assignment on map of art hiistory

[shivani sanghai]

 

THE MAP OF ART HISTORY

THIS ESSAY IS ABOUT ART HISTORY BEING CONSTITUTED THROUGH ORDER , HISTORY , SPACE AND TIME , AND IN RETURN CONSTITUTING VARIOUS OBJECTS , NARRATIVES AND PEOPLES. IT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD THROUGH VARIOUS CLASSIFICATIONS ...... THE THREE WHICH ARE MENTIONED IN THIS ESSAY ARE :-

A GRID OF FIELDS OF ART HISTORY

A LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION OF ART HISTORY

THE PLOTTING OF TIME AND SPACE IN ART HISTORY SURVEY BOOKS

LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION HAS ORDER BOTH INDIVIDUALLY ( IN A SINGLE ITS THE WRITTEN DISCOURSE WHICH MATTERS) AND COLLECTIVELY ( ITS THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF A GROUP OF BOOKS WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN THE ENTIRE TEXT) – THUS MEETING THE HUMAN NEEDS AND BEING CONVENIENT FOR THEM TO USE . OPEN STACK POLICIES , LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CLASSIFICATION, COMPUTERIZATION AND RAPIDLY EVOLVING INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS ARE ALL METHODS WHICH INCULCATES THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND HELPS TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION MORE EFFICIENTLY.

CLASSIFICATION CAN ALSO BE DERIVED FROM VALUES OF DIFFERENT SOCIETIES AND THEREFORE IT IS DIFFERENT FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES.

HOWEVER FOR SOME , CLASSIFICATION IS ALL ABOUT THE FORMATION OF GROUPS AND ARRANGEMENT OF THESE HIERARCHICALLY. IT NEED NOT HAVE A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN LOGIC BEHIND IT BUT IT SHOULD HAVE CONCEPTS OF THE PRESENT LIKE SOCIAL , CULTURAL , POLITICAL , RELIGIOUS INORDER TO CHOOSE TO CLASSIFY.

CLASSIFICATION IS ALSO BASED ON GEOGRAPHICAL ORDERING , DONE BY SUB-DIVISONS AND INDIVIDUAL STATES THEN ARRANGING THEMSELVES ALPHABETICALLY .

CLASSIFICATION CAN ALSO BE CONNECTION OF ART BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH NATIONALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY THOUGH CULTURAL PATRIMONY. EG. ENGLISH GOTHIC, ENGLISH RENAISSANCE, ETC. THUS CLASSIFICATION CRAETES A LINEAR HISTORY FOR THE STATE .

WITH THE COMING UP OF THE ELECTRONIC LIBRARAY NEW CATEGORIES AND VARIOUS INTERRELATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE BUT THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN IF WE DO NOT MERELY DIGITISE OUR PRESENT INTO OUR FUTURE.

HOWEVER IN CASE OF SURVEY BOOKS , THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE "CHRONOLOGICAL ANOMALIES" ARE NOT DONE ARIBITARILY NOR IS IT UNPRECEDENTED BUT IT FOLLOWS A DISCIPLINARY TRADITION. BASICALLY WHAT HAPPENS IN THE CASE OF THESE ARRANGEMENTS THERE IS A NARRATION THAT LEADS TO AND CULMINATES IN THE PRESENT AND HELPS IN UNDERSTANDING IT.

HOWEVER AT TIMES THERE IS AN ADJUSTMENT MADE TO TIME AND SPACE OF THAT STRUCTURE WHICH LEADS TO APPEARANCE OR DISAPPEARNCE OR MOVEMENT OF CERTAIN CIVILIZATIONS . THIS IS CALLED A LINEAR NARRATIVE , WHERE MARGINALISATION IS ACCOMPLISHED BY SHIFTING A CIVILISATION OUT OF THE DIRECT CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCE.

SPACE IS ALSO ANOTHER DEVICE IN NARRATION . THERE IS A SPACE OF THE AUTHOR, THE SUBJECT DICUSSES THE POINT OF VIEW AND A SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT WHICH THE AUTHOR GIVES TO WHAT HE IS NARRATING. HOWEVER IN THIS CASE THE AUTHOR MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT GIVE OUT A DIRECT RELATION OF HIMSELF WITH HIS TEXTS , THERE MIGHT JUST BE CLUES , OR HE MIGHT AT TIMES WANT TO BRIEF THE READER ABOUT HIS NARRATION.

THUS HISTORY BECOMES A PLATFORM FOR THE OBSERVER TO IMPART TO THE ACTIONS HE HAS OBSERVED AND RELATE HIMSELF WITH THAT VERY OBJECT. THEREFORE WE KNOW THAT HISTORY ITSELF STAGES EVENTS AND FORMS PLOTS AND THE HISTORIAN IS JUST A SPECTATOR LIKE ANYBODY ELSE .

CLASSIFICATION AND MAPPING DEVICES ARE USED FOR DESCRIBING HIERARCHY AND DIFFERENCES AND THEY EXIST THROUGH ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT TIME AND ITS NARRATIVE, HISTORY. THEY CLASSIFY EVERYTHING FROM OBJECTS, TEXTS, TO SCHOLARS OR VIEWERS AND ALL THESE ARE ACCORDING TO THEIR PRINCIPLES.

IN THIS ESSAY THE AUTHOR HAS QUESTIONED WHETHER ANY DIFFERENCE OCCURS IN ART HISTORY WHEN WE ABANDON A LINEAR HISTORICAL TIME FROM IT OR WHICH AND WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE TIME THAT SHOULD BE FOLLOWED. SIMILARLY IF WE ARE REFERING TO THE PAST THEN WHO IS THE ONE WE HAVE TO REFER TO ? IS IMITATION OF ANOTHER CULTURE A RESPONSE TO CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTULIZATION . THUS HE CONCLUDES BY SAYING THAT SPACE TENDS TO BE MORE RIGID, DEAD AND UNDIALECTICAL THAN TIME WHICH HAS ITS OWN RICHNESS, LIFE AND DIALECTIC.

THUS WE CAN SAY ART HISTORY ENGAGES MANY SPACES SUCH AS AESHTETIC , ARCHITECTURAL , URBAN , SOCIAL , RELIGIOUS , POLITICAL EACH HAVING A DIFFERENT SPATIAL NARRATION. IT IS BASED ON FORM , FUNCTION , MEANING , SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT AS WELL AS TIME AND SPACE.

THUS MAP OF ART HISTORY IS DRAWN BY THE MODERN, THE NATIONAL AND THE EURO-AMERICAN AND BY THEIR CULTURALLY DERIVED SENSES OF ORDER , CLASSIFICATION, AND SYSTEM . BUT THE QUESTION LIES WHICH WILL OVERPOWER - "WORLD WIDE WEB" OR THE "WORLD WIDE MAP" OR WILL THE "WWM" JUST REMAKE THE "WWW" IN ITS OWN IMAGE ?

TIME, SPACE , SOCIETY , ECONOMY AND ORDER AS WELL AS ART HISTORY – ANSWER

shivani