Major Traits of
a Culture
Language
• Languages – sounds,
intonation, inflection,
accents.
• Dialects can vary by
region, class standing,
etnicities.
• Writing – can be simple
or complex, involve
pictographs or phonetic
alphabets, and can be
dependent on the
technologies for saving
information.
Technology
Tools influence all
styles of
development, from
food production to
architecture, to
medicine – all have
impacts on culture,
many with
unexpected results.
Plows
African
house
Family
The nature of a family is
grounded on the
structure (nuclear-2
generations/multigeneration/clan) and
on the power
relationships
(patriarchal,
matriarchal, etc.)
Social Structure
• Elaborately structured
with castes
• Loosely structured,
competitive
Institutions
A society’s institutions include its style of government, its
laws and moral values, its educational systems, its
arrangements for such public needs as defense, trade
(including money), transportation, sanitation,
communications, and religious beliefs.
The Ten Commandments summarized the institutions of
early Jewish society. The institutions in British colonies
evolved from a foundation of British law and changed
through adaptions made by immigrant groups.
Customs and Beliefs
Long-established practices, holidays, faiths,
and customs usually passed from one
generation to the next
Challenges of Diversity
Old world traditions
usually mandated that a
state (kingdom)
embraced the religion
of the monarchy. The
British colonies in
North America
discarded this tradition
early on.
Cultural Expressions
Music, literature, poetry,
art, architecture, dance,
folklore, films – all
contain expressions of
cultural values.
All these forms of
expression become
controversial if cultures
are undergoing CHANGE.
“There is a certain relief in change; it
is often a comfort to shift one’s
position, and be bruised in a new
place.” - early American writer
Washington Irving.
Three American Examples
• The value of democracy (majority rule
with protection of minority rights).
• The value of national growth (territorial
expansion, technology, wealth).
• The primary focus on the individual.
1. Democracy
“To-day, of all the weary year, a king of men am I.
To-day alike are great and small, the nameless and the known.
My palace is the people’s hall, the ballot-box my throne!
Whittier – “The Poor Voter on Election Day”
George Caleb Bingham
– The County Election
(1852)
Novels, poems and short stories abounded in tales of new lands
(James Fennimore Cooper), steamboats (Mark Twain), whaling
(Melville) railroads, industries, and national expansion. Early
photographers concentrated on evidence of growth. Even music –
“I’ve been working on the railroad, all the live-long day.”
3. The Individual and society
“Every few weeks she would shut herself up in her room, put on her
scribbling suit, and fall into a vortex, as she expressed it, writing away at
her novel with all her heart and soul, for till that was finished she could
find no peace.”
“You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind,
flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”
Louisa may Allcott, Little Women, passages concerning Josephine
March.
Rise of the Modern World:
1885–1914
The early-twentieth century was marked by
great changes in history and technology.
Artists were deeply affected by the many
innovations around them and made these
innovations the subjects of many of their
artworks; many artists began exploring new
forms of representation, and new subjects.
New Ideas Reflected
in Art
“We are now committed to an unqualified art, not illustrating outworn myths or
contemporary alibis. One must accept total responsibility for what he executes.
And the measure of his greatness will be in the depth of his insight and his courage
in realizing his own vision.” – Clyfford Still (American abstract expressionist)
Much of the material for this section has been appropriated from the MoMA’s
Modern Teachers Guides for Educators Series.
http://www.moma.org/modernteachers/guides.html
Robert Delaunay. (French, 1885-1941). The Tower. (1911)
(inscribed 1910). Ink and pencil on paper. 21 1/4 x 19 1/4" (53.9 x 48.9 cm).
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund.
The Eiffel Tower was
designed for the 1889
World’s Fair in Paris by
French engineer
Gustave Eiffel. At the
time it was built, the
tower was the tallest
structure in the world and
gave Parisians a view of
their city they had never
seen before.
Roger de La Fresnaye. (French, 18851925). The Conquest of the Air. 1913.
Oil on canvas. 7' 8 7/8" x 6' 5" (235.9 x
195.6 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim
Fund.
The work’s title refers to the era’s
advances in aviation. La Fresnaye was
a French artist who took great pride in
France’s contribution to aviation history.
Fernand Léger. (French, 18811955). Propellers.
Léger was greatly influenced by his
experiences as a soldier during
World War I (1914–18), of which he
wrote, “I discovered the meaning of
machines through artillery and
through the engines of war. The
breech-block of a 75mm cannon
lying out in the sun did more for my
development as a painter than have
all the museums in the world. There
I was really able to grasp the
object.”
Marcel Duchamp said of Bicycle Wheel, “In 1913 I
had the happy idea to fasten a bicycle wheel to a
kitchen stool and watch it turn.” Bicycle Wheel is a
kinetic sculpture that depends on motion for effect.
Although Duchamp selected items for his
“Readymade” art, without regard to their so-called
beauty, he said, “To see that wheel turning was very
soothing, very comforting . . . I enjoyed looking at it,
just as I enjoy looking at the flames dancing in a
fireplace.” By encouraging viewers to spin the
Bicycle Wheel, Duchamp challenged the common
expectation that works of art should not to be
touched. Rules were being discarded
New Visions of the World:
1914-1928
In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe, followed, in
1917, by the overthrow of Russia’s Romanov dynasty
and the October Revolution. A curtain of war was
drawn across Europe. Millions died and 3 empires fell
– the Russian Tsarist, the German, and the Turkish.
Even the victors – Britain and France were
damaged beyond full repair.
With the “old order” of Europe destroyed, artists
began to discard the old ideas of cultural
expression – seeking new meanings in chaos.
Jakob Steinhart (a Polish artist) completed this woodcut in 1923. The
Prussian solders have been transformed into part-demons, part-clowns.
Max Ernst, a German artist involved in
both Dada and Surrealism. Like Dalí, Ernst,
who created many dreamlike images,
was also interested in Freud’s writings on
psychology.
The title of the work is inscribed at the
base of the image -- Two children are
threatened by a nightingale.
The grooves in the wood contain an eye,
a nose, a bird’s head, a menacing
nightingale, a spinning top.
Rayograph was made by Man
Ray, an American artist who was
well-known for his portrait and
fashion photography. Man Ray
transformed everyday objects
into mysterious images by
placing them on photographic
paper, exposing them to light,
and oftentimes repeating this
process with additional objects
and exposures. Often he chose
layouts by chance.
Just as chance determined who
lived and died, Man Ray was
making photograms by chance.
British artist Adrian Allinson did a series of “colonial” posters in the late 1920s.
In these posters he used art deco techniques to defend British colonies in Africa
– building roads, providing power, jobs and medicine. The message was clear –
Britain “civilized” its territories.
Expressionist
poster for Oskar
Kokoschka’s artplay “Murderer,
The Hope of
a
Women,” a 1909
critique of many
conventional ideas,
including German
colonial rule in
Africa.
Man with a Guitar (Braque)and “Ma Jolie,” (Picasso) are
representations of the human figure. Both paintings were inspired
by the vibrant café culture of early-twentieth-century Paris, in which
artists, dancers, musicians, and celebrities would all gather in cafés.
At another level both also suggest the ‘anomie’ of urban life.