BREVARD COLLEGE

AH 210 Introduction to Non-Western Art

JOURNAL ENTRIES

1.    What is Western?  What is Non-Western?  Which areas of the world might be considered Western today, and which ones Non-Western?  Are Western areas typically "modern"?  And if so, what do we mean by "modern"?  Is it the same as Western?  To clarify your thoughts, pick one example of Western art and one example of Non-Western art (photocopy or print each, and put in your journal with full identification), and discuss each to explain what makes your first example of art Western, and what makes your other example Non-Western. 

2.  What is art?  Write your own definition, and while you do so, think about elephants (and chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins, etc.) trained to paint pictures - are they making art?  To find out more about what some elephants are creating, you can check out this web page: http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/splash.php.  Should the creation and reception of art be restricted to humans? 

3.    Find an example of Aboriginal rock art from Australia, print a copy (identify and state your source), put it in your journal, and use it to explore the differences between Aboriginal and Western approaches to Aboriginal art.  How is the art part of a living tradition today?  Should very old examples of rock art be renewed (repainted) by modern tribesmen?  Or should they be preserved as they are?  What impacts do modern (Western) science, museums and national parks play in attitudes toward traditional art forms?

4.     What is "primitive art"?  Is it an appropriate term to use today?  What kinds of art have been labeled "primitive", why, and when?  What terms might be better used?  Select an example of art to use as the basis of your discussion, put a copy of it in your journal (identify the art object and your source), and discuss.

5.    What are the functions of African art?  Is it, say, art for art's sake?  If not, what roles do sculpture and painting play in the many and varied cultures of Africa?  Select an example, identify, put it in your journal, and discuss.

6.    What kinds of initiations - or rituals associated with certain stages in our lives - do we, as Americans, celebrate in our culture?  What roles do they play, and how are they marked?  In your opinion, which is the most important American ceremony of initiation? How does it compare with initiations in traditional African cultures?  Select an art object discussed in Chapter 25, make a photocopy of it or find an electronic image of it on the web, and discuss how that particular art object is used in initiation rituals, and compare it with an object that might mark an American ritual or initiation.

7.    Select an example of Islamic art (tiles, pottery, textiles, manuscript illumination, etc.) and discuss the use of aniconic, or non-figural, ornament.  Why is religious imagery is avoided in the Islamic tradition?  Compare your example to the piece of African art you discussed in journal entry #5, and compare it with your example of Islamic art.  How do the two artistic traditions - traditional African and Islamic - compare?  How does art function within the respective cultures?  How are religious images perceived in each?

8.     Read the chapter in your textbook on Islamic Art and Architecture carefully, and write a journal entry in response to the material.  Please also select a mosque and discuss how the architecture and its decoration reflect the religion, culture and history of Islam.  Be sure to identify specifically which mosque you discuss.

9.    Find a work of Indian sculpture sculpture on the internet, insert it into your journal, identify it fully, and write about the art work.  Make sure to write a paragraph on each of the following aspects of your art work: (1) style (how the art work was made, especially in comparison to other periods of art); (2) iconography (the subject matter and symbolism of your piece); and (3) its historical context (when it was made, who made it, and why).  Somehting to think about: why does Indian art have such a strong figural tradition, when the Islamic tradition is anti-figural? 

10.    What is the purpose of Hindu temples?  Select an example of a Hindu temple, identify it fully and put an image of it in your journal, and address the following questions:  Who built Hindu temples?  Who paid for them?  How were they used?  How do they fit into the broader context of Hindu art, culture and religion?  

11.      OPTIONAL, EXTRA CREDIT JOURNAL ENTRY: Iconoclasm and the Bamiyan Buddhas.  Given the aniconic traditions of Islamic culture and religion - and the diversity of reactions to figural art within the Islamic world through time - were the Taliban wrong to destroy the Bamiyan Buddhas?  If the Taliban can justify their destruction of the Buddhas through the aniconic position of Islam, why weren't the statues destroyed centuries ago?  Why haven't Egyptians destroyed the statues of the pharaohs and ancient Egyptian gods?  Find more information on the Bamiyan Buddhas and the context of their destruction on the Internet, and explore the implications of their destruction.  Should the Buddhas now be rebuilt?

12.      Read text pp. 359-368 and explore the foundations of Chinese art and culture.  Select an artwork from the text, or search the internet for examples from these early time periods, and discuss this artwork as it relates to early Chinese art history.

