Thirty years ago Australian Aboriginal art was little more than a footnote to world art. Today, it is considered to be an important contemporary art movement, often promoted as being connected to a deep cultural past. Becoming Art provides a new analysis of the shifting cultural and social contexts that surround the production of Aboriginal art. Transcending the boundaries between anthropology and art history, the book draws on arguments from both disciplines to provide a unique interdisciplinary perspective that places the artists themselves at the centre of the argument.Western art history has traditionally regarded Aboriginal art as distanced from time and place. Becoming Art uses the recent history of Aboriginal art to challenge some of the presuppositions of western art discourse and western art worlds. It argues for a more cross-cultural perspective on world art history.

What is so "primitive" about primitive art? And how do we dare to use our standards to judge it? Drawing on an intriguing mixture of sources-including fashion ads and films, her own anthropological research, and even comic strips like "Doonesbury"--Price explores the cultural arrogance implicit in Westerners' appropriation of non-Western art.
"[Price] presents a literary collage of the Western attitude to other cultures, and in particular to the visual art of the Third and Fourth Worlds. . . . Her book is not about works of 'primitive art' as such, but about the Western construction 'Primitive Art.' It is a critique of Western ignorance and arrogance: ignorance about other cultures and arrogance towards them."--Jeremy Coote, "Times Literary Supplement"
"The book is infuriating, entertaining, and inspirational, leaving one feeling less able than before to pass judgment on 'known' genres of art, but feeling more confident for that."--Joel Smith, "San Francisco Review of Books"
"[A] witty, but scholarly, indictment of the whole primitive-art business, from cargo to curator. And because she employs sarcasm as well as pedagogy, Price's book will probably forever deprive the reader of the warm fuzzies he usually gets standing before the display cases at the local ethnographic museum."--"Newsweek"

The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art is an ambitious publishing endeavor, unparalleled in its comprehensive approach to the study of art in the United States. Edited by Joan Marter, Distinguished Professor of Art History at Rutgers University, the five-volume Encyclopedia reconceptualizes American Art from the vantage point of the twenty-first century with a new methodological approach and broader scope than any such work published to date. The project takes a fresh look at what American art is, how it is defined, and who influenced it and produced it, and it offers a new foundation for scholarship for decades to come.
Taking the American art content from Grove Art Online as its starting point, the Encyclopedia contains entries that were reviewed, revised, and updated as well as hundreds of new entries that comprise an up-to-date survey of this essential and ever-growing area of art history. It covers American painting, architecture, sculpture, and photography from the Pre-Columbian sources to the colonial period to the twenty-first century devoting coverage to many previously underrepresented areas of inquiry, including African American artists, Asian American artists, and Native American art, both historical and contemporary. Artists, major movements, institutions, critics, and the architecture found in major cities of the United States are covered, as are new media and methodologies, including digital art, performance art, and installation art. In addition to American artists such as John Singer Sargent, Robert Rauschenberg, Maya Lin, and Kiki Smith, attention is also paid to individuals who have had a significant impact on American art and art history through their activity in the United States, including Marcel Duchamp, Erwin Panofsky, Renzo Piano, and Max Beckmann.
With an extensive illustration program totaling over 700 images, 128 color plates, a topical outline, and a detailed bibliography accompanying each of the more than 2,300 entries, The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art will be of particular interest to students, researchers, and collectors specializing in American art as well as students and researchers in art history, American history, and cultural anthropology.
2011 Booklist Editors' Choice
RUSA/ALA Outstanding Reference Source
Library Journal Best Reference 2011

African-American art has made an increasingly vital contribution to the art of the United States from the time of its origins in early-eighteenth-century slave communities. This major reassessment of the subject discusses folk and decorative arts such as ceramics, furniture, and quilts alongside fine art -- sculptures, paintings, and photography -- produced by African Americans, both enslaved and free, throughout the nineteenth century. It explores art and politics, the influence of galleries and museums, and examines the New Negro Movement of the 1920s, the Era of Civil Rights and Black Nationalism through the 1960s and 1970s, and the emergence of new black artists and theorists in the 1980s and 1990s. African-American Art shows that in its cultural diversity and synthesis of cultures it mirrors those in American society as a whole.

`a much needed text. . . breaks down the barrier between folk and formal art, and articulates an interrelationship of both concepts to African-American people and their culture' Keith Morrison, Artist and Dean of the College of Arts, San Francisco State University.

