The Death of Authentic Primitive Art: And Other Tales of Progress [Two centuries of progress -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Three ways to tell the history of (primitive) art -- What became authentic primitive art? -- The universality of art as a self-fulfilling prophecy -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Authenticity, primitivism, and art revisited -- And other tales of progress: nationalism, modernization, development -- Nationalizing the pre-Columbian past in Mexico and the United States -- The cosmic theme park of the Javanese -- Making progress on Borobudur]

Errington, Shelly, 1944-

ISBN 10: 0520212118 / ISBN 13: 9780520212114

Published by Berkeley : University of California Press, c1998., 1998

About this Item

1st ed., 1st printing ; xxvii, 309 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm ; ISBN 9780520210950, 9780520212114, 0520210956, 0520212118 ; OCLC 38930550 ; LCCN 98017204 ; LOC No N72.S6 E77 1998 ; Dewey 709/.01/1 ; color photographic paper wrappers ; Anthropologist Shelly Errington argues that Primitive Art, invented as a new type of art object at the beginning of the 20th century, has died. Errington's dissection of discourses about progress and primitivism is a lively introduction to anthropological studies of art institutions and a dramatic contribution to the growing field of cultural studies. 106 illustrations ; Contents: Two centuries of progress -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Three ways to tell the history of (primitive) art -- What became authentic primitive art? -- The universality of art as a self-fulfilling prophecy -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Authenticity, primitivism, and art revisited -- And other tales of progress: nationalism, modernization, development -- Nationalizing the pre-Columbian past in Mexico and the United States -- The cosmic theme park of the Javanese -- Making progress on Borobudur ; Shelly Errington is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author of Meaning and Power in a Southeast Asian Realm (1989), and coeditor of Power and Difference: Gender in Island Southeast Asia (1990). ; In this lucid, witty, and forceful book, Shelly Errington argues that Primitive Art was invented as a new type of art object at the beginning of the twentieth century but that now, at the century's end, it has died a double but contradictory death. Authenticity and primitivism, both attacked by cultural critics, have died as concepts. At the same time, the penetration of nation-states, the tourist industry, and transnational corporations into regions that formerly produced these artifacts has severely reduced supplies of "primitive art," bringing about a second "death." Errington argues that the construction of the primitive in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (and the kinds of objects chosen to exemplify it) must be understood as a product of discourses of progress--from the nineteenth-century European narrative of technological progress, to the twentieth-century narrative of modernism, to the late- twentieth-century narrative of the triumph of the free market. In Part One she charts a provocative argument ranging through the worlds of museums, art theorists, mail-order catalogs, boutiques, tourism, and world events, tracing a loosely historical account of the transformations of meanings of primitive art in this century. In Part Two she explores an eclectic collection of public sites in Mexico and Indonesia--a national museum of anthropology, a cultural theme park, an airport, and a ninth-century Buddhist monument (newly refurbished)--to show how the idea of the primitive can be used in the interests of promoting nationalism and economic development.Errington's dissection of discourses about progress and primitivism in the contemporary world is both a lively introduction to anthropological studies of art institutions and a dramatic new contribution to the growing field of cultural studies. ; FINE.

Seller Inventory # 008871

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Death of Authentic Primitive Art: And Other Tales of Progress [Two centuries of progress -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Three ways to tell the history of (primitive) art -- What became authentic primitive art? -- The universality of art as a self-fulfilling prophecy -- The death of authentic primitive art -- Authenticity, primitivism, and art revisited -- And other tales of progress: nationalism, modernization, development -- Nationalizing the pre-Columbian past in Mexico and ...
• Publisher: Berkeley : University of California Press, c1998.
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520212118
• ISBN 13: 9780520212114
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

In this lucid, witty, and forceful book, Shelly Errington argues that Primitive Art was invented as a new type of art object at the beginning of the twentieth century but that now, at the century's end, it has died a double but contradictory death. Authenticity and primitivism, both attacked by cultural critics, have died as concepts. At the same time, the penetration of nation-states, the tourist industry, and transnational corporations into regions that formerly produced these artifacts has severely reduced supplies of "primitive art," bringing about a second "death."

Errington argues that the construction of the primitive in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (and the kinds of objects chosen to exemplify it) must be understood as a product of discourses of progress-from the nineteenth-century European narrative of technological progress, to the twentieth-century narrative of modernism, to the late- twentieth-century narrative of the triumph of the free market. In Part One she charts a provocative argument ranging through the worlds of museums, art theorists, mail-order catalogs, boutiques, tourism, and world events, tracing a loosely historical account of the transformations of meanings of primitive art in this century. In Part Two she explores an eclectic collection of public sites in Mexico and Indonesia-a national museum of anthropology, a cultural theme park, an airport, and a ninth-century Buddhist monument (newly refurbished)-to show how the idea of the primitive can be used in the interests of promoting nationalism and economic development.

Errington's dissection of discourses about progress and primitivism in the contemporary world is both a lively introduction to anthropological studies of art institutions and a dramatic new contribution to the growing field of cultural studies.

About the Author

Shelly Errington is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, author of Meaning and Power in a Southeast Asian Realm (1989), and coeditor of Power and Difference: Gender in Island Southeast Asia (1990).