The Aspect of Material Culture and the Development of Art Objects - Essay Example

American Material Culture American material culture Material culture, as defined by archeologists is a non-specific manner of referring to the artifacts and other concrete items left by previous cultures. It is important in the study of art, rituals, symbolism, dance, and music. It can also mean the study of ancient items with the aim of understanding how a specific culture was organized and the role it played over time. The aspect of material culture discussed in this paper is “art objects.” In America, all art works are material objects, yet not all objects are art works. Art objects as a main discipline of American art history is believed to have traditionally began with the North American’s European colonization in the sixteenth century and terminated with the emergence of America’s cultural, economic, and an artistic superpower following the Second World War. However, in the recent years, these points have been contested. Historians are currently exploring a larger cultural footprint and anglophile arty by spreading to other continental parts like Mexico and Gulf coast while giving much focus on the native expression plus its cross-fertilization with colonial art objects of European origin (Schlereth, 1982). The ascendary of American art objects and culture as contemporary, universal mode of using the objects reflects a break with the scholarly course of American art history. There are various examples of art objects in America, including the whirling, which reached its maximum development. However, the exact time when the first wind toy or whirling in America was constructed. Due to their fragility, some whirling fashioned prior to the nineteenth century second half have survived. Sculptures in form of stones, wood or metal developed into popular totem polers, royal Maya stelae, colossal olmeic heads, and golden Inca statues. Presently, they are still central to domestic cultural heritage management and museum collections. Politics and socioeconomic issues have impacted American material culture. During the late 90s, conceptualism played a key role in America. Artists in this part of the world turned conceptualism as a tool for questioning the nature of art and its role in retorting to societal crisis and needs in combination with politics, pedagogy, and poetry (Schlereth, 1982). In American material culture, particularly in art objects, several cultural changes have taken place. First, it has undergone cultural diffusion where there have been transformations of art objects from one cultural group or society to another. This has been a major transformation, with the evidence that art has really diversified. Sub cultural influences concerning art objects among different society in America entered dominant groups with time of which were enriched with minority cultures. For example, influence of Latino sculpture and painting appeared in inner-city American neighborhood, analyzing and describing these two art objects in their own way. Currently, art objects still exist in black and well as white settings. Cultural changes have emerged as a consequence of innovation, inclusive of technological and inventions in technology. It can take place through being imposed by a group on a society. Art objects have been continuously been reinvented by many designers, artists, and architects. As they invent, they explore beyond the obvious, discard or change conventions, push against barriers, or break fresh territories. Rule breaking became the order of the day in the 20thju century, approved highly to conceptual innovation that regularly involved inventing new genres. Ideas in artwork were for the first time in history recognized as more important than the physical art object. Different kinds of artists have been participating in the invention process throughout history, and vital; contributions have been noticed in the fields of visual art and art objects as a specific aspect. Among cultural; changes that have taken place in American art objects are the perfection of bronze casting, silver and gold inlays in wood and metal/lacquered objects, development of long lost wax technology, dyeing of woven and yarns materials like linen and silk, glass production, and multi-color lacquering of bamboo or wooden objects. With time some art objects underwent the process of culture loss. This was an inevitable outcome of ancient cultural patterns being restore new ones. This is due to the integration of different cultural traits. Some ancient forms of object culture have been eliminated in the American material culture. This is because of the revolution against outdated levels of art and standards that played a role in the cultural changes of American art. Complimentary art was not an isolated compilation of art works, neither was it a by product political and social radicalism, but rather a constitutive bundle of aesthetic believes and institutional practices, with a strong base in the instant context of the world of art. Publishing and art criticism of art in the 19th century contributed largely on the development of contemporary art by enhancing the aesthetic concepts such as abstraction, which will strengthen modern art (Trachtenberg, 2007). Conclusively, art objects are derived from and are defined by several processes of cultural; production, basically build on the art world. Museums, patrons, the public, the market, artists, and art schools play a productive and supportive role in the creation, definition, supply, and use of art objects. Most people who are not artists or who may be unnoticed in the art world contributed to development of art objects. Art objects have undergone modernism and a noticeable move in smoother contemporary look. Skyscrapers ore tall buildings created a markedly American structural form. Artists like John Burgee and Philip Johnson designed buildings which initiated a distinct image of skylines in large cities. In 1950s, art was influenced by the need to enter the modern future or age which the world age seemed to predict. Main works by Alexander Calder, that is, sculpture and mobiles, or Helen Frankenthaler, of non-representational art illustrated a wish to escape from interpreting details. Artists wanted to motivate the viewers to jump into the little known and to encounter art in their personal ways. Andy Warhol was one of the new artists who appeared and led in pop art. Additional forms evolving at this period were assemblage art, kinetic abstraction, optical art, and environmental art. My reason for choosing art objects for my topic is that, they have a value and exist in the real world. You can never walk into a house or any other social place and find no books, furniture, TV, paintings, and items of value. Additionally, art objects have numerous uses. They can be used for future adventure. For instance, maybe a party finds a painting long lost by a grand master, portraying a coronation of a famous king (Trachtenberg, 2007). Artists’ attention are to be appreciated for details of architecture and sculpture, since the party can now access key clues on how to slip into the throne room of the evil descendant of the king. Art objects are a common feature with the reason that creatures posses more than gold and other requirements around their homes. They have at least some superfluous stuff that they like having around even if they may not be so pretty. Most interestingly, in American material culture, art has often denied itself. When it did so in excessively, thrilling to the game of its disappearance, it denies its death. It engrosses itself In reality, rather than being the agent of the symbolic thrilling of the same reality and not the magical operator of its loss. The closer art objects get to this exceptional confusion, that is art’s nullity, the greater value and credit is accorded, time comes when there is nothing ugly or beautiful. More surprisingly, art and its market flourish accurately in proportion to its perish; they are the contemporary charnel-houses of culture. References Schlereth, J. (1982). Material culture studies in America: An anthology. London: Rowman Altamira. Trachtenberg, A. (2007). The incorporation of America: Culture and society in the gilded age. New York, NY: Hill and Wang. Read More