`a fine survey of contemporary African-American art and ideas... a volume, which, like no other, can be used both as an unusual reference book and a good read' Emma Amos, Artist and Professor of Art at Rutgers University

This nuanced account explores Maya mythology through the lens of art, text, and culture. It offers an important reexamination of the mid-16th-century Popol Vuh, long considered an authoritative text, which is better understood as one among many crucial sources for the interpretation of ancient Maya art and myth. Using materials gathered across Mesoamerica, Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos bridges the gap between written texts and artistic representations, identifying key mythical subjects and uncovering their variations in narratives and visual depictions. Central characters-including a secluded young goddess, a malevolent grandmother, a dead father, and the young gods who became the sun and the moon-are identified in pottery, sculpture, mural painting, and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Highlighting such previously overlooked topics as sexuality and generational struggles, this beautifully illustrated book paves the way for a new understanding of Maya myths and their lavish expression in ancient art.

Indigenous concepts of time play a critical role in the works of many contemporary Australian artists. Everywhen: The Eternal Present in Indigenous Art from Australia showcases prime examples, featuring many works of art that have never before been exhibited outside Australia. The book provides a cultural framework to help understand these objects, emphasizing the importance of the land, the rich narratives that cleave to it, and the art it inspires. It is organized around four central themes: ancestral transformation, ritualized performance, seasonality, and remembrance. Six essays and nearly seventy catalogue entries highlight many of the most significant Indigenous Australian artists of the last forty years, from Rover Thomas and Emily Kam Kngwarray (both former representatives at the Venice Biennale) to the contemporary bark painter John Mawurndjul and the visual and performance artist Christian Thompson. Also included are examples of related historical objects and a technical examination of traditional Aboriginal bark paintings. This revelatory book introduces the thematic, stylistic, and cultural diversity of contemporary Indigenous art from Australia to a wider audience.

"An exceptionally fine ethnography that focuses on the integral role that traje or Maya dress and cloth production plays in the lives of the people of Tecpa n, Guatemala.... offers rich insights into the power of traje: as decorative clothing reflecting both individual tastes and the collective power of the Maya community, who regard cloth as more than clothing. For them, traje is the memory of their proud past and an integral part of their future." -- American Anthropologist

Traje, the brightly colored traditional dress of the highland Maya, is the principal visual expression of indigenous identity in Guatemala today. Whether worn in beauty pageants, made for religious celebrations, or sold in tourist markets, traje is more than "mere cloth"-- it plays an active role in the construction and expression of ethnicity, gender, education, politics, wealth, and nationality for Maya and non-Maya alike.

Carol Hendrickson presents an ethnography of clothing focused on the traje-- particularly women's traje-- of Tecpa n, Guatemala, a bi-ethnic community in the central highlands. She covers the period from 1980, when the recent round of violence began, to the early 1990s, when Maya revitalization efforts emerged.

Using a symbolic analysis informed by political concerns, Hendrickson seeks to increase the value accorded to a subject like weaving, which is sometimes disparaged as "craft" or "women's work." She examines traje in three dimensions-- as part of the enduring images of the "Indian," as an indicator of change in the human life cycle and cloth production, and as a medium for innovation and creative expression.

From this study emerges apicture of highland life in which traje and the people who wear it are bound to tradition and place, yet are also actively changing and reflecting the wider world. The book will be important reading for all those interested in the contemporary Maya, the cultural analysis of material culture, and the role of women in culture preservation and change.

The story of the Native peoples of the Great Plains--including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Lakota, Shoshone, Blackfeet, Kiowa, Pawnee, Arikara, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow tribes-- is integral to the history and heritage of the American West. These buffalo-hunting and horticultural people once dominated the vast open region of the Great Plains, west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, that stretches from present-day Canada to Texas. The Native people of the Plains found this vast, harsh land rich in resources, with tall grass prairies abundant with herds of buffalo and other grazing animals and fertile river valleys that supported farming. Economic practices were intertwined with spiritual ceremonial activities and core beliefs about the people's relationships to the land, sky, and universe. The magnificent arts of Plains Indian people also had such spiritual underpinnings, which, together with their historical and cultural contexts, can provide greater insight into and appreciation of their tribal significances. Lavishly illustrated with more than 300 images of objects from traditional feather bonnets to war shirts, bear claw necklaces, pipe tomahawks, beadwork, and quillwork, as well as archival photographs of historical events and individuals and photographs of contemporary Native life, Memory and Vision is a comprehensive examination of the environments and historic forces that forged these cultures, and a celebration of their ongoing presence in our national society.

