The Commonality of Humans Through Art - Summer 2024
In my career I have had the honor and challenge to work on a few book projects. My first was selecting all of the art illustrations for Robert Plant Armstrong’s book, Wellspring. The second and most recent effort was working with Stuart Handler on The Commonality of Humans Through Art. I do not pretend to be a great art scholar with abilities in the critical analysis of objects. This skill I will never have and quite frankly don’t aspire to possess. In my simple object oriented world I view art as both function within the culture and form to be appreciated as a lover of indigenous art. In understanding the function of indigenous art, one must appreciate that art takes on a fourth dimension which is how these objects, for lack of a better word, become critical tools of society to help in many ways and on many levels to cope within the environment. These objects can often become the critical difference in survival. This book explains this relationship with clarity and respect. This book is relevant and accessible for all levels of appreciation. This can be purchased on Amazon.com
The Commonality of Humans Through Art is a collection of chapters that showcase tribal and ancient art objects from around the world in one book, offering readers an exhibition exploring how the language of art connects mankind throughout the ages. Ten leading scholars came together to write chapters on tribal and ancient art, and its impact on human behavior from birth to death. Featuring 400 color photos of how art connects mankind through the ages, The Commonality of Humans Through Art is "the most important book about art since Janson’s History of Art" (John Buxton, Founder of ArtTrak.com and long-time appraiser on Antiques Roadshow). Explore how mankind has used the language of art to explain human behavior, including motherhood, the family, conflict, warfare, sickness, healing, religion, and death. Each chapter illustrates the commonality between diverse cultures showing how art has affected people over the past 30,000 years. The Commonality of Humans Through Art serves as a reputable source for art history, cultural anthropology, and archaeology at colleges, universities, and educational programs, and it is a beautiful, stunning coffee table book showcasing ancient and tribal art from museums and private collections around the world. (Publish Date: 10/01/2024)
