Research Catalog

Title

Seeing the inside : bark painting in western Arnhem Land / Luke Taylor.

Author

Taylor, Luke.

Publication

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 283 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

Seeing the Inside is the first detailed study of one of the world's great visual art traditions, and its role in the society that produces it. The bark painting of Aboriginal artists in western Arnhem Land is the product of a unique legacy of many thousands of years' duration. In recent years' it has attracted enormous interest in the rest of Australia and beyond, with the result that the artists, who live primarily as hunters in this relatively secluded region of northern Australia, now paint for sale to the world art market. Though the richness and power of Aboriginal arts are now, belatedly, finding wide recognition, they remain insufficiently understood. In this thoroughly illustrated book Luke Taylor examines the creative methods of the bark painters and the cultural meaning of their work. He discusses, on the one hand, the arrangements that allow the artists to project their culture onto an international stage, and on the other, the continuing social and religious roles of their paintings within their own society. The result is a remarkable and fascinating picture of artistic creativity in a changing world.

Series Statement

• Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology
• Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology. Cultural forms

Uniform Title

• Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology.
• Oxford studies in social and cultural anthropology. Cultural forms.

Subject

• Painting, Aboriginal Australian > Australia > Arnhem Land (N.T.)
• Bark painting > Australia > Arnhem Land (N.T.)
• Mythology, Aboriginal Australian

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-278) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction -- 2. The Development of the Market for Bark Paintings in Western Arnhem Land -- 3. Kunwinjku Social Organization and Land Ownership -- 4. Apprenticeship and the Social Identity of Artists -- 5. Themes and Paintings in Ceremonies -- 6. Formal Components of Bark Paintings -- 7. Iconic Representation -- 8. Transforming Figures -- 9. The Meaning of X-Ray Paintings -- 10. Metaphors and Socialization -- Conclusion: Innovation and Social Reproduction -- App. Glossary of Kunwinjku Words.

ISBN

• 0198273908
• 019823354X

LCCN

^^^96015543^

OCLC

• 35688049
• SCSB-10483175

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library