S'abadeb, The Gifts captures the essence of Coast Salish culture through its artistry, oral traditions, and history. Developed in conjunction with the first extensive exhibition of the art and culture of the Coast Salish peoples of Washington State and British Columbia, the book traces the development of Salish art from prehistory to the present. Sculpture in wood, stone, and bone--including monumental house posts--as well as expertly crafted basketry, woven regalia, and contemporary works in glass, print media, and painting showcase a sweeping artistic tradition and its contemporary vibrant manifestations. S'abadeb is the Lushootseed term for "gifts" and invokes a principle at the heart of Salish sculpture: reciprocity, both in the public and spiritual domains. This richly symbolic word expresses the importance of giving gifts at potlatches, of giving thanks during first food ceremonies, of the creativity bestowed upon artists and other leaders, and of the roles of the master artists, oral historians, and cultural leaders in passing vital cultural information to the next generations. The theme of S'abadeb and practices of reciprocal exchange in Salish society are illuminated here through the intersection of art with ceremony, oral traditions, the land, and contemporary realities.

Bamana masks and headdresses, Lega ivories, Dogon sculpture, and Benue bronzes are among the many exquisite African artifacts found in the renowned Menil Collection. This stunning book--the first comprehensive catalogue on the de Menils' collection of African art--features 115 of the museum's finest pieces. Dating primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries, these works come from North Africa and the Sahel, Coastal West Africa, and Central and East Africa. An essay by scholar Kristina Van Dyke discusses the formation of the collection, which was inspired in part by its relationship to modernist works and by the couple's interest in human rights. This insightful text also explains how the de Menils' visionary spirit was influenced by African art and places those objects within the context of the whole of the de Menils' collection, in which works from ancient, Byzantine, medieval, modern, Oceanic, and Native American cultures speak to the universal struggle for human understanding. Entries for the selected works were written by leading scholars in the field and are grouped into sections based on regions.

Many masterpieces of central African sculpture were created to amplify the power of sacred relics that affirm a family's vital connection to its ancestral heritage. This important volume, focusing on some 130 works representing a diverse variety of regional genres, illuminates the purpose and significance of these icons of African art, which first came to prominence because of their appeal to the Western avant-garde. While providing an overview of sources ranging from colonial explorers, missionaries, critics, artists, and art historians, the book breaks new ground in its examination of the complex aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of the reliquaries. Its interdisciplinary approach brings together the perspectives of scholars in African and medieval art history along with those in African history, religion, and ethnography.

After Dutch expeditions reached New Guinea's Lake Sentani island and Humboldt Bay in the mid-1800s, Western visitors began collecting works by local artists. "Ancestors of the Lake" is a stunning look at the region's distinctive art, such as its highly stylized wooden sculptures and decoratively and abstractly designed barkcloths. This beautifully illustrated volume brings together many of these important historic pieces for the first time, including the landmark collection of French writer and art dealer Jacques Viot, along with photographs by Paul Wirz. The book also explores how European Surrealist artists found inspiration in the art of New Guinea, highlighted by rarely seen photographs by Man Ray of Sentani sculpture.

Over the centuries, artists across sub-Saharan Africa have memorialized eminent figures in their societies using an astonishingly diverse repertoire of naturalistic and abstract sculptural idioms. Adopting complex aesthetic fromulations, they idealized their subjects but also added specific details--such as emblems of rank, scarification patterns, and elaborate coiffures--in order to evoke the individuals represented. Imbued with the essence of their formidable subjects, these works played an essential role in reifying ties with important ancestors at critical moments of transition. Often their transfer from one generation to the next was a prerequisite for conferring legitimacy upon the leaders who followed. The arrival of Europeans as traders, then as colonizers, led to the dislocation of many of these sculptures from their original sites, as well as from the contexts in which they were conceived; thus, today, they are seen primarily as timeless representations of generic archetypes. "Heroic Africans "reexamines the sculptures in terms of the individuals who inspired them and the cultural values that informed them, providing insight into the hidden meaning and inspiration behind these great artistic achievements.

