Video Blog Review

The Lowdown on Lowbrow: West Coast Pop Art

Lowbrow art is reactionary style to the highbrow culture. Originally this art depicted cars and naked women. Artist Robert Williams coined the phrase Low Brow Art in his book published in 1979. B rated movies, car culture, surf scene, Malibu Beach Scene, McCarthyism and the threat of Communism were all inspiration for this type of art. Ed Roth, Von Dutch and Robert Williams are the three big representative artists of this style. Low Brow always has a narrative associated with that type of work. During the 50s and 60s the Tiki theme was big and these artists pulled this style into the Low Brow art.

There doesn't seem to be any Low Brow art in permanent museum collections. These artists created their own scene and put on their own art shows. Over the last ten years Low brow art has gained recognition and acceptance. The growth and value of this type of art has been growing by leaps and bounds. Robert Williams is now in demand where as 20 yrs ago no one would even show his art. Low Brow is now basically called Pop Surrealism and is being seen as real art.

Displaying Modern Art: The Tate Approach

During the first year it was opened, there have been 4 million visitors making it the most famous Modern Art Museum in the world. When the MOMA was opned in 1929, the art was displayed in chronilogical order, on white walls using flexible lighting. During the 1970s, the art came off the walls and became busy and noisy. Gender, ethnicity and sexuality roles in the acceptance of artworks was looked at. Tate Modern had to come up with a different way to display art. They decided to display art in four sections, each section will provide a theme for works of art. Landscape, still life, history and the nude are the themes which link directly to the genre of art from the 17^th century french academy. The Tate approach does not display art in chronological order and will often have an abrupt transition between pieces and artists. This type of display allows viewers to have no knowledge of art and is used as an inferior form of entertainment. The exhibits are set up so that people will not get bored , kind of like channel surfing on the TV. The pieces are set up so that they compliment and transition to the next piece being viewed. Hanging art thematically it encourages a type of viewing that can leap out and thought of less as a narrative. Anything being viewed that requires a lot of concentrated effort had to be avoided.

Bones of Contention: Native American Archeology

During the US genocide against Indians over the past 150 years bones have been collected and Anthropologists wonder whether or not these bones should be returned to the Native Americans. Roadwork in Iowa relieved a cemetery, 26 Anglo people were re-buried but one Native American and her baby were sent back for study. Maria a Sioux claims this is discrimination. Iowa ended up passing a law protecting Indian remains. David Van Horn, archeologist, found small bones, figured they were American Indian and returned him. He was then arrested for having these bones in his possession. He avoided jail but lost his livelihood as a result of the prosecution. Europeans encounter burial mounds, collected the remains but thought the mound builders were too intelligent to be Native Americans. Samual Morton MD collected skulls to provide measurements that were suppose to conclude that the size of your skull was in relation to your intelligence. Over 4000 skulls of Native Americans were collected. Native Americans were seen as doomed people so collecting of their remains went on and dozens of museums were built to show the collections. Susan Harjo fights for the Native peoples objects to be returned to them. The Smithsonian held the bones of 18000 Indians. IN 1989 inventories were beginning to be taken in the museums and the remains must be given back to those tribes. Lakota world view rejects the theory that evolution and migration brought them to the Americas. The Sioux believe they emerged from the Black Hills. Repatriation requires scientists to try and determine where the bones came from and where they will go back to. Skull measurements help determine where the remains should go. Scientists try to document all the remains before they are given back to the tribes for re-burial. They also learn allot about today’s health problems by studying these remains. Researchers DNA test bones infected with Tuberculosis. They compare and contrast ancient bacterial material and use that information to help with the diseases that could be caused by that material. Burial sites remain untouched and are avoided by construction crews at all cost. The Great Plain Omaha Indians want their bones analyzed for cultural and medical reasons before returning the bones. They have figured out that change in diet has increased diabetes in these people. They found out that after the Small Pox epidemic hurt the life expectancy of women who now never lived past 30 so the population was in a decline. The Native Americans are still striving to bring their ancestors home to rest.

George Eastman House: Picture Perfect

George Eastman was the father of Photography. He was a visionary and marketing genius. He invented motion picture film. His house was turned into a Museum. Eastman created a process that made photography available to everyone. The collection contains over 400k photographs and over 25k films. The history of photography is linked to the life and home of George Eastman. His Brownie camera revolutionized photography and the motion picture film stock developed with Thomas Edison became an industry standard that is still the standard today. The Brownie was made for 70 years. The Tech collection of the Eastman house contains 16k objects, 5k of them are cameras. He strove to make the camera as convenient as using a pencil. Kodak became one of the best known brands all over the world. He made the name up, there was never a Mr. Kodak. IN 1902 Eastman started construction on his 50 room estate. Each room has some sort of musical instruments because of his love for music. There are over 62k personal artifacts found in the museum. The museum is one of the premiere movie archives in the world. In 1996 the Eastman House established the first school to teach the restoration, preservation and archiving of motion pictures. The Eastman collection is available for viewing online. He ended up taking his own life because he didn't want his disease to be his demise, he wanted to control his life and death. 

I really enjoyed the Low Brow and George Eastman videos. I never thought of Low Brow art as that, I always associated it with the Car Culture. These works are done with so much detail and imagination that its strange that it was kept in the shadows for so long. After watching the Kodak video I think the family and I will have to go and visit the museum. That Tate Museum is very interesting, I enjoy the way that they handle the art and do not just display it chronologically.  The Native American video did not peak my interest and I really didn't understand the point of watching it, what did this video have to do with our class?