How Europeans Incorporate Eastern Art

European Use of Non-Western Art
Miranda Smith
Southern Utah University
December 2001


During the early 20th Century European Avant-Garde artists utilized non-Western art and incorporated it into their own art. African art was one of the most appropriated forms. Most of what was seen as influential from Africa was sculpture. African sculpture typically includes nonorganic planar shifts that contrast with Classical proportions. The elongated areas of the body, such as face, neck and torso as seen on p. 457 in the Adams book, illustrate the non-Classical nature of African art.

One of the Avant-Garde schools that specifically utilized African art was The Bridge (Die Brucke). This group was intent on building a link between their art and revolutionary ideas, and between tradition and Avant-Garde. One of the ways those in The Bridge worked toward this was by combining the geometric look of African art with more traditional ideas. The flattened forms of Kirchner's The Street (p. 459) speak to this idea. The figures in The Street are also elongated, as seen in the sculpture of the Baule ancestor from Africa.

Matisse was also influenced by African art. His work speaks of African masks. His lack of modeling in his work Madame Matisse (p. 458) bears strong resemblance to the masks found in Africa. There is also a lack of organic qualities in this painting. The hair on her head is flat, and it seems to perch on the top of her head. Matisse was also influenced by Arabian art. In his Harmony in Red (p. 463), sinuous lines are used to create an illusion of animation. Matisse coined the term "arabesque" in reference to the lines seen in Arabian architecture, such as mosques.

Emil Nolde was also influenced by African art. However he used other non-Western influences in his art. His Still Life with Masks (p. 460) is indicative of the use if non-Western art. One of the masks (the red one) is based on a drawing of an Oceanic canoe prow, the yellow skull is derived from Brazilian shrunken heads, and the green mask seems to be influenced by African art.

It is clear that these artists were very interested in appropriating other art forms for their own use. This fueled further Avant-Garde developments and shaped the art of the early 20th Century. African art appears to be the most pervasive in these works, but the influences of Arabia, the New World, and Oceania can also be seen. It is also important to note that while these artists copied the look of these other forms of art, the cultural context of the art in regard to the peoples it was borrowed from was lost.


Bibliography

Laurie Schneider Adams, A History of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 2000).

XALA - A Review of the Film "Curse"

Xala: women representative of the generational transitions of Senegal

Xala  is a perfect illustration of the underdeveloped middle class and its staggering flaws. The film is an allegorical tale of corruption told with simplicity and is inundated with satire exposing the emerging neo-colonial bourgeoisie. The story is of an African businessman recently elected to the Chamber of Commerce in1960 during the initial onslaught of independence in Senegal.  El Hadji Abdou Kader Bèye has been inflicted with the xala on his wedding night with his third wife, Ngone. His impotence parallels the same cultural affliction emerging within Africa’s post-colonial and post-independence society of nouveaux riches, its peasants, beggars, and the unemployed. The pseudo-bourgeoisie is crippled by selfish motives to trade with Europeans and exploit local Africans. According to Frantz Fanon’s theory of post-coloniality:

Closing the road to the national bourgeoisie is, certainly, the means whereby the vicissitudes of newfound independence may be avoided… But it is also the only means toward progress. 

Instead of making productive investments in his community El Hadji exploits the local people while trying to imitate the foreign consumer culture. He is confronted with the problem of regaining his sexual potency to consummate his new marriage. This issue consumes the story as El Hadji neglects his business affairs and responsibilities as a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He hopelessly searches for a cure to the curse that has ruined his reputation and farcical idea of elitist success in Africa.  The result is his bankruptcy and the ultimate loss off all of his possessions including his wives.
The women of Xala are vital to the story. It is through the female characters that El Hadji’s power is given to him and taken away. They demonstrate the cultural alienation of the bourgeoisie and present alternative models of tradition and modernity. The women “function on both a ‘sociorealistic’ and symbolic level and can be viewed as integral characters whose structural and ideological facets not only reflect but are [as equally important as the male protagonist].”  Rama, Oumi, Awa , and N’Gone all become an inherent part of El Hadji’s ascent and decline economically, sexually, socially, and politically.  Polygamy no longer functions as a traditional structure that brings labor and communal kinship to the community. El Hadji’s second wife, Oumi N’doye helps to install the image of a ‘modern’ Westernized couple. N’Gone symbolizes economic affluence and satisfies El Hadji’s conceit. The first wife, Adja Awa Astou,  is representative of tradition, dignity, and devotion to Muslim principles. Whereas, Rama, their daughter, is a model of the future generation of Africa that will emancipate women from stifling patriarchal traditions.

