Unit 2

hybridity

multiple paradigms/ways of being/methods that are combined in interesting ways

The Mass of Saint Gregory, artist once known

The Immaculate Conception, Ludovico Cigoli, 1611. Combines science, art, and religion, migrating to the ‘new world’/the Americas.

Our Lady of Guadalupe. Also mixes in precolonial/indigenous beliefs about goddess figures.

Three Gentlemen from Esmeraldas, Andres Sanchez Galque, 1599. Clothing is a mix of different cultural influence, european ruffles, asian silks, strong jewelry, of african descent.

mestizaje

mixed race ??

Sans Souci, Baez,

Reclamation of mixing of cultures and people in 18th century America

casta painting

Cast paintings, depictions of not individual people but types of people. Mestiza/mestizo to refer to mixed race.

The Castes, artist once known, 18th century. Chart of 16 different race combinations. Representation of white supremacy and hierarchy.

our lady of guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe, artist once known, 16th century

expressionism

Way of artmaking centered around the experience of the artist + art instead of what is really there

Demoiselles d’Avignon, Pablo Picasso, 1907

Representation of fantasy of the artist instead of real sex workers.

origins / originality

Modernism is a discourse of originality, is obsessed with origins and being different from them. In regards to artwork — context from which art is created, eg Gaugin influence from Haiti scenery

Why Are You Angry

Reframing/reclaiming of originality, by acknowledging origins of Haiti which were not acknowledges by Gaugin. But at the same time almost attributing originality to Gaugin by focusing mostly on his work rather than the women.

Islamic Reading

European colonists stole and used Islamic ideas and developments to further their own technology, which they then used to continue colonising

Olympia

Olympia, Edouard Manet, 1863

Reappropriating a reinterpretation of Europe. Origin of European modernism. placing person of color in background thus expressing European male gaze of desire and racial hierarchy.

Spirit of the Dead Watching

Gauguin, 1892

Shows Gauguins attempts to achieve originality by subverting the narrative, reversing the black woman’s position: instead of staring confrontationally (like in Olympia) she is scared of the viewer.

colonialism

Matu Mua / In Olden Times, 1892, Gaugin

Frames modernity in Tahiti as lazy and lack of progress. Focuses on exotic elements rather than urbanization, implying Europe is a place of change or dynamism.

Absence of labor

primitivism

A rejection of Europe to embrace other cultures, who are celebrated as different from (and less developed than) Europeans

Almost a set of fantasies that exoticism countries like Tahiti outside time, history, development. Bedded in colonialist beliefs

Demoiselles d’Avignon, Pablo Picasso, 1907

Inspired by appropriated African art and used to create romanticizations. Almost returns to the European origin (returns women tot eh brothel), allows Picasso to claim originality.

Manifest Destiny

Idea that land is promised to European Settlers

The Snake Charmer, Jean-Leon Gerome

Sara Rich: Idea that Islamic empire is destined to fail and Christianity will prevail, shown through the crumbling of the wall.

Promised Land

Version of America that European settlers ‘discovered’. Even geological formations like Grand Canyon were called ‘pyramids’, transferring/projecting Middle East onto Old West.

Keeoma, Charles M Russel, 1896

Plains Indian woman in Odalisque pose, showing the exoticism/desire associated with the foreign. Also links body and land. Also associated with the colonialist/Christian ‘right’ to the people and land.

landscape painting

Odalisque modeled paintings be considered landscape paintings because they equate women’s bodies with the landscape they exist in. Transference of ideologies from West-East, still existent today.

Keeoma, Charles M Russel, 1896

primitivism

Idea that other cultures are primitive or underdeveloped

Axis: Bold as Love, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967

Conflation of hippie culture with Indian heritage - misunderstanding of Indian-American and South Asian Indian.

The Slave Market, Jean Leon Gerome, 1866

Show dichotomy between slavery in the US (just abolished) and standards of the East, where slavery was still ongoing and romanticized

orientalism

The way of Western artists depicting the East as a place of backwardness, lawlessness, or barbarism enlightened and tamed as if they were wild beasts by European Christian rule, while at the same time entertaining fantasies of the East as a place of exotic and immoral sensuality.

