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    of 12
    The Anthropology of Art A Reader Edited by Howard Morphy and Morgan Perkins ¢ Blackwell Publishing, {© 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Li ‘BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Seret, Malden, MA 02148-S020, USA ‘9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK ‘550 Swanston Steet, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia “The right of Howard Morphy and Morgan Perkins to be identified as the Authors ofthe Editorial Marra in this Work has ben asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Desgus, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, oF transmitted, in any form o by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording oF otherwise, ‘excep as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Parents Act 1988, without the prior permission of ‘the publisher First published 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Led 1 2006 Library of Congress Catalogingin Publication Data “The anthropology of art: a readeledited by Howard Morphy and Morgan Peskins. ‘pacm.—{Blackwell anthologies in social and cultural anthropology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-40S1-0561-3 (hardcover: alk. paper) ISBN-10; 1.4081-0561-5 (hardcover: alk. papes) ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-0562-0 (pbk: alk. paper) ISBN-10- 1-4051-0562:3 (pbk. alk. paper) 1. Art and anthropology 2. Art and society. I Perkins, Morgan. Tl. Morph, Howard. I. Series. IN72AS6AGT 2005 sex 200013067 [A catalogue record for thistle is available from the British Library. Set in 9/L1pe Sabon by SPL Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by T} laterntional Led, Padstow, Cornwall “The publisher's policy isto se permanent papet from mills that operate sustainable forestry policy, and whic has bean snanulatuced from pulp processed using aci-fee and elementary chlorineree practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures thatthe text paper and cover board used have met acceptable environ- ‘mental accreditation standards. For further information on ‘Blackwell Publishing, visi our website: ‘ww blackwellpublishing.com 12. Introduction to Art/Artifact: African Art in Anthropology Collections Susan Vogel This is not an exhibition about African art oF Africa. Iris not even entirely about art. Art/ Artifact an exhibition about the ways West- fern outsiders have regarded African art and ‘material culture over the past century. A cen- ‘al issue is our classification of certain objects of African material culture as art and others as artifacts. Our categories do not reflect African ‘ones, and have changed during this century. An examination of how we view African objects (both literally and metaphorically is import- ant because unless we realize the extent to which our vision is conditioned by our own ‘culture ~ unless we realize that the image of African are we have made a place for in our world has been shaped by us as much as by Africans we may be misled into believing that we see African art for what it is. In their original African serting mose works of art (I use our phrase for the moment, but more on that later) were literally viewed dif- ferently from the way we see them. Masks were seen as parts of costumed figures moving in performance, or seen not at all. Figures ‘often stood in dark shrines visible to only a few persons, and then under conditions of heightened sensibiliry. Other objects were seen only swathed in cloth, surrounded by ‘music, covered with offerings or obscured by attachments. Most sculpture could be seen conly on rare occasions. As Arthur Danto (1988) says, the primacy of the visual sense cover all others is particular to our culture: African objects were made t0 belong to a broader realm of experience. If we take them cout of the dark, sill thei movement, quict the music, and strip them of additions, we make them accessible ro our visual culture, but we render chem unrecognizable or meaningless to the cultures chey came from. "To understand these objects eter we must ‘consider the intersection between the ways we sce them literally, and the metaphorical vision ‘our culeare has of them. ‘Most vistors are unaware of the degree to which thei experience of any art in a museum is conditioned by the way itis installed. As the enshrinement of African sculpeutes in the Mi- chael Rockefeller wing at the Metropolitan “Museum in the early part of this decade sub- liminally communicated the aesthetic and monetary worth of African art, so do antheo- pological, art historical or other kinds of in- stallations color the viewer's estimation of From Susan Vogel, ART/Artifact: African Artin Anthropology Collections (New York: Museum for African Art, 1988), pp. 11-17. Reprinted by permission ofthe Museum for African Avr. 210 SUSAN VOGEL what he ees. The conditioning begins with the selection of what is to be displayed. Because today the forms and materials of art are fre- quently the same as those of non art objects, the setting or context in which arti displayed ‘may be its mose evident defining characteristic A pile of tices in front of a museum is to be viewed as art where the same pile in a gas station clearly is not (figure 12.1). The very presence of an African stool in an art exhib- ition makes assertions about African material culture. The museum exhibition isnot a trans parent lens through which to view art, how- ever neutral the presentation may seem. ‘Museum installations have naturally reflected the philosophies and attitudes of their organizers from the time they first began. One of the first Western sertings for ‘African objects was the “curiosity room.” French, German, and English scientists and amateurs had formed collections of exotic, natural and manmade wonders since the Re- naissance. Most curiosity rooms made no all sion to he orginal cultural context of objects, and implied little aesthetic incent or compe” tence on the pat of their makers. Art/Arifact exhibiss such a room recreated from The Hampton Insiute's first presentation of its ethnographic collection in the 1870s (Vogel 1988). Such “curiosiy” colletions rarely sep arated botanical, zoological, and geological specimens fom cultural artifacts, and often mixed together objects from different places. “Curiosity rooms” were often private, but

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