Page 237 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

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Bravmann, R. (1983). African Islam.Washington, DC: Smithsonian Insti- tall as a man and as broad as a temple column. The
tution Press. drama of these monuments is generated by an unbeliev-
Cole, H. C., & Ross, D. H. (1977). The arts of Ghana. Los Angeles:
Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California at Los able transformation in scale and is delivered to the viewer
Angeles. by a shocking disconnection between the expected and
Colleyn, J.-P. (Ed.). (2001). Bamana: The art of existence in Mali. New
York: Museum for African Art. the experienced. The great Dipylon pots are uniquely
Coulson, D., & Campbell, A. (2001). African rock art: Paintings and valuable for understanding the most basic principles of
engravings on stone. New York: Harry N. Abrams. Greek monumentality, because they represent first
Enwezor, O. (Ed.). (2001). The short century: Independence and liberation
movements in Africa, 1945–1994. Munich, Germany: Prestel Verlag attempts. First attempts are significant because they rep-
and Museum Villag Stuck. resent conscious choices, not simply the repetition of tra-
Eyo, E., & Willett, F. (1980). Treasures of ancient Nigeria. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, in association with the Detroit Institute of Arts. dition. And wherever conscious choice can be isolated
Ezra, K. (1992). The royal art of Benin:The Perls Collection in the Metro- there is the opportunity of uncovering meaning, for the
politan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. question can be profitably asked,“Why did they solve the
Garlake, P. (2002). Early art and architecture of Africa. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press. problem in this particular manner?” The master of the
Hassan, S., & Oguibe, O. (2001). Authentic ex-centric: Conceptualism in first giant Dipylon pot asked himself the question,“How
contemporary African art. Ithaca, NY: Forum for African Arts.
Heldman, M., & Munro-Hay, S. C. (1993). African Zion: The sacred art can I best design a monument that is suitable for mark-
of Ethiopia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ing and acknowledging the most profound of human
Kasfir,S.L.(1999).ContemporaryAfrican art. London:Thames & Hudson. transitions and transformations, from life to death, from
Nettleton,A., & Hammond-Tooke, D. (Eds.). (1989). African art in south-
ern Africa. From tradition to township. Johannesburg, South Africa: flesh and blood to spiritual, from ephemeral to everlast-
Ad. Donker. ing?” His answer was to create a monument that embod-
Oguibe, O., & Enwezor, O. (Eds.). (1999). Reading the contemporary:
African art from theory to the marketplace. London: Institute of Inter- ied a similarly incomprehensible transformation, both
national Visual Arts. physical and functional, whose drama disorients the
Phillips,T. (Ed.). (1995). Africa:The art of a continent. Munich, Germany: viewer, takes the viewer out of any normal, everyday
Prestel Verlag.
Sieber, R., & Walker, R. A. (1988). African art in the cycle of life. Wash- frame of reference—transforms the viewer, and speaks
ington, DC: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution through unambiguous metaphor of the passage from one
Press.
Visona, M., Poyner, R., Cole, H. M., & Harris, M. D. (2001). A history state of being to the next.The transformation in scale and
of art in Africa. New York: Harry N. Abrams. function of these great Dipylon pots lifts them out of the
realm of everyday utility and into a higher, more sym-
bolic, more universal realm. Their common reference to
Homeric heroes in their painted decoration further mon-
Art—Ancient umentalizes these pots, further elevates them beyond the

everyday.
Greece and Rome
Transformative Power
he earliest monumental creations of classical Greece and the Greek Temple
Tare the eighth-century BCE grave markers found in A similar conception of monumentality is expressed in
the Dipylon cemetery on the outskirts of ancient Athens. Greek temple architecture, through the monumental
Their forms were familiar to everyone and had been for transformation of the temple in the early seventh century
centuries as ordinary household pots used for storing BCE from a thatched and mud hut to a solid stone and
food or mixing and decanting wine and water.Yet in their terra-cotta colossus.This transformation first takes place
new context and in the hand of a truly inspired designer in Corinth, which develops a distinctive style of pre-Doric
the experience created by them was of the very highest monumental architecture that gradually evolves into the
drama: These are not normal kitchen pots.They stand as first full-fledged representative of the Doric order, the