-
Essay / The Influence of Culture on Art: Native American and Modern Art
The theme of cultures in art can be seen in many works of art throughout history. Whether the artwork was made to represent cultural beliefs, the norms of a culture, or the views of the culture, the theme of culture is important in showing how art has evolved as well as cultures . Another way that culture can pose a theme in art is how a specific culture chooses to create their art, the mediums they use, and the elements they include in their works. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The first culture I want to address when talking about art and its cultural influence as well as cultural representations in art is Native American artwork. . Native American art differs from tribe to tribe but has individual characteristics that set it apart from other works of art. Many Native American artworks are items useful to the tribe or accessorize their everyday appearance. The artwork ranges from clothing and jewelry to combat tools and useful everyday items. Their artwork shows the way they lived and the things they considered important and necessary to them. Personally, I have always been fascinated by the mediums in which Native Americans made their clothing, bowls and other objects. One of the Native American art objects that I find most fascinating is the clothing of the era. I will include some of the traditional Native American hairstyles, clothing, and other items at the bottom of this article. All of these really interest me because of their composition. When I was younger, I learned how Native Americans made their clothing and how they skinned animals, fleshed them, and tanned their hides. All of this is very innovative work for the time and has a very large influence on the appearance of the clothing, as most of the clothing is beige, with no other color than some painted on the designs. The designs depicted on Native Americans. the artworks are all very colorful but at the same time dull, which could be because they were found years after they were made or because two Native Americans are unable to create such vibrant colors with the materials that they were able to find. this day and this age. Regardless, the designs are usually beautiful, sometimes nature-related and depicting animals, plants or the sun and moon, and other times they have geometric patterns. It is amazing how heavily their culture is influenced by nature and nature; things influence how their artwork is created and the designs that are applied to each piece. The next thing I want to talk about is how culture is represented in art, whether in modern art or even in the art of hundreds of artists. years ago. Both modern art and art from long ago can represent the view of certain cultures of that time period. If someone viewing the art has little or no understanding of the culture being presented, the artwork may perhaps even appear offensive when it really isn't. The act can show us depictions of the culture at that time and give us a better understanding or it can confuse us even more if we have no underlying knowledge of the culture itself. Take for example the artwork Woman with a Gun by Shirin Neshat. This artwork is a black and white image that resembles an Islamic woman. This woman has words written in another language on her face. Held in front of herface, the woman has a gun pointed upwards, held right in the center of her face. If you had no understanding or prior knowledge of this culture, this image would seem offensive to Islamic women. It almost seems demeaning at first glance and doesn't really look like something anyone would want to pose for. Our lack of prior knowledge about this work of art distracts our view of what the art is actually supposed to be and represent and almost makes us think otherwise. Instead of the artwork being demeaning to women of this country and religion, it is actually an empowering image. The words in the picture are actually words of empowerment that are in the native language of this country. This is an example of how art can show you culture without even knowing that it is actually showing you a good thing about culture rather than a bad thing. This piece of art is going to show you that you really need to have a basic understanding of the object you are looking at before you judge or make assumptions about it, because you may not really know what the object is actually about. work of art. The art I would like to talk about that does similar things to that described above is the Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek by Howling Wolf and the Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek by John Taylor. Each of these works of art is an exact depiction of the same event in history. They both show the exact same thing, but are shown on two different sides of the treaty signing. This was a very interesting thing for me because most of the time when you see events in history, they are only shown from one side of the story and from the point of view of one of the groups , which makes these two works compared side by side very cool. to see how the event was viewed differently. The first work of art is the treaty signing at Medicine Lodge Creek by Howling Wolf, a Native American on the Native American side of the treaty signing. Howling Wolf was a member of the Plains Indian Tribe and he drew a picture of what he considered to be the treaty signing he was at when it happened. His works represent Indians much more, they are very simplistic and very two-dimensional. He drew all the Native American teepees and all the Native Americans that were in their little village. Diagonally across the paper, Howling Wolf has drawn what looks like a stream and the teepees are drawn following the stream in the image. White people are drawn in the background and in the picture there are only two white people against a lot of Native Americans. White people look very boring, they only wear black and white and pretty fancy clothes. The drawing of the Native Americans is also done in color and all the houses and clothing of the Indians are made in colorful colors and the things of the white people are always only in black and white. This shows how Native Americans of that era viewed white people and is a representation of white culture through Native American eyes. It also shows how the culture of Native American people viewed this historical event. The following drawing depicts the treaty signing at Medicine Lodge Creek, by John Taylor. This drawing is a depiction of the same thing as the Howling Wolf drawing, but this time from the white perspective rather than the Native American perspective. This drawing is much more complex than the one done by Howling Wolf and is more three-dimensional in the way it is done. The drawing shows many more people and many more white people than the one made by a howling wolf. Rather than Howling Wolf having them all there, John Taylor's has them all sitting in an almost circle..