Author Alisa LaGamma considers the landmark sculptural traditions of the kingdoms of Ife and Benin, both in Nigeria; Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire's Akan chiefdoms; the Bangwa and Kom chiefdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields; the Chokwe cheifdoms of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.); and the D.R.C's Luluwa, Kuba, and Hemba chiefdoms. More than 140 masterpieces created between the 12th and the early 20th century--complemented by maps, drawings, and excavation and ceremonial photographs--reveal the religious and aesthetic conventions that defined distinct regional genres.

The so-called Djenne statuary emerged circa A.D. 700 and flourished until 1750. The terracotta statues were manufactured by various groups inhabiting the Inland Niger Delta region of present-day Mali, centered around the ancient urban center of Djenne-Jeno. These terracotta sculptures, more than 300 of which are published in this book for the first time, express a remarkable range of physical conditions and human emotions, providing the largest corpus of ancient sacred gestures of any civilization in Sub-Saharan Africa.
"Djenne-Jeno "investigates this important and mainly unpublished corpus of terracotta statuary of one of the Mande art styles of West Africa, and traces potential connections between regions in West Africa whose artistic styles were previously thought to have developed independently. Generously illustrated with hundreds of color images, this book represents a significant contribution to the study of an art form virtually unknown until a few decades ago.

FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF THE BESTSELLER FIRST AUSTRALIANS COMES the lavishly illustrated art+soul, the companion book to the prime-time ABC TV series by the same name. art+soul is inspired by the flourishing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art in Australia over the past thirty years, captivating viewers around the world with astonishingly powerful artworks. Hetti Perkins, the distinguished Aboriginal art curator, travels to the startlingly beautiful landscapes of remote Arnhem Land, saltwater country and the desert heartlands of Central Australia, sharing with us the rare privilege of being welcomed into the homes and homelands of many senior artists. This lavishly illustrated book captures the remarkable energy and diversity of Aboriginal art, from the Papunya Tula Artists, the renowned art movement that had its humble beginnings in the early 1970s, to Rover Thomas and his heirs' phenomenal achievements in the East Kimberley. It features the work of contemporary artists Destiny Deacon, Brenda L Croft and Michael Riley, and that of the celebrated Emily Kam Ngwarray, whose paintings revolutionised Australian art. art+soul te

Unveiling for the first time an exceptional group of voodoo sculptures from the West African nations of Benin and Togo, this volume brings together nearly one hundred "bocio"--small fetishistic figurines--from the collection of the renowned African primitive art collectors Anne and Jacques Kerchache. Anthropomorphic sculptures made of wood, textile, bone, string, and shell, many of these bocio were used for protection, healing, and to inflict harm on enemies, imbuing them with a meaning that adds to their physical appeal. In addition to two hundred newly commissioned photographs by Yuji Ono showing the mystery and beauty of these works, a series of personal photographs and texts throughout illustrate the Kerchaches' passion for African statuary. Published in tandem with the first major exhibition devoted uniquely to the vodun arts, "Vodun "includes contributions by, among others, Suzanne Preston Blier, Gabin Djimasse, Marc Auge, and Patrick Vilaire.

West Africa has a rich and long artistic tradition. In particular, Ivory Coast is home to a vast number of sculptors, some of which have created work that bears comparison with masters of European art, such as Michelangelo or Picasso. Yet the view still prevails that no aesthetic principles can be found in traditional African art, nor that independent artistic personalities have ever emerged from this tradition. Only tribal workshops with anonymous artists are identified. African Masters proves this simplistic and patronising verdict wrong. Essays by renowned scholars investigate the role of the artists in traditional, and modern, society, their ideal of beauty and its transformation into works of art. The book also offers the first comprehensive overview of the most significant sculptors from Ivory Coast and its neighbouring countries. It discusses the oeuvre of ancient masters from the people of Guro, Senufo, Dan, Baule, Lobi, and from the lagoons and puts them in context with local contemporary art. African Masters features around 200 masterpieces from private and public collections, including that of Museum Rietberg Zurich, all in full colour and many of full-page plates.

