Primitive Art in Civilized Places: Second Edition

by Sally Price

Book Overview

What is so "primitive" about primitive art? And how do we dare to use our standards to judge it? Drawing on an intriguing mixture of sources-including fashion ads and films, her own anthropological research, and even comic strips like Doonesbury--Price explores the cultural arrogance implicit in Westerners' appropriation of non-Western art.

" Price] presents a literary collage of the Western attitude to other cultures, and in particular...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226680673
• ISBN13: 9780226680675
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Will change the way you think about "natural history"!

Sally Price makes a great point in this small, readable book -- Westerners place so-called "primitive" art (art from non-Western countries) into a different category than "Western art." This is why one must usually visit a natural history museum to see non-Western art! The "primitive" artist is nameless and supposedly representative of his/her entire society. Could we say the same of Western artists? Price discusses these and similar intriguing questions about why Western societies view non-Western art as closer to nature than to culture.