When one develops an urge to enrich himself/herself with the knowledge of another culture what would be their main source of information? Many would turn to google or on a rare occasion even to the library, and to be honest I would’ve done the exact same thing. New York Times journalist Holland Cotter, however, has more creative and innovative idea on how to learn more about a culture’s history in his article, “Review: ‘Kongo: Power and Majesty’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
Cotter believes that art is the key to learning the truth of a cultures history. He uses the new Kongo exhibit in the MET as an example. He mentioned how the people of the Kongo region didn’t take records of their history or important events for most of their early generations. Due to this, westerners never really understood their cultures and what they have truly been through. Cotter goes on to say that this is not the case, the people of Kongo have always been keeping records of important events in their cultures, just not in the traditional way of paper and pen.
The Kongo people have recorded important events of their pasts with the help of art. They used sculptures, paintings, engravings, masks, religious objects, and ceramics to record their history. I was fascinated by their clever and unique artworks that had so much to say about their cultures. I completely agree with Cotter and feel that artwork is a great tool to record one’s history.
This tusk carving is a great example of how the Kongo people used art to record their history. This carving depicts Kongo’s relations with European countries. At the beginning of the tusk, it seems as if everyone is happy with their relations and there is a mutual respect between them. The second visible level depicts upper class Europeans making shady deals with some Kongo people. With the help of these deals, Portugal, France, and mainly Britain began enslaving the people of Kongo. They managed to chain up a third of the Kongo population by 1850. As one could see this small tusk artwork told us so much about the people of Kongo.
There are other great examples of the Kongo artworks that depict their culture if you’re interested. I believe that this is a much better and more enjoyable way to present one’s cultural history than the way of a classic textbook.
It seems as if it was very fitting that during the era in which the Kongo people lived, art would be a great tool of keeping track of history. However, I wonder with today’s inventions, and endless possibilities, if using the same technique as the Kongo people used, would even be worthwhile. I certainly agree that it was a really intriguing idea that the Kongo people used, and I would be interested to see the other examples that depict their culture. Nowadays, it may just be that the digital world has taken the new form of art, and our very own culture is ingrained and cemented into it. Who knows- maybe in a few hundred years there will be articles about how we as a people preserved our history and culture through videos, digital photographs, and social media.
A specific country’s or a group of people’s artwork can definitely tell us a lot about their culture which I never really realized. The materials used, the kind of sculptures or paintings made, the colors used, and etc. can say a lot about its makers when examined closely and discussed about in depth. That’s why it is so important to not just glance and walk by a piece of artwork, but actually learn more about it. We would not only be given the opportunity to see a beautiful piece of art, but also get to know a piece of history.
Many ancient or primitive civilizations portrayed their history through art and it can be just as enlightening as literature. I read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and stayed back in the Met after we saw Sargent’s portraits to examine the ancient Greek art and see how it correlated to the literature I read. Through the art, I was able to visualize not just how Greeks saw their gods, but also how they saw themselves. The statues and pottery shared their history long after the civilization was gone.
I concur with the idea that culture and history can be seen through artistic expression, as opposed to documentation. Although it may seem more ambiguous, artwork should not be ignored as a form of historical expression. And i think it’s very interesting how the people of Kongo have chosen such a medium as a way of inheriting stories from the past and passing down stories to the future. The tusk carving is absolutely gorgeous. Not only is it detailed with distinct figured, but the story that it tells is a pivotal moment in the history of the Kongo people. Kongo is not the only region that has used art as a form on passing down history. history can also be seen through Asian art, such as Korean paintings. Artistic work should never be excluded from historical analysis.
It’s very interesting that the people of the Kongo chose to use art instead of writing for record keeping. While i certainly do agree that the art is a much more enjoyable when compared to a textbook, I’d imagine that the people had a way of communicating verbally, which makes me wonder why they chose to represent their history visually through things like carvings and sculptures This method does not seem to be even 1/10th as detailed as if they had written down what had occurred. We know that art can have many interpretations so what is preventing us from interpreting their works incorrectly? With a written history, everything is concrete and cannot be misinterpreted as long as we are able to translate it into our own language.
I think this is fascinating. Instead of written documents with dates and times, they recorded their history with beautiful creations. It reminds me of the Renaissance, where we are amazed by all of the art created by da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other famous artists at the time. We tend define this time period with the art as a reflection of the cultural changes going on in Italian society. A picture is worth a thousand words, but the words are unlimited when the pictures define history and society.
I agree with the notion that art can be more than just something that looks pretty. There is meaning and power behind an artwork. Often times that meaning can reflect the society at the time in which the art was created. As such, using art as a means of interpreting history especially in cases where there were no written records is a brilliant idea. Not only will the art reflect the culture and perhaps religion, but it can also depict historical events and their implications. Take the tusk carving for example. It reveals the light in which the natives view the europeans, as well as the business interactions they underwent. Since the depiction of history through art is multifaceted, in a certain way it is even better than a descriptive written record that merely states what happened.
Making inferences and observations on a civilization’s culture is completely different than reading about that civilization’s culture from a book. I think that the unwritten history is the more interactive and interesting history, because the audience has to actually closely look at and observe the art in order to make a statement about the culture in that civilization. Whereas in textbooks, there is no discovery and all the inferences are given to you. In addition, many people in third world countries are illiterate, so art and illustration is the best way for them to clearly relay their thoughts.
It truly is fascinating how much of a story can be told without words. In symbols and pictures that vary in intricacy, this culture of people has kept ties connecting their past with the present in a way that may be arguably more helpful as time and language moves on. I find pictures can describe situations with more depth than verbal communication can in many ways. Art in general is something that can be read, whether it’s exactly what the creator meant or not, by every individual who looks at it and it holds just as much meaning for one’s past as any textbook would: if not more.