Art or Culture?

Both art and culture are important aspects of the lives of people and groups. These aspects of our lives also differ from country to country and culture to culture. But, does art influence the culture? Or does culture influence the art?

One of the most interesting trends that I want to postulate about in this post is the occurrence or increase of art as related to social stability. When a group of people feel secure in their way of life or have excess money, they’re more likely to produce art, possibly even great quantities of art, depending upon their needs and prosperity.

The beginnings of art did not coincide with the beginnings of intelligent beings. According to the hierarchy of needs, we must fulfill our basic needs before we can create luxury objects, such as art. During the time of hunting and gathering, very little art was created. Being a nomadic society, people had to spend time hunting for food and supplying it for their group. They were not creative thinkers. The few pieces of art that we have from pre-historic times and before groups of people settled in one place, are very small and easily transportable. An example of this is the Venus of Willendorf, which was a small stone fertility idol created in 24,000 BCE. 

Once people began to settle and live in a fixed location, they had the ability to create larger objects of importance. They could create items that were larger and heavier, because it would not be necessary to transport them when they moved to a new location. Another aspect of these people being able to create more art was the discovery of farming. Farming made it easier for these groups of people to collect and provide food for their entire group. The women could help harvest the food and then prepare it while the men hunted. This allowed for some people in the group to have free time. When a society begins to have free time, they also have the freedom to create objects of representative importance. So, for the people of pre-historic times, they were able to start creating art after they had a permanent location and the freedom of time. 

As to art’s creation in the modern world, it has a lot to do with economics and politics. The creation of art often coincides with societal prosperity and exploration of thought. Basically, when there is more money, there is more art. And, often, when there is less money, funding for the arts is the first thing to be cut. One good example of this, is in our current economic situation. There have been many cases across the country where federal and local funding is being cut from museums and schools. (Click here)  Politics can also increase funding cuts to the arts. As stated in the article below, conservative political groups sometimes do not approve of spending federal money on liberal artists.

Another example of when we see an increase in art production is when there is an increase in exploration of thoughts or controversial ideas. Prime examples of this is the Renaissance as well as the politically charged time when we saw the start of the –isms, such as impressionism, cubism and pointillism. All of these art styles were conceived to challenge a preconceived idea and explore a new perspective on art and culture.

So, I honestly don’t think I can answer whether art effects culture or culture effects art. All I know is that they are definitely and forever intertwined.