Return to Course
Visualizing Cultural Collisions
- Visualizing Cultural Collisions
- Heroes: Leading the Clash of Titans
- Mentuemher, Egyptian prince. Early sixth century BCE. Granite. Cairo Museum.
- The Ghetty Kouros. Marble. 540-520 BCE.
- Discussion Questions:
- Carrying the Classical Hero into Modernity
- Michelangelo. David. 1501-1504. Marble.
- Discussion Questions:
- Analyzing the Nude Male Sculpture with Visual Rhetoric
- Cultural Collisions
- Discussion Questions:
- Emanuel Leutze. "Washington Crossing the Delaware." (1851) Oil painting on canvas.
- Anonymous. USSR Postal Stamp. 1988.
- Discussion Questions:
- More Heroes
- Discussion Questions:
- Discussion Questions:
- Long Life to the Victory of Chairman Mao's Art and Literature Revolutionary Line
- Discussion Questions:
- Art, Drug Trafficking, and Cultural Collisions
- Snuff Bottle with European Woman and Child
- Discussion Questions:
- Cultural Collisions in Daily Life
- Chatting over Tea
- Wu Jide (Chinese, born 1942)
- Beautiful Dream 7
- Duan Jianyu (Chinese, born 1970)
- Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo
- Ai Weiwei (Chinese, born Beijing, 1957)
- Weiqi Players
- Training at a Tianjin Girls' High School
- American: Melting Pot/Collision Course
- Bryant Baker (American, born England, 1881–1970). Pioneer Woman, 1927. Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
- Cyrus Edwin Dallin (American, 1861–1944). Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1912 (cast ca. 1922). Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.
- Alexander Phimister Proctor (American, born Canada, 1860–1950). Buckaroo, 1914 (cast 1915 or after). Denver Art Museum.
- Henry Thompson, Outfield, New York Giants, from the series Picture Cards (no. 249)
- Issued by Bowman Gum Company
- "Stan" Kostka, Touchdown Next Stop!, from the "Baseball and Football" set (R311), issued by the National Chicle Company to promote Diamond Stars Gum
- Issued by National Chicle Gum Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Red Grange, from the "Baseball and Football" set (R311), issued by the National Chicle Company to promote Diamond Stars Gum
- Issued by National Chicle Gum Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts
|
Heroes: Leading the Clash of Titans
As we said yesterday, heroes were used to define the individual and community. Today, we're going to explore heroes in visual media.
Let's begin with the ancient world and compare it with the heroes of Modernity.

Mentuemher, Egyptian prince. Early sixth century BCE. Granite. Cairo Museum.
Compare this Egyptian statue with later Greek Kurous statues.

Discussion Questions:
- Identify similarities and differences. What is the significance of the cultural overlap? What is significant about the distinctions between these two statues?
- How do these statues construct masculinity (as a cultural entity).
- What is the significance of clothing and nudity?
- Male nudity appeared in Greek art during the Geometric period (centuries before the Archaic period). This distinguishes Greek art from that of neighboring cultures (none of which allowed depictions of male nudity in art).
- What is the significance of body stance (one leg forward, arms rigidly held at the side, clenched fists, eyes forward)?
Carrying the Classical Hero into Modernity
The Renaissance marks the beginning of Modernity in Western culture.

Michelangelo. David. 1501-1504. Marble.
Michelangelo was a part of the High Renaissance in Italy. This statue carries Classical traditions into Modernity.
Discussion Questions:
- How does this statue resemble Greek and Egyptian statuary?
- How does this statue modify Classical traditions?
- How does this visual object reflect shifting personal and cultural needs?
Analyzing the Nude Male Sculpture with Visual Rhetoric
The ideal of masculinity (and humanity) generated by the male nude in sculpture and the visual art is:
- Masculinity is a NATURAL role (generated internally/biologically).
- Ironically, this is a social construction (masculinity is socially constructed as NATURAL through the male nude)!
- The male nude is the default human/default citizen.
These ideas about masculinity and humanity became paramount in cultural collisions.
- For example, Greek viewers (who associated masculinity with nudity) saw clothed sculptures as feminine (see Greek Kore statues). Thus, when Greek viewers encountered statues or images (like the Mentuemher above) perceived it as effeminate (this led to stereotypes about all non-Greeks being effeminate and Greeks being the only "true" men).
- Do we make similar cultural assumptions today?
- The perpetuation of this standard in visual art is a type of cultural collision.
Cultural Collisions
Let's look at heroic images from modern cultures and discuss the ways in which the hero is used to represent ideals about the individual and the community.

