Art Without Borders
A Philosophical Exploration of Art and Humanity
- Contents
- Review Quotes

Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
1 AN OPEN AESTHETICS
Why There Is Art · The Aesthetic Dimension of Life · Being Aware · Seeing · Remembering · Preferring · Forgetting Self · Grasping · Theorizing
2 SELFLESS TRADITION
Tradition, Traditionalism · Problems Anthropologists Encounter and Create · The Anthropology of Art · Ceremonial Celebrations of Life · Memory Preserved · Authenticity · Ephebism · Four Symbolic Images · From Apprentices to Masters · Exacting Rules · Classicism and Archaism · Chinese Connoisseur, Archaist, Collector · Creative Copying from the Chinese Past · Classicism in European Art · Creative Copying from the European Past · The Ideal of the Anonymous Craftsman · The Metaphysical Ideal
3 EGOCENTRIC INNOVATION
Egocentricity against Tradition · Inspiration, Heroism, and Uniqueness ·Islamic Hero-Artists · Hero-Artists of the European Renaissance · “Genius” · Genius, Melancholy, Madness · The Romantic/Egocentric Artist · Chinese Romantic/Egocentric Amateurs · Indian Romantic/Egocentric Artists · “Primitive” Romantic/Egocentric Artists · African Artists’ Creative Egocentricity · All Alike, All Different
4 INTERSECTING WORLDS AND IDENTITIES
Creative Chaos · The Camera’s Liberating Light · Historical Relativity ·The Encompassing Influence of Japan · Gauguin and Other Savages·European Borrowing · Japanese and Chinese Borrowing · The Excessive Past of Chinese and Western Art ·Symbolic Deaths and Erasures of the Past · Modern “Primitives”: Creating and Debating Identities
5 THE COMMON UNIVERSE OF AESTHETIC DISCOURSE
Human Perceptual and Emotional Responses ·Old and New Criteria of Judgment · Fame and Price · Diminishing the Subjectivity of Judgment · Local Art and Universal Art· Judging Art Fairly · Fusion, Oscillation, Realism, Equilibrium, Beauty · The Snow Woman as a Universal Paradigm· The West: Intimations of Neoplatonism · Africa: Statue-like Beauty and Goodness and Clarity· India: Depersonalized Emotion · China: Reverberations of the Life-Breath · Japan: Beauty Tempered by Regret · The Common Universe of Aesthetic Discourse · Final Thoughts
Notes
Index“This is the most comprehensive study of art and artists ever written. Not only does it range across the world’s cultures in time and space, but it takes account of the latest findings in a variety of relevant disciplines, including neuroscience, cross-cultural psychology, and anthropology. Scharfstein’s mastery of the literature of those disciplines is impressive, as is his command of scholarly writing on art worldwide. Timely, global, and open-minded, Art Without Borders evinces warmth and humanity as Scharfstein admirably highlights the makers of art, their individual lives, and their views on artistry.”
“Art Without Borders is a masterpiece that elucidates human thinking about art in all its facets. Drawing on the best available knowledge in psychology, anthropology, and art history, Ben-Ami Scharfstein opens with a wonderfully cultivated meditation on the question of how we are to understand the notion of art in our present global village. But he also deepens the discussion throughout with detailed examinations of individual artists’ lives, accomplishments, reflections on art, and attitudes toward their work and traditions. This richness of human detail is one of the great virtues of this immensely learned and stunningly good book.”
“As wide-ranging a survey of the available literature on art as any single author could probably produce. Moreover, Scharfstein reads attentively and judiciously. . . . The book abounds in generosity and a patient will to listen.”
Art: Art Criticism | Art--General Studies | Middle Eastern, African, and Asian Art
Philosophy: Aesthetics | General Philosophy
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