Primitivism and Exoticism - Essay Example

? Primitivism and Exoticism Primitivism and Exoticism Introduction Modernist art has the most diverse attributes which preceding arts did not contained. The most exact reason to this statement is the persistence of modernist primitivism. The artist conforming to the ideals of primitivism corresponds to the art works of previous cultures and portrays its analyses in the face of modern art. Exoticism, on the other hand, is the manifestation of foreign pieces of arts by foreign artists. The factor which makes an entity foreign is highly dependent upon the internal organism of a certain culture which includes its norms, mores, folklores, history, aesthetics and arts. If an entity is being adopted or being infiltrated in the other culture then the entity becomes foreign for that specific culture. Exoticism deals with the exotic adoptions in arts from diverse and previous cultures and incorporates it in the modern era of art. It demonstrates that “Exoticism is to space what Primitivism is to time” (Albright, 2004, p.248). However, Primitivism and Exoticism in the modern music congealed the preceded understanding of these two schools of thought in the modern art. Exoticism and primitivism in music do not only deal with foreign or previous contents and contexts but also utilized the developed outcomes of those contexts in the modern manner. This paper is aimed to discuss the association of Exoticism and Primitivism to the music in the era of modernism and it will be discussed in the light of chapter seven of the book Modernism and Music: Anthology of Sources by Daniel Albright. Primitivism The side of modern music which is embarked in the ideology of Primitivism is contained with some distinct traits which are not usually found in the conventional ideals of primitivism in other modern art forms like paintings. It can be understood by contrasting the two art forms in the domain of Primitivism. Primitivism in the art is accepted to be consisting on three major factors. These major factors are intensely separate in their realistic sense and concepts. However the modern primitivism does incorporate all three of these distinct factors which are fascination, the factor of disgust and a significant proportion of terror. Modern primitive art is formulated by the compilation of these three factors in which the pessimistic account is more illuminated than the optimistic shade of the demonstration (Albright, 2004). Primitivism in modern music is significantly different from the other art forms regarding Primitivism. It can be said that Primitivism in music contains a less amount of pessimism as compared to the Primitivism in painting and literature. Musical primitivism is immensely based on research and this research involves the analyses of folksongs. The researchers of these folksongs realize the non modernity of those folksongs which were produced in the preceding times. The essence of Primitivism is steeped under the principle that the art of previous times must be adopted and demonstrated on the canvas of modern art in the modern times. Similarly, the Primitivism in modern music manifests the correspondence of preceding folksongs with a lesser of the dark side (Albright, 2004). Primitivism and Modernism Modernism is often described as the post feudal and post colonial era in which the preceding ideologies were replaced with the modern ideologies including the equality of mankind. The most fundamental change which is marked to be identified as the major change was the rise of capitalism and industrialization in the prominent parts of the world. This major change initiated the congealment of society by every possible aspect and perspective including the system of politics in the society, educational system and most importantly the art. The period of modernism is also known as the era of enlightenment in which many thinker and artists played there significant roles in their scope of excellence. Many of the artistic movements were formed and appreciated in the age of modernism in the western society. One of these movements is known as Primitivism which has been described in the previous rubric (Albright, 2004). There is seemingly a prominent contradiction that can be found in the principle of Primitivism and the phenomenology of modernism in the domain of primary analysis. However, the movement of Primitivism contains a crucial relationship with the ideology of modernism on the basis of which its origin is found in modern art of western societies (Albright, 2004). This association is more prominent in the Primitivism in music that is different from the Primitivism in painting or in literature to a significant extent. The point where primitive music correlates with the principle ideology of the enlightenment era is its depth in which it incorporates not only the primitive art pieces or techniques to exhibit the expressions in a conventional way but it also involves the developed outcomes of those preceding art pieces on the rational grounds (Albright, 2004). Exoticism Exoticism is another sort of ideology which is easily found in the artworks of modern western cultures. It incorporates the alien elements into different types of art forms which are inspiring and interesting on the subjective grounds or on the historical level. The alien element does not consist of the idea which hatches the developed principle of abstraction on the fundamental ground. However, the term in the context of Exoticism illuminates the core of this ideology in art that is in Exoticism the artist acquires and adopts the artistic elements or sometimes