Contemporary Art and Anthropology

by Christopher Wright

This book takes an innovative approach to representational practices within contemporary art and anthropology. Traditionally the anthropology of art has tended to focus on the interpretation of tribal artifacts, but has not considered the impact such art could have on its own ways of making and presenting work. The potential for the contemporary art scene to suggest innovative representational practices has been similarly ignored. This book challenges the reluctance that exists within anthropology to pursue alternative strategies of research, creation and exhibition, and argues that contemporary artists and anthropologists have much to learn from each others practices.

Genres: Anthropology

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2006

About the author

Christopher Wrightb is a distinguished art historian, who specialises in seventeenth-century painting and is a world authority on Vermeer. He graduated from the University of Leeds and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and has subsequently written over twenty volumes. He has also published articles in many art periodicals including The Burlington Magazine.