Because art is part of each culture’s identity, people throughout the world feel a
great historical, emotional, and spiritual attachment to their art forms. The systematic
pillaging of art during World War II by Nazi forces reverberates even today as efforts
to recover“lost”or“missing”items of great cultural value continue, and jubilation
occurs when one of these objects reemerges. The organization formed during the war
to recover these treasures, as depicted in the filmThe Monuments Men, attests to the
widespread interest in recovering these culturally significant paintings, sculptures, and
other objects of art. As vessels of cultural heritage, they carry a price far above mone-
tary value. In recent years, Greece and Italy have launched an international campaign
to retrieve their cultural treasures taken by the Nazi government during World War
II.^52 Many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries have long called for the gov-
ernments of England, France, and Germany to return the antiquities illegally removed
by archaeologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In an essay
titled“Understanding America Through Art,”George Will praises the traveling art
exhibition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities calledPicturing
Americaas a way for Americans to understand“the nation’s past and present.”^53
Since the beginning of history, art has provided a reflection of how people lived in
and perceived the world. Even the early cave paintings dating back over 40,000 years
were communicating to others and also reflecting the daily life of these primitive peo-
ple. From that period on, we can see art allowing a collection of people to tell the
story of how they lived, what they valued, and even their worldview. And in all
cases, the art expresses something unique about each time period and culture. For
example, because the Romans were not a religious people, most of their art was void
of religious symbolism. Yet in the medieval period, much of European art told of the
life of Jesus and attempted to depict the content of the Bible. And, of course, insightBecause art is part of a
culture’s identity,
people throughout the
world often feel a
historical, emotional,
and spiritual
attachment to their
art forms.
Courtesy of Larry Samovar50 CHAPTER 2•Communication and Culture: The Voice and the Echo
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