Hiller - The Myth of Primitivism. Perspectives on Art - Esoteric Online

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Art and meaning 185 woven into systems <strong>of</strong> meaning, that is, these activities can never be performed outside <strong>of</strong> meaning; to eat and to copulate can never be natural acts for human beings. Thus there is an infinite possibility <strong>of</strong> complexity in the semantic order <strong>of</strong> societies, and very little, if anything, remains natural. To say that humans in all societies eat and copulate, and walk and sleep and make grimaces, etc., and that similarities can be observed in the way these actions are performed cross-culturally is true, but it is a trivial truth. But if one accepts that all these acts are not natural acts but are performed within a semantic system by which they are informed, however implicitly, then it becomes much more important to try to establish the meanings 10.1 ‘Facial expression <strong>of</strong> fear, which evidence suggests is universal’ (Paul Ekman, ‘<strong>The</strong> anthropology <strong>of</strong> the body’, figure 8, in J.Blacking (ed.) (1977) <strong>The</strong> Anthropology <strong>of</strong> the Body, London: Academic Press).
<strong>The</strong> myth <strong>of</strong> primitivism 186 10.2 ‘A blend <strong>of</strong> sadness (eyebrows, forehead, and eyes) and happiness (lips)’ (Paul Ekman, ‘<strong>The</strong> anthropology <strong>of</strong> the body’, figure 6, in J.Blacking (ed.) (1977) <strong>The</strong> Anthropology <strong>of</strong> the Body, London: Academic Press). related to all these acts in a particular social setting, rather than to assume a universal intentionality and perception. Similarly, ‘art objects’ <strong>of</strong>ten display similar features across cultures, but we can no more allow ourselves to think that therefore these have identical meanings, than we can assume identical meaning with regard to behaviour—however ‘natural’ it may seem. Fuller rightly points to the fact that humans have the most complex facial musculature <strong>of</strong> any animals, and that by combining the various movements in a variety <strong>of</strong> ways, we convey to each other complex moods and mood changes (1983:18). But whether facial expression was ‘the most basic form <strong>of</strong> communication in our species’ (ibid.) is more dubious, as is his reason for stating it: ‘being the means to cement the infant-mother social bond’. <strong>The</strong> last proposition, certainly, could never be empirically tested. What is undeniable, however, is that the face and body are certainly focused upon deliberately in many cultures to convey meaning. Ekman (e.g. 1977) has collected a great deal <strong>of</strong> crosscultural data to support the claim that there appears to be a universal range <strong>of</strong> facial configurations. But, even if we accept the formal similarities, we cannot, it seems to me, infer a corresponding meaning attributed to each expression. In a study concerning some changing western attitudes regarding human attributes, Skultans (1977) has argued that, in the west, not only has the blush stood for different things at different times, but the frequency <strong>of</strong> its manifestation is culturally determined. LaBarre, one <strong>of</strong> the first
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The MYTH o
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The MYTH o
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PART I Contents List of</st
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Illustrations Display case, Berlin
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10.2 A blend of sa
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Display case, Berlin Ethnographical
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little pictures inserted me neatly
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10 Christian Metz (Fall 1985) ‘Ph
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assumptions of the
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PART I
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Outsiders or insiders 19 Th
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Outsiders or insiders 21 content it
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Outsiders or insiders 23 honoured i
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Outsiders or insiders 25 If the con
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Outsiders or insiders 27 of
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Outsiders or insiders 29 free-range
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Outsiders or insiders 31 which the
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Outsiders or insiders 33 Melly, Geo
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Editor’s introduction The
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5 Emil Nolde’s ‘ethnographic’
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From primitivism to ethnic arts 133
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Page 172 and 173: PART III
Page 174 and 175: Ethnography and the formation <stro
Page 200 and 201: 10 Art and meaning SIGNE HOWELL In
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PART IV
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14 Unsettled accounts of</s
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15 Locality fails IMANTS TILLERS Al
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16 Aboriginal representation and ki
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17 Born from sharp rocks Edgar Heap
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Notes on contributors 294 P.S.122.
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Index aboriginality, as Australian
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Brecht, Bertholdt 53, 56 Breton, An
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Index 300 Eurocentrism 14-15, 21, 8
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Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig 99, 144, 240
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School Museum Committee 204 mutilat
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Index 306 ‘soft
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Tower monument 126 technology, and
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Hiller - The Myth of Primitivism. Perspectives on Art - Esoteric Online

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