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An approach to the study of cross-cultural art is presented, based on the universal-relative dialectic that exists between cross-cultural artistic commonalities and differences. Universal artistic themes, qualities, and functions can be attributed to a common fund of basic human experiences. Differences among cross-cultural art forms can be attributed to the variable shapes of consciousness that develop from environmental and cultural experiences.
All groups of people defined as constituting a culture produce and respond to objects exhibiting an embelishment of form that goes beyond utiUtarian functions. The ubiquity of art suggests that art curricula should incorporate the study of cross-cultural and historic art forms. In this paper it will be proposed that a cross-cultural study of art can serve to reveal basic similarities among all peoples as well as striking variations that result from different cultural shapes of consciousness. Based on a delineation of humans' universal fund of basic biological and world experiences and on their culture-specific shaping of such experiences, a rationale will be presented for studying art in both its universal and relative manifestations.
Art literature is rife with intimations that art speaks a universal language, that it transcends the exigencies of time and space, and that it binds us together in our common humanity (Mukerjee, 1954; Read, 1965). Conversely, one also finds, although perhaps less commonly, criticisms of broad claims for aesthetic universalism (Chalmers, 1978; Kampf, 1973). These latter critics believe that the assumption that art cuts across cultural boundaries has obscured the rich diversity of artistic meanings and has often resulted in the ignoring of art forms and life styles outside major Western cultures. To be fully appreciated, art needs to be understood within the context of its originating culture's values, symbolism, and functions.
Rather than opting for either of these opposing views or even working toward, a reconciliation between them, I am proposing that both perspectives on art are equally correct and that both should be strongly maintained in any cross-cultural study of art. Art reveals what is universal to human existence; it can be responded to on a pan social level. Also, art is relative to a particular culture; it can be studied in all the complexity of its cultural meanings and functions. In this paper it is...