Benin_Art

Part 1 Option A Look closely at Plates 3.2.17 and 3.2.18, and in no more than 500 words, outline the ways in which Ernst Ludwig Kirchner alters his original model from Benin to make it look more primitive. When comparing the two images, although Kirchner appears to reproduce a detailed copy of the Benin plaque, there are significant differences between the two works that give each piece a completely different perspective to its audience. The first obvious difference between the two works is in the intimate details each piece portrays. The Benin plaque displays great detail in all aspects of the work, from the clothing of the figures, with detailed and elaborate patterned robing and ornate beaded embellishments and jewellery to the background of the composition, which has been painstakingly decorated with patterned reliefs that suggest expert craftsmanship and a remarkable attention to detail. In contrast, Kirchnner's approach is much less precise. Although he has reproduced most of the obvious representations found in the Benin plaque, it is much less defined and in parts, ignores the intricate, close up details of its model, merely sketching roughly the clothing and jewellery of the figures, ignoring the complex patterns so vividly displayed in the Benin plaque. The background too is much less ornate with only the large flower like decorations being represented, ommiting the intricate patterns that are so prevalent in the original, giving Kirchner's work a much more basic feel than that of its complex and carefully crafted model. The figures in the Benin work are highly detailed, several displaying clearly the scarification marks associated with their culture. Such marks are vaguely represented only on the main figure in Kirchner's sketch which also has been altered to show the upper torso of the figure naked, without the intricate belt like garment worn by this individual in the original work. The highly decorative neck beading on this figure is only vaguely suggested in Kirchner's reproduction and this is also true of the garments and head dresses that are worn by the accompanying figures in the original plaque, along with the detailed objects being carried by them. All of these differences give Kirchner's work a much less cultivated feel than that of the original.The vague outlining and expressionless faces of the figures represented in his work serve to reinforce this to the audience. The composition of Kirchner's sketch is different to that of the Benin plaque in that it omits one of the background figures, found to the upper left of the original composition. This alters the organised feel of the Benin work and gives Kirchner' s work more random, primitive attributes. The fact that the Benin artist had given his work a balanced , symmetrical composition suggests an appreciation of how best to represent a subject. This ommission, in Kirchner's work, makes the subject appear more spontaneous, rather than a studied, considered and modelled representation that displays an awareness of space, depth and perspective, attributes that suggest themselves to be indicative of a complex, highly skilled and practised people. By omitting key precise details ,obvious craftsmanship and altering the composition displayed in the Benin plaque , Kirchner has produced a representation, that portrays deliberately, a more primitive image to the audience than that of the skilled and highly complex work seen in the original. Word Count 514 Bibliography. AA100, The Arts Past and Present,Illustration Book,Plates for Books 3 & 4,Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.43-88) Woods, K. & Mackie, R. (2008) ‘The Art of Benin: Changing relation Between Europe and African I’ in Brown, R.D (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.1-42 Loftus, D. & Wood, P. (2008) ‘The Art of Benin: Changing relation Between Europe and African II’ in Brown, R.D (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.43-88 Part 2. How did ideas about race and about the ‘primitive’ influence the response of Western Europeans to art from Benin from 1897 onwards' (1000 words) The British invasion of Benin in 1897 unearthed outstanding works of art that were of great interest to the public, who followed such imperial expeditions with great enthusiasm The artworks and objects were confiscated and brought to London by British forces to be sold, partly to fund the expedition. The significance of these artworks was not lost on museums, scholars and collectors from Europe and America and they were quickly sold to a number of different individuals and organisations, including the British Museum. Racial stereotypes were common amongst society at this time. Newspapers and accounts of Britain's aggressive colonisation of Africa served to reinforce the idea that European culture was civilised and orderly in contrast to the savage, backward nature of the African races. This is evident in the entry on 'Negro' from the eleventh edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, published 1910-11. This particular article was written by T.A. Joyce, whose authority is shown by his status as Assistant in the Department of Ethnography. In this article , Joyce argues that the 'negro' is mentally inferior to 'the white man' and then argues that different evolution of the two races is the reason for this, attributing childlike properties to their development and remarking on their lack of desire to progress beyond their immediate need for existence. Later Joyce attributes the great works of the Benin bronze castings to their interaction with Portuguese traders of the 16th century and cites the cessation of these encounters as a reason for the rapid decline of this process and ultimately, their continued development .