APPROPRIATION

IN ART
M r s . J u b y H . Va l l e j o
College of Arts and Sciences
Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you are

expected to:

Gain an understanding of what art

appropriation is;
Create an art using appropriation
Appropriation in Art
“ Appropriation in art is the use of
pre-existing objects or images with
little or no transformation applied to
them. It can be understood, as the use
of borrowed elements in the creation
of a new work.
Appropriation
In the visual arts, appropriation means to properly adopt, borrow,
recycle, or sample aspects (or the entire form) of man-made visual
culture.
Other strategies include re-vision, re-evaluation, variation, version,
interpretation, imitation, approximation, supplement, increment,
and improvisation.
 To appropriate does not mean
stealing or plagiarizing. It is not
owning a particular work but just
using the artwork in the artist’s
new context.

Appropriation artists do not

prohibit the viewers to bring the
original message and intention of
the original artwork, rather, they
still establish them in the new
context.
Art Forms that can be
Appropriated
 Paintings
 Sculptures
 Music
 Dances
 Literary pieces
 and even functional arts are
appropriated to get in touch, to
serve, and to provoke ideas of
particular audiences.
Owning Narratives
 “Owning narratives” is an
example of appropriation that
is common way of sharing
stories and in whatever
purpose it may serve.

 Every artist is a storyteller,

sometimes visionaries. An
artist is a witness and
documentator of time.
According to Bordwel and Thompson (1997),

• “Narrative is a fundamental way

through which humans make
sense of the world”. He further
states that, “Narration is a form of
communication intricately related
to a culture’s mythic
consciousness.
• It is part of the basic human need
for self-expression and creativity,
and it is integral to the poetic
impulse represented in culture’s
founding myths” (as cited by Yearwood: 124).
Young (2008) posits five (5) sorts of
appropriation:

1.Object Appropriation
2.Content Appropriation
3.Style Appropriation
4.Motif Appropriation
5.Subject Appropriation

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 Object Appropriation
• occurs when the possession of a
tangible work of Art is transferred
from the members of one culture to
members of another culture.
• The transfer of a Native North
American totem pole to a European
museum would also be a case of
such appropriation.

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 Content Appropriation
• occurs when an artist reuses an idea
first expressed in the work of an
artist from another culture.
• A musician who sings the songs of
another culture has engaged in
content appropriation, as has the
writer who retells stories produced
by a culture other than his own.
• Robert Bringhurst's versions of
Haida myths are examples of
content appropriation. Robert Bringhurst, Haida Myths

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 Style Appropriation
• when an artist produces works with
stylistic elements which are common
with the works of another culture.
• Musicians who are not a part of
African-American culture but who
compose original jazz or blues
works can be said to have
engaged in appropriation in this
sense.

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 Motif Appropriation
• it occurs when artists are influenced
by the art of culture other than their
own without creating works in the
same style. Basic forms are
appropriated.
• Picasso, for example, appropriated
ideas from African carving in Les
Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), but
his painting is not in an African style.
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Pablo Picasso, 1907

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 Subject Appropriation
• occurs when outsiders represent a
subject matter that is intended by an
insider to be secret.
• Many of Joseph Conrad’s novels
involve subject appropriation, since
Conrad frequently wrote about cultures
other than his own.
• Kipling’s Kim (1901) is a classic
example of subject appropriation.
Although he was born in India, none of
the Indian cultures Kipling represented
was his own.

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CONCLUSION
 Art making is as dynamic as culture.
 Changes, owning, borrowing and appropriating is
inevitable.
 Songs are revived; novels and short stories are
filmed and coming alive; old films are re-filmed and
even the characters are repackaged;
 Painting subjects are appropriated; old functional
tolls designs are innovated and improved; and
 Legends and myths are animated to appeal to new
audiences.
 THANK YOU
for LISTENING!