{"product_id":"negro-art-in-belgian-congo-kochnitzky","title":"Negro Art in Belgian Congo by Leon Kochnitzky","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eBy Leon Kochnitzky\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn African work of art is almost isolated from its cultural background. It has to be considered and studied without the help of little-known African history. The social  economic and religious evolution of the Dark Continent throws little light on the real meaning of such work. The only part of human knowledge to which the art historian can have recourse for information is ethnology. This is the chief reason why the study of African art has  for a whole century  been so strongly linked to this science.  Ethnology and aesthetics do not make a happy marriage. The ethnologist is not concerned with the artistic significance of the objects. He examines. He cares nothing for the spirit that pervades the statue or the mask he handles; and he remains indifferent to the feeling that inspired the work. Even the technique and the style employed by the artist are of no interest to him  if they do not allow him to ascertain so'me purely material facts concerning the evolution of culture or the degree of civilization attained by the craftsman.  And yet  during the whole period of discovery of Africa Tenebrosa  it was the ethnologist  and not the art scholar  who was the keeper and often the possessor of the treasures discovered by the explorer. Independent research was out of the question. The art scholar  unaware of the treasures that had perhaps been discarded  was forced to enter the museum of the ethnologist  to accept the latter's indoctrination  his classification in short  the learned man's opinion.  Science is not to be blamed for this astounding state of affairs.","brand":"Lushena Books","offers":[{"title":"PAPERBACK","offer_id":52502332145944,"sku":"9798890965295","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"HARDCOVER","offer_id":52502332178712,"sku":"9798890965394","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0787\/8203\/8296\/files\/9798890965295.jpg?v=1786282896","url":"https:\/\/lushenabooksinc.com\/products\/negro-art-in-belgian-congo-kochnitzky","provider":"Lushena","version":"1.0","type":"link"}