do one of these two things: 1) passively ignore them or 2) actively excluded them from exhibitions. However, over the past few decades, museums have sporadically added African-American artwork to their collection and made exhibitions that echoed the black perspective. Yet, only one major North American mainstream museum has a curatorial department dedicated to African-American art, The General Motors Center of African-American Art. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the lack of understanding
Various genres of art – specifically novel or fiction – with its portrayal or depiction of cultural constructs such as music, dancing, sculpting, painting and building, “connects” a person with a specific period of time or age and cultural community. In addition, a novel also moulds or gives expression to perceptions of individual as well as social identity. This complex idea of identity and belonging has been illustrated in Keri Hulme’s novel, The Bone People.
For this essay, we had to visit the Harn Museum and examine some of the pieces in the Africa Collection. Of the options we were given, we then had to take a picture and write an essay on the meaning of the piece and our reaction towards the artwork.
...e by the use of colorful patterns, especially the beautification of house walls, and a renewed passion towards spatial surroundings, settings that not only appeal to people on the basis of their convenience but also bond well with man's discernment. From the literature in the presiding paragraphs, it is clear that African art is broad and wide- extending from carvings, through weights to clothes. Some of the geometrical shapes used in modern-day schooling were devised by African artists. It can proudly be said that the history of African art has through the centuries shaped the art we currently witness all over the globe.
This statue is the result of the sculptor, Richard Rahl, being kidnapped and forced into bondage in a land ruled by a despotic religious order. This order’s teachings insisted humanity was in a state of sin from birth, unworthy of the light and love of their Creator. This sin was greed. To labor for one’s own survival was to show hatred of your neighbor through greed thus leading to slavery in all but name. Art in this land was deemed vile if it showed humanity in any other light than decrepit and twisted, cringing from their Creator and its light.
The Cameroon Grasslands are known for their different styles of art that represent different social statuses. One significant style of art that indicates status is dedicated to royalty. Royal art not only represents the supremacy of the nation’s ruling family, but also of its people. Masks, such as the Elephant Mask, are used to represent kings and their power throughout funerals. The Elephant Mask of the Cameroon people is valuable not only for its place in funerary practices, but it also represents the importance of the kings and their power in society.
‘Savage Beauty’ was an exhibition that pushed the boundaries of museology, in its artistic, social and critical undertakings. The questions brought to bear by the exhibition of contemporary art and culture in various situations is something I am interested in researching further with a degree in curating.
We visited the Museo Nacional De Antropologa in Madrid, and were assigned to analyse the Asian Room, which is focused particularly on the Philippine Islands because of their historical colonisation with Spain. The display of things in a museum are things that we look at as something that is outside of normal. In contrast to the movie or movies, where scenes substantially show how the person felt and dealt with situations and tools from their own perspective, with their own knowledge and experience and through different means such as real images, sounds, language and others produces a different knowledge on the racial discourse. When looking at exhibitions in museums the other culture is unknown, and almost uncomfortable to us, but in movies we can be standing in their shoes.