Let’s start with the cover. When this edition first came out the detail of Song Su-nam’s Summer Trees, 1983 was printed upside-down. According to the art historical analysis Song Su-nam’s work “owes a great deal to the Post-Painterly Abstraction movement of mid-20th century America and the work of painters such as Helen Frankenthaler (1928) and especially Morris Louis (1912-1962). But in place of those painter’s acrylic resin on canvas, Song used ink on paper, the centuries-old preferred medium of East Asian literati (scholar artists).” Louis was known for paintings that have thinner drip marks on the top – ergo editors assumed that Song Su-nam would have to have his thinner marks on the top too. However, that totally undermines the core idea of his work, Summer Trees, where the marks provide definition to the work by functioning as tree trunks. Ironically the biased and faulty analysis continues with “..the painting’s name recalls the landscapes of earlier Korean and Chinese masters. This simultaneous respect for tradition and innovation has been a hallmark of art from both China and Korea throughout their long histories. The fruitful exchange between Western and non-Western artistic traditions is one of the chief characteristics of the global art scene today.” Whoops – and what’s with defining a vast majority of the world as “non-Western” in a text that claims to offer a “global history”?
Fortunately, Khan Academy, covers this work. Its analysis actually addresses the inherent problems with promoting the idea that Song Su-nam is inspired by American art:
“Song’s interest in abstraction and the formal properties of ink has led some art historians to attribute the inspiration for his work to that of American artists like Morris Louis who used the medium of acrylic resin on canvas in his “Stripe” paintings of the 1960s, which resemble Song’s works of later decades such as Summer Trees. But in Korea during the 1980s there was a tension between the influence of Western art that used oil paint (whether traditional or contemporary in style), and traditional Korean art that used an East Asian style, the vocabulary of traditional motifs, and the medium of ink for calligraphy and painting. Song felt very strongly that the materials and styles of Western art did not express his identity as a Korean.”
Now that the work is part of the 250 works students study in AP Art History classes, it’s likely that this racist misinformation will start to be addressed as a problem, rather than an accurate interpretation. College Board makes the content of the course available online. Go to Unit 10, p. 287, and there it is:
Contents (the table of contents)
Before digging further into cultural bias in the Introduction, it’s critical to note these biases permeate the entire text. The Contents affirm a Eurocentric perspective through the number of pages dedicated to artists and architects of European ancestry and the far fewer number of pages dedicated to artists and architects from all other parts of the world: 437 to 111 pages. While examples from South Asia and Africa are included in the ancient art section, these traditions are used to launch the narrative of Greek and Roman culture; they are not included to foster understanding of the cultural histories of these regions. With this caveat, chapters 1-15 basically present the history of Europe and people of European ancestry who live in the United States in a chronological order. It isn’t until chapters 17-20, after “Western” art history has been covered, that the history of art from the “non-Western” world is presented. In each of these chapters an isolated narrative is presented and students travel back through time again and again as they learn about South and Southeast Asia, China and Korea, Japan, Native Americas and Oceania, and Africa. Because each of these chapters average about 22 pages, artists and cultures from these parts of the world are presented in a much shallower manner – you can go a lot deeper when you have 437 pages instead of 22. The upshot is that rather than providing a “Concise Global History” the majority of text is a retelling of the generations old Eurocentric narrative, the history of Western Art – a story that follows Helen Gardner’s first edition of Art through the Ages that was published back in 1926. Missing of course is analysis about long-distance trade, cultural interactions, the cross-cultural dialogue that made many movements possible.
In the field of art history, as in other scholarly fields, the “Western” world is not a clear geographical designation. While artists of European ancestry who live in the USA are “Western,” Native American artists are not “Western.” Similarly, cultures in African countries that are much further west than Egypt are “non-Western,” Egypt is “Western”…well ancient Egyptian culture is “Western.” In chapter 16 Contemporary Art Worldwide (21 pages) there is some global inclusion, but the vast majority of works are by male artists of European ancestry (Western), this is particularly true for architecture.
