Anthropology and Art: Museums, Galleries and Globalisation

Week 1 – Introducing Art and Anthropology

The historically distinct disciplines of art history and anthropology have developed their theories and methods in separate geographical areas: Europe and countries under the European influence, and the rest of the world respectively. Although anthropology brought to the attention of the academic community examples from different cultures, art history has been slow in embracing the study of arts from most parts of the world. In this session, we look at the historical trajectories that turned art history and anthropology to opposite directions as a way to examine the emergence of large theoretical and methodological gaps that have rendered the discussion of most world regions’ arts marginal to the cross-cultural study of artefacts, and aesthetics in most Western academic circles outside anthropology.

Questions:
1. How do art history and anthropology differ?
2. What are the scopes and aims of the two disciplines?
3. What questions will each of the two disciplines ask?
4. Why did anthropology mostly focus on non-Western cultures?
5. To what extent is art history only concerned with European and European-influenced cultures?

Suggested reading:
. Svašek, Maruška 2007 Anthropology, Art and Cultural Production London: Pluto
. Morphy, Howard and Morgan Perkins (eds) 2006 The Anthropology of Art: a Reader London: Blackwell
. Westerman, Mariët (Ed.) 2005 Anthropologies of Art New Haven: Yale University Press
. Summers, David 2003 Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism London: Phaidon

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Morphy, Howard and Morgan Perkins 2006 ‘The Anthropology of Art: a Reflection on its History and Contemporary Practice’ in M. Morphy and M. Perkins The Anthropology of Art: a Reader London: Blackwell
. Phillips, Ruth B. 2005 ‘The Value of Disciplinary Difference: Reflections on Art History and Anthropology at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century’ in M. Westermann (Ed.) Anthropologies of Art New Haven: Yale University Press
. Goldwater, Robert 1973 ‘Art History and Anthropology: Some Comparisons of Methodology’ in A. Forge (Ed.) Primitive Art and Society London: Oxford University Press

Week 2 - Non-Western Artefacts in the West.

Cultures have been in contact for millennia and objects exchanged hands since antiquity through trade, curiosity, and anthropological research. In this brief excursus of West’s multiple engagements with non-Western artefacts, we uncover the impact they had on the European imagination, from Renaissance cabinets of curiosity to Picasso and the Surrealists’ collecting of African and ‘tribal’ arts. A short history of the birth and differentiation of various types of museums will contextualise the ways in which European discourses on non-Western arts have been constructed on ideas of cultural difference (ethnographic arts), primitivism (prehistoric and tribal arts), exoticism (tourist arts), and orientalism (decorative and applied arts from eastern countries) to analyse how even today, art beyond the West is perceived and valued according to these standards. Between week 2 and week 3 students will be asked to visit a museum in anticipation of a class discussion in week 3 (e.g. Horniman Museum, British Museum, Wellcome collections London, Oxford Pitt Rivers, Cambridge Museum of Anthropology, Ashmolean, Brighton Pavillion, etc.).

Questions:
1. How have ideas of primitivism, orientalism, exoticism and cultural difference impacted European understandings of non-Western artefacts?
2. To what extent can we link the idea of collecting with Europe’s colonial past?
3. When did the notion of the ‘primitive’ emerge and why?
4. In what context can we talk about ‘tribal’ arts?
5. What is the status of ‘oriental’ arts in the Western imagination?

Suggested reading:
. Price, Sally 2001 Primitive Art in Civilizes Places Chicago: University of Chicago Press
. Rhodes, Colin 1994 Primitivism and Modern Art London: Thames and Hudson
. Hiller, Susan (Ed.) 1991 The Myth of Primitivism: Perspectives on Art London: Routledge
. Mauries, Patrick 2002 Cabinets of Curiosities London: Thames and Hudson

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Syson, Luke 2003 ‘The Ordering of the Artificial World: Collecting, Classification and Progress’ in K. Sloan (Ed.) Enlightenment: Discovering the World in the Eighteenth Century London: British Museum Press
. Clunas, Craig 1997 ‘Oriental Antiquities/Far Eastern Art’ in T. Barlow (Ed.) Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia Durham: Duke University Press
. Blocker, Gene H. 1994 ‘Is Primitive Art Art?’ in The Aesthetics of Primitive Art New York: Lanham