Jacques David. "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" (1809) Oil paint and canvas.
Discussion Questions:
- How does this image conflate the hero's individual identity with the community (nation)?
- How does this image capture the collision of cultures?


Anonymous. USSR Postal Stamp. 1988.
All of these images could be classified as heroic realism, a term used to describe art that has a (heroic) propaganda value for the culture in which it is created.
Discussion Questions:
- Can you identify some visual elements that these three images share?
- Let's get analytical: what is the meaning of these shared visual elements?
- Does this reflect cultural collisions or simply shared cultural values? Why?
More Heroes
Here are some images of cultural heroes.

Discussion Questions:
- How does the traditional pose of Superman reflect the tradition of Western hero images?


Andy Warhol. Chairman Mao. 1972. Screen print on white paper.
See a discussion of this painting in the Andy Warhol gallery.
Discussion Questions:
- How do these images of Chairman Mao reflect cultural collisions?

Long Life to the Victory of Chairman Mao's Art and Literature Revolutionary Line
Date: 1972
Culture: China
Medium: Printed poster; ink and color on paper
Discussion Questions:
- How does this image portray Chairman Mao?
- How does it compare with the image of Napoleon above?
- How does this reflect upon the political climates producing these artworks?
Art, Drug Trafficking, and Cultural Collisions
Consider this snuff bottle created under the Qing dynasty in Imperial China (see article from the MET: "Small Delights").

Snuff Bottle with European Woman and Child
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong mark and period (1736–95)
Date: 18th century
Culture: China
Medium: Painted enamel on copper
This snuff bottle is an artifact produced by the collision of Europe and China. This collision led to the Opium Wars and British control of Shanghai. It also generated
Discussion Questions:
- Who is painted on this snuff bottle? Why is that significant?
Cultural Collisions in Daily Life

Chatting over Tea
Wu Jide
(Chinese, born 1942)
Date: 1984
Culture: China
Medium: Multiblock woodcut; ink and color on paper
See John Sloan's "McSorley's Bar." 1912. Oil on canvas. (At the DIA.)

Beautiful Dream 7
Duan Jianyu
(Chinese, born 1970)
Date: 2008
Culture: China
Medium: Ink on cardboard

Han Jar Overpainted with Coca-Cola Logo
Ai Weiwei
(Chinese, born Beijing, 1957)
Date: 1995
Culture: China
Medium: Earthenware, paint
See "Ink Art" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Weiqi Players
Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date: ca. 1644–1753
Culture: China
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Training at a Tianjin Girls' High School
Date: 1920–30
Culture: China
Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
American: Melting Pot/Collision Course

Bryant Baker (American, born England, 1881–1970). Pioneer Woman, 1927. Woolaroc Museum, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Cyrus Edwin Dallin (American, 1861–1944). Appeal to the Great Spirit, 1912 (cast ca. 1922). Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Alexander Phimister Proctor (American, born Canada, 1860–1950). Buckaroo, 1914 (cast 1915 or after). Denver Art Museum.

Henry Thompson, Outfield, New York Giants, from the series Picture Cards (no. 249)
Issued by Bowman Gum Company
Date: 1952
Medium: Commerical color lithograph
Dimensions: sheet: 3 1/8 x 2 1/16 in. (8 x 5.3 cm)
Classification: Prints

"Stan" Kostka, Touchdown Next Stop!, from the "Baseball and Football" set (R311), issued by the National Chicle Company to promote Diamond Stars Gum
Issued by National Chicle Gum Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Date: 1936
Medium: Albumen print (glossy finish)

Red Grange, from the "Baseball and Football" set (R311), issued by the National Chicle Company to promote Diamond Stars Gum
Issued by National Chicle Gum Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Date: 1936
Medium: Albumen print (glossy finish)
See the "Gridiron Greats" exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Deigo Rivera. Pan-American Unity. Mural. 1940
See Mural Key.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.