ABSTRACT
Jeremy Coote's contribution to the volume jointly edited by himself and Anthony Shelton (Coote 1992) has exactly the characteristics which a paper needs to possess in order to be eminently discussable. It is economically short. It has a straightforward argument, lucidly set forth. It makes use of ethnography which is mostly familiar and, if not familiar, easily assimilated. It is original and thought-provoking. In fact, I would say that Coote's paper raises what ought to be considered the fundamental problems of the anthropology of art at the present. Naturally, I am going to disagree with Coote about certain aspects of his position, as outlined in his paper. But I entirely agree with his basic contention that the relation between art, anthropology and aesthetics is highly problematic, and that various solutions to it may be devised and canvassed. Even more, I am indebted to him for his basic methodological insight, which is, that if one wants to get to grips with art as an anthropological problem, it is precisely to societies which ostensibly 'don't have any art' that one should turn one's attention. Are members of these cultures without any aesthetic sensibilities? Surely not. As Kant pointed out long ago, and as many have reiterated since, by discussion of aesthetic values has a universalizing tendency, and the same goes for any discussion of art as an expression of aesthetic values. In principle, aesthetic judgements are communicable and intelligible in the light of the psychic unity of mankind. One who says 'this is beautiful' expects to be understood subject only to the stipulation that the addressee is aware of the features of the world to which attention is being drawn in the making of this aesthetic evaluation. But clearly there is nothing universal about artefacts or artworks of the kind which end up in collections. Some societies produce them in great abundance, others do not. This fact seems to drive a wedge between the domain of 216aesthetics and the domain of artwork production. According to this line of reasoning, the universal disposition towards aesthetic awareness, stimulation and evaluation is prior to, and encompasses the production of artworks. Accordingly the study of the anthropology of art must be preceded, and be unpinned, by an anthropology of aesthetics.
