Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body

by Arnold Rubin (Editor)

Body piercing, scarification, tattooingfor thousands of years decorative alteration of the human body has been invested with profound cultural and social meaning. This remarkable collection of essays, photographs, and drawings focuses on the many and diverse ways that human beings have permanently decorated their bodies. Marks of Civilization grew out of a symposium entitled "Art of the Body" held at the University of California, Los Angeles in the early 1980s. Contributors encompass the fields of anthropology, sociology, art history, archaeology, and folklore. The geographical and historical perspectives are from Europe and Euro- America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Pacific Basin (Asia, Oceania, and Native America). The book's text and photographs acknowledge body art as a meaningful part of human behavior. What dominates throughout is the recognition of artistic potency, mysterious or commonplace, that is a part of marking the body.

Genres: Art

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1988

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oversize book of 279 pages, lavishly illustrated with some of the most interesting tattoos and other body art I've ever seen. I never read this book cover to cover, but I was very impressed with what I read. The prose was scholarly, but still fairly accessible, and Bianchi maintained neutrality with value judgments about body art. Furthermore, he also explained his choice of language, based on how some terms reflected prejudice and bias against other other cultures and people.

If you're interested in body art or its cultural and historical background, this one is worth checking out.