i. Shapiro, H.A.2000. “Modest Athletes and Liberated Women: Etruscans on Attic Black-figure Vases.” In Not the Classical Ideal: Athens and the Construction of the Other in Greek Art.  Edited by Beth Cohen. Brill, Leiden: 313-337.

Through the possession and control of Western-style objects, Süleyman, with the extensive support of Ibrahim Pasha, strove to present an image of himself as the universal ruler, the one true leader who was omnipotent and superior to all other rulers.  Figuring significantly into Süleyman's motivations was the fact that his greatest rival, the recently-crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, believed that he himself was the one universal ruler.  In response, the sultan conspicuously appropriated European objects and transformed them into avenues for messages about his own supremacy—messages expressly intended for the West.

The Portuguese arrival on the shores Japan in 1543 sparked a new genre of native art known as Namban, southern barbarian.In the spirit of first contact, these foreigners became caricatures: tall and lanky men with angular faces, beak-like noses and claw hands.Despite the jarring physiognomy, European fashion became a popular novelty for the Japanese aristocracy. As a source of good natured curiosity from both sides, Namban art has become a rich source for cross-cultural understanding.However, an often overlooked source reflecting cultural exchange comes from military art of the samurai and shōgunate courts.When the Europeans arrived, clans of warring daimyo kept the country in a constant state of civil war over who would wield true political control.

While the Portuguese were interested in trading goods, the shōguns were captivated by their weapons. The introduction of the arquebus was a cataclysmic event in an already turbulent country. Iluminated manuscripts, from newly professional marksmen, touted secrets of the gun.As armed foot soldiers increased in numbers, the lamellar armor of the samurai proved inefficient. Just as before, the shōguns turned to European technology for the answer: Milanese cuirass became fused with Japanese kusazuri to create the Namban style armor. New confusion on the field and a smoky haze necessitated the creation of new types of identification. Foot soldiers wore sashimono, mounted banners, while the clan leaders wore flamboyant kawari-kabuto, exotic helmets. Despite the social upheaval caused by firearms, the tradition of political gift armor remained, resulting in some of the earliest examples of Japanese armor in Europe. Although the re-opening of Japan and introduction of American pistols in 1853 signaled the end of the samurai class, they became an artistic motif, just as the Namban had been 200 years earlier.

The mudejar phenomenon is unparalleled in the history of architecture. This style of architecture and ornamentation originated with Arab craftsmen living in reconquered medieval Spain. Embraced by Spanish Christians, mudejar traveled over the course of the next four centuries, becoming part of the architectural history of Latin America, especially present-day Mexico and Peru. The style’s transmission across different religions and cultures attests to its ability to unify disparate groups of people under a common visual language. To complicate matters further, mudejar is an architectural style with no internal cohesion or governing theory, a term that, for some, fails to qualify as a “style” in itself. Art and architectural historians speak of mudejar “fragments” and “reminiscences,” describing wooden geometric ceilings or patterns of ornamentation rather than entire structures or building programs. How, then, did mudejar manage to gain popularity across reconquered Spain, so much so that it spread to the New World colonies? 

In this paper, I argue that art and architecture move more fluidly than ideologies across boundaries, physical and political. The theory of transculturation makes it possible to understand how an architectural style such as mudejar can be generated from a cultural clash and move to an entirely different context. Developed in 1947 by Cuban scholar and theorist Fernando Ortíz, transculturation posited means by which cultures mix to create something entirely new. This process is often violent, the result of intense conflict and persecution, and one culture is almost always defeated in the process. The contributions of both societies, however, coexist in the final product, whether technological, artistic, or even agricultural. I argue that mudejar in Latin America is a product of two separate transculturations: the adoption of Arab design and ornamentation by Spanish Christians, and the subsequent transference of these forms to the New World through the work of indigenous laborers.

In his preface to the exhibition La Peinture chinoise held in 1910 at his own museum in Paris, Emile Guimet lends the impression that the story of Chinese art has yet to be told.  He employs the following logic: the "most beautiful specimens" have been burned and lost; Chinese artists have "a terrible talent for imitation," making it difficult to categorize works; and library lists are useless because their contents have been destroyed. [i] Other early twentieth-century French authors, collectors, and art historians shared Guimet's mindset.Joseph Hackin, Gaston Migeon, and Henri Cernuschi, for example, suggest that the history of Chinese painting must be written for the first time; through their astute analyses, they will convey its essence, they claim.

This essay reinterprets Dorothea Lange’s 1936 photograph commonly referred to as Migrant Mother. The black and white image of Florence Owens Thompson with her children at a California farm campsite is the last of six shots taken by Lange, a photographer working for the federal government’s Farm Security Administration (FSA). Although the FSA reform efforts were controversial, Migrant Mother stirred positive national attention. Director Roy Stryker quickly praised the image as a supreme aesthetic object and national symbol. Over the years Migrant Mother continued to be the subject of exhibitions, art publications, historical accounts of the Great Depression, and various popular culture references.

This study reveals how iconic signifiers substitute personal and cultural affiliations to create a universal concept. Exposing the complex and conflicting practices of identity exchange used in the construction of “Migrant Mother” highlights central yet repressed issues involving race in American life. This intervention challenges hegemonic interpretations and gives voice to disempowered groups.