Cultural Anthropology Stevan R Jackson Ph D Chapter 13 Artistic Expressions Forms of Human Artistic Expression Of all the diverse human characteristics artistic expression is no doubt one of the most distinctive All culture s seem to have artistic expression even though they may not define it as such Forms of Human Artistic Expression Some form of human artistic expression is found in all human cultures back at least to the Neanderthals to approximately 100 000 years Forms of Human Artistic Expression The Lascaux Cave paintings are in a complex of caves in southwestern France are Paleolithic dating about 17 300 years old Primarily images of large animals most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in that area then Forms of Human Artistic Expression Forms of Human Artistic Expression Forms of Human Artistic Expression Forms of Human Artistic Expression Forms of Human Artistic Expression Studies of expressive arts cross culturally conclude that the arts are fundamental to the completeness of human life Approaches to Studying Human Artistic Expression Technical Analysis Functions of Expressive Arts Expressive Art Parietal Art art on permanent features such as cave walls ceilings and floors rock shelters and large blocks of rock Mobile Art art forms not fixed to any place and can be moved or carried What Is Art The creative use of the human imagination to interpret express and enjoy life The uniquely human ability to use symbols to give shape and meaning to the physical world for more than just a utilitarian purpose Attempts to reflect or interpret the essential aspects of reality through images recognized as having an aesthetic quality What Is Art Defining what is art and what is not art can be taken from several perspectives Philosophers Art historians Professional artists Politicians Even anthropologists What Is Art Definition of art from a cross cultural perspective must include five elements 1 Artistic process should be creative and enjoyable and need not be concerned with the practicality or usefulness of the object being produced 2 From the perspective of the consumer art should produce some type of emotional response either positive or negative What Is Art 3 Art should be transformational 4 Art should communicate information by being representational 5 Art implies that the artist has developed a certain skill level not shared equally by all people in a society What Is Art Anthropological Definitions Art refers to both the process and the products of applying certain skills to any activity that transforms matter sound or motion into a form that is deemed aesthetically pleasing to people in a society Art is anything creatively accomplished regardless of expertise or practicality that brings pleasure to the creator the audience or both What Is Art Art in any particular culture is deeply ingrained in the social context of that culture It is this social context that determines The kind of expression that is created in that culture s art How the people view reality What is good and bad art What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them King Tut What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them Sea chanteys What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them Scottish Waulking Songs What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them Traditional Folk Tales such as fairy tales What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them Appalachian Quilts What Is Art Artistic endeavors cross culturally speaking often have practical uses to them Dulcimers What Is Art In many societies the doing of art is often of greater importance than the final product itself Art in whatever form it takes is shaped by a culture s values and belief system Art in all forms is a reflection of the cultural values Three major types of artistic expression studied by anthropologists 1 Graphic pictorial or plastic arts 2 Verbal arts 3 Dance Ethnomusicology Study of music in specific cultural settings has developed into the specialized field of ethnomusicology Four major concerns of ethnomusicology 1 Ideas about music a How does a culture distinguish between music and nonmusic b What function does music play for society b Is music viewed as beneficial or harmful to society c What constitutes beautiful music d On what occasions should music be played the Four major concerns of ethnomusicology 2 Social structure of music a What are the social relationships between musicians b How does a society distinguish between various musicians on such criteria as age gender race ethnicity or education Four major concerns of ethnomusicology 3 Characteristics of the music itself a How does the music in different cultures vary according to style b What different musical genres are found in a society c How is music composed d How is music learned and transmitted Four major concerns of ethnomusicology 4 Material culture of music a What is the nature of the musical instruments found in a culture b Who makes musical instruments and how are they distributed c How are the musical tastes reflected in the instruments used Ethnomusicologists learn how music functions in respect to 1 Melody and harmony a tonality determined by the scale system 2 Rhythm the organizing factor a polyrhythm 3 Form how melody and rhythm are combined Three part model of studying music 1 Sound 2 Conception 3 Behavior Music Almost everywhere human music is perceived in terms of a scale These scales are broken into parts from the overtone scale The Western musical system uses a semitone scale with overtones The overtone series is the only part that can be considered entirely natural There is also the pentatonic system dividing the octave into five nearly equidistant tones The basis of the blues Music Different cultures employ different scales Music from Arabic Persian Far Eastern and other cultures music there are smaller units of a third of a tone with scales of 17 and 24 steps in the octave It is often difficult for a Western ear to tolerate some of these scales that are less than a semitone Music Rhythm is an organizing factor in music sometimes more important than the melodic line Traditional European music is neatly put into recurrent patterns of 2 3 and 4 beats with combinations of weak and strong beats to mark the division and form patterns Other