Welcome to Unframed and Expressive
Reframing & Recentering
Non-Western Art
This blog documents my art history learning journey as I explore the themes, styles, and concepts of non-Western art. I compare art from from Africa, Japan, India the Middle East, Mesoamerica, and other Indigenous regions. I uncover a familiar and repetitive narrative of Western imperialism, colonialism, and exploitation along with interesting new(to me) connections and discoveries of how non-Western artists influenced 19th and 20th-century art movements such as Cubism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, Fauvism, and Expressionism.
Before the discovery of the Blombos caves in South Africa in 1991, modern history had been arranged around the idea that Paleolithic Europe and Saharan Africa were the cradle of mankind and the birthplace of artistic expression.
Decentering Europe as the birth of intellect, creative cognitive expression, and development of masterful skill is a hard trope to escape but our collective understanding is heading towards recognition.
Using concepts of Non-Western art as a lens to view the arc of modern art of the 20c and in turn anthropology of human creativity and the buried influences within our cultural evolution.
Before the discovery of the Blombos caves in South Africa in 1991, modern history had been arranged around the idea that Paleolithic Europe and Saharan Africa were the cradle of mankind and the birthplace of artistic expression.
Decentering Europe as the birth of intellect, creative cognitive expression, and development of masterful skill is a hard trope to escape but our collective understanding is heading towards recognition.
Using concepts of Non-Western art as a lens to view the arc of modern art of the 20c and in turn anthropology of human creativity and the buried influences within our cultural evolution.
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