A formação das colecções de arte: uma perspectiva histórica

Padrões de hibridização artística nos primórdios do
processo de mundialização:
1.
minorias culturais;
2.
parcerias culturais;
3.
contactos culturais controlados;
4.
colisões culturais;
5.
núcleos da globalização (metrópoles cosmopolitas e cidades
portuárias intercontinentais).
Notion of “Culture”
1. Culture can be defined as a rich dynamic process of social learning,
simultaneously homogeneous (cultural common ground) and
heterogeneous (cultural diversity), referring to human “attitudes,
mentalities and values” expressed in “artefacts, practices and
representations”.
2. It is permanently created, and recreated through the incremental
accumulation and recycling of meanings and symbols and through
social interaction in a web of relationships of people living
permanently or temporarily, in a shared space.
3. It functions in such a way that people are simultaneously shaped
by culture and are responsible for shaping it.
Notion of “(inter)cultural exchange”
1. It is also a dynamic phenomenon, involving (unequal) reciprocity
through which knowledge, practices, religious beliefs, objects
(including artworks) and people are adapted to new cultural
milieus, which implies diverse processes of métissage, syncretism,
de-contextualisation and re-contextualisation.
Notion of “artistic hybridization”
1. Results either from an original and unstable combination of two (or
more) different artistic cultures in a new work of art, or from the
creative imitation of a foreign artistic production in a new cultural
context, which implies adaptation and reconfiguration of materials,
production techniques, iconography, forms and meanings.
2. This approach does not deny that all (artistic) cultures are “hybrid”
and that pure identity is either a “fiction” or an “aberration”. It
does however consider that sudden or violent intercultural contacts
provide substantial cultural clashes, particularly in intercontinental
contexts, inducing abrupt perceptions of cultural homogenisation,
both in relation to the culture of the “self” and to the culture of the
“other”.
Main patterns of artistic hybridization
1.
2.
3.
4.
Systematise the main patterns of artistic hybridization developed in different contexts
of interaction during the early protoglobalization period, particularly intercontinental
contacts between widely disparate cultures.
The main factor influencing the development of these patterns lies in power relations
between two parties with relevant cultural differences, suddenly confronted with each
other’s alterity as in Urs Bitterli, Cultures in Conflict. Encounters between
European and Non-Euroepan cultures, 1492-1800, 1993 (1ª ed. 1986).
In this balance of power, between symmetric or asymmetric relations, there are three
possible settings: (i) the two parties have equivalent positions; (ii) one party has a
dominant position; and (iii), consequently, the other party has a minor position.
From here emerge the three main patterns of artistic hybridity: the partnership pattern;
the controlled contact pattern; and the minority culture pattern. There are variations in each of
these patterns, depending on the degree of cultural differences between partners,
(as)symmetry of forces involved in their (confrontational) interactions, the moment
and location where these interactions take place, the degree of acceptance (or
rejection) that these parties have of each other’s cultures, and the individuals and
groups on each side who participate more actively in the interaction process.
Main patterns of artistic hybridization: some observations
1.
2.
3.
This tripartite typology of artistic hybridization must be handled with caution.
First off, these three patterns seldom arise in a pure state. On the contrary, they
mingle and overlap. Also, most of the intercultural relations developed overseas
were multilateral and plural phenomena rather than just bilateral and singular.
Secondly, in intercultural processes the identities of the parties involved can be
remarkably fluid according to the circumstances, moving back and forth
between distinct identities and promoting occasional or strategic practices of
adaptation, particularly in the case of sea-merchants, temporary migrants,
renegades, religious minorities and mixed race people.
Finally, the relations between cultures are not between homogeneous entities
but rather between heterogeneous individuals who have different social and
cultural hierarchical positions in their own societies.
Main patterns of artistic hybridization: some observations
1.
2.
Some of these questions are dealt with by two other typologies that
complement those mentioned before.
One deals with cases where a “cultural collision” occurs. It refers to situations
where the cultural balance of power is extremely unequal and violent, favouring
the newcomers against the natives who have to face severe cultural impositions.
The destructive impact of such hegemonic interaction demands a careful search
for signs of cultural resistance, resilience, syncretism, subversion and revival in
local artistic creations, as well as a careful analysis of its effect on the art of the
“occupiers”. Spanish Latin America, Portuguese India and Dutch Indonesia
provide models for study of this pattern based on violent colonial power
enforcement.
Main patterns of artistic hybridization: some observations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Another pattern refers to global intercultural hubs of the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries, where all the previous patterns can occur simultaneously
in various degrees and proportions.
In these hubs multiple cultural inputs were interweaved, encouraging not only
the emergence of eclectic, hybrid and concurrent artistic expressions, but also
the paradoxical materialisation of “global visual currencies”, such as the one
developed by the Jesuits.
In these hubs, early seventeenth century Dutch paintings could be displayed in
a Batavian household side by side with Chinese hanging scroll paintings.