Week 3 – Ethnographic Artefacts versus Art

Anthropology’s interest in cultural diversity is behind the creation of large collections of artefacts from all the world regions. Often these objects are stored and displayed in museums specifically build for them in the 19th c. Items gathered in ethnographic collections stand in stark contrast with art pieces that epitomise national heritages. With this lecture we aim at highlighting the subtle differences there are between folk traditions, cultural heritage, ethnographic objects, national collections, and high arts. These classifications will be juxtaposed to make sense of the contextual perceptions associated with diverse cultural productions from different parts of the world. We will specifically focus on the art-artefact nexus that still polarises popular perceptions and representations circulating in various places.

Questions:
1. How has the division between art and artefact been used in Western institutional discourse?
2. What is the status of artefacts in places where they are presented as ‘folk’ culture?
3. What are the differences between folk and ethnographic arts?
4. To what extent can contemporary non-Western arts be considered ‘ethnographic’?
5. What are the implications for dividing high art from ethnographic and folk art?

Suggested reading:
. Burt, Ben 2013 World Art: an Introduction to the Art in Artefacts London: Bloomsbury
. Errington, Shelley 1998 The Death of Authentic Primitive Art and Other Tales of Progress Berkeley: University of California Press
. Coote, Jeremy and Anthony Shelton (eds) 1992 Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics London: Clarendon Press
. Graburn, Nelson (Ed.) 1976 Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World Berkeley: University of California Press

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Guss, David M. 1989 ‘All Things Made’ from To Weave and to Sing: Art, Symbol and Narrative in the South American Rainforest Berkeley: University of California Press
. Gell, Alfred 1996 ‘Vogel’s Net: Traps as Artworks and Artworks as Traps’ Journal of Material Culture 1(1): 15-38

Week 4 - Form and Function

An anthropological study of art does not simply mean introducing non-Western arts in the comparative analysis of objects with aesthetic value, it is a more complex exercise that questions what counts as art, one that analyses whether or not what we can usually call ‘art’ practices (painting, sculpture, performance etc.) can be applicable to objects and experiences that in contexts outside the West may not be classified as such. Here we address how at the beginning anthropology began to study art produced in areas outside Europe, progressively moving away from formal analyses of objects and diffusion of ideas (Boas) to study their function from the vantage point of social structure (Sieber). Here we examine the limitations and advantages of using diffusionist and structural-functionalist ideas in the study of art developed in early anthropology.

Questions:
1. How far can a study of form and function take an anthropological analysis of artefacts?
2. What are the limitations and benefits of using a diffusionist framework for an understanding of artistic changes?
3. What was Boas’s most ground-breaking contribution to the study of non-Western arts?
4. What is anthropology’s aim in studying non-Western arts if its object is not limited to studying aesthetics?
5. How do we deal with artefacts that appear to be ‘art’ in places where there is no such concept?

Suggested reading:
. Boas, Franz 1955 Primitive Art London: Dover
. Sieber, Roy 1987 African Art in the Cycle of Life Washington: Smithsonian Books
Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Boas, Franz 1955 [1927] ‘Graphic and Plastic Arts: the Formal Element in Art’ in Primitive Art New York: Dover
. Forge, Anthony 1973 ‘Style and Meaning in Sepik Art’ in A. Forge (Ed.) Primitive Art and Society London: Oxford University Press

Week 5 – Structures and Symbols.

Developments within anthropology shifted the attention from the function of objects to their inherent communicative potential. Art began to be interpreted as a symbolic language (Levi Strauss), then as text (Geertz), until anthropologists started looking at the materiality of objects to develop new theories (Miller). In this latter phase objects and humans were discussed as mutually constituted through practice. This new perspective was further developed into the notion of the agency of objects (Gell), which became extremely influential in new shifts towards anthropological theories of art. Agency theory eventually led to a new interest in local ideas about the active role of things, and how they are frequently thought to be alive. This lesson looks at the implications for direct applications of these theories to a study of artefacts worldwide.