the whole piece of art from a different culture and demonstrates it in its own piece of art. This adoption is not only done on the basis of other art pieces but, commonly, it also involves different traits of different cultures into the modern piece of art (Albright, 2004). Exoticism is generally cued in the category of Primitivism which has immense commonalities with the principles of Exoticism. However, the difference between these two concepts is immense on a large practical domain. As mentioned in the introduction of this paper, Exoticism is related to space unlike Primitivism (Albright, 2004). The exotic factor in the western art, especially in music, in the late 19th century and its initial persistence lasted till 1910. The influence of Japanese culture and art is significantly present in the exotic music of western society, however, Chinese musicians also contributed to the progression of Exoticism in the modern music in the western societies. The Exoticism in the art form of music is only consisting of the musical pieces by several composers but it also deals with the musical instruments which are being utilized in several other cultures which is definitely alien for the western societies (Albright, 2004). Modernism and Exoticism Exoticism is a similar kind of demonstration in the field of modern art which is found in the Primitivism. However, Exoticism is significantly more critical to the ideologies of the Modern western civilization. A significant factor in this criticality is the adoptions which are necessary in order to create an exotic piece of art. There are many other cultures and civilizations which are immensely inspiring and influential in the scope of art and especially in the domain of music. These civilizations necessarily include Japanese, Chinese and Hindus. These cultures are classic and more aged than the modern western civilizations which illuminates their intensity of influence on the whole mankind. Another reason for this great influence by these three cultures is the distinct and unique forms of art which is essentially related to their cultures (Albright, 2004). Chinese and Japanese culture and art has a unique identity and persistence which has been followed from a significantly long time as compared to the modern western culture. On the other hand, Hinduism is contained with the religious association with the art of dance and music. This religious association has generated their keen focus on the betterment on their unique style of music which from very old days due to which it has become famous among other civilizations (Albright, 2004). The ideology of enlightenment era and modernism is based on rational cognition and reason in which the adoption of preceding conventional traits without any prominent rationale is critical. This is the most important reason for the criticism which has been fated to the art and music in Exoticism and Primitivism (Albright, 2004). Critique and Response The article consisting of Primitivism and Exoticism which is being analyzed is mainly involves the art form of music. The most critical point which has been illuminated during the analysis is the association of these two ideologies of art with the ideology of modernism. The association is critical in the sense that the principle of Exoticism and Primitivism seems to be contrary with the phenomenology of modernism. Modern western art and music is divided into numerous categories and movements in which some are found to be in favor of modernism and some are completely critical to the enlightenment era. Primitivism and Exoticism can be identified in between the two extremes because these two art movements are not only based on the emotional or artistic freedom and influence from preceding or alien elements of cultures and art forms but also involves the influence on rational grounds which can be seen in the created pieces of music, like The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky and others (Albright, 2004). There have been several critics in the contemporary age the Exoticism and Primitivism by whom these two movements of art and music were severely criticized in the western modern society. However, these two ideologies of art also influenced and captivated many enlightened individuals despite of being the adoptions of preceding and alien art forms. There are many artists who were successful in the deliverance of their music aligned with the principles of Exoticism and Primitivism despite of the criticisms in the western modern art and society (Albright, 2004). Conclusion This paper has been essentially based on the fundamental and underground ideologies and principles which are discussed in the selected articles. It is the outcome of the in depth analysis of the two significant movements and ideologies of art in the modern western culture that is Exoticism and Primitivism in the context of music on the primary and art on the secondary level. The critical relationship of modernism and these two art movements is described which is complex and multilateral in nature on the principle grounds. In addition, the description of these two art movements which is illuminated in the article has been discussed in the context of art and, mainly, music. The subjective analysis of the article illuminates the diversity of modernism in the western societies in the domain of music and art which is also adopted and described in the paper. The diversities and similarities of Exoticism and Primitivism are also discussed as an adoption from the selected article. Reference Albright, D., 2004. Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More