For thousands of years, the arts into force in
so-called primitive societies were not in fact created with an aesthetic intent
and given a purely aesthetic "disinterested" and free, but with an
essentially ritual purpose of consumption. In these cultures, what is intended
with the style can’t be separated from, magic, sexual and religious
organization of the clan. Inserted in collective systems that give them
meaning, aesthetic forms of phenomena are not separate and autonomous
functioning: the social and religious structure that everywhere dictates the
agenda of artistic forms. Are societies in which the aesthetic conventions,
social and religious organization are structurally related and
undifferentiated. By translating the organization of the cosmos, to illustrate
the myths expressing the tribe, clan, sex, pacing the important moments of
social life, the masks, the headdresses, the paintings of the face and body,
the sculptures, the dances have first a function and a ritual and religious
value.
Because art has no separate existence, informs the
whole of life: pray, work, exchange, fight, all these activities involve
aesthetic dimensions that are anything but trivial or peripheral, since they
are necessary to the success of various social and individual operations. The
birth, death, rites of passage, hunting, marriage, war give way, everywhere, a
artialization work done by dances, chants, fetishes, props, ritual narratives
strictly differentiated according to age and sex. Artialization in ways that
are not intended to be admired for their beauty, but to give practical powers:
cure diseases, to oppose the negative spirits, make it rain, make alliances
with the dead. Many of these ritual objects are not manufactured to be
preserved: throw us off, destroyed after use and then repainted before each
ceremony. Nothing of professional distinguished artists, nothing of works of
art, "disinterested" or even often terms like "art",
"aesthetic", "beauty". And yet, as Mauss stressed "the
importance of the aesthetic phenomenon in all societies that preceded us is
considerable."
Similar control over the entire collective aesthetic
forms certainly not excluded, in either circumstance, some freedom of
establishment or individual expressiveness. But are limited and specific
phenomena, as well as aesthetic practices, these societies, are basically
required by their cultural and social functions and are accompanied by
extremely strict rules. Everywhere, the arts are implemented in compliance with
draconian rules and fidelity to tradition. They don’t intent to innovate and
invent new codes, but obey the canons received from ancestors or gods. It is a ritual artialization, traditional,
religious, which marked the longest period in the history of the styles: a
pre-reflective artialization without essentially artistic values, no specific
and autonomous aesthetic intent system.
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