In general, art expresses culture and societies of the age because
art embodies ideas of people who were living through out time. Therefore, art
functions specificity in society such as to impart information or ideas, and
for worship and rituals. I found two great pieces of artworks to indicate the
examples of the specific functions of society in the Metropolitan Museum.
In the Arts of Africa section, I found a Headdress
Effigy, which is named Harelga in
Africa.
The artwork is 180 inch in height and made by bamboo. This looks long and has a big
head. This artwork was especially used for dancing ceremonies for the Chachet
Baining people for religious meanings. The statue appeared during the day dance,
and an annual harvest ritual. At the climax of the dance, the Herelga was
carried out to the dancing ground, and a person served as bases for the
effigies. Using the bamboo poles, other men then lifted the Harelga atop the dancer's head into a position as close to
vertical as possible. This art work expresses that Chachet baining people
considered dancing is an important part of their life. Also, it shows they had
great respect for their ancestors and daily life. Furthermore, Herelga is
assumed to be only used by men because it is excessively heavy for women to
carry out. Therefore, it represents that masculinism was one of the parts of their
culture. My first impression for this artwork was familiar, because it looks similar with the Korean traditional totem pole, which is for frighten away ghosts and bed things and villages boundaries to standing at the edge of the villages. I was suppressed Harelga was used for dancing, and the people had to carry this heavy sculpture out.
The second art work, I
found in the America section, is a ceramic sculpture, Jalisco Ballplayers. This
is from Ancient Mexico. The sculpture is small,
which is 50cm in height and 33cm in width. It is a human figure, which
is sitting and holding a ball. Playing
with a rubber ball was an important male activity. The ceramic sculpture of
Jalisco was found in the family tombs, and those families were in
the upper class in their society. This Jalisco sculpture indicates that people had
lived in an affluent society because people had enjoyed sports, and not only
focused on survival. Moreover, playing rubber ball was not a game that could
be played alone. This was a group game. Therefore, we can understand that people in
that period were in a collective society.