Possessions - Indigenous Art / Colonial Culture / Decolonization

Thomas, Nicholas
Possessions - Indigenous Art / Colonial Culture / Decolonization

Possessions - Indigenous Art / Colonial Culture / Decolonization

Thomas, Nicholas

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A timely re-examination of European engagements with indigenous art and the presence of indigenous art in the contemporary art world.

The arts of Africa, Oceania and native America famously inspired twentieth-century modernist artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Ernst. The politics of such stimulus, however, have long been highly contentious: was this a cross-cultural discovery to be celebrated, or just one more example of Western colonial appropriation?

This revelatory book explores cross-cultural art through the lens of settler societies such as Australia and New Zealand, where Europeans made new nations, displacing and outnumbering but never eclipsing native peoples. In this dynamic of dispossession and resistance, visual art has loomed large. Settler artists and designers drew upon Indigenous motifs and styles in their search for distinctive identities. Yet powerful Indigenous art traditions have asserted the presence of First Nations peoples and their claims to place, history and sovereignty. Cultural exchange has been a two-way process, and an unpredictable one: contemporary Indigenous art draws on global contemporary practice, but moves beyond a bland affirmation of hybrid identities to insist on the enduring values and attachment to place of Indigenous peoples.

Author:   Thomas, Nicholas
Publisher:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
ISBN:  

9780500296592


Pages:   368
Publication Date:   30 September 2022
Bind Format:   Hardback
Availability:  
This item is in stock and will be dispatched immediately.

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A timely re-examination of European engagements with indigenous art and the presence of indigenous art in the contemporary art world.

The arts of Africa, Oceania and native America famously inspired twentieth-century modernist artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Ernst. The politics of such stimulus, however, have long been highly contentious: was this a cross-cultural discovery to be celebrated, or just one more example of Western colonial appropriation?

This revelatory book explores cross-cultural art through the lens of settler societies such as Australia and New Zealand, where Europeans made new nations, displacing and outnumbering but never eclipsing native peoples. In this dynamic of dispossession and resistance, visual art has loomed large. Settler artists and designers drew upon Indigenous motifs and styles in their search for distinctive identities. Yet powerful Indigenous art traditions have asserted the presence of First Nations peoples and their claims to place, history and sovereignty. Cultural exchange has been a two-way process, and an unpredictable one: contemporary Indigenous art draws on global contemporary practice, but moves beyond a bland affirmation of hybrid identities to insist on the enduring values and attachment to place of Indigenous peoples.

Product Details
Author:   Thomas, Nicholas
Publisher:   Thames & Hudson Ltd
ISBN:  

9780500296592


Pages:   368
Publication Date:   30 September 2022
Bind Format:   Hardback
Availability:  
This item is in stock and will be dispatched immediately.
Reviews

Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!