Modernism in Art Essay Example For Students

Modernism in Art Essay Modernism is an inclusive name applied to the many forms of rebellion against the accepted and the tra- ditional. A modernist likes to be thought a rebel—sometimes he is and will starve for his principles, sometimes he is not, but only a self-advertiser. Modernism has had the good effect of arousing the anger of the complacent exponents of the thing that is.† When modernist art is shown, old man know-it-all denounces these â€Å"fakirs†, â€Å"freaks aud â€Å"queerists,† with their crazy-quilt† art. He calls this tin* cult of â€Å"crudity and ugliness† and their can- vases color puddles† of â€Å"delirious dyers.† The rebels strike back, taunting academists with stand-patism, and asserting that art critics are useless and harmful.† Imagination shall not be chained,† they say. An adherent of the old school entered a well-known Fifth avenue gaUery where were modernist works. This is not art.† he shouted to the ow ner of the gallery, and I know something about art.† The calm reply was your education is finished, mine has just lK*gun.† Unfortunately modernism has been used to advertise a certain coterie who have their press agents and art-talkers. It is true also that the new forms of expression have given opportunity to fakirs and practical jokers. I have heard that eight Van Goghs were manufactured by a painter in larls and later on shown in New York, that a New York art student, impatient with his elav model, whacked it out of shape and ex- hibited it at a much talked of show. No wonder that the public is mystified by all this. It will be some time before the public so appreciates the spirit of the serious modem work as to Ik? able to detect the false and the superficial. The public has not been accustomed to think, but now it will be forced to do so in self-protcction. The English modernists in 1914 hired a huge skating rink, divided it into sections by screens and iuvited everybody to exhibit who would pay for space and hang his own pictures. There was no jury, no academy or art-writer to set the standard, hence the visitor was really obliged to think, for once. There ought to he a few such shows in our American cities to stimulate the public to make a serious study of art, instead of relying upon doctrinaires and academics. There would be a better understanding of modernists’ work had they set forth in plain English some of their aims and purposes. So far they have failed to do it, yet it seems fair to expect thu » of men who paint pictures or carve figures and invite the public to view them. Of course it is not necessary to explain the subject or the method, but only to give a general statement of what they are driving at. For example, if they are seeking for the unknown harmonies, as I believe the serious ones are, why not say so? Then we should approach the works without prejudice and try to appreciate their spirit. Open minded people, kwking for enlightenment are puzzled and repelled by such phrases as these: From a reciprocity of concessions arise those mixed images which we hasten to confront with artistic creations in order to compute what they contain of tlie objective; that is, of the purely conventional.† â€Å"Inborn complimentarum is an absolute necessity in painting.† Universal dynamism must be rendered in painting as a dynamic sensation.† When Douglass Jerrold first heard one of Brownings poems lie exclaimed. â€Å"0 God. I am an idiot!† Doubtless llie philosophers understand these obscure dissertations found in books on cubism and in manifestoes and catalogs, but the ordinary man sincerely desirous of appreciating art, is baffled and discouraged. Here is an opportunity for some modernist artist who can write plain, concise everyday English (or any other language for that matter). I shall not attempt to name or discuss all phases of modern art, nor even pretend to explain them. I confess to sympathy with all who reject traditional academism in art. I often regret the years spent in the Academie Julian where we were taught by professors whom wc revered, to make maps of human figures. I regret still moreI shall not attempt to name or discuss all phases of modern art, nor even pretend to explain them. I confess to sympathy with all who reject traditional academism in art. I often regret the years spent in the Academie Julian where we were taught by professors whom wc revered, to make maps of human figures. I regret still morethe persistence of this academism in America and sincerely hope that this association will not permit it to have full sway over proposed new college courses. Japanese art has done much toward breaking the hold of this tyranny, the incoming Chinese art will do more, but it. may remain for modernist art to set us free. We aim to place art on a better footing in our universities. We shall make a fatal mistake if we brush aside the newer forms of art and advocate the traditional in order to please the conservative element. Conservative people like to read such art criticism as this in the daily press: â€Å"In art ‘meaning’ and ‘life’ do not exist until theartist has mastered those technical processes by which he may or may not have the genius to call them into being. This is not an opinion. It is a statement of fact. Five years from now such criticism will not be tolerated. I will take the liberty of saying that I was long ago convinced of the error of that doctrine and have fought it for the last twenty years. To quote again from a New York newspaper: â€Å"Non- visual experiences are impossible of repre- sentation.† Are they? Read Bercnson on Sassetta the Sienese painter of the Franciscan legend† and give some serious study to Buddhist painting iu China! There must be a new art criticism to gowith the new education. College men and women should not be subjected to such academism* as these: â€Å"Art is a luxury† (Congress believes that); art is an added quality† (how this would surprise Giotto!); â€Å"art reveals the whole history of an epoch† (what would Pere Corot say to that!) â€Å"the realism of Masaccio and Donatello broughtlife to Italian art† (tra# it their realism that did that?); â€Å"Greek sculpture attained its excellence through study of t he bodies of athletes (is Greek sculpture a mass of isolated portraits of bodies of athletes, or is it magnificent design with human bodies as motives?) â€Å"the return to nature made the Barbizon school what it was.† † Gothicsculpture reached its height through study of nature.† These ideas arc left over from the academism of the eighteenth century in Europe. They are old-time interpretations which will not stand up before modernism. Such criticism ignores the whole history of Oriental art and the work of independent artists for the lastforty years. Art vs Government EssayAs we live in a highly industrialized and consumer-centered capitalistic world, design is merely as essential as drinking water, an outstanding design will be recognized as an innovation, instead, a poorly designed object or creation will not be bothered or undesirable to consumers. Design history is the fundamental of design and it should not be neglected as it relates to our humankind’s wellbeing. By nature, design is linked to innovations, the future of design is dynamic and it is changing faster than anytime in the history of design. Design will always be the basic of every creation.