Awa, El Hadji’s first and oldest wife, retains the essential elements and character of African tradition even though her surrounding environment is rapidly transforming at the expense of modernity. She is docile, yet firm and is seemingly accepting of her role as a faithful and supportive wife in a polygamous situation. When Rama, her daughter, tries to convince her to divorce El Hadji Awa responds in a calm manner saying, “We must be patient in the face of adversity.  You think I’d find a husband. I’ll be a third or fourth wife.” Awa compromises displaying an aggressive character  towards El Hadji’s actions for emotional security and financial support in a patriarchal Islamic society. She stands by her husband in his professional and financial ruin. Awa exhibits passive resistance when relating to Oumi, the second wife. When asked to come inside of Oumi’s house, she refuses  in the name of the marital laws that place submissive restraints on her actions.  She explicitly reminds El Hadji saying, “Do you forget I’m your first? Go and say hello for me.” In a later scene Awa demonstrates solidarity with her co-wife. When Oumi is complaining about the third wife, N’Gone, Awa bestows words of wisdom about the situation. She tells Oumi with cynical humor: “Patience does not kill. If so, I would be dead.”  Once Oumi leaves the wedding Awa openly invites her to her home reminding her that she is the elder in the relationship.

Awa is a representation of Africa in its most unadulterated essence. Though she is rigidly traditional, she is a model for all Senegalese women. She personifies loyalty, patience, dignity, and poise. The African woman is the strength of the family; she is an advisor during times of struggle, in charge of educating the future generations, and a pillar of compliment and support to her husband.  Awa predominately speaks to El Hadji in Wolof , thus retaining the essence of cultural pride. She is also the refuge El Hadji seeks in his state of impotence after he is deserted by his community and three wives.
Oumi, the second wife, is a strikingly different type of woman compared to Awa.

This contrast is explored in the wedding scene where Awa is wearing a traditional African dress and Oumi is shown in a modish wig and a revealing black European style dress. She is a materialistic character and is overtly aggressive when she relates to El Hadji. She believes that due to her youth and sophistication she has the right to say and do whatever she feels.  When El Hadji visits Oumi to take her to the wedding she speaks in French and refers to Awa as an “old dried up fish” as she demands money from El Hadji: “Since you’re spending, I will too! This is not enough, hand it over.” In a later scene she unremittingly reminds El Hadji of his sexual duties in the marriage: “It is my turn. I want you at the house tonight. You know I am always ready.” Oumi arrogantly implies that she will uphold her duties as a wife as long as El Hadji continues to perform his financial and sexual duties when asked. She remains faithful to El Hadji until she realizes his downfall is inevitable.

At this point she decides to depart with the children and all of her belongings to another place far away from such a despicable man. Oumi is the archetypal seductive and disparaging mistress. Her character does not support El Hadji in any productive ways and she is the stereotypical representation of a woman who is foolishly attracted to the hallucinations of Western consumer society and negative post-colonial thought patterns.  Sembene uses Oumi as an example of the caricature that emerges from cupidity, shallowness, denial of culture, and the disillusioned eagerness to follow Western and foreign mores. Oumi is not a successful symbol of the strong progressive African woman. Her character is paralleled with that of El Hadji because her existence is counterproductive to post-colonial African cultural and economic success. 

N’Gone, El Hadji’s third wife illustrates his materialistically motivated greed. “A long panoramic shot of the endless parade of gifts displayed by El-Hadji as her dowry stresses the corrupted patterns of such a tradition. N’Gone is merely traded and exhibited to El Hadji’s middle-aged friends and colleagues.”  He uses N’Gone as his bragging trophy to the Chamber of Commerce by emphasizing her “virginal value.” He tells the counsel men: “My first wife was a virgin and so was my second.”  Accordingly, the brides’ mother teaches her about her duties of a subservient wife. She stresses: “Man is the master, you must always be available. Don’t raise your voice. Be submissive.”  N’Gone does not have an active role in the film; she is merely El Hadji’s “femme objet.”  The poster of N’Gone with her back exposed, located in the bedroom directly “presents the graphic correlation between the businessman’s sexual and economic impotence.”  After several failed attempts to “deflower” his new wife, El Hadji seeks the help of the marabout (herbal healer) only to discover that he has the xala.  His sexual impotence with his new wife portends his symbolic dis-function as a member of the corrupt neo-colonial bourgeoisie. El Hadji’s superficial economic pursuits and greed for elite status backfires into something much greater than sexual disfunction. His lack of cultural, spiritual, economic, and political wisdom causes his entire existence to become impotent and useless in African society.