Sierra Leone rulers could live in Portuguese-style houses filled with furniture,
rugs, tapestries, clothing and precious tableware of global provenance.
In Brazilian missions, Christian rituals could be performed by priests and
Indians wearing Chinese silks or cotton cloths from India.
In Goa, houses were built in the Iberian style while being equipped and
decorated in the Indian manner, which included tanks for swimming.
Also in Goa, churches were filled with images combining Hindu and Christian
traditions and iconography, with relevant compositional inputs from Flemish
mannerist engravings.
Minority culture pattern
Minority culture pattern
1. The minority culture pattern of artistic hybridization refers to the
interaction between a majority culture, or “host culture”, and a
minority culture, or “guest culture” in a domestic territory.
2. With time, this uneven relationship can lead to either the
absorption of the latter into the former (a process of acculturation
that led to assimilation), or to its exclusion when their
incompatibility reaches an extreme.
3. Minority cultures resisted absorption into the dominant cultures
mainly by keeping a different religion and language, by living in
separate quarters and through endogamic marriage, as well as by
participating in collective memory festivals and commemorations,
and through complex processes of cultural negotiation.
Mamluk
Sultanate:
1250-1517
Mosque Lamp. Egypt or Syria, Mamluk period,
c.1354-61. Enamelled and gilt glass . H. 35 cm;
Diam. 31 cm. Gulbenkian Museum.
Bottle, c.1300, Mamluk period, Egypt or
Syria, Gilded and enameled glass. H. 40cm.
Gulbenkian Museum.
Stem cup. Mamluk Syria or Egypt.
Enamelled and gilded glass..Early 14th
century. H. 29,3cm. Bought in China
c.1900. British Museum. 1924.1-25.1
Brass bowl, engraved
and inlaid in silver and
gold, Iran (Fārs), 14th
century.
Museo Nazionale del
Bargello, Florence, Inv.
Bronzi 7161
Taça, Pérsia, 1305
(actualmente em
Modena)
Basin. Beaten brass inlaid with silver, gold and black compound. Fârz (Iran), 1347-48.
Diameter 18.2 cm. Height: 11.8 cm. Lyon, Musée des Beaux Arts ( E542-22).
Dish, stoneware with green 'celadon' glaze,
Longquan kilns, China, 14th century. . V&A
(C.1-1940).
YEMEN
Rasulid dynasty: 1249-1441/54
Tahirid dynasty: 1454-1517
(Dish with fish motif). Design based on Chinese celadons. Victoria and Albert Museum, C 10-1947, c.
1450-1550 (Irão, Nishapur? ou Tabriz?). Fritware with moulded decoration and a green glaze.
“Fish-pond” plate. Glazed fritware. Kashan (Iran), 13th-14th centuries. Diameter 12.8
cm. Height: 4.5 cm. Jerusalem, Israel Museum ( B56.07.1779).
Dish with fish pond decoration. Iran, beg. of 14th c. CE. Fritware, overglaze low-fired
technique with gilding, developed earlier by Seljuk ceramicists. Louvre (Inv. OA 6430)
Dish with fish motif. Iran or Egypt, 14th c. (15th?) CE. Design based on Chinese celadons. (British
Museum ME OA G.284)
Plate with fish-pond decoration. Iran, c.1300. Fritware,
low-fired, gilded decoration over translucent colored
glaze. Louvre (Inv. OA 6456 ). 35,3cmx7,3cm.
BL, Oriental 2211, ff. 1v-2. Yemen, Sanaa, 1475
Hebrew Bible. Lisbon, c.1490. Paris, Bibliothèque
National de France, Ms Hebr. 15, fol. 374v.
Book of Hours. Naples, c.1460. Master of the Seven
Joys of Mary. Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum,
MS Ludwig IX 12, fol. 250v.
BL. Harley 5698 f. 11v.-12. Introdução à Mishneh Torah.
HSA, Bíblia, MS B 241, fols. 160 (dir), Cercadura A, e 131 (esq), Cercadura C
HSA, Bíblia, MS B 241: fol. 131 (esq), Cercadura C (ext) e Cercadura B (int)
Foral de Ponte de Lima, 1511.
Initial and initial-words with acanthus extensions
Lisbon Bible - British Library, Oriental 2626, f. 117.
Initial -word
Leal conselheiro e Livro de enssynança de bem
cavalgar BnF, Portugais 5, f. 4v
Acanthus borders inhabited by animals: peacocks, birds, lions, dragons
Book of hours D. Duarte ANTT, C. F. 140, f. 78
Pentateuch, Haftarot and the Five Scrolls
British Library, Additional 15283, f. 2.
Similar style of colour and decorative motifs
Livro de Horas , uso cisterciense
BNP, Iluminado 205, f. 23
Lisbon Bible - British Library, Oriental 2626, f. 5
Similar style of colour and decorative motifs
Book of hours, BNP, Iluminado 205, f. 10
Siddur, BnF, MS Hébreu 592, f. 33v