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Article: Ancient Mayan Treasures Still Provoke Troubling Questions.(Culture)
- Article from:
- The New York Observer (New York, NY)
- Article date:
- August 14, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 The New York Observer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Mario Naves
Can a work of art be independent of the time and culture in which it was created? Can it thrive on the characteristics inherent in its shaping-on aesthetic merit alone?
In today's theory-addled art world, no avant-gardist curio comes off the assembly line without a ream (or three) of explicatory text. We live in an era in which the mere notion of visual art-that is to say, objects crafted specifically to engage the eye-is suspect. The received wisdom tells us that it's impossible for art to claim any autonomy.
Holland Cotter of The New York Times recently stated, "Art was, and remains, a product of its culture and time." ...