Preface
The Preface reflects ongoing investment in covering European works. While pointing this out may appear hyper-critical, given the pervasive Eurocentrism, it is worth noting.
In the KEY FEATURES OF THE 4TH EDITION subsection readers learn of special efforts to enhance “Western” parts of the edition. These include “superb photographs taken by Jonathan Poore exclusively for Art through the Ages in Germany and Italy…” p. xv and “custom videos made by Sharon Adams Poore during those five photo campaigns.” The focus again appears to be European works: “This extraordinary new archive of visual material ranges from ancient temples in Rome; to medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque churches in France, Germany, and Italy; to such modern masterpieces as Notre-Dame-du-Haut in Ronchamp, France, and the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany.”
There is no mention of efforts to visually record in South and Southeast Asia, China and Korea, Japan, Native Americas and Oceania, and Africa.
INTRODUCTION
What follows is a list of specific examples of emphasis on “Western” culture and specifically art and architecture created by men of European ancestry.
1) The caption for image I-1b, one of the three detail views of Claude Lorrain’s Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, 1648, National Gallery of London, reads “Why is the small boat in the foreground much larger than the sailing ship in the distance? What devices did Western artists develop to produce the illusion of deep space in a two-dimensional painting?” By only referencing “Western” artists, readers are left with the idea that elsewhere in the world all other artists failed to figure out this pictorial technique. This is not true, and even material from Gardner’s is at odds with the implications. In Chapter 17, South and Southeast Asia, p. 473 figure 17-17, a painting by artists Basawan and Chatar Muni, who worked for Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, created ten years before Lorrain was born, is presented. Back in 1590 they painted Akbar and the Elephant Hawai, Victoria and Albert Museum, in which small boats in the foreground are painted much bigger than the small boats in the background! The point is, the caption for the Lorrain work implies only “Western” artists had knowledge of an artistic convention used throughout the world. Sadly, this is not the first example of this specific kind of bias.
2) In the first sentence of paragraph 2, on page 1, we read “Modern museum visitors can admire these objects from the remote past and countless others produced over the millennia- whether a large painting on canvas by a 17th-century French artist (FIG I-1), a wood portrait from an ancient Egyptian tomb (FIG. I-12), or an 18th century bronze altar glorifying an African king (FIG I-13) -…” Here the problem has to do with specific language used to identify cultural association of the works. In the first two cases the artist’s cultural identification is provided. Figure I-1 refers to a painting by French artist Claude Lorrain. Fig. I-12 refers to relief carving by an Egyptian artist. Fig I-13 refers to a work by a Benin artist – WHOOPS. He is not identified by his culture. He is identified by the continental landmass upon which his culture existed…Africa. So we have an altar for an “African king” not the king of Benin. Perhaps this king jointly ruled the entire African continent? Vague references undermine the artist and the culture of the artist who created the work. Particularly when other artists are more specifically referenced.
3) In the subsection, “Art History in the 21st Century,” 2nd sentence, we read “Beginning with the earliest Greco-Roman art critics, scholars have studied objects that their makers consciously manufactured as ‘art’ and to which the artists assigned formal titles.” p. 2. Yes…this is somewhat true for art history texts dedicated to “Western” art history. But, it exposes an embarrassing and blatant on-going bias in field of Western art history. Before those Greco-Roman art critics, ancient Egyptians “studied objects that their makers consciously manufactured as ‘art’ and to which the artists assigned formal titles.” We have writings about Imhotep (c. 2667-2600 BCE) architect for King Djoser. Furthermore, art historians who focus on ancient “non-Western” art history exist. They have knowledge of writings that pre-date Greco-Roman art criticism.
