Comparative Arts

Diversity in Contemporary Life Chapter 24

December 2010

Diversity in the United States

• In the 1960s and 1970s, American society underwent a shift in attitude. What was this and why did it occur?

Diversity in the United States

• In the 1960s and 1970s, American society underwent a shift in attitude. What were some of the causes of this shift?– Civil rights movement– Vietnam War Memorial– Women’s movement

• How did these movements change American society?

Diversity in the United States

• In the 1960s and 1970s, American society underwent a shift in attitude. What kind of shift? What were some of the causes of this shift?– Civil rights movement– Vietnam War Memorial– Women’s movement

• How did these movements change American society?– Deep questioning of long-held beliefs about race and gender– Increased awareness of the meaning and power of diversity

Art and social diversity

• How do you think new ideas of social diversity affected the art world?

Art and social diversity

• How do you think new ideas of social diversity affected the mainstream art world?– More representation of women and non-whites – why was this an

important shift?

Art and social diversity

• How do you think new ideas of social diversity affected the mainstream art world?– More representation of women and non-whites – why was this an

important shift?

The art world became increasingly willing to acknowledge the ‘outsider’s point of view’ and include visions of those previously excluded from the mainstream.

The art world diversifies: key figuresCindy Sherman (born 1954)• A photographer who creates a

fictional persona in order to investigate different aspects of the self.

• Beginning in the 1970s, Sherman photographed herself in a variety of self-portraits called Untitled Film Stills – in each, she wears a different costume and makes herself look a different part, stages herself and demonstrates that the ‘self’ is a fictionalized construction: we are who we choose to look like

• her work undermines the idea of an “authentic” personality behind our created appearance

Judy Chicago (1939)• Worked with many other women to create The Dinner Party (1974-79), a

history of women’s accomplishments• Each place setting represents a specific woman, from pre-historic Minoan

goddesses to the modern novelist Virginia Woolf and painter Georgia O’Keeffe

• 13 place settings on each side of the triangle, recalling the Last Supper• Names of 999 other women are written on the table runner

-The Dinner Party took what was traditionally dismissed as woman’s domain and transformed it into a monumental sculpture that brought attention to women’s art-the piece brings together ‘lesser arts’ (female arts): lace making, weaving, embroidering, etc)

Guerrilla GirlsThe impact of women on the art world has increased significantly in recent years. In 1970-71, only 13.5% of artists exhibiting in New York were women.

In 1982, only 2% of museum exhibitions by living artists were devoted to women.

This imbalance was the focus of a socially active group of anonymous artists collectively called the Guerrilla Girls.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88)• Father was Haitian and mother was Puerto

Rican, grew up in New York City• Achieved notoriety as ‘Samo’, a graffiti artist• By 1981, gallery owners convinced him to

apply graffiti to canvas• Charles the First pays homage to jazz

saxophonist Charlie Parker• Much of his art protests the exploitation of

black heroes: Sugar Ray Robinson, Cassius Clay, Louis Armstrong, etc

Lisa Fifield• Iroquois-Oneida descent• Portrays traditions and beliefs of Native American peoples

Maya Lin

Globalization• Some scholars believe globalization emerged in the 1990s as a

massive movement of information, technology, and goods was able to cross national borders.

• What are some examples of globalization?• What are some ways in which globalization has affected the arts?

(e.g. music, visual arts, architecture, etc)• What are some earlier examples of globalization, according to the

above definition?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OafqYNCzq5U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCWkiEJhteo 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtaqEu0CRA&feature=related2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unEA4Ih69Rc&playnext=1&list=PL199FDDEB1E2D5A

A0&index=2

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gkMvpSWxKs 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAL1squAZCE&feature=related