NPR interview w/ Orson Scott Card compares Europeans conquest of New
World w/ Alien Invasion
Dr Michele Camille’s realization of interest in history of images
Art History generally takes a secular approach but must include cultural origin & viewing perspective according to social history and must therefore include religious/ethical/political foundations
Religious works center on the ultimate elites: angels, saints, God &
demigods etc, nothing in them is mundane
Art must convey how these greater than the here and now (individuals and concepts) manifest in the here and now
Sacramental Brotherhood (wealthy, noble, racially pure) elite of church who sat in a decorated specially designated area in or near the apse.
Through poetics of associations (the otherness of the glory & beauty of Heaven) is associated with Asia (the glory and beauty of earthly exotic) as Paradise/Eden was located in Asia in Medieval maps as well as referencing the artistically educated taste that came from wealth and owning exotic imported goods.
Only Pubic Churches had a Baptistery unless the private church obtained (very difficult) permission from Pope therefore making public churches a necessity
3 Spheres
Church Militant- Church on Earth (fighting for interest on Earth)
Church Triumphant-Church in Heaven (those who have already received their crown of glory)
Church Expectant-Purgatory (expected in Heaven once they have finished burning off/purging sins)
The deceased are buried in the floor, floor pattern made up of squares the size of coffins (where the wealthy were buried -bury one person and let decompose for 5-6 years then someone else was buried on top) this was as close to being buried in Heaven as humanly possible. An individual could literally stand on top of their grandparents/ancestors during Mass and all your family is literally in one place
-Horrible smell of decomposing bodies must have been a very powerful reminder of those in Purgatory
-Burials were not segregated by race or status but were a democratic expression of the Kingdom of Heaven which was unsettling for a class based society
Side aisles were filled with alters that represent different classes, races and organizations/guilds - democracy breaks down on the periphery
Brotherhoods one joined would continue to pray for you after you died. (women associated with brotherhood through husband’s membership & she could continue to pay dues to be represented after husband’s death)
Huge competitions between brotherhoods for bigger and better festivals, more candles and more flowers, more lavish alters etc.
Competition erupts into individual churches that they don’t have to share space or events with other brotherhoods however competition continues as churches are built next to each other - keeping up with the Jones concept
Church of our Lady of the Blacks of the Rosary, Saint Ifigenia and Sao Benedito- Afro Brazilian Brotherhood -huge feat for them to (1) get permission to build church and then (2) actually built it. This serves the large population of freed blacks and mulattoes
Slaves are freed for Good Behavior or are paid for by profits from a skilled trade they posses
Those in the gold mining district often stole gold or if they found enough they were freed as a reward
Placing churches on the top of a hill makes it very challenging for attendees to get to mass, physical sacrifice to get there especially for the elderly and lame yet symbolic of the daily 'good works' required to get to Heaven
Borhterhoods all wore robe -factions would copy each other such as blacks copying the styles of wealthy white as further competition for rank and prestige -position as full citizen of City of God allows them to get away with more than they could have through civic rights and law. These challenges to each other were almost like acts of violence (such as with gangs but fighting was over images and materials, almost never bloodshed)
Communion shifts from communing with entire civic group to only communing with your limited group/brotherhood
Manuel Lisboa -artist- crippled hands but continued to create art
Private church donated to be a public pilgrimage church. Go through the stations of the Cross, the Pilgrim could travel with Christ through the process of the Crucifixion, (takes you on a heroic pilgrimage w/ Christ)
Monomyth -Joseph Campbell, hero with a Thousand Faces- the Hero’s dream
Exvoto-go to church and ask for blessing, if blessing is achieved then painted the image and dedicated to church as a visual statement of miracle achieved.
02/15/2012 SLAVE TRADING:
Slaves come from area in corner recess of Africa called the Bight of Benin-slaves go to plantations not to cities. What is Plantation life like? In Brazil? In the US?
-Feudal local landowners; patron elites with everyone else acting as a cog in the wheel of patronage- new application on agricultural level of royal patronage
-European don’t think of a blurred line between the scared and the profane, but in reality they function with a blurred line.
-Estimates of slaves taken from Africa range from 11 to 20 million (also assume that for every one slave who made it to the new world one died in transit) Very hot (tropical regions over 100 degrees outside & warmer in interior holds)
-Dead and sometimes living thrown overboard
-After they survived the voyage families were separated and sent to rural communities
-Johann Moritz Rugendas-German Illustrator-may reference hypocrisy w/ church or may simply be accurate representation of market including the church and Virgin in scene
-Most images of slave markets are from the 19th Century
-This migration is preparing the souls of slaves for the second transmigration, that of eternal freedom, in heaven (opposite of US, who were horrified by idea of seeing slaves in heaven)
-Brejo, area of fertile land by sea, hot humid rainy zone
plantation-land depiction and people depicted in relationship to land-tara tara scene
-peasants/slaves are often faceless, not real people, they blend into landscape and are an extensions of it
-Second body of the king idea (body politic) of wealthy depicted
through houses, mills, animals, land and slaves they own etc.
-Criticism for The Help-depicts whites helping to liberate blacks because blacks can’t do it for themselves
-Black & white landscapes are different
-Curves (designed to open and close space to visitor)
-Fazenda (place where something is made or to do-to make) Brazilian
word for farm/plantation
-Casa Grande-Big House or Master’s house
-rooms accommodate a certain type of behavior-room informs you on how to act/sociability
-Plantation chapel was the only one for miles, only one accessible for those who lived on or miles around
-savior position of Master as having brought slaves on first great migration & preparing them for their second
-Paternalizmo- fatherhood-
patronage in society & culture
-Senzalas -slave houses-House of “Low” people
-Quilombo- US slaves escaped to the North-In Brazil escaped slaves established and joined Quilombos, small moving settlement of slaves, armed and outlaws-some groups got up to 20,000 (Palmares 1624/25-1630/54, Zumbi was militaristic “King” who owned slaves)
-Quilombos resemble the modern Favelas-establishment of parallel societies & occupying land & those societies never meeting-colonial heritage
-Favelas built of rubbish, then traded for wood (termites turn to “lace”) then traded for “wonder brick” cheap, easily broken pieces of 6 attached bricks
Ignatius Loyloa- Spanish with desolate lifestyle -miraculous conversion during battle, then petitioned Pope to establish the Jesuit order and was counter reformation oriented. Francis Xavier is Loyloa’s, cohort, who takes
order outside Europe to Asia & Africa (dies on the shores of China-taken to Japan & China)
-Guarani (sometimes cannibal but much less aggressive) differ from Tupi mostly in language
-Trying to build a Utopian society-return Amerindians to Eden purity
Creation
Fall
Redemption
New Creation
-Film “The Mission” horrible history but wonderful in romantic sense
-Relationship between Priest & Reduced Indians (distrustful-don’t understand-Shaman like-surface unification)
-Reductions were Ordered, Regulated, Geometric, Militaristic, Regimented, Communal gatherings, Homogenise, Architecture emphasizes Social order, Unification & Equality, Farms need land not 5000+ people
around you. Church is linchpin that holds everything together.
“Guarani were skilled carvers and artisans and made some of the best violins that were then exported to Europe.
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