Questions:
1. What was Levi-Strauss’s contribution to art history, and the study of art in anthropology?
2. Why did anthropologists after Levi-Strauss engaged with the materiality of objects?
3. Following Gell’s theory, how far can stretch the notion that objects have ‘agency’?
4. In many places artefacts embody the presence of invisible entities, what are the implications for collectors, museum professionals and gallerists?
5. How can we explain the communicative potential of objects in non-Western contexts?

Suggested reading:
. Levi-Strauss, Claude 1963 ‘Split Representation in the Art of Asia and America’ in Structural Anthropology New York: Basic Books
. Gell, Alfred 1998 Art and Agency: an Anthropological Theory London: Clarendon Press
Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Munn, Nancy C. 1966 ‘Visual Categories: an Approach to the Study of Representational Systems’ American Anthropologist (68): 936-950
. Lagrou, Els 2009 ‘The Crystallized Memory of Artifacts: a Reflection on Agency and Alterity in Cashinahua Image-Making’ in F. Santos-Granero (Ed.) The Occult Life of Things: Native Amazonian Theories of Materiality and Personhood Tucson: University of Arizona Press

Week 6 – Authorship, Authenticity and Provenance

Art historical prerogatives and parameters have very frequently offered a template for museums, galleries and collectors. Issues of provenance, authenticity and authorship are germane to the valuation of art/ethnographic/folk objects that circulate in multiple ways through art market circuits, auction houses, and museum acquisition channels. Here we discuss the implications and consequences for framing art pieces in terms of their market value, and the impact that connoisseurship may have in establishing aesthetic standards, economic worth, and prestige for individual pieces and eventually, entire collections.

Questions:
1. How important is to determine an object’s authorship?
2. To what extent we can say that traditional cultures are unchanging?
3. What are the implications for applying aesthetic judgements to non-western artefacts?
4. How compatible are European and non-Western aesthetic systems?
5. Why do Western institutions insist on the provenance of non-Western artefacts?

Suggested reading:
. Anderson, Richard L. 1990 Calliope’s Sisters: a Comparative Study of Philosophies of Art New York: Prentice Hall
. Van der Grijp, Paul 2009 Art and Exoticism: an Anthropology of the Yearning for Authenticity Berlin: Lit Verlag
. Marquis, Alice Goldfarb 1991 The Art Biz: the Covert World of Collectors, Dealers, Auction Houses, Museums, and Critics Chicago: Contemporary Books
. Renfrew, Colin 2001 Loot, Legitimacy and Ownernship London: Duckworth

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Satov, Murray 1997 ‘Catalogues, Collectors, Curators: the Tribal Art Market and Anthropology’ in J. McClancy (Ed.) Contesting Art: Art Politics and Identity in the Modern World Oxford: Berg
. Coote, Jeremy ‘”Marvels of Everyday Vision”: the Anthropology of Aesthetics and the Cattle-Keeping Nilotes’ in J. Coote and A. Shelton (eds) Anthropology, Art and Aesthetics Oxford: Clarendon Press

Week 7 – Heritage, Inspiration, Ethics, and Cultural Appropriation

Peoples whose objects have been acquired during colonialism often consider items part of these collections as their cultural heritage. Claiming legitimacy on these items’ designs and specificity results in harsh diatribes on who has the right to produce, sell, or market art inspired by them, or that uses traditional motifs more generally. While the issue of authorship is not a universal concern, the mounting interest in these questions has generated legal and moral dilemmas for the display of non-Western objects more generally. Importantly, it has highlighted important problems related to the ethics of dispossession, the sale of art pieces from questionable sources, and representation of sensitive material (secret, religious, controversial) in museums and galleries to the larger public.

Questions:
1. ‘Ethnic’ arts are source of inspiration for designers, fashion stylists and artists, how legitimate are non-Western peoples’ accusations of cultural appropriation?
2. Inspiration and creativity are at the core of Western market’s driving forces, how ethical is the use of non-Western motifs in Western-produced merchandise?
3. On what bases have display and sale of sacred objects in museums, auctions, and galleries been criticised?
4. How can museums, galleries, collectors, and auction houses respond to the mounting criticism of being the soft arm of neo-colonial ideologies?
5. What could institutions do to integrate non-Eurocentric strategies in their practice?

