1. Artistic Globalization
1.1. Chapter 11 - The Art World
1.1.1. "Western concept of art, from its inception in the Renaissance to its florescence in the twentieth century, became an increasingly masculine category that admitted women and their work only on its own terms" (Burt, 2013, pp. 165)
1.1.2. Description: Western art has a huge influence on arts from around the world, however western art is never scrutinized in the same terms. Western art follows a hierarchy based on class and gender. The most valuable art is usually one of scarcity or rarity.
1.2. Chapter 12 - The Exotic Primitive
1.2.1. Interesting Quote: "Being primitive, the makers were usually anonymous, so instead of being credited to named artists, artefacts had to be authenticated as deriving from an identifiable primitive art tradition and made by a traditional person in traditional style for a traditional purpose" (Burt, 2013, pp. 180).
1.2.2. Description: Primitive art is very important in Western art culture. Industrial capitalism created a market for mass consumption of art and artifacts from exotic and colonized societies. In this market, cultural art traditions have been appropriated using false stereotypes.
1.3. Chapter 13 - Marketing Exotic Art
1.3.1. Interesting Quote: "The way metropolitan elites constantly redefined the most prestigious categories of collectibles, in the face of overproduction and lower-class collecting aspirations, challenged them to meet ever-changing standards of value in a market dominated by traditions of collection and display that they had very little understanding of and even less control over" (Burt, 2013, pp. 189).
1.3.2. Description: The Western market allowed for the flourishing of exotic art and artifacts, but under many conditions. Western art and the export market constantly redefine the category of exotic art, which makes it hard for indigenous groups to be recognized. These groups must only produce traditional art, or they risk looking inauthentic.
1.4. Chapter 14 - Artistic Colonialism
1.4.1. Interesting Quote: "Rather than introducing the fine art of imaginative painting and sculpture, teaching aimed at training artisans to develop the lower-status applied art suitable for manufacturing, reflecting British cultural prejudices as well as their colonial economic policy" (Burt, 2013, pp. 213).
1.4.2. Description: Western ideas of art have dominated the ideology of art/artifacts from all around the world. Colonizers displaced native communities and constantly displayed colonized individuals as savages or primitive. Western art training was created as a way to improve the artistic taste of colonized groups, but it had consequences.
1.5. Chapter 15 - The Global and the Local
1.5.1. Interesting Quote: "The agendas of these museums should be set by their communities, and not confined to artefacts: The whole of the heritage must be our concern: the physical and natural heritage . . . as well as the artistic heritage" (Burt, 2013, pp. 227).
1.5.2. Description: Globalization has cultural implications on art movements and artistic development. Mass consumption of art helps create different global art styles. With this being said, Western museums must change their model because it limits global art. The best way to view art is through community owned institutions.
2. Cross-Cultural Perspectives
2.1. Chapter 6 - Form
2.1.1. Interesting Quote: "According to Vastokas, a cognitive approach to visual art depended upon understanding a cultural tradition in its own terms, and art as a vital component of the systems that comprised the culture, rather than simply as a product or expression of the culture" (Burt, 2013, pp. 93).
2.1.2. Description: Anthropologists analyze the form of artifacts in order to understand smaller society’s art traditions. The approach to art depends on understanding cultural traditions in our own terms.
2.2. Chapter 7 - Meaning
2.2.1. Interesting Quote: " Since speech is the surest way for people to explain such meanings to persons of another culture, this implies that researchers such as anthropologists cannot be certain of the significance such symbols have to those who create and experience them" (Burt, 2013, pp. 106).
2.2.2. Description: Religious iconography and officials of different cultures can express the meanings and connotations behind art and artifacts. Art containing visual symbols can have underlying meanings that may be hard to understand if you’re unfamiliar with the culture.
2.3. Chapter 8 - Performance
2.3.1. Interesting Quote: "The Western preference for visual art as objects of contemplation underestimates the artistic power of artefacts in action" (Burt, 2013, pp. 126).
