Useful terms to consider:
When the arts of the past are seen in museums, they are effectively detached from the life of the culture within which they originated. If you only see these art objects in books or photographs, it is very difficult to see them as a ‘real’ part of a living culture. To begin to understand the meanings various arts had for the societies they came from, consider the following values:
RELIGIOUS VALUES: Arts were often essential to the belief systems of many cultures. For example: statues of gods/deities, temples, icons, altarpieces, masks, music, dances etc.
SOCIAL VALUES: Arts often symbolized group identity and pride; for example: banners, headdresses, tattooing, flags, chants, anthems etc.
PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL: Arts sometimes provided assurance of the continuity of life; for example: portraits, epic poetry, mythological tales, hymns etc.
USEFUL or PRACTICAL VALUES: Art was often an integral aspect of functional objects, both in shape and decoration. For example: knives, pottery, lamps, buildings etc.
SENSUAL VALUES: Arts provided a direct source of sensual pleasure and perhaps an intrinsically aesthetic response; for example: textiles, clothing, sculpture, music etc.
EDUCATIONAL VALUES: Arts were frequently a means of transmitting the values, attitudes and history of a culture. For example: cave painting, frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, epic poetry, historic drama, tribal dance etc.
DECORATIVE VALUES: Arts were used to enhance people’s appearance or to beautify the environment; for example: jewelry, wall hangings, tapestries, clothing etc.
COMMUNICATION VALUES: Arts reached the illiterate for whom the written word was meaningless; for example: friezes, stained glass windows, mosaics etc.
AN EXAMPLE:
Medieval cathedrals integrated most of the values above.
The cathedrals were the focus of the religious life of the community even as they were being built by hundreds of ordinary people and skilled craftsmen over long periods of time. The towers symbolically rose high above the town and, within the walls, the sculpture and stained glass windows stirred the emotions of the faithful.
Processions with banners, chants and the Mass, with its music, poetry and drama, integrated the arts and values of the culture. All of this gave meaning and continuity to the otherwise impoverished lives of the common people.