Reviews of Two Art-related Videos

     The title of the video, The Great Wave (from "Films on Demand"), captured my attention.  It focused on Hokusai's print by this name.  It is one print in a series by this artist called 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, done in the early 1800's.  Mt. Fuji is an important image in Japanese art, as it is the highest mountain in Japan and is awe-inspiring.  The perspective of the mountain in this particular print is exceptional.  It almost looks like another wave in the distance.  The boaters in the drawing are possibly about to perish in the great wave, so this is a dramatic, fearful setting.  The image is somewhat symbolic, which is evidenced in part by the claw-like ends of the curled waved which seem to be about to snag the boaters.  The video provides more details about the importance of Japanese prints as art in this time period.
     Our text, Living with Art, 10th Ed. by Mark Getlein features a few examples of Hokusai's work and discusses his life.  It does not examine The Great Wave, so the video provides a fuller analysis of the work of this great artist.
     African Art: Legacy of Oppression is another video from "Films on Demand."  I wanted to understand the meaning behind this title.  The video comments on the irony of a large collection of art from the central Africa being housed at the Belgium's Tervuren Museum, since Belgians colonized this region in the late 1800's and brutalized some of the people.  The art is as varied as the many cultures it represents.  It includes some masks.  These were used for a variety of purposes such as supposedly interacting with the dead, attempting to scare Westerners, and to teach important values such as respect for disabled and sick individuals.
     Much art from Africa exemplifies the fact that non-representational art can be used to communicate important ideas, emotions, and values.  Our text comments that "the arts of Africa challenge us to expand our ideas about what art is, what forms it can take, what impulses it springs from, and what purposes it serves," (Getlein, 418).  The text also mentions another instance where Westerners took African art back with them after attacking one area (Getlein 419).  It explains about some types of masks used in masquerades.  The video provides a close look at some artwork from Africa that the text does not feature.