Social and Cultural Contextuality of Subjects and Works in Comparative Art Studies

Cultural، social، economic، and political context of the art work is one of the important factors، that can improve and develop the theoretical achievements of the research project، if it is effectively and carefully contained in comparative and intercultural art studies. In this article، first of all we study the contextuality of artistic works and subjects from the theoretical perspective، and then focus on the most important infrastructures of the art creation process، in three distinguished realm of economic، political، and cultural contexts. At the end of the article we exmine the complex and dynamic inter-relations between context and form in the work of art، and explain the great significance of considering to specifications and variations of art form in the comparative studies of the arts، with mentioning few examples. In this article we used the descriptive-analytic research method and we gathered data by documentary fashion. One of the yields of severe consideration to the cultural and social contexts in comparative study of the arts، will be the attainment of better and deeper understanding of national، regional، ethnic، and local identities، due to the temporal and spatial labeling quality of the artwork. Economic context is the first infrastructure that we have studied here. Economic values put the art domain into the world of capital and commercial exchanges. Hence the artwork is an implement to gain wealth. The second infrastructure is the cultural context. Both of the artwork and artist have a great role in reproducing and preservation of the national and ethnic identities، and even renewal of various subcultures. Works of the art can recall the ancient past of a country and prolong its features to the present، they can represent various ethnic cultures، display the youth attitudes and desires، or demonstrate the quality of women''s social life، and show their demands and even their legal expectations. The third principal infrastructure of the arts is the political context. In the case of the political context، we will notice the art''s ability to mobilize people، and affects their feelings and motivations، and also consider it''s ability to reproduce a kind of social understanding، that serves in the favour of political structures. The Stydy of inter-relations between arts and politics in different societies، also leads to beneficial data in social researches. The powerful political structures، from the ancient past to the present time، informedly have endeavored to take advantage of the artworks and the artists. In this regard، a great part of art history، in east and west، belongs to the celebrataion and justification of political leaders and rulers. As we mentioned above، the relations and connections between the arts and various fields of social life، are so strong، that in every kind of art researches، and especially in the comparative and intercultural study of the arts، we must necessarily and fruitfully concentrate on economic، cultural، and political contexts.