Page 20 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

Circa 1492: History and Art

JAY A. LEVENSON

"It needs to be painted by the hand of a not adopt the uncritical enthusiasm for the We have specifically tried to present each
Berruguete or some other excellent painter exploits of Columbus and his contemporaries civilization on its own terms, not as it might
like him, or by Leonardo da Vinci or Andrea that has for so long been a part of the European have appeared to visiting Europeans of the
Mantegna, famous painters whom I knew tradition to recognize that their voyages period. As a result, each of the sections of the
in Italy." brought about a metamorphosis in international exhibition has its own special focus and individ-
communications. Admittedly, we may exagger- ual point of view. Homogeneity was not a fea-
ate the degree to which society before 1492 was ture of the world of 1492, and under no
I, .n this passage written in the 15305, Gonzalo fragmented if we look at the world solely from a circumstances could a single theme have done
Fernandez de Oviedo, author of the Historia European perspective. While there had been justice to the amazing variety that characterizes
General y Natural de las Indias, an early com- little direct contact between western Europe and the cultures that are represented in the show.
pendium of knowledge about the Americas, was eastern Asia since the time of Marco Polo, the "Europe and the Mediterranean World"
trying to describe a strange plant, unlike any he picture is quite different if we take into account focuses on the lands in which the Culture of
had ever seen in Europe. Yet his remark not the Islamic world, whose merchants carried on a Discovery, as Daniel Boorstin has termed it, had
only evokes the excitement over the wonders of profitable East/West trade throughout the its origin. After a prologue, "Distant Worlds,"
this "New World" that quickly spread among period. A mere glance at the Transport of the that examines the curious image that had
the more perceptive European observers of his Porcelains miniature from the Topkapi Saray evolved in Europe of the unknown realms to the
generation; it also vividly reminds us that the Library (cat. 100) makes it clear that the Islamic south and east, the section explores the reflec-
Age of Exploration was a period as celebrated knowledge of China was of a completely dif- tion in the visual arts of the religious and polit-
for the achievements of its artists as for those of ferent order of magnitude from the European. ical forces that underlay European expansion.
its explorers. Moreover, Arab travelers had written exten- Bosch's unforgettable Temptation of Saint
The remarkable circumstance that the years sively about Africa hundreds of years before the Anthony (cat. 18) evokes the unsettled spiritual
around 1492 were a period of artistic excellence first Portuguese ventured down the coast, while climate that prevailed at the end of the fifteenth
in so many different parts of the globe has made Zheng He's Chinese fleets, described in F. W. century, when many, including Columbus
possible the exhibition which is the subject of Mote's essay in this catalogue, sailed majes- himself, thought the end of the world was
this catalogue. That fact is one that is easily tically across the Indian Ocean to the east coast approaching, and the evangelical spirit ran high.
overlooked. Art history traditionally takes as of Africa nearly a century before Vasco da Gama The presentation then concentrates on those
its focus a single visual tradition, and so our reached it. Still, for all practical purposes the parts of the Mediterranean world that played
timelines of artistic development tend to be Americas remained completely outside this net- special roles in the historic events of the time.
one-dimensional, oriented toward a particular work of trade and tribute, and by any standard Portugal comes first, as the sponsor of voyages
country or style. We recognize that certain the new connections that were established, down the coast of Africa that inaugurated the
movements cut across national boundaries. from about the middle of the fifteenth to the Age of Exploration in Europe and led to the
Albrecht Diirer, to take an example, is fre- end of the sixteenth century, were revolution- opening of the sea route to Asia. Spain, itself an
quently discussed as a contemporary of Leo- ary indeed. If we are looking for a symbolic date early crossroads of cultures, sent Columbus on
nardo da Vinci—but that is because the Italian of birth for the modern world, 1492 is clearly his voyage west; though he failed to reach the
master influenced specific works by the German the most appropriate year to choose. Indies, he laid the foundation for his sponsors'
artist, who consciously set out to transport the This exhibition includes over 600 paintings, rapid rise to world power. The Islamic empires
achievements of the Italian Renaissance north of sculptures, prints and drawings, maps, scientific formed serious counterweights to European
the Alps. We rarely stop to think that the two instruments, and works of decorative art from might in the eastern Mediterranean. It was also
lived at the same time as Hieronymus Bosch in four continents, most of them created during in this period that the kingdoms of western
the Netherlands or the painters Sesshu Toyo in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. It Africa, which had long been part of the Islamic
Japan and Shen Zhou in China, that some of the makes no claims to completeness, either from trading network, entered the European ambient
best-known early sculpture from Benin is likely the point of view of history or of art history. A as well. During this period African ivory carv-
to have been cast during the lifetimes of these survey that included, in acceptable depth, every ers created some of the earliest cross-cultural
same masters, and that the finest surviving significant culture that existed in the world works of art, combining their traditional
works of art from the Aztec and Inka empires of 1492 would be beyond the scope of any artistic vocabulary with new subject-matter
originated during this period. exhibition or catalogue. Difficult choices had introduced from abroad (cats. 67-78). The last
It is especially appropriate to take 1492 as the to be made in each of the major sections of part of the Mediterranean section ranges across
point at which to make this horizontal survey of the show, and if a particular culture is not rep- political boundaries, from Iran, to Egypt, to
the visual arts, for it was in the Age of Explora- resented, that is likely to be because it is less Spain, Italy, Germany and Poland. It examines
tion that links among continents were created central to the theme of that segment of the the advance of scientific knowledge —particu-
that changed the character of the relationships exhibition rather than because of any short- larly cartography, that specially characteristic
between the world's cultures forever. We need comings in its artistic creations. science of the age. It also surveys those

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