Rama is a revolutionary and positive source of resistance to her father’s perpetuation of the corrupt bourgeoisie and the French Colonial presence in Senegal. Rama wears a short Afro hairstyle and alternates between modern clothing and her traditional Senegalese boubou. She rides a moped around her town, rejecting unnecessary luxuries of Western society such as her father’s Mercedes. She only uses aspects of Western culture that can directly serve her educational and technological needs.  She consistently speaks in Wolof when her father speaks in French and denies his promotion of foreign products such as French mineral water. She confronts her father in a responsible and mature manner when expressing her vehement enmity towards the traditions of polygamy and stifling post-colonial thought. During a conversation with her mother and father, she expresses that “men are all dirty dogs and every polygamous man is a liar.” As a result, Rama is slapped by El Hadji, but her spirit remains unbroken. “Xala’s evocation of this [issue] allows Sembene to highlight the suffering that [traditional] marriages cause to women and to denounce men’s egotistical motivations for taking several wives.”  El Hadji’s violent response to Rama’s statement is a confirmation of his unrealistic ways of perpetuating and understanding the patriarchal order influenced by the male/religious-instigated system of polygamy.

Rama is the only woman in Xala who is liberated from having to participate in a sexual relationship in exchange for economic support. She is well educated and she is a positive icon for hope in Senegal created by a balance of traditional and modern values. Rama is the single character who has succeeded in assimilating her African principles and European culture into a progressive way of life. Her advocacy of her mother and father’s divorce is symbolic of her mother’s separation from a draining relationship as well as Senegal’s annulment from paternalistic neo-colonial rule. She refuses financial help from her father and expresses that she is more concerned about her mother whom her father has neglected.  Rama demonstrates a synthesis of her mother’s wisdom and dignity and she embodies a universal view of the future, reborn Africa. Her character is indicative of a society that will create a synthesized language and culture indigenous to and reflective of the richness of African ethos while simultaneously emancipating women from patriarchal traditions.  Rama’s function in the film is penetrating and reveals significant issues of the new Africa dealing with progressive post-colonial and post-independence development.

Sembene’s female protagonists are archetypical and play imperative roles in his sociopolitical dialectics. The women in this film do not represent all types of Senegalese women, however they are symbols for the evolution of Africa. Awa represents the traditional culture and history of a transforming continent. Oumi is symbolic of a transitional Africa that places too much value on Western goods and ideology and thus she must “pack up” metaphorically to make room for the new Africa epitomized by Rama. She is the essence of a balanced conglomeration of modern and traditional values, synthesized to bring about the economic, educational, political, cultural, and social emancipation of the oppressed African. Senegal cannot develop with out the emancipation of its women. Sembene implies that Africa’s true growth will come from adopting the fecundity and nurturing qualities of the African woman.  Xala differs from Black Girl because the women of the contemporary generations use their agency to reject and combat the forces of post-coloniality that cause them to feel repressed and captivated.  Diouana chose to passively eliminate her troubles whereas the women in this film are predominately active in catalyzing change.  Xala is an evolution from Sembene’s dialectical messages in Black Girl. The female is the link between generations and she is the “genitrix” of a new Africa. “El Hadji is impotent because he has misused the fecundity of Africa/woman to assert his social and male ascendancy.”  His greed and neo-colonial ignorance overshadows his agency to change his situation and righteously serve his community as one of the first African members of the Chamber of Commerce.

The last scene of Xala is important because both the traditional and the modern, politically committed African women observe El Hadji’s rebirth as the beggars spit on his corruption, greed, and westernized illusion of success.  He is crowned by one of the beggars with the white flower crown worn by his third wife at the wedding. The crown symbolizes the preserved virginity of the woman he was unable to deflower.  It is also representative of the fertile, pure, virginal quality of Africa that will be restored through the elimination of the stagnating middle class bourgeoisie.  The women are the only dignified characters still standing in support of El Hadji in the end of the story, indicating that the fate of the community now lies in the fate of its grandmothers, mothers, and daughters.

