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Art, Ethnography and the Life of Objects - (Critical Perspectives in Art History) by Julia Kelly (Paperback)
About this item
Highlights
- About the Author: Julia Kelly is Lecturer in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Manchester.
- 188 Pages
- Social Science, Anthropology
- Series Name: Critical Perspectives in Art History
Description
About the Book
This book is a scholarly and lively account of the interactions between art and ethnography in Paris in the pre-WW2 period, drawing upon a diverse range of primary and archival materials: non-western art, anthropological expeditions, museum displays and works by artists in Paris.From the Back Cover
In the 1920s and 1930s, anthropology and ethnography provided new and striking ways of rethinking what art could be and the forms which it could take. This book examines the impact of these emergent disciplines on the artistic avant-garde in Paris. The reception by European artists of objects arriving from colonial territories in the first half of the twentieth century is generally understood through the artistic appropriation of the forms of African or Oceanic sculpture. The author reveals how anthropological approaches to this intriguing material began to affect the ways in which artists, theorists, critics and curators thought about three-dimensional objects and their changing status as 'art', 'artefacts' or 'ethnographic evidence'.
This book analyses texts, photographs and art works that cross disciplinary boundaries, through case studies including the Dakar to Djibouti expedition of 1931-33, the Trocadéro Ethnographic Museum, and the two art periodicals Documents and Minotaure. Through its interdisciplinary and contextual approach, it provides an important corrective to histories of modern art and the European avant-garde.Review Quotes
... broadens the discussion to include Marcel Mauss and Henri Hubert's brilliant 'General Theory of Magic'... There is also close focus on technique... Kelly undertakes close readings of western works ethnographically... She also builds a series of pointers to then-and-now thinking on art and social agency that could notably refresh contemporary discussion.
Ian Hunt, Art MonthlyAbout the Author
Julia Kelly is Lecturer in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Manchester.