Modern - Postmodern Art - PowerPoint Presentation Example

Art in the prehistoric times was more a part of cult and an instrument for magic and not something to be exhibited and appreciated. Those pieces ofart were not even considered as a work of art by prehistoric man. The Elk painted by the man of the Stone Age on the walls of his cave was not meant for exhibition. It was an instrument for his magic and ritual. He did expose it to his fellow men. But it was basically meant for the spirits who guided his life. In some temples, the access to the God was and still is the special privilege of the priest .

Certain Madonnas remain veiled through out the year. Keeping these idols away from the public view enhanced their ritualistic cult value. The exhibition value of the work of art displaced the cult value only later. It was photography of all modern arts that made this displacement complete. Lascaux paintings seen in the Lascaux caves in Southwestern France are Paleolithic paintings as old as 17300 years. The images are that of animals, human figures and abstract signs. The researchers point out that these images are spiritual in nature and relate to the visions of ritualistic trance dances.

They represent the past success in hunting and also constitute prayers for the success of the future hunting efforts .All these show that these paintings were not meant for public exhibition. So the act of opening the caves to the public in 1948 it self can be considered in a sense, as failing the very purpose of the creation of these painting. Hence the closing down of the caves cannot be considered as a crime against the art lovers. Modern or post modern art lover is more a consumer of art than a connoisseur of art.

He thus will not be much worried about whether he is viewing the original or the duplicate. The concept of the original has become a myth in the modern society. From the negative of a photograph one can take as many prints as one needs. The question of the original does not arise at all. A film is projected in different theaters of the country by playing duplicate prints. Which one of these is the original? There is nothing that can be identified as the original. The films are further duplicated as DVD copies and the viewer sees the film at leisure at home.

The problem of losing anything in experience usually does not trouble the viewers of our times. He gains easy access to the duplicate than the original, which he may consider as a gain. The modern man has got this desire to bring things “closer” to him humanly and spacially. Hence he abandons even the ritual of going to theatre to watch a movie and enjoys it at home with a DVD player. As the famous French Poet and critic Paul Valery points out “Just as water, gas and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of hand, hardly more than a sign” (Aesthetics, “The Conquest of Ubiquity” PP226) At the same time preservation of the original, here in this case the cave paintings, is very essential too.

These paintings are authentic representations of the cultural heritage. Their authenticity emerges from their unique existence in time and space at a place where they happen to be. The existence of the original is the only proof for the authenticity of that historic cultural heritage. It carries an aura of past time and space which cannot be duplicated by reproduction of any kind. Thus it is vitally important to preserve it even by keeping it away from the public view. In the case of Lascaux cave paintings, the fungus invasion due to exposure to the public is so great that, in a few years these paintings may get faded out completely.

This danger of disappearance of the remaining vestige of one’s cultural heritage must be the major concern for the art lovers. They must admit that, that one needs the original to duplicate it. ----------------------------------------- Sources referred: Valery Paul, Aesthetics, “The Conquest of Ubiquity “, Translated by Ralph Manheim, Pantheon Books, Bollingen Series, New York, 1964.