Chapter 13 Flashcards
What is one of the oldest representations of the human body?
The Venus structure in Austria (25000-35000 years old).
What are the five cross cultural aspects of art?
1) Artistic process should be creative, playful, and enjoyable
2) Art should produce an emotional response
3) Art should be transformational (quality of an artistic process that converts an image into a work of art)
4) Art should communicate info by being representational
5) Art implies that the artist has developed a certain level of technical skill.
What is the anthropological definition of art?
The process and product of applying certain skills to transform matter, sound, or motion into a form that is deemed aesthetically meaningful to people in society.
What is one artistic piece that Westerners may not consider to be art?
Japanese tea ceremonies.
What are some significant differences between art in small scale versus complex societies?
1) Size. Art in small scale societies must be easier to transport or leave behind
2) Social differentiation. People in Western world have to rely less on finding food, so can specialize their skills in art. Aesthetic standards in small scale societies are less elaborate, more implicit, and more widely diffused.
3) Differences in division of labour. Art in complex societies is associated with the elite, and the elite set standards and control and own art.
How are the Navajo sand paintings integrated into culture?
They are art, healing, religion, myth.
How do the Melanesians and Polynesians use art to display political power?
Melanesians-Decorate their bodies with paints, can be washed off the same way a big man’s status can be lost
Polynesians-Tattoos, permanent status.
What are the two functions of art?
How artistic elements function for the psychological well being of the individual and how they function for the well-being and continuity of society as a whole.
How are the Mano masks used as a form of social control?
Used in the criminal justice system to give supernatural force to the convictions.
What are graphic and plastic arts?
Graphic-Painting and drawing and tattooing etc
Plastic-Molding certain forms, such as sculpture.
What is signature graffiti and the different types?
Signature- A representation of self to the public, consists of…
Tags- Graffiti writers nickname, can consist of initials, symbols, cartoon-like characters.
Throw-ups- Enlarged versions of tags consisting of big coloured in bubble letters.
Pieces- Larger versions of tags consisting of exaggerated 3D letters or symbols
What is stencil graffiti?
Shapes or designs are cut into rigid materials, then placed on a wall and painted over.
Who is the oldest example of tattooing?
Otzi, with 61 tattoos, lived 5250 years ago.
What is Ta moko?
Form of tattooing among the Maori of New Zealand. Indicates wearers lineage, social position, and tribal affiliations.
What are the four major concerts of ethnomusicology?
1) Ideas about music: how does a culture distinguish between music and non-music? How does it function for society? Is it beneficial or harmful to society?
2) Social structure of music- social relationships between musicians
3) Characteristics of the music itself- style of music, genres, nature of lyrics, composition, learned and transmitted
4) Material culture of music-different musical instruments, who makes them, how they are distributed.
How is danced defined?
Purposeful and intentionally rhythmical nonverbal body movements that are culturally patterned and have aesthetic value.
What is Anderson’s definition of art?
Things not generally considered art (ex: fish traps, boats, computers), no aesthetic, context required only in sense of skillfullness.
What is the institutional definition of art?
Works of art are what is exhibited in art galleries (not museums). Fine art sold at art auctions. Linked to market process.
What is the intentional definition of art?
Art objects are objects intended to be works of art by their makers. Art is what artists make. Some things are defined as art when they really aren’t meant to be.
How is art defined in terms of attributes?
Associated with visual or interprative properties rather than function. Function may be relative to its interpretation but is not the reason it is considered art.
What is fine art?
Rare, expensive, made for market, artist is named, products uniqueness valued, art for arts sake, no utilitarian value.
What are the 3 perspectives that art objects can be analysed from?
1) Functional- use of the object in ritual and religion, in the making of value
2) Iconographic-objects that encode meaning or represent something or that create a particular meaning
3) Aesthetic-from their aesthetic affect or expressive quality.