(Reading 2.4,Loftus, D. & Wood, P. (2008) ‘The Art of Benin: Changing relations Between Europe and African II’ in Brown, R.D (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.43-88) Given that, at that time ,the general perception of African society was influenced by the sensational reports of their savagery and brutally uncivilised nature, it is of little surprise that these beautiful and complex artworks were thought to be the result of outside influence or, the product of a long lost, once civilised African civilisation that had contact with the more 'civilised' peoples of ancient Egypt. This view was challenged by Henry Ling Roth, Director of the Bankfield Museum in Halifax, who concluded in 1898, that the Benin works were of African origin and pre-dated the arrival of the Portuguese. This argument was further reinforced by the findings of Charles Hercules Read and Ormonde Maddock Dalton, ethnographers at the British Museum. Antiquities from the City of Benin and from Other Parts of West Africa in the British Museum,published in 1899, was the result of their detailed studies and concluded that the Benin Bronzes were the products of African craftsmanship. Using the oral accounts of Benin leaders alongside detailed analysis of the artworks they concluded that they were produced independently of European or Egyptian influence. The acknowledgement that these artworks were produced by the people of Benin in the sixteenth century and their inability to uncover more recent items of a similar quality led many to the conclusion that Benin had regressed into a savage , brutal society as their contact with Europeans declined and the views of Read and Dalton, among others, did little to challenge the stereotypes of African inferiority. Despite these racial stereotypes , African art has exerted a great influence on modern art. After its emergence in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century, modern art began to lose its appeal to new artists who felt that modernity had become restrictive and conventionalised. The common held view had been that fine art was exclusively a European, Christian tradition, with painting and sculpture, that represented believable representations of their subjects, being the accepted mediums of this. This prompted certain artists of the avant -garde to address this problem by looking back and as a result, a positive perception of the 'primitive', previously viewed as 'barbaric', was born. Robert Goldwater in his survey of 1938, supplied the following definition of 'Primitivism' ; ' the assumption that the further one goes back [...] the simpler things become;and that because they are simpler they are more profound, more important and more valuable' . (quoted in Loftus & Wood,2008, p.65) The modernists were oblivious to cultural context of the works from which they drew inspiration and were interested in the authentic expression and emotions they perceived such works to contain. However, the Benin bronze works, displaying great sophistication and the result of a highly complex production process, seemed at odds with the 'primitive' ideal and were referred to by the avant-garde artists only on few occasions. On such occasions, artists tended to alter the original composition, often adding jagged outlining and vivid colouring to fit their 'primitive' want. Thus the Benin artworks provided a problem for western artistic categorising; they originated from a race of people perceived to be barbaric and 'primitive', but their complexity and production technique contradicted this, bearing all the hallmarks of a cultured and skilled society. In the modern world, debate continues as to the correct way of displaying the artworks of Benin. Despite their obvious aesthetic qualities, much of the work contains historical accounts of the civilisation that gave rise to it. History of Benin society was passed down orally and through artworks, therefore by viewing these artworks purely in the artistic sense, a huge amount of their historical and cultural significance is ignored. The Musee du quai Branly, opened in Paris 2006, held a major exhibition of Benin artwork, having first been shown in an anthropological museum in Vienna. Although the exhibition kept the same structure as that of it's Viennese counterpart, it was adapted to give a different approach in terms of display, attempting to draw attention to the aesthetic nature of the exhibits while explaining them in a historical and cultural sense. Of key interest, both artistically and anthropologically, were the Benin bronze plaques. As well as being aesthetically stunning work, they contained an anthropological record of traditions, rituals and gave an insight that complimented the oral records handed down on Benin society. For some critics, this was not enough and the exhibition drew criticism for the way it portrayed the works in an aesthetic manner, despite these displays being referenced with anthropological and historical notes. The problems continue today, with the question of who they belong to being at the forefront of debate, and arguments as to their return to their place of origin remaining very much open and unresolved. Word Count 1074 Bibliography Woods, K. & Mackie, R. (2008) ‘The Art of Benin: Changing relation Between Europe and African I’ in Brown, R.D (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.1-42 Loftus, D. & Wood, P. (2008) ‘The Art of Benin: Changing relation Between Europe and African II’ in Brown, R.D (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.43-88 DVD ROM (2008), The Art of Benin, Cultural encounters (AA100 DVD ROM ), Milton Keynes, The Open University