2.3.2. Description: Form and meaning play a huge role in artifacts. The use of performance in combination with form and meaning can enhance individuals.The use of costume, music, dance and the transformation of individuals bodies in performance can maximize symbolic power.
2.4. Chapter 9 - Archaeology
2.4.1. Interesting Quote: "The methodology also assumes, and seems to confirm, that humanity, for all its diversity, is actually fairly predictable in its artistic as in its other cultural traditions" (Burt, 2013, pp. 139).
2.4.2. Description: Archaeological findings help illustrate social contexts and culture. Artifacts allow for interterpreptaions to be made about how societies function. This chapter introduces different methodologies used to analyze iconography and artifacts from unknown cultures or cultures who have no close relatives to help interpret.
2.5. Chapter 10 - The Work of Art
2.5.1. Interesting Quote: "Artefacts work in this way within particular cultural contexts, and we can but glimpse the possible significances to their makers and intended audience if we do not share their cultural background and worldview" (Burt, 2013, pp. 142).
2.5.2. Description: The concept of art is subjective, but what's defined as art mostly resembles Western culture and ideology. However, this chapter explains that art is a pattern of human experience. Many theories have been brought forward to explain art and its meaning.
3. Western Perspectives
3.1. Chapter 1 - The Origins of Art
3.1.1. Interesting Quote: "It duplicated the British Museum in collecting recent European and Oriental luxury artefacts, but did not challenge its dominance in the fields of antiquities and the “ethnographical” products of less admired savage and barbarous peoples" (Burt, 2013, pp. 15)
3.1.2. Description: This chapter expresses how Western views of art were constructed. Art originated in Europe with cave paintings. The chapter further explains a historical view of European expansion, the Enlightenment and development of connoisseurship, and the collections found in the British museum.
3.2. Chapter 2 - Classical Art
3.2.1. Interesting Quote: "In the ninth century, after a period in which it discouraged religious images, the Byzantine church accepted the contrary doctrine that religious images were manifestations of divinity and hence subject to doctrinal conventions, limiting the initiative of the artist" (Burt, 2013, pp. 32).
3.2.2. Description: Europeans believe they had a connection to Greece and Rome society. This led them to believe they had superiority when it came to defining art from around the world.
3.3. Chapter 3 - Oriental Art
3.3.1. Interesting Quote: "The category does draw attention to cultural relationships overlooked by other perspectives, but as long as Islam is politicized in the dispute between Muslims and the West, alternative perspectives on the art traditions of Muslim regions will be difficult to promote." (Burt, 2013, pp. 43).
3.3.2. Description: The term Oriental was created by Europeans as a construct because they did not understand art from other cultures, however they could appreciate the sophistication of Oriental art. Asian and Indian art were not viewed favorably, but they were still collected and exhibited.
3.3.3. Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l5CXW2qEfY&t=3s
3.4. Chapter 4 - Primitive Art
3.4.1. Interesting Quote: "For Europeans, willful ignorance of the history of colonized peoples made it easier to justify their mission to civilize the primitive natives of other lands while exploiting their economic resources" (Burt, 2013, pp. 53).
3.4.2. Description: In the 1800, theorists claimed that all humanities came from a single origin and that race evolves like other species. Some races develop more than others. The less complex societies can be seen as a window into the past. This chapter introduces the idea of primitive. This is the concept that civilizations not recognized by Westerners are incapable of self development, inferior, and are in need of guidance to become more civilized.
3.5. Chapter 5 - Prehistoric Art
3.5.1. Interesting Quote: "Interpreting the meager archaeological remains of prehistory depends so heavily on analogies with peoples whose culture has been stereotyped according to Western prejudices that the ideological agenda behind these grand theories is often quite transparent" (Burt, 2013, pp. 78).
3.5.2. Description: This chapter expresses how Europeans define early stages of human development and their speculation about antiquity artifacts. With the studying of archaeological remains, there have been many interpretations on cultural origins. The chapter also expresses ideas on prehistoric myths such as early societies being a patriarchy.