"The traditional art forms of the Admiralty Islands occupy an important place in the art of the South Sea Islands. The originality of their oeuvre is manifested in monumental sculptures and magnificent wooden bowls and dishes as well as in small implements of virtuoso design. The works are decorated in a rich palette of red, black, brown and white tones that give severe, strongly contrasting visual effects. " Featured here are] the artistically fashioned products of the archipelego's material culture. A centrally positions in occupied by representations of humans and animals and the adornment of ritual objects. Objects that played a role in religion and mythology, and above all, in the daily life of the inhabitants of the islands. " -- From the Preface by Lorenz Homberger

In the history of art only a select number of artists distinguish themselves as originators of a personal idiom that reverberates beyond place and time. John Nieto is one of those originals. His eye-dazzling paintings rank him among the vanguard of contemporary American colorists. Recognized worldwide for his signature blend of expressive colors, dynamic brushwork, and powerful compositions, Nieto is an American artist who speaks in a universal Language. His personal story, told here for the first time, is a journey of discovery. His paintings combine reverence for his heritage with a sophisticated worldview. They are also autobiographical. Nieto depicts Native peoples as icons of dignity and unity. His buffalo, bears, and coyotes are symbols of survival. Each is captured in pulsating saturated hues that affirm the vibrant spirituality inherent in all living things.

Blood and Beauty brings together a diverse, prestigious group of contributors to debate this charged topic in an open, critical and frank interchange. Authors specializing in the anthropology, archaeology, art history, and linguistics of Mesoamerica and Central America bring new data and interpretive strategies to bear on the nature of institutional violence in these ancient societies. The volume covers a broad time frame, from circa 1200 B.C.E. to the sixteenth century, including recent ethnography. The volume endeavors to contextualize violence and violent acts within the matrix of indigenous thought and culture. Chapter topics reflect that desire, including localized, culturally specific, examinations of warfare, sacrifice, ballgames, boxing, pain, and healing. While there is no overarching theoretical perspective, the contributors are sensitive to current theoretical discourse in the field, including recent perspectives on organized violence and the agency of artworks.

Indigenous artists frequently voice concerns over the commodification of their cultures, a process acutely felt by those living with the consequences of colonialism. Thistimely book, which features color illustrations throughout, examines the ways in which contemporary indigenous peoples in different parts of the Americas have harnessedperformance practices to resist imposed stereotypes and shape their own complex identities. Essays by leading academics and practitioners show the vibrancy of a wide array of indigenous arts and cultural events in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Canada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Belize. As well as analyzing performance idioms, the authors trace the circulation of creative products and practices as commodities, as cultural capital, and/or as heritage. Making reference to aesthetic forms, intellectual property, and political empowerment, these essays weigh the impact of music, festivities, film, photography, theater, and museum installations among diverse audiences and discuss ways in which spectacles of cultural difference are remodeled in the hands of indigenous practitioners.

The civil rights and anti--Vietnam War movements were the two greatest protests of twentieth-century America. The dramatic escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1965 took precedence over civil rights legislation, which had dominated White House and congressional attention during the first half of the decade. The two issues became intertwined on January 6, 1966, when the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) became the first civil rights organization to formally oppose the war, protesting the injustice of drafting African Americans to fight for the freedom of the South Vietnamese people when they were still denied basic freedoms at home. Selma to Saigon explores the impact of the Vietnam War on the national civil rights movement. Before the war gained widespread attention, the New Left, the SNCC, and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) worked together to create a biracial alliance with the potential to make significant political and social gains in Washington. Contention over the war, however, exacerbated preexisting generational and ideological tensions that undermined the coalition, and Lucks analyzes the causes and consequences of this disintegration. This powerful narrative illuminates the effects of the Vietnam War on the lives of leaders such as Whitney Young Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Roy Wilkins, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as other activists who faced the threat of the military draft along with race-related discrimination and violence. Providing new insights into the evolution of the civil rights movement, this book fills a significant gap in the literature about one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.

Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau examines the complex identities assigned to Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau. Was he an uneducated artist plagued by alcoholism and homelessness? Was Morrisseau a shaman artist who tapped a deep spiritual force? Or was he simply one of Canada's most significant artists? Carmen L. Robertson charts both the colonial attitudes and the stereotypes directed at Morrisseau and otherIndigenous artists in Canada's national press. Robertson also examines Morrisseau's own shaping of his image. An internationally known and award-winning artist from a remote area of northwestern Ontario, Morrisseau founded an art movement known as Woodland Art developed largely from Indigenous and personal creative elements. Still, until his retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 2006, many Canadians knew almost nothing aboutMorrisseau's work.Using discourse analysis methods, Robertson looks at news stories, magazine articles, and film footage, ranging from Morrisseau's first solo exhibition at Toronto's Pollock Gallery in 1962 until his death in 2007 to examine the cultural assumptions that have framed Morrisseau.