man ray, african art and the modernist lens

last week i went to ubc's museum of anthropology. i had never been and heard that it was a pretty decent gallery (and decent it was). i love arts and culture and to have the opportunity to see some of the earliest examples of it is quite humbling. i also gained a lot of appreciation for how much influence/supression first nations culture has had, especially in the canadian north west. unfortunately, though, i found the museum dense and overwhelming. there's a billion things to see, hundreds of drawers to open and inspect, and the exhibit seemed strangely organized. so that's why i'm not raving about it, but i will say, it was worth the $15 and three hours.

i did come across something i wanted to share with you, however.

unbeknownst to me, moa had the man ray, african art and the modernist lens exhibit on. i had, truthfully, never heard of man ray before and the more i read about him, the more shame i feel about this. apparently this guy was very multi-talented and considerably influential; he was a painter and a photographer and gertrude stein had her picture taken by him!

anyway, the exhibit features over 50 of his photographs (as well as several other artists) that are credited as changing how the western world viewed african art. most of the photographs feature african artifacts either alone or with people and some of the actual objects were present in the exhibit. according to the moa website, these photographs questioned the idea that these objects weren't just artifacts but pieces of art. considering most of these photographs are from the 1920's-30's, i'm sure they were challenging not only the concept of african art but were also, very likely, challenging concepts of race and equality.

the only thing that doesn't sit right with me about this exhibit, is the fact that man ray, and most of the other artists featured, were white. without seeing the exhibit, it might not sound that alarming but some of the images were quite sexual (a naked black woman poses seductively with a dark wood carving) or seemingly mocking (two guys in suits, wearing african masks, exaggerating conversation). it's probably the hyper-sensitive feminist coming out in me, but i can't help but wonder: erotisization or validation of african culture? what do you think?

in anycase - the more inappropriate the better, i like to say. the exhibit is good, it's controversial and stimulating (in so many ways). if you live in vancouver, you should definitely check it out. and if you don't, visit the man ray turst site (or google images) and check out his work!