ART-2030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cultural Relativism, Greek Mythology, African Art
Document Summary
Definition: psychological idea of what is beautiful, can be personal and cultural e. g. personal asparagus by manat. White asparagus = french delicacy and therefore was expensive since it had to be imported and was difficult to make. Not appealing today but signature gives meaning / value. Take person"s belongings and put in statue"s rectangle. Hammer in nail and would come alive. If the person was a witch it would exclaim that"s a witch . Hand would have held knife that it would use to go kill the witch. When belgian christians arrived they burned and destroyed the statues because they were considered witchcraft - cultural differences. We judge a culture and its art by their standards, if they say its beautiful its beautiful. Apollo belvedere from 120-140 ad, until 1960s was considered the most beautiful work of art. (keep in mind that 99. 9% of art historians were white male.