Suggested reading:
. Paine, Crispin 2013 Religious Objects in Museums London: Bloomsbury
. Van der Grijp, Paul 2006 Passion and Profit: towards an Anthropology of Collecting Berlin: Lit Verlag
. Root, Deborah 1996 Cannibal Culture: Art, Appropriation, and the Commodification of Culture Boulder: Westview
. Shelton, Anthony and Brian Durrans 2001 Collectors: Individuals and Institutions London: Horniman

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Markus Schindlbeck 2016 ‘The (Im-)Possibilities of Exhibiting the Sacred/Secret: Discussing [Open] Secrets’ Baessler-Archiv (Neue Folge) 63: 7-34
. Haidy Geismar 2005 ‘Copyright in Context: Carvings, Carvers, and Commodities in Vanuatu’ American Ethnologist 32 (3): 437-59
Week 8 - Decolonising Art Practices and Museums. In the post-colonial era the active presence of non-Western and indigenous artists has radically reshaped the discourse and practices of art markets, museum representations, as well as collecting. Increasing pressure to relinquish colonial legacies entrenched in institutional operations of museums, art galleries, and auction houses have put in sharp focus minorities’ issues about power, notions of value, and problems of access to networks. Institutional marginalisation has prevented many artists around the world to actively engage with high-end trade markets limiting their creations to being perceived as either simple expressions of their cultures, or poor derivative copies of Western templates/models. This lesson also covers issues of repatriation and the establishment of tribal museums and indigenously-run cultural centres.

Questions:
1. What were the consequences of postcolonial independence for heritage, art, and folklore?
2. What are the differences between postcolonial states, and settler colonial states with regards to the arts and heritage?
3. How do socioeconomic differences impact non-Western artists/craftspeople access to art trade networks?
4. What place do minority, indigenous, and postcolonial arts have in the current art trade?
5. How far have galleries, auction houses, and museums engaged with postcolonial critiques?

Suggested reading:
. Brown, Alison and Laura Peers (eds) 2003 Museums and Source Communities: a Routledge Reader London: Routledge
. Sleeper-Smith, Susan (Ed) 2009 Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press
. Vrdoljak, Ana Filipa 2006 International Law, Museums, and the Return of Cultural Objects Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
. Lonetree, Amy 2012 Decolonizing Museums: Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press

Articles/Chapters/Essays:
. Elisabeth Biasio 2009 ‘Contemporary Ethiopian Painting in Traditional Style: from Church-Based to Tourist Art’ African Arts 42 (1): 14-25
. Tom G. Svensson 2015 ‘On Craft and Art: Some Thoughts on Repatriation and Collecting Policy - The Case of Collections at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo’ Visual Anthropology 28 (4): 324-35

Week 9 –Contemporary Worlds

Biennales, museums, and art galleries are becoming increasingly more attuned to the emergence of new voices from the peripheries of the art historical world. Starting from the earliest attempts at creating new forums for the display and sale of non-European and indigenous arts, the lecture will cover the often contentious curatorial choices that over time have guided public perceptions of the art trade’s new ventures (investments in Aboriginal, Tribal Indian, or African arts), and the establishment of new discourses around them. This lesson will also address the most recent attempts at involving increasingly more artists in the art market by way of temporary exhibitions, and the effect of specialised galleries’ activities (e.g. expert forums, artist talks, educational lectures, round tables etc.).

Questions:
1. How can we explain the absence of indigenous, and non-Western artists in the art trade circuits?
2. What can non-Western contribute to the art discourse and anthropology?
3. Why would anthropology be interested in contemporary non-Western art and artists?
4. What is the role of the ethnic-contemporary art dichotomy in today’s art market?
5. How can we explain the overwhelming interest in some non-Western regional arts and the lack of attention to other areas?

Suggested reading:
. Venbrux, Eric Pamela Sheffield Rosi, and Robert L. Welsh (eds) 2006 Exploring World Art Long Grove (Illinois): Waveland Press
. Phillips, Ruth and Christopher B. Steiner (eds) 1999