World Art and Beyond - Summary of lecture notes - Leiden University BA History of Art Year 2
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Course
World Art and Beyond
Institution
Universiteit Leiden (UL)
This summary of lecture notes for the World Art and Beyond course is written in English. The course was taught by Dr. Stephanie Noah. The summary is very complete: in addition to all the important information, all important works of art with accompanying images have also been added.
Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van Damme > global art history / world art history can both be
used since they come down to the same concept
Difficulties with the concept of the West > geographically does not have to be the West (Cuba
is on the same geographical side as the US, Australia does not geographically belong to the
West), has more so to do with ideological values (enlightenment, separation between state
and church to believing in reason (academia)) (however, the US is a heavily religious
country) > use of the global North or South (however, my South could be another's North >
inverted map art work)
Searching for an alternative for art history as Eurocentric and linear > looking for not one art
history, to different stories (with multiple centers). 'How to rewrite this history?' As the main
focus/question of art historians today.
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art > considered as the heart of what art history (not global art
history) was at its inception. 'The' > one story of art, linear, 'ends' in the US, foundation for
Gardner
Garner's Art Through the Ages > still linear, less focus on naturalism
> these books as problematic (simplifying, one story, subjective), however we need a starting
point to implement other stories and artists from there
Hans Belting on the usage of World Art history vs. Global art history: according to him there
is a huge difference
He prefers global art > talks about 'the now', all contemporary artists that live anywhere (not
linked to a certain geographical region) (includes artists from the US etc!! While world art is
only the story of 'the other'), often times the art is about being more critical of the way non-
Western art has been portrayed, see the surrealist map of the world (not centered around
Europe), shown in biennials, pavilions (more fluid), is made under conditions of de-
colonialism, wave of independence (Mapa Invertido, Joaquin Torres-Garcia), idea of multiple
art worlds that are taken into consideration, idea of no stability and art history as being 'under
construction', idea of world art as more fluid (influenced by the sea),
He thinks of World art as being colonialist and Western-focused > related to Modernism
(mostly Western artists, whom were very much influenced by 'the other' and brought this art
to Europe by incorporating it in their art) (end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century).
World art is made by 'the other' (often times they are not referred to as artists, but as makers
or producers) (Picasso's collection on ethnographic objects), see the James Elkins map,
shown in ethnographic museums where the art is called object/artifact, made under
conditions of imperialism and colonialism, a singular view on the world (restricted idea of
what art is), invokes an idea of modern art as being linear where different –isms lead to
another
Institutional context of world art studies in Leiden > world art studies initiated by
ethnographer Wilfried van Damme and art historian Kitty Zijlmans
'World art for me is not an end in itself but an attitude, an awareness of the complexity and
interrelationships of art production and art reception worldwide' > art was praised for its
beauty/aesthetic value, ethnographic research grew and therefore the way in which we look
at art became an important topic of discussion , thinking and looking through different
,perspective (Olafur Eliasson with Earth Perspectives > looking at the earth from another
spot, at sea level and to look at a non-human entity)
The exhibitions of global world art are held in biennials, not really in ethnographic museums.
Lecture 2: (re)presenting the other
Introduction
Picasso had a great collection of “artefacts” from Africa. A modern artist like him, in the 20th
century, had a great interest in Native Americans and Africa. A lot of artists shared this
interest in art from outside of the West.
Other examples:
- Paul Gauguin
- Emil Nolde
- Henri Matisse
- Paul Klee
The other in modern art: primitive → cultivated
However:
1. Primitive is not similar to primitivism
2. Primitivism is not just looking at art from Africa and the Pacific, but also to prehistoric
art, children’s drawings and the expressions/art from mentally ill people
3. Escape from Western society, so: also a form of self-criticism → feeling of loss of the
authentic, and longing for the uncultivated, unregulated
Definition primitivism: Primitivism is a movement in early 20th Century art in Western Europe,
in which artists were looking for authenticity and originality they felt to have lost in the
overcivilized society of the metropolises of the West, and which they thought to recognize in
the art and expressions of so-called ‘primitive’ cultures. This ‘primitivism’ was foundational for
the emergence of Modernism.
Interest in objects outside of Europe is also seen in the earliest cabinets of curiosity
(renaissance/1599). There are a lot of natural history objects collected, but also human-made
objects. They wanted to show the richness and rarity of nature and humanity. It also added to
the social and economic status of the collector, who could afford to travel etc.
How are the others represented through art images and popular images? What was the
direct presentation of the other?
Definition of the other = the other is an individual who is perceived by the group as not
belonging, as being different in some fundamental way. Any stranger becomes the Other.
