Kachina Doll (Kokopol), probably late 19th century, Brooklyn Museum
Art…
Modern Kachina Doll Carving - $500-4,000
Not Art…
Anasazi pottery from the late 1300’s
Art…
Modern Hopi Pottery Vase - $4,700
The first chapter in the book Believing Is Seeing: Creating the Culture of Art by Mary Anne Straniszewski asks the question What is Art? The main focus of this chapter is that modern culture has created art and decided what constitutes pieces of art. As a modern society we have taken many ancient pieces, given them names and placed them in a museum. We consider the ancient works art because to us they have an aesthetic value. When they were created they were not considered art, in the way we think of it. These items were woven into the societies that created them. The Kachina doll in the top picture was used in ceremonies and hung on the wall to teach young people about the Hopi beliefs of the spirit world. In contrast the modern Kachina in the next picture was created as a work of art by a member of the Hopi tribe to be sold to people outside of the culture. Similarly, the ancient pottery was probably used to hold liquid for daily living. The modern Hopi pot was created to sell and will most likely be placed on a shelf or used as a vase. Even though the items of each set are similar, they were created with different purposes. The author suggests that if the creator did not have the purpose of creating an aesthetic piece, then the item should not be considered a work of art. The author does not deny that these pieces have aesthetic value. She only suggests that we should consider the history, known or unknown, of these items. That we can not know how the items were seen in their time because our context is so different than that of the people who saw and used them.
You summarize Staniszewsk's position accurately and clearly. You writing shows an understanding of a concept of what makes something art that is difficult for many to understand. We will be talking more about this.
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