Saul suggests: " Let us begin with a definition of all "African art"..."
No, don't do that. I agree that certainly each of us should describe what we have in mind with any key term with harmfully fuzzy edges. But clarity -- as with so many of the notions in philosophy of art -- is always a matter of degree. And there is a gross enough level at which the term 'African art' is serviceable enough here. Besides, William did a good job of orienting us with his locution: "non-western art: Prehistoric, African, Oceanic, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and related topics". We don't need definitions to take advantage of William's helpful line. 'African art', vague at the edges though it is, struck me as a helluva lot less vague than Benjamin's ostensible notion of 'aura'. I'm not a Benjamin scholar so I stayed out of that part of this thread. But then you, Saul, gave by far the best description of the notion -- only to have it ignored by every other lister. Your description of the "aura" of an "original" was interesting to me: all the emotive trappings that accumulate almost reverentially, and which are evoked when we're in the presence of the work. I could imagine a useful discussion of the distinction between those evocations and the feelings one might term purely aesthetic as we contemplate, say, the Mona Lisa. (I disagree with the lister -- or Artsy6 citation -- that claimed there's no "aura" in this sense when in the presence of the Mona Lisa.) But as I say your good attempt was ignored on the forum. As I predicted, one of our listers -- William -- now dismisses Derek's "equal footing" remark as "elementary". But even that at least concedes Derek had a point. I think I confessed how, when I was a young smarty-pants in philosophy, my first motive in reading any new paper was to find something wrong with it in order to demonstrate that I was sharper than the guy who wrote it. With the result that I regularly failed to take on board what was right in the paper. Many listers -- and I admit this includes Derek -- display that "Yeah, but --!" impulse -- without the "Yeah" part. ************** Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your area - Check out TourTracker.com! (http://www.tourtracker.com?NCID=aolmus00050000000112)
