Culture is learned, symbolic, and integrated. It is acquired through socialization and transmitted through both direct and indirect means such as language. Cultural elements are interrelated rather than isolated, and changes in one area can affect others. Culture is also shared and helps connect individuals within a society. When investigating art through an anthropological lens, we ask how the object or activity relates to these basic features that define culture.

2. What is Culture?

3. What
is
Culture?
Culture
is
learned
Culture
is
symbolic
Culture
is
integrated
Culture
is
shared

4. It is acquired by growing up in a
given society.
It is transmitted both directly
and indirectly.
It is learned through
observation
and imitation.
Language is an
important tool
for learning and
transmitting cultural
ideas and sentiments.
Culture
is
Learned

5. Cultural
symbols are
verbal and non-
verbal cues that
stand for
something else.
Human cultural
behavior uses
symbols.
The association
between a
symbol and its
referent can be
arbitrary, but
are logical.
Symbols
particularly
language
facilitate
learning and
transmitting
culture.
Culture is symbolic

6. Cultural elements are
interrelated rather than
disconnected
assemblages of
institutions.
Cultural features are
understood and
refer to other
features within a
given cultural matrix.
Cultures tend to
function as
interrelated
wholes.
Integration is not
perfectlyharmonious
which can lead to
cultural change.
Changes in one area
often will effect
other areas in the
same cultural
matrix.
Culture
is
Integrated

7. Culture
is
Shared
Culture is not
genetically
inherited
Culture
makes an
individual
part of a
given society
Members of a
given society
share a
common
culture
Members can
understand
and predict
behavior of
others in their
culture
There may be
sub-cultures
within a
culture of
marginalized
groups

8. What is Art?

9. Philosophers
• Art is a manifestation of transcendental beauty
Art Critics
• Visual objects express the intensions
and skills of an individual artist
Psychiatrists
• Art is a sublimation of repressed impulses
Art Dealers
• Art is a source of market commodities

10. Aesthetic
contemplation with
no overt purpose
Autonomy of
the aesthetic
experience
Emphasis on
individual creativity
and innovation
Asking an Art Historian?

11. Objects or behaviors that have aesthetic or
semantic attributes, that are representational
or created for presentational purposes
Products or activities created and
defined in relation to the cultural
context of the producing society
Art studied in its cultural context reveals
relationships between the art form and
other aspects of life in a given society
Art is not a phenomenon, but a concept that
is an integrated part of a given society’s
cultural experience and expression
Asking an Anthropologist?

12. Art and Culture are intertwined
Humans create art within their own cultural context
What should we ask as
anthropologists when
investigating art within its
cultural context?

13. Learned
Symbolic
Integrated
Shared
How is the
object or activity
interrelated to
the basic
features that
define culture?

14. Suggested Reading
Hatcher, Evelyn Payne. 1999. Art as Culture: An Introduction to the Anthropology
of Art. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Layton, Robert. 1991. The Anthropology of Art. New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Llobera, Joseph R. 2003. An Invitation to Anthropology: The Structure, Evolution,
and Cultural Identity of Human Society. New York: Berghahn Books.
Maquet, Jacque. 1986. The Aesthetic Experience: An Anthropologist Looks at the
Visual Arts. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
Perkins, Morgan and Howard Morphy. 2006. The Anthropology of Art: A Reader.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Svasek, Marusk Svasek.2007. Anthropology, Art and Cultural Production. Ann
Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
Womack, Mari. 2005. Symbols and Meaning: A Concise Introduction. New York:
Alta Mira Press.