Brand Research: Anthropologie

What does 'Anthropologie' even mean?

'Anthropology' 

It is the study of humanity.

Its main subdivisions are social and cultural anthropology, which describes the workings of societies around the world, linguistic anthropology, which investigates the influence of language in social life, and biological or physical anthropology, which concerns long-term development of the human organism. 

Eric R. Wolf states, "Ideas about race, culture and peoplehood or ethnicity have long served to orient anthropology's inquiries."

Anthropology in Art

One of the central problems in the anthropology of art concerns the universality of 'art' as a cultural phenomenon. Several anthropologists have noted that the Western categories of 'painting', 'sculpture', or 'literature', conceived as independent artistic activities, do not exist, or exist in a significantly different form, in most non-Western contexts. To surmount this difficulty, anthropologists of art have focused on formal features in objects which, without exclusively being 'artistic', have certain evident 'aesthetic' qualities. Below are some examples in this trend to transform the anthropology of 'art; into an anthropology of culturally specific 'aesthetics'....

 Boas' Primitive Art

Claude Lévi-Strauss' The Way of the Masks (1982)

Geertz's 'Art as Cultural System' (1983)

Helpful reference link: http://hypergeertz.jku.at/GeertzTexts/Art_Cultural.htm

This topic also really links in to my COP3 project; considering the 'human gaze' in relation to animals in art. 

YouTube: 

Website/Shop link:

http://www.anthropologie.com/uk/en/category/gifts/gifts.jsp?cm_sp=TOPNAV-_-GIFTS#/

http://www.anthropologie.com/uk/en/index.jsp?cm_mmc=Bing_UK-_-Anthropologie_Brand_RAIS-_-Brand_RAIS_MTE-_-anthropologies

http://www.anthropologie.com/uk/en/blog/meet-the-maker-michelle-morin/

P I N T E R E S T 

I am soooo happy they have a Pinterest with loads of fun, interesting and creative boards on- The link below is for their textures board, and I think that this board is going to have a massive influence on my COP3 aesthetic as I am studying animals and they are all about textures so this type of imagery will be at the fore front of my mind and inspire me to try out and experiment with new materials and the effects and feelings they can produce and portray!

https://www.pinterest.com/anthropologieeu/textured/

N O T E   T O   S E L F :  Talk to Vicky's friend Grace as I think she is doing an internship with them concerning fashion. Research into the artists they use such as the ones featured on their YouTube channel.