Read complete books and articles on: Anthropology of Art

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: Anthropology of Art

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Art as Culture: An Introduction to the Anthropology of Art » Read Now
by Evelyn Payne Hatcher. 337 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

An introduction to the cross-cultural study of art from an anthropological perspective, this book is about the human condition in all its diversity. It explores the question of whether there is a correlation between the level of complexity of society and the nature of art.
2.

Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory » Read Now
by Alfred Gell. 271 pgs.

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Alfred Gell puts forward a new anthropological theory of visual art, seen as a form of instrumental action: the making of things as a means of influencing the thoughts and actions of others. He argues that existing anthropological and aesthetic theories take an overwhelmingly passive point of view...
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Alfred Gell puts forward a new anthropological theory of visual art, seen as a form of instrumental action: the making of things as a means of influencing the thoughts and actions of others. He argues that existing anthropological and aesthetic theories take an overwhelmingly passive point of view, and questions the criteria that accord art status only to a certain class of objects and not to others. The anthropology of art is here reformulated as the anthropology of a category of action: Gell shows how art objects embody complex intentionalities and mediate social agency. He explores the psychology of patterns and perceptions, art and personhood, the control of knowledge, and the interpretation of meaning, drawing upon a diversity of artistic traditions--European, Indian, Polynesian, Melanesian, and Australian. Art and Agency was completed just before Alfred Gell's death at the age of 51 in January 1997. It embodies the intellectual bravura, lively wit, vigour, and erudition for which he was admired, and will stand as an enduring testament to one of the most gifted anthropologists of his generation.
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3.

Modern Art and Society: An Anthology of Social and Multicultural Readings » Read Now
by Maurice Berger. 310 pgs.

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...socially constructed notions of criticism and art--all linked but not reducible to political...leaves one wanting, owing to its distrust of social analytical explanation...
4.

To Hell with Culture, and Other Essays on Art and Society » Read Now
by Herbert Read. 194 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...LETTER TO A YOUNG PAINTER THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODERN ART EDUCATION THROUGH ART THE GRASS ROOTS OF ART THE MEANING OF ART THE ART OF SCULPTURE ART AND SOCIETY ICON AND IDEA...
5.

Structural Anthropology (Part Four "Art") » Read Now
by Claude Levi-Strauss, Claire Jacobson. 412 pgs.

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...Archaism in Anthropology 101...Structures of Central and...PART FOUR ART...Representation in the Art of Asia and...Place of Anthropology in the Social...Having defined...
6.

The Artistic Animal: An Inquiry into the Biological Roots of Art (Chap. 7 "Art and Society") » Read Now
by Alexander Alland. 153 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Psychology, Entire Library

...graduate of the University of Wis consin and received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale Uni versity...him to study childrens art in the Far East. Professor...and Pioneer...
7.

Art History in Africa: An Introduction to Method (Chap. Three "Society, The Mother of Art") » Read Now
by J. Vansina. 234 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Bernatzik 1933 ; Gerbrands 1937:52-65 . By 1945 a specialization in African art was beginning to emerge in anthropology. Given the characteristics of the discipline at that...
8.

Art and Agency: A Reassessment, in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute » Read Now
by Robert Layton. 18 pgs.

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...objects. Gells approach to the anthropology of art Gell sets out to provide an...art. Existing work on the anthropology of art Gell contends that the task of an...
9.

Art and Procreative Illusion in the Sepik: Comparing the Abelam and the Arapesh, in Oceania » Read Now
by Donald Tuzin. 15 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...problem in the anthropology of art: to what extent...pretty puzzle, the anthropology of art is about the human...Approach from Social Anthropology. London:...
10.

Asphyxiating Culture and Other Writings (Includes discussion of art and society in multiple chapters) » Read Now
by Jean Dubuffet, Carol Volk. 122 pgs.

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...activity of the mind and the creation of art. This ambiguity is used to persuade...meritorious nature to the production of art, making it an honored social...
11.

Art, Artists and Society: Origins of a Modern Dilemma: Painting in England and France, 1750-1850 » Read Now
by Geraldine Pelles. 180 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Charles Baudelaire , The Mirror of Art , translated and edited by Jonathan...or commissions that make the creation of art possible, cannot depend on the kind...museums and...
12.

The Politics of Vision: Essays on Nineteenth-Century Art and Society » Read Now
by Linda Nochlin. 200 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Piedras, Puerto Rico, Collection Museum of Anthropology, History and Art, University of Puerto Rico 3. Francisco...Piedras, Puerto Rico, Collection Museum of Anthropology...
13.

The Art of China: Spirit and Society (1961) » Read Now
by Werner Speiser. 262 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...ART OF THE WORLD NON-EUROPEAN CULTURES THE HISTORICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS BACKGROUNDS THE ART OF CHINA SPIRIT AND SOCIETY BY WERNER...1235 to about 1300 A.D. ...
14.

Beyond Aesthetics: Art and the Technologies of Enchantment » Read Now
by Christopher Pinney, Nicholas Thomas. 288 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

The anthropology of art is currently at a crossroads. Although well versed in the meaning of art in small-scale tribal societies, anthropologists are still wrestling with the question of how to interpret art in a complex, post-colonial environment. Alfred Gell recently confronted this problem in his...
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The anthropology of art is currently at a crossroads. Although well versed in the meaning of art in small-scale tribal societies, anthropologists are still wrestling with the question of how to interpret art in a complex, post-colonial environment. Alfred Gell recently confronted this problem in his posthumous book Art and Agency. The central thesis of his study was that art objects could be seen, not as bearers of meaning or aesthetic value, but as forms mediating social action. At a stroke, Gell provocatively dismissed many longstanding but tired questions of definition and issues of aesthetic value. His book proposed a novel perspective on the roles of art in political practice and made fresh links between analyses of style, tradition and society.Offering a new overview of the anthropology of art, this book begins where Gell left off. Presenting wide-ranging critiques of the limits of aesthetic interpretation, the workings of objects in practice, the relations between meaning and efficacy and the politics of postcolonial art, its distinguished contributors both elaborate on and dissent from the controversies of Gell's important text. Subjects covered include music and the internet as well as ethnographic traditions and contemporary indigenous art. Geographically its case studies range from India to Oceania to North America and Europe.
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