My friends, after traveling through the Asian continent and Japan, I continued on to the Americas. The art in the Americas has three regions, North America, Central America, and South America. Each region has a very distinct aspect to their forms of art. All cultures have some kind of art. Being curious about art, I have collected samples from five different areas. The following works of art are very different from European art, but there are still some similarities. The similarities of the human spirit are evident in the following images.
I began my journey in the Americas in North America. This is a house partition screen from the house of Chief Shakes of Wrangell, Canada (Cothren & Stokstad, 2011, p.849). It is from the Tlingit people, circa 1840. It is made from cedar, paint and human hair, and is currently at the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado.
The house of Chief Shakes of Wrangell, Canada. Tlingit people, c. 1840. Cedar, paint, and human hair, 15 × 8′ (4.57 × 2.74 m). Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado.
As you can see, it is full of animal imagery. My friends, we do not usually have so many animal references in our works of art, so let me explain them. The bears are symbols of their animal or animal-human ancestors (Cothren & Stokstad, 2011, p.849). It symbolizes the power and presence of the ancestral figures. Emerging from behind this partition also gave the owner great power. Notice the beautiful colors and numerous animals on this partition.
Upper Missouri River area. Eastern Sioux, 19th century. Wooden board, buckskin, porcupine quill, length 31″ (78.8 cm). Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C. Catalogue No. 7311
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... sign? We do not know if future archeologists will understand their significance.
I hope that my next journey will bring more wonders to my attention, and then I can bring home more works of art foreign to us. Only by exploring the world can we understand it.
Works Cited
Cothren, M. & Marilyn Stokstad. (2011). Art History, Volume 2, 4th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Learning Solutions.
Pringle, H. (2013, June 27). First Unlooted Royal Tomb of Its Kind Unearthed in Peru. In NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. Retrieved February 4, 2014, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130627-peru-archaeology-wari-south-america-human-sacrifice-royal-ancient-world/.
South University Online. (2013). HUM 1002: History of Art from the Middle Ages to Modern Times: Week 4: Art of the Americas: 14th Century to the Present. Retrieved from myeclassonline.com
On July 26, 1996 two individuals were walking along the bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, did not expect to find one of the oldest complete skeletal remains in the world. While, Kennewick man has gained considerable notoriety, debates have grown over the application of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and whether the Native Americans or Archaeologists have the rights to the body. As soon as the body was found it was studied by anthropologist James Chatters and he discovered “that the skull had characteristics unlike those of modern Native Americans” (Native Americans and Archeologists). As a result, it did not qualify under the NAGPRA rules. However, conflict arose because the Department of Interior and many Native American tribes are contesting that evidence found by the archaeologists. But, while it goes against Native American beliefs to inspect the bodies of their ancestors, any evidence that was gathered during the trial, in regards to the origin of Kennewick man, was necessary in order to find out to whom he belongs. Now, the skeleton is currently being kept at the Burke Museum in Washington State, where it is not on display. I believe that is where he should stay until more information about him is found. Finally, in regards to the presentations, I will be taking about who cares about the Kennewick Man, Lise Anderson and Jen Gray will be tackling the topic of opinions, Matt Ruffcorn will do the basic information about the Kennewick Man, Austin Eibel will talk about the conflict affected and finally, Matt Hellinghouse will talk about the research from an archaeological perspective.
Aztec and Latin American art has only recently gotten the credibility it deserves and it has done become very popular because Aztec and Latin American Art has gradually begin to grow through the mainstream media. Latin American and Aztec art has also found its way into modern art is by targeting the mainstream media through some very powerful trends, such as art, fashion, and graphic designs. These fields have been stricken with what some people call the “Aztec bug.” Everything, from patterns, illustrations, ornaments, shows the Aztec infiltration into modern mainstream media, and it has become an extremely popular trend. Young people all over the world are beginning to wear Aztec patterns on their clothing and footwear.
Long before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic to the ‘New World’, the Western Hemisphere had already divided and developed civilizations. Some of these civilizations were extremely advanced for the time. As people settled in the Americas and developed cultures, so did differences in the life styles, religions, and art of these peoples. The cultures of Mesoamerica, South America, and North America all developed many different types of art, most notably ceramics and larger scale items that still baffle historians today.
Zigmond, M. L. (1986). Kawaiisu. In W. C. Sturtevant, Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 11, pp. 398-411). Washington: Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data.
Corbett, B. (1999). Last call in Pine Ridge For the Lakota’s in White Clay, Nebraska, death is on the house. Retrieved February 6, 2005, from http://ishgooda.org/oglala/whitcla1.htm
The Art Bulletin, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 176-185. (College Art Association), accessed November 17, 2010. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3049368.
Read, Hebert Edward, Sir. Discovering Art: The Illustrating Story of Art Through the Ages. Vol.
Tovias, B. (2011). Colonialism on the prairies: Blackfoot settlement an cultural transformation, 1870 - 1920. Portland, Oregon: Sussex Academic Press.
Calloway, C. G. (2012). First peoples A documentary survey of American Indian history (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. N.p., 2014. Print.
Kleiner, Fred, Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Fourteenth Edition The Middle Ages, Book B (Boston: Wadsworth, 2013), 348.
Lewis, R., & Lewis, S. (2008). The Power of Art. Connecticut, United States: Cengage Learning.
Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Vol 2.13th ed. Boston: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning, 2010.
Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-modern. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992.
Having realized art as a structured cultural phenomenon, and having emptied its direct and apparent meaning, it is possible to identify all its possible significations. Interestingly enough, I find that art reveals many diametrically opposed significations: expression and oppression, bias and acceptance, individual and society, creativity and confinement, and freedom and convention, among others. Art signifies the de-politicization of our culture, for even the most political of pieces cease to cause a stir among the masses.