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Possessions : indigenous art/colonial culture/decolonization / Nicholas Thomas.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: London : Thames and Hudson, 2022Copyright date: ©2022Edition: Second editionDescription: 368 pages : illustrations (colour) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780500296592
  • 0500296596
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- Beginnings -- Landscapes: Possession and Dispossession -- Objects: Indigenous Signs in Colonial Design -- Artworks: Indigenous Signs in Colonial Art -- Presences: Indigenous Landscapes, Artworks and Exhibitions -- Hierarchies: From Traditional to Contemporary -- Situations: Indigenous Art in Public Culture -- Identities: Diasporas, Nations and Transactions -- Endings -- Retrospect/Prospect: A Conclusion
Summary: 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? Highly acclaimed on first publication, and now revised and updated, 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 but never eclipsing Native peoples. In this dynamic of dispossession and resistance, settler artists and designers have drawn upon Indigenous motifs and styles in their search for distinctive identities, while powerful Indigenous art traditions have asserted the presence of First Nations peoples and their claims to place, history and sovereignty. Cultural exchange is 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 uphold the enduring values and attachment to place of Indigenous peoples.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 303.482 T459 Available 33111010898886
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Previous edition published as "Possessions : indigenous art/colonial culture" in 1999.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Beginnings -- Landscapes: Possession and Dispossession -- Objects: Indigenous Signs in Colonial Design -- Artworks: Indigenous Signs in Colonial Art -- Presences: Indigenous Landscapes, Artworks and Exhibitions -- Hierarchies: From Traditional to Contemporary -- Situations: Indigenous Art in Public Culture -- Identities: Diasporas, Nations and Transactions -- Endings -- Retrospect/Prospect: A Conclusion

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? Highly acclaimed on first publication, and now revised and updated, 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 but never eclipsing Native peoples. In this dynamic of dispossession and resistance, settler artists and designers have drawn upon Indigenous motifs and styles in their search for distinctive identities, while powerful Indigenous art traditions have asserted the presence of First Nations peoples and their claims to place, history and sovereignty. Cultural exchange is 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 uphold the enduring values and attachment to place of Indigenous peoples.

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