Indentity - Online lecture 2 PDF

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Online lecture 2...

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NO105 – Art, Identity, Culture Part 1 Frida Kahlo  Famous painter  Born in 1907 in Coyocan - outside of Mexico City  Father was German immigrant and mother had indigenous roots (unhappy marriage) o Move from Germany and spanishized his name o Parents roots came out in the style of Frida’s painting o Big family – Frida was the favourite  Dramatic childhood; lived through the Mexican revolution and polio  Escuela Nacional Preparatoria - high school she attended (prestigious)  Alejandro Gomez Aria – fell in love  While on the bus with Alejandro, they had a serious accident on a trolley o Horrific accident, impaled and broken bones o Life altering accident - 30 operations in her life  Accident led to painting – she drew because she couldn’t leave the bed  She drew from personal experiences (⅓ self-portraits) o Physical pain was apparent in her painting (psychological also)  Surrealist Paintings - release the creativity of the unconscious mind  Andre Breton – founder of surrealist, invited her out to France and bought her paintings  Her paintings were influenced by indigenous Mexican culture – bright colors, dramatic symbolism, and monkeys were featured (originally conveyed as lust/she interpreted them as tenderness)  Diego Rivera – famous mural painter o He encouraged and helped Kahlo o Her relationship with Alejandro ended and they married  She had many affairs  Her painting ‘roots’ sold for 5.6 million dollars  Died after her 47th birthday following a year of bad health o Never recovered from an infection from an amputation o May have been from a morphine overdose  Became better known after her death, 1970’s Part 2 Constructing Canadian identity through art  High vs. Low Culture o High Culture - cultural products referred to products associated with upper class (opera, painting, ballet) o Low Culture - culture of the masses (Music, kitten videos on YouTube) o Every social class consumes both high and low culture  Group of Seven (High culture)  Before internet and television, art was the expression of identity o Tom Thomson - most famous painter of the group (not a member)  Influenced by JEH MacDonald  1912 – completed a series of sketches and paintings on a fishing trip  1913 - Northern Lake painting was sold to Canadian Government  Started a style that brought prominence to the group of seven  “Canadian style of painting”

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 1917 - his body was found floating in a river… it is still a mystery  Time of death - left behind 50 canvases and 300 sketches  He was stereotyped as the archetypal Canadian Group was founded in 1920 o Franklin Carmichael o Lawren Harris (independently wealthy) o A.Y. Jackson o Frank Johnson o Arthur Lismer o JEH MacDonald o Frederick Varley Rebelled against 1970 constraints of romantic naturalism o They thought the art was too similar to European art Thought that land was most important and eliminated human population - supported by the National Gallery of Canada They developed their art similarly as they worked closely together 1933 - group has disbanded Attempted to pain the Canadian metanarrative - ‘a big story’ that tried to explain the Canadian Identity or character Canada as a northern wilderness is an important myth of Canadian identity, the group represented this Canada First Movement - 19th century intellectuals trying to explain the Canadian Identity. Constructed the U.S. as degenerate and racist (Canada was naturally superior) o “A Britain of the north” o The fusion of ideas: north, nature, land, and race, used to racialize what it means to be Canadian o Canadian nature was seen as a natural selection that kept the negro out of Canada, keeping us strong The Canadian identity was created through 19th century art. Its northerness was not American and its wilderness was not European

Part 3 Constructing Mexican Identity through Art

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Mexico was dominated in the late 19th earliest 20th by Diaz, which led to the shaping of identity through art

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Gerardo Murillo Coronado (Dr. Atl) o Mexican art should represent Mexican life o Painted the first Mexican mural o In sync with Mexican revolution Mexican government overthrown was in sync with a physical and cultural rebellion that was represented in his art. Leading artists in mural movement (Los Tres Grandes) Marxism - focuses on class relations on societal conflict o Jose Clemente Orozco - fought in revolution (human suffering of revolution paintings) o David Alfaro Siqueiros - fought in revolution (radical paintings)  Was a communist, workin o Diego Rivera - never experienced revolution (social benefits of revolution paintings) o Their experience in the revolution shapes their art

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PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) secured power in 1921 and for 70 years Jose Vasconcelos - appointed secretary of public education o Government should support large murals for social products (i.e. revolution would be glorified) o Used art to push social goals on the public (murals) o Mexican art should be public Had Marxist elements in their work Great national myths created by the murals are still influential today o At the time they were a form of healing Los Tres Grande spent time painting in America Art shaped a sense of Mexican identity Revolution for Mexico was similar to wilderness for Canada

Part 4 Consuming and Protecting Culture  Difficult to define Canada: it’s never just one thing (race, language, etc)  Canada as a nation in transition  Particular Canadian to concern to protect identity  Five Categories of Canadian Folk Music - Maritime Canada, Newfoundland, Western Canada, First Nations  Culture as a commodity - Canada has a trade in balance with the U.S.  The International Network on Cultural Policy Canto de Familia  Mariachi - expresses the motion of feelings and culture  Fear of mariachi dying out - Mexicans look to preserve it Is diversity a barrier in the construction of national identity? What do music concerts tell us about Canadian identity? Readings Summary Livaid:  Modern Nation States use cultural images to tell the story of who we are (Canada as benevolent, helper, peacekeeping)  These hegemonic ideas of the nation mask ethnocentric norms, values, and interests Mariachi  Mariachi is a symbol that is represented by the blood (Mestizo), sweat (working the land) and tears (men experiencing heartbreak by a woman)  Mulholland is promoting the reader to question authenticity and consider a vision of what might be a ‘false Mexico’. What is an invented tradition?...