13.    Explore the internet and find information on the Han dynasty tombs (Mancheng Lingshan Tombs) with jade burial suits and other treasures.  What did you find?  How is it possible that such amazing discoveries are not included in our textbook?

14.     Finish reading Chapter 10, Chinese Art before 1280, select a work of art (not the same one you picked for #12) from the textbook, identify it, and use it to describe the principal characteristics of Chinese art and culture.  Select a second example of Chinese art from your textbook, and compare it with your first example.  How does Chinese art change through time?  What aspects of Chinese art remain relatively constant?  How does Chinese art reflect the philosophical and religious underpinnings of Chinese society?  

15.    Read Chapter 21, Chinese Art after 1280, and reflect upon the question of "western" vs. "non-western" as it relates to Chinese art.  Are these categories useful to us today?  Do we learn something valuable about Chinese art and culture by defining it as non-western?  Are there broad structural and philosophical differences that mark Chinese culture as distinct from western culture, or are these distinctions more like artificial constructions inherited from our past?  Do we learn something about contemporary American culture by identifying Chinese art today as "nonwestern"?  

16.    Read Chapter 11: Japanese Art Before 1392 and discuss the emerging character of Japanese art and culture by selecting a representative example of art or architecture (identifying it fully and putting an image of your artwork in your journal) and addressing the following questions: do you see in your monument evidence of foreign influence, particularly from Korea or China?  Do you see evidence for a Japanese “national identity”?  What is the function of your artwork?  Who used it, and for what purposes? 

17.    Read Chapter 22: Japanese Art After 1392, select a work of art or architecture, put a photocopy or digital image of it in your journal, and compare it to your earlier Japanese monument.  How is it similar, and how is it different?  How does Japanese art change through time?  Which cultural priorities – class distinctions, interest in natural materials, samurai warriors, Buddhism, etc., - are reflected and/or embodied by your monument?   Then compare your example of Japanese art to one of your Chinese examples – what do you learn about the Japanese and the Chinese cultures from your comparison? 

18.    The material presented in Chapter 24: Art of Pacific Cultures is distinctly different from the art and architecture of Asia.  Select one of these island cultures (but not that of Aboriginal Australia), describe how the people live, how society is organized, how wealth is measured, and what kinds of art are made.  Select an example on the web of an artwork by your culture.  Put an image of it in your journal, identifying both the artwork and the source of your image fully, and discuss how this artwork reflects the culture that made it.  Finally, think again about the term “primitive” to describe the cultures of Oceania.  Do you think this term is appropriate?  Why or why not?

19.    What are the characteristic features of the Mayan site of Palenque?  What do the architectural, archaeological, and artistic finds from Palenque tell us about the Mayan people?   To answer these questions, read the textbook pp. 411-417, and then do an internet search on Palenque.  Print out plans for the site, and describe the principal architectural features.  What pyramids were found, and how were they used in Mayan culture and ceremony?  Describe the burial of Lord Pacal, and the finds in the tomb.  Describe his portrait statue and how it confirms the king's elite status.  What kind of art is associated with Mayan kingship?  What symbols are used, and what do they reflect of Mayan cosmology?  

20.    Read the rest of Chapter 12: Art of the Americas Before 1300, and ponder this question: what might have happened if Columbus discovered the New World today, in 2003, rather than in 1492?  What might the consequences have been?  In the 16th century, Europeans looked to conquer and colonize the New World - would similar ideas and attitudes be prevalent today?  What would be the impact of disease today, vs. 500 years ago?  How might New World cultures influence Western culture if they were first discovered today?  Read up on the conquest of the new world (not the game), and see below for some web sites that might provide a start for your research.  You should look at other web sites too.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/aztecs1.html

http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/orlow-e.html

http://www.2think.org/ah.shtml 

21.    Read the sections of Chapters 12 and 23 that discuss the art of North America, and find a piece of tribal art on the Internet.  Put a copy of the image in your journal, identify the art work and its tribal context fully, and discuss how this piece of art is representative of its cultural and artistic tradition.  Did the art work have a function?  If so, how was it used in its cultural context?  How does it reflect the cultural traditions of the population that made it?  Are such traditions continued today?

22.    Based on what you have learned in this course, what are the functions of art? Think about broad categories: funerary, religious, ceremonial/ritual, civic, etc. Survey some examples of art from around the globe and discuss how they were used by the societies that produced them.  How does the Western definition of art apply to these different examples?  Would the members of the societies you surveyed have identified your pieces as art, or would they have identified them as something else?   Do you see populations not influenced by modern Western culture embracing the concept of "art for art's sake" ?