Mods & Rockers Film Festival Starts Another British Invasion

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While Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July this summer, the English were celebrating another British Invasion. A British Invasion of Los Angeles, that is.

The English chose Independence Day 2006 to kick off the eighth annual “Mods & Rockers” summer film festival at Hollywood’s elaborate Egyptian Theatre. The date marked the 40th anniversary of the British Invasion of pop music upon American shores. The American Cinematheque, a film group dedicated to the preservation and screening of rare and classic movies, opened the festivities by showing a time capsule gem titled “Go-Go Mania!” Way, way before MTV, this music revue featured made-for-broadcast performances by British groups like The Animals, Herman’s Hermits, Peter and Gordon, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Fourmost and The Spencer Davis Group.

In lieu of American celebratory fireworks, the Brits spiced up the screening with a live concert in the theatre courtyard featuring Spencer Davis and Gordon Waller (of Peter and Gordon fame) backed up by The Ravers. The Spencer Davis Group was one of the British Invasion bands that grabbed hold of blues styles. They had international hits with “Gimme Some Lovin” (1966) and “I’m A Man” (1967). Peter and Gordon were often compared to the Everly Brothers and had great success with ballads written for them by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. They scored on the charts with “A World Without Love” in 1964.

Joining Davis and Waller on stage was American songwriter Stephen Bishop, best known for the ballad “On and On” and the theme song for the film “Tootsie.” Bishop ad libbed a wicked imitation of John Lennon trying to explain the colossally misunderstood Jesus Christ comment in his best Liverpudlian. A surprise guest for the evening was Rod Stewart’s bassist, Phil Chen, who has played with Donovan, Jeff Beck, Jackson Browne and Pete Townshend.

When all four of the rockers were waling away on their guitars deep into an improvised version of “I’m A Man,” they blew out the power on the courtyard stage. After a few jokes about Yankee sabotage, American ingenuity soon got the musicians plugged back in for more music.

The British also reveled in another 40th anniversary by celebrating the 1966 World Cup victory of the English football team. The achievement was honored with the screening of the award winning documentary titled “Goal! World Cup 1966.” Just imagine it. Swinging London was in full bloom. The British Invasion of music and fashion was at its zenith. England was hosting the World Cup games for the first time ever. To top it off, England beats Germany in a harrowing overtime championship game attended by Queen Elizabeth. Hail, Britannia.

The American Cinematheque continues the “Mods & Rockers” festival of rare, goofy and cult films from the 1960s in two theatres in the Los Angeles area throughout August.

Unique Baby Shower Favor

boston celtics baby clothes

If you are planning a baby shower for someone you are more than likely trying to think of unique baby shower favors. When it comes to creating a unique favor, the best thing to do is add a picture of the parents to be. This article will provide you with step by step instructions on how to make a baby bottle gift, which is a more personal, unique baby shower favor. 

You will need the following supplies to make this unique baby shower favor: 

A picture of the mom and dad to be (make sure you include any other siblings if they already have children.)
A small baby bottle (make sure you get enough for each guest)
Curling ribbon
Scissors
Small teddy Bear (you can also use a small baby bottle or other baby related item)
Glue Gun
Glue Stick
Candy (Whatever type of candy you prefer) 

This unique baby shower favor is very easy to assemble. The first thing you have to do is make several copies of the picture of the parents. Make sure you make enough for all of your guests. Then you can start putting the pictures on the baby bottle using the glue stick. 

First use the glue stick to put enough glue on the back of the copied picture to cover all of it. Then stick the picture onto the baby bottle. Make sure you smooth it out so that there are no wrinkles. Do the same to all of the bottles. The first bottle should be completely dry by the time you finish sticking on the last picture. 

Next you can begin to fill the bottles with candy, and putting the tops on the bottles. After all of the bottles are full you can tie the ribbon around the top of the bottles and make a bow. Then curl the edges of the ribbon using the scissors. Next you will need your glue gun and the bears, (or whatever small baby item you will be using. 

You can then glue the small bears onto the bottle, right at the center of the bow. Hold the bear on the glue for a few seconds until the bear stays in place. Then your baby bottle favor is complete. 

If you would prefer, you can use baby food jars for this as well. You can even create your own unique baby shower favors, just by being a little creative and using your imagination. Whatever you choose just make sure you remember to have fun.