Why read What Is Art For??

Book cover of What Is Art For?

Book description

Every human society displays some form of behavior that can be called "art," and in most societies other than our own the arts play an integral part in social life. Those who wish to understand art in its broadest sense, as a universal human endowment, need to go beyond modern…

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Why read it?

1 author picked What Is Art For? as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Nigel Spivey

Author

I pity current practitioners of academic anthropology. Is there any human society today without the smartphone? It is then all the more valuable to read accounts of art-making derived from fieldwork among pre-industrial, pre-tech communities.

Ellen Dissanayake’s work, seasoned by (pre-phone) research experience in Asia, Africa, and Papua New Guinea, argues urgently for art as a common human necessity.

From Nigel's list on the origins of art.