But seriously in a book about world art – Greco-Roman writers are being promoted as the “earliest” art critics, and in a vague manner. When a “first” is presented at minimum there should be a date so that readers can do some research to discern the accuracy of these extreme statements. Peppered throughout the text are problematic modifiers: first, greatest, earliest. Students should be skeptical when encountering these words. Art historians should be cautious in using them. To be continued…
4) EXAMPLES OF ART BY MEN OF EUROPEAN ANCESTRY BEING USED TO ILLUSTRATE CONCEPTS
a) “Today, it is common for artists to work in private studios and to create painting, sculptures, and other objects for sale by commercial art galleries. This is what American artist CLYFFORD STILL (1904-1980) did when he produced his series of paintings (FIG I-2)…
b) “Few ancient Romans, for example would have regarded a coin bearing their emperor’s portrait as anything but money. Today, an art museum may exhibit that coin in a locked case in a climate-controlled room, and scholars may subject it to the same kind of art historical analysis as a portrait by an acclaimed Renaissance or modern sculptor or painter.” p.2
c) “Period style refers to the characteristic artistic manner of a specific time, usually within a distinct culture, such as ‘Archaic Greek.'” p. 3
d) “Art historians then must distinguish among the different period styles of a particular artist, such as the ‘Blue Period’ and the ‘Cubist Period’ of the prolific 20th-century artist Pablo Picasso” p. 4
e) If Ben Shahn had not signed his painting of Sacco and Vanzetti, an art historian could still assign, or attribute, the work to him based on knowledge of the artist’s personal style.” p. 5
f) “Art historians thus reconstruct the careers of artists such as “the Achilles Painter,” the anonymous ancient Greek artist whose masterwork is a depcition of the hero Achilles.” p. 5
g) “Art historians speak, for example, of the Dutch school of the 17th century and, within it, of subschools such as those of the cities of Haarlem, Utrecht, and Leyden.” p. 6
h) “Many Egyptian pharaohs and some Roman emperors, for example, insisted that artists depict them with unlined faces and perfect youthful bodies no matter how old they were when portrayed.” p. 6
i) “Learned monks provided the themes for sculptural decoration of medieval church portals.” p. 6
j) “Renaissance princes and popes dictated the subject, size, and materials of artworks destined for display in buildings also constructed according to their specifications.” p. 6
k) All of these line qualities are present in Durer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Fig I-7).”p. 7
l) “One artist who made a systematic investigation of the formal aspects of art, especially color, was JOSEPH ALBERS (1888-1976), a German-born artist who emigrated to the United States in 1933. In Homage to the Square: “Ascending”” (FIG I-9) – one of hundreds of color variations in the same composition of concentric squares…. p. 7 Note this paragraph continues and Albers work is used to reference concepts of saturation, and tonality. p. 7
m) “The French painter CLAUDE LORRAIN (1600-1682) employed several perspective devices in Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba (Fig I-1), a painting of a biblical episode set in a 17th-century European harbor with an ancient Roman ruin in the left foreground,…” p. 7
5) REFERENCES TO CHRISTIANITY TO ILLUSTRATE CONCEPTS
a) “In late medieval Europe and French architecture differed significantly from Italian architecture. The interiors of Beauvais Cathedral and the church of Santa Croce. p. 3
b) “In Christian art, two intersecting lines of unequal length or a simple geometric cross can serve as an emblem of the religion as a while, symbolizing the cross of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.” p. 5
c) “A balance or scale, for example, may symbolize justice or the weighing of souls on judgement day.” p. 5
d) “In Christian art, for example each of the authors of the biblical gospel books, the four evangelists, has a distinctive attribute.” p. 5
e) “Four different personifications appear in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, (FIG 1-7) by ALBRECHT DURER (1471-1528).” p. 5
6) USING EXAMPLES OF ART BY WOMEN OR OUTSIDE OF “WESTERN” TRADITION
a) “…usually only an expert can distinguish between an Egyptian status carved in 2500 BCE and one made in 500 BCE. But no one would mistake an Egyptian statue of 500 BCE for one of the same date made in Greece or Mexico.” p. 3 Here the inclusion helps to illustrate a point – but it is being done to advance a concept about how different examples of art are from each other – Greece is different than Egypt and Mexico.
