Cultural Encounters

Read carefully the following piece of text. What does it tell us about cross cultural encounters?

In analysing this text and what it tells us about cross cultural encounters, we must ask

and answer several questions. What is the interpretation of the text? What do we

understand from the text? How was the text wrote? Who was it wrote by? And, is it

representative of both sides?

In interpreting the text we see that it is a piece taken from the “Trial of Chief

Ologobosheri” and it is a statement from a native witness. The witness statement seems

to back up the findings that Chief Ologobosheri is guilty. The general feel of the

statement is that the British forces are ambushed without bearing arms and consequently

defenceless against a savage force.

However we must understand how this period of history came about and who wrote it. the

trial was used by the British as a way of showing a civilised way of defending their

actions in Benin. The British culture, as raised in the text, was one of fairness and playing

a straight bat. We see this in the text “…the white man landed with plenty of boys, but

they had no guns or arms to fight with.” The interpretation being that the British had

come in peace, without bearing arms. However another interpretation could be that even

though they did not carry arms, they had come in great numbers as a show of force. The

text also interprets the Benin natives as one of savages and uncivilised, the text saying

“…the massacre took place…as they lay in the bush with guns and machetes”.

The text leans towards the culture of the British, in the trial, as one of innocent until

proven guilty. It’s interpretation is that the British came in peace and by fair means.

However the statement given by the Benin native is one of barbarism in refusing to listen

to the message of the white man and massacring defenceless men.

However we must also look at who wrote this text and was it a fair representation of both

sides? Clearly it is a statement which shows the cross cultural differences between the

British and Benin peoples. What it also shows is a weighted biased towards the British

occupancy of Benin. It shows the British as civil, fair and cultured. Whilst the Benin

people are seen as savage and primitive. It is seen as a trial to show British fair play and

civility, innocent until proven guilty. However even though it is described as a trial “…it

is not conducted according to any formal body of law” (The Art of Benin, Book 3, ch 1,

1.7). The trial was conducted by the British and a verdict given within one day and swift

punishment taken. Clearly we can see the text and trial as not being representative of both

sides and was used to hand down punishment and show to the world British cultural

civility against a barbaric force.

How did the idea about race and the primitive influence art from Benin after 1897?

Within the following essay I will demonstrate how race and the primitive influenced the

way the attitude of the west changed after Benin in 1897. The essay will identify and

answer the questions. How was Benin seen prior to 1897? And how did the primitive

influence Western European thought after 1897?

In 1897 the British invaded Benin, upon entering Benin City they came across

outstanding works of craftsmanship and art. These artefacts were taken back to Britain

and sold to museums, private collectors, art historians and scholars. Since the invasion of

1897 European attitudes have changed significantly towards this Benin art.

When Benin art was first brought back to Britain it was a matter of debate. Prior to 1897

little was known of the Africa’s and their culture. The natives were seen as uncivilised

and primitive. John Ruskin, a Victorian critic, had said that there was no “pure and

precious ancient art” in Africa. (Ruskin 1897 p12). Indeed art was seen in the nineteenth

century as an area reserved for European Christian tradition. Fine art was seen as a

representation, “through painting and sculpture as the believable illusions of figure in

coherent space”. (The Art of Benin : Arts Past and Present p61). Indeed non western and

non Christian cultures were seen as primitive and to some extent savage and beyond

artistic thought. However the bronzes and carvings brought back from Benin were of

excellent craftsmanship and as such the thinking of the western art world began to

change. In an extract from The Times, after an exhibition of bronze plaques at the British

Museum in 1897 says”…the technical perfection of the work, are surprising evidence of

the skill of the Benin native (Loftus and Wood 2008 p79).

With the birth of the avant garde movement came more challenges towards the nineteenth

century view of race and the primitive in relation to art. Challenges to the pre existent

view of the Christian white bourgeois values as the representation of fine art. The avant

garde movement took the primitive as their subject of idiom and art became an education

through history, geography and cultural awareness. African art had a huge impact on

modern art, with famous avant garde artists such as Matisse and Picasso being influenced

by what they encountered. The influence of the primitive is very apparent in some of their

works. We can see this influence with African masks in Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles

d’Avignon”. Since 1897 avant garde artists have come across a variety of primitive

African artwork that has caused great interest, “Picasso himself was overwhelmed by a

visit to the Trocadero Museum.” (Loftus and Wood 2008 p59). There developed a link

between bourgeois hypocrisy and those who were seen as primitive and unfortunate in the

undeveloped poor. Art with distortion, as seen in Benin art, through avant garde ideology

can be viewed as an extension of non conformist ideas. In that deep truths, feelings and

emotions are seen. However Benin art was not without flaw and as such gave argument to

the purist’s in the art world. When we talk of this subject, we must add that the avant

garde movement looked upon African art as a means to extend their own artistic intellect.

The movement was mixing art with the unknown and the “magical powers ascribed to

African carvings …by tapping into the power of the primitive fetish”. (Art of Benin 2.2

p70).

The educational aspect to the Benin art cannot be underestimated. The art brought

different cultures together. Through the artwork Britain was given an insight into the life

of a different society. One of culture, artistic temperament and intelligence. Consequently

changing the attitudes of the past from that of savagery and barbarism. In museums Benin

and other African artefacts were displayed along side other forms of media all dedicated

to explaining the primitive forms of life. However those avant garde artists influenced by

African primitive art did not take in the historical aspect of the work they admired and

how this art functioned in the culture of its African society. For the avant garde

movement the Benin art acted as a stimulus for the expression of their own art. What we

can say is that the avant garde movement raised the profile of African art after 1897.

“The concept of art that is to say was largely reserved for the Europeans” (Loftus and

Wood 2008, p61). Many sophisticated cultures were not seen as properly producing art in

the western sense so primitive Africa was not even mentioned. Nowadays this outlook is

completely different, arts are welcome from all cultures. Since 1897 Benin and other

African art have played a key role in the history and culture of Europe. Benin art began

influencing artists such as Picasso which began a different movement bringing more

interest and attention in African art. European attitudes have drastically changed towards

Benin art.

To conclude we can say that Benin art extended the thought process

of what art should be defined as. The influence of African art began to gain speed once

the barriers of race and the primitive came down. In bringing down these barriers and

seeing the collection for what it was - art. We extended our knowledge of world history

and culture.

Sources.

Ruskin (1897).

Loftus and Wood (2008)

The Art of Benin (Open University 2010)