A limited Western Perspective: Underlying politics in Fine Art and in Art Worlds.

Abstract

An issue in art is that there is limited scope in defining exactly what art is and there is erosion when it comes to art historical evidence about non-prevalent non-Western (namely Africaan) art. I will briefly go over what historically had been defined as art and in doing so point out that despite the change of definition that modern, post modern and contemporary visual art has brought, there is still the issue that this definition is viewed through and qualified by a Western perspective. Classical Art, in the West, was the yard stick for measuring the quality and standard of art. Modernism, with influences from Africa in its Primitivism, and Impressionism and their attempts to change this limiting yard stick opened up a black hole for indefinability, but still retained a western perspective as a yardstick for qualifying art. I will discuss this problem and proffer how art history and definition can be inclusive of other narratives. I will argue why erosion has been problematic and talk through how other narratives can be included in the narrative of art and in the art world.

Issue

The fact that art is more fluid and less defined than when it had limited influences (such as predominantly academic Classical influence) is a good thing. This ought to allow room and freedom for artists to create and for art to be appreciated more inclusively of non-Western art. However, the issue that I want to point out is how historically, retrospectively and presently the art of cultures other than the West are still accessed through a Western perspective or commodified by the West, rather than looked at on their own merits. The changes in Western ideals of what art is and in art history came about due to underlying politics and wider events that affected the Art World. Some events in particular that show the mixing of Western and other cultures in visual arts due to politics are the influences of African art as a result of colonialism in Africa which allowed different cultures to become infused with other traditions of art influence (such as Classical) in the West[1]. The issue with these influences and merging of cultures simply means that certain art and cultures are lost amongst their appropriation of the West. This is because non Western cultures did not really take up the practice of Art History. Some African History and culture, for instance, had been passed down through oral tradition, similar to Greek culture and story-telling (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were not written down originally but were retold by bards and it is unsure about whether Homer was a fabrication). When the West takes up the art of a different culture and weaves it into the narrative of art in the practice of Art Criticism, narrative of culture can get diluted because written word lasts longer and documents events better than spoken word. This is an issue in art when we talk about appropriation, the fact that the Western Perspective has been prevailing over other perspectives mainly because of the preservation of its literature and the destruction of others.[2] “Onabolu (a Nigerian artist about whom there is extant documentation)… made relentless efforts to convince the colonial government of his creative potentials and that he was biologically fit to express himself so as to deter the colonial stereotype that no black man was capable of drawing and painting like a whiteman”[3], As Irivwieri, a professor at Delta State University in Nigeria writes, the issue about Art Historical writing is that it denigrates Africans and African art and even in Nigeria it was not until the arrival of Kenneth Murray in 1927, who introduced “art training” in the Western sense, that Onabolu was recognised. This reinforces that art in and outside the West is measured through a Western lens.

Solution

In terms of definition of art and Art History and Critique, it is not possible to go back in time and hear other voices and perspectives on non-Western Art or Western infused art of different cultures. However, the solution that I will propose is that the focus should be on post-modern and contemporary art. There is a new perspective on other cultures. In America especially there are progressive changes that seem to show that not only in art but in politics, barriers are being broken in racism. There has been a black president, Barack Obama, for eight years and more specifically in the art world there are Art Curators, Educators, Writers and Professors who have the education and the faculty to show different perspectives and write about non-Western perspectives from a culturally and socially political perspective: Okwui Enwezor (a prominent Art Curator based in New York), Carol Walker (Visual Arts Faculty member at Columbia University) , Kellie Jones (Professor of History of Art at Columbia University) and other contemporary African artists such as Bill T. Jones are all doing things to give their particular and macrocosmic artistic perspectives. Okwui Enwezor for instance has his own publication on Contemporary African Art. He is the founding editor and publisher of the NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art which was established in 1994 and currently published by Duke University Press. This is the solution to including other cultural narratives in the Art Historical narrative. Writing and publishing about African art is a way to create a platform for viewing the originality of African art and also preserve what is being created through the cultural perspective of the culture that the artworks belong to.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, it may be the case that the art of non-Western cultures has a limited historical narrative in terms of Art History. In Africa, the oral culture has meant that the art of that culture has particular meanings to its people while still being viewed as inferior to Western art. However, I think that in terms of literature and language, there is a need for more Africans to critique art and create a non-Western Art Historical narrative.

[1] Murrell, Denise. "African Influences in Modern Art". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/aima/hd_aima.htm (April 2008)

[2] Ibid. See first few paragraphs.

[3] Irivwieri, Godwin Ogheneruemu. "An Appreciation of the State Of Visual Arts in Nigeria (1900-1970)." Http://www.krepublishers.com/. KRE Publishers, 2010. Web.