The Slave Market, Jean-Leon Gerome, early 1860s

Division between unacceptable slavery (oriental) and acceptable (American Civil War)

The Snake Charmer, Jean-Leon Gerome, late 1860s

Unrealistic combination of people, setting is a real place. Depiction of crumbling tiles symbolises the crumbling/erosion of the Islamic empire, justifying European presence in Islamic territories.

patronage

A lot of Black artists did not have patronage, pushed back against this idea. Lack of support led to lack of black voices within the art sphere/art history.

Chris Roberts

The Harp, Augusta Savage

Was meant to be cast in bronze but due to lack of monetary/other support only ever made it to a plaster model, which was later destroyed/lost, meaning that her work was not permanent/remembered.

Federal Art Project

Government paid artists to make certain number of artworks per year, which often promoted American ideals of labor. They were usually depicting the working class or those in poverty, and were representational (rejecting European abstract art)

double-consciousness

The experience of having multiple social identities, especially the African American cultural connection while conforming to the white dominant society, making it difficult to develop a sense of self.

The Octoroon Girl, Archibald motley, 1925

Although depiction of a (white passing) mixed woman, still subscribes to idea that African Americans must achieve white ideals/higher class in order to be accepted into society.

New Negro Movement

Creative movement during the Harlem Renaissance amplifying black artists and the portrayal of black pride + the black American experience. How the act of being the modern was something that artists took on as a way of becoming again or being new. Connected to 20th century (marked by segregation).

The Crucifixion, Jacob Lawrence, 1938

About noise that people make when not listened to, the light radiating shows the fire coming from within the people.

Negritude

A consciousness and pride in cultural and physical aspects pf African heritage

or the state of being a black person

The Harp, Augusta Savage

New heights that African Americans can reach, symbolic of hope

indigeneity

State of being indigenous and pride in indigenous identity or culture that links them to specific places. Inextricably linked with modernism. How is it expressed and celebrated in global modernisms?

Self-Portrait on the Border Between Mexico and the United States, Frida Khalo

Rejection of American and almost siding, reclaiming indigenous heritage.

indigenismo

A political ideology that celebrates indigenous peoples, cultures, and traditions, often used to support nationalist identity. Places indigeneity as a central component to Mexican identity. Not only present in Mexico, but throughout Americas.

Varayoc, Indigenous Mayor of Chinchero, Jose Sabogal, 1925

Idea of what America can be — Varayoc is not a stand in for whole group but rather as an individual, showing link between Mexican identity and being indigenous.

muralism

The art of wall painting. Mexico instituted program for muralism in order to educate about Mexico’s history. Muralism renegotiates public space, changes context of the space it is in.

Cortes and Malinche, Jose Clemente orozco, 1926

Depicted as point of origin for modern hisotry. Shows Cortes (symbolic of colonialism) and his interpreter. Seen as point of origin of new race of people, pairing of European and Indigenous. Result is Mestizo child who is dead, shows power imbalance + implies that the identity of Mexico is inherently traumatic/violent.

public art

Art put into public. Can often run into red tape, whether financial issues, content, etc. Will change the context and redefines space it is in, especially multiple generations after.

Detroit Industry, Diego Rivera, 1933

Defines space of Detroit Insitute of art and state as a whole as a space of innovation and featuring people of mixed race and origins.

social realism

An artistic movement that sought to document
and raise awareness about social, political, and
economic inequality, focusing especially on the
urban and rural working classes (proletariat)

Not same as indigenismo but overlaps in some aspects.

Detroit Industry, Diego Rivera, 1933

Sponsored by big capitalist Henry Ford in center of automobile industry in Detroit. Unclear what opinion Rivera has on it, but features Mexican historical figure. Through lens of race, four goddess-like figures mean to represent four races. Shows his interest in relationship of humanity to nature (through natural imagery). Also depicting working class and industrialisation — in his other works that Moncada shows pointing out the hypocrisy during the Great Depression (wealth disparity), so showing how all races are equal.