b)”For example, in 1930 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (1887-1986) painted Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. 4 (Fig. I-5)… Only a year later, another American artist, BEN SHAHN (1898-1969), painted The passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (FIG I-6) pp. 3-4 O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. 4, appears in the “What is style?” subsection personal style along with Ben Shahn’s The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, 1931-32, (Whitney Museum of American Art). One of the basic guidelines of stylistic comparisons is that the works should have similar subjects. Clearly, in this example the subjects are completely different; a close-up of a flower, a still-life, is being compared to a highly political work, a history painting. If the author of this section had stuck to stylistic issues, or if the author had delved into the wide range of statements that O’Keeffe made about flowers, this could have been a weak but not misogynistic comparison. Instead the author limited analysis of O’Keeffe’s work to stylistic issues (32 words not including the caption) and then launched into stylistic as well as a great amount of contextual detail for the Shahn work, (119 words) See first blog post for more analysis.
c) Using a work by a Japanese artist in a highly questionable….er manner that appears to be incredibly Eurocentric. What follows is the passage – the bolded text has been added to make clear what the problem areas are. “In Waves at Matsushima (Fig. I-10), a Japanese seascape painting on a six-part folding screen OGATA KORIN (1658-1716) ignored these Western perspective conventions. A Western viewer might interpret the left half of Korin’s composition as depicting the distant horizon, as in the French painting, but the sky is an unnatural gold, and the clouds which fill that sky are almost indistinguishable from the waves below. The rocky outcroppings decrease in size with distance, but all are in sharp focus, and there are no shadows. The Japanese artist was less concerned with locating the boulders, waves, and clouds in space than with composing shapes on a surface, playing the swelling curves of waves and clouds against the jagged contours of the rocks.” p.9
So starting with the idea that Ogata Korin ignored Western perspective conventions.
I. THE PERSPECTIVE CONVENTIONS ARE NOT WESTERN INVENTION – THEY WERE USED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AT DIFFERENT TIMES BEFORE THE ARTIST UNDER ANALYSIS.
II. We are talking the Edo Period – Google it!!!! What was going on in Japan then? Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia – ending with the point that this was a period of isolationism.
“The Edo period (江戸時代 Edo jidai) or Tokugawa period (徳川時代 Tokugawa jidai) is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country’s 300 regional daimyō. The period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies…” Did Korin care about these so called “Western perspective conventions?!” No. Did his patrons?! No.
III. The screen was NOT made for a WESTERN audience. So drop the negative visual analysis that rattles off things that Korin failed to do, and focus on what his goals were… after all analyzing works of art in terms of the cultures/artists that produced them is essential to the art historical process.
The concluding sentences for this paragraph do not make up for this bias – indeed they are arguably more insulting. They appear to be there in order to curtail negative response. “Neither the French nor the Japanese painting can be said to project ‘correctly’ what viewers ‘in fact’ see. One painting is not a ‘better’ picture of the world than the other. The European and Asian artists simply approached the problem of picture making differently.” p. 9 This of course leaves students clueless as to the goals of Korin.
d)Using a work by an Egyptian artist in a problematic way – comparing it to Rubens to illustrate what the Egyptian artist did NOT do.
“When Flemish artist PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) painted Lion Hunt (FIG I-11), he used foreshortening for all the hunters and animals – ..” p. 9 “The artist who carved the portrait of the ancient Egyptian official Hesire (Fig I-12 did not employ foreshortening.” And again the paragraph of analysis ends with a hey it’s all good kind of statement: “Once, again neither is the ‘correct’ manner”
7) Again those Greeks – they invented EVERYTHING –
“These perspective devices – the reduction of figure size, the convergence of diagonal lines, and the blurring of distant forms- have been familiar features of Western art since they were first employed by the ancient Greeks.” p. 9
Exploring Race and Gender Biases in Art History 