The group sees itself as the norm and judges those who do not meet that norm (that is, who
are different in any way) as the Other. Perceived as lacking essential characteristics
possessed by the group, the Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is
treated accordingly. The Other in a society may have few or no legal rights, may be
characterized as less intelligent or as immoral, and may even be regarded as sub-human.
By creating the other, the self can justify their own power. The other is not necessarily a
numerical minority, it is qualitative (example: women).
The Other may be someone who is of a different race, nationality, religion, social class,
political ideology, sexual orientation, origin.
(READING) Artwork by Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gomes-Pena: The couple in the cage.
,They made up an image of an unfound tribe,
who still lived in a ‘primitive’ state near Mexico.
They exhibited themselves in a cage in the
West. A lot of spectators believed that they were
an unfound tribe.
This artwork is based on the real exhibitions of
people in Europe in colonial times. They were
exhibited at squares, world exhibitions or
ethnographic museums for example.
The other on display
This happened often in ethnographic exhibitions.
Examples:
- El Negro of Banyole, 1916-1997: stolen from a grave, taken to
Spain. His skin was polished to be blacker than he naturally
was. He was removed for the Olympic games in Spain. His
body was reclaimed, and in 2000 he was brought back to
Botswana.
- Saartjie Baartman, 1788-1816: she travelled from South Africa
to London and France and people say she volunteered. She
was exhibited and was seen as a curiosity. She was seen as a
mark of transition between humans and orangutans. When
she died, her body parts were pickled,
for example her genitalia. Her remains
were sent back to Africa in 2002.
Beyonce even wanted to make a film
about her & play her as the protagonist.
Beyonce was critiques for appropriating
the story of Saartjie. Kim Kardashian
made pictures similar to Saartjie’s.
- Ishi (1861-1916): a Native American,
the last of the Yahi People tribe, was
exhibited by a Ethnographic Museum in
America. The man was found, brought
to the police, and then became an
‘artwork’. People wanted to show his
primitive looks and behaviour, to
validate their own superiority. It was also a
justification for colonisation: the primitive people
needed enlightened Europe.
- De internationale koloniale en uitvoerhandel
tentoonstelling in 1883: was held in Amsterdam.
They showed the profit they made from the
colonisation. Objects, machines, food, and even
people from the colonies were exhibited. There were
replicated villages made to exhibit the people. There
are no documents that protested against this exhibition, neither from the Netherlands
nor from the colonials. There was for example a village for Surinamese people and
there was a Javanese village.
The other in imperial images of the New World
Examples:
- Theodore Galle, America, engraving, ca. 1600: The native Americans were closer to
nature than the colonizers. The woman is seen as passive, waiting for the male to
, colonize her. The man has all kinds of
symbols of civilization on him. The boats
behind are the literal coming in of
colonization. The engraving can be linked
to the creation of Adam, where God also
‘shapes’ man. In the background,
cannibalism is displayed. A male leg is
eaten by a woman (the natives are not
passive in this case). This forms a
contradiction. The colonizers were also
afraid of the other.
- America is often displayed
as a naked female figure,
also a different images.
She is seen as close to
bestiality, literally, as close
to animals, and
figuratively, as behaving
as animals.
- (READING) Felipe
Guamana Poma de Ayala,
the first new chronicle and
good government, 1613:
this was a long letter written to the Spanish king. It is seen as a autoethnographic
text: a text in which people undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage
with representations others have made of them. In this text, the author appropriated
the format of the Spanish (not an Incan format!). This format was linked to Christian
history.
We often only know the stories from the colonizers. That is because indigenous
countries didn’t really have logical languages. Felipe Guamana was an exception,
and was literary.
In this case, the Spaniards are seen as uncivilized, seen as the other.
Felipe used 2 languages: Spanish and an Incan written
language, but there was also a difference in 2 pictorial
languages (Incan illustrations and Spanish/Christian
illustrations)
The other in popular culture:
Examples:
- A representation of ‘good savages’ in Romantic style (turn
of the 18th century): Black people became the new Indian.
There is an idea that black people were closer to nature
and in between humans and animals. In the prints, they
were depicted in a natural habitat and with animalistic
behaviour.
Response to othering: postcolonial theory
(READING) Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks: becoming a black man in the eyes of
white.
He was a psychiatrist that travelled to France. He believed that he would become a part of
European culture, and did not think that he would be different from the Europeans. However,
this was different: he started looking at himself like the white people looked at him → this is
how he started seeing himself as a black man. He understands that is impossible to be the
same as the white people, he will always be a black man.
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