Maruska Svasek - Anthropology, Art and Cultural Production

ANTHROPOLOGY, ART AND CULTURAL PRODUCTION

Anthropology, Culture and Society

Series Editor:

Dr Jon P. Mitchell, University of Sussex

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ANTHROPOLOGY, ART AND
CULTURAL PRODUCTION

M ARUKA S VAEK

First published 2007 by Pluto Press

345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA

and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright Maruka Svaek 2007

The right of Maruka Svaek to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Hardback

ISBN-13 978 0 7453 1795 3

ISBN-10 0 7453 1795 2

Paperback

ISBN-13 978 0 7453 1794 6

ISBN-10 0 7453 1794 4

PDF eBook

ISBN-13 978 1 7837 1474 2

EPUB eBook

ISBN-13 978 1 7837 1475 9

Kindle eBook

ISBN-13 978 1 7837 1476 6

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book has benefited from my many dealings with artists, art dealers and critics in Europe, the USA and Africa who are unfortunately too many to name here, but without whose assistance this book could never have been written. From the ranks of the many scholars who commented constructively on drafts of some early chapters I would like to thank Justin IAnson-Sparks, Ferdinand de Jong, Frances King, Fiona Magowan, Laura Peers, Elizabeth Tonkin and Vera Zolberg.

I would also like to thank Johannes Fabian and Helena Spanjaard for the many helpful insights they gave during our conversations about the books central themes, and Jeremy MacClancy and Michael OHanlon for their words of encouragement. Last but not least, Roger van Zwanenberg from Pluto Press deserves equal thanks for his enthusiasm and support.

For Justin and Tristan

Part 1

Theorising Art

WHAT IS ART?

When considering the different ways anthropologists might help to explain what many of us regard as artistic behaviour, we would very likely ask them the question: what is art? The question can be interpreted in two distinct ways. On the one hand, it demands to know the criteria by which objects that are often seemingly incomparable, such as Michelangelos Last Judgement, Damien Hirsts dissected cow in formaldehyde and Australian Aboriginal Dream Paintings can be similarly classified as works of art. The pursuit of common qualities that can bridge the divide between such distinctly different objects is sometimes referred to as a generalising system. Adopted by many anthropologists in the past, this approach claimed that all societies produce artefacts that are considered valuable, and that, while the objects themselves might differ wildly, the common motivation to create such objects is derived from distinct human behaviour that exists in all societies. By analysing art in its correct cultural and social context, supporters of this approach argued that art can be compared across different societies, civilisations and nations, in a similar way to politics or religion. Melville Herskovits, for example, suggests that [i]n the widest sense art is to be thought of as any embellishment of ordinary living that is achieved with competence and has describable form (1948: 380).