Modern and Postmodern Art in Their Ideological Background - Essay Example

Modern and postmodern art in their respective ideological background Introduction: The field of art has always been a reflection of the changes that are being experienced in society. Society is a human construct and has over the years evolved and changed with the changing human demands and expectations. The evolution of society is traceable into history. Art has constantly been a reflection of the societal upheavals that are experienced. Thus, with the evolution of society there can be seen a clear, parallel and corresponding evolution and growth in art. This can be traced back to the cave man era and the drawings on the cave walls that have been discovered and have continued till date in the post modern era where art has extended into camera collage and photography. In the following paper there shall be an attempt made to study the changes that were seen in the modern and post modern art with the coming of the respective eras in the global society (Stephen K 1983). There shall be a discussion conducted on the ideologies affecting the thought and art and the impact through the study of two artists and their work, each hailing from one era. Through this the close relationship between ideology, society and art will be established. Modernistic Era: The modern era was experienced with the coming of the 19th century. There was seen that with the emergence of the industrial revolution, there emerged a phase where there was experienced a change in the political social and philosophical perspectives of society in Europe (Mathews R K, Ingersoll D E 1991). The newly emerging thought that came about in society during this time rejected a number of earlier beliefs, but it was not a complete withdrawal from the earlier philosophies. There was seen that in the modern era there emerged the liberal perspective, which rejected the certainty of the Enlightenment age, and also the classical historical philosophy of a compassionate, all-powerful Creator (McGowan J P 1991). This is not to say that all modernists or modernist movements rejected either religion or all aspects of Enlightenment thought, rather that modernism can be viewed as a questioning of the axioms of the previous age. A prominent feature of modernism is reticence and commitment to oneself. Due to this there has been seen in the case of modern artists an attempt to experiment and in their work there is a clear emphasis on the processes involved and there is careful attention paid to the abstract variable. Modernism has thus broadly been defined by theorists as “modern thought, character, or practice. The term or the phase “modernism” is used more often than not to refer to the revolutionary movement which engulfed all the cultural movements that emerged in the European countries in the late nineteenth and the twentieth century. It spread its influence to the social, political and economic context also. The term encompasses the activities and output of those who felt the "traditional" forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social and political conditions of an emerging fully industrialized world.” The impact of modernism can easily be traced in the field of art. It has been seen that with the coming of the modern philosophy and ideology there emerged a new wave of artistic production which was distinctly different from the romantic era which preceded it. As Clement Greenberg wrote “What can be safely called Modernism emerged in the middle of the last century—and rather locally, in France, with Baudelaire in literature and Monet in painting, and perhaps with Flaubert, too, in prose fiction.” The emergence of the modernistic streak in the music and the architecture only emerged much later and that was also in different areas in the world. He also called Immanuel Kant the first modern thinker of all times. In the era of modernism there emerged two major thoughts- impressionists and the followers of symbolism. In this paper there shall be emphasis of impressionist, particularly on Pierre Auguste Renoir, who was a well known French artist. He excelled in the impressionists style and contributed largely to towards painting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The creations of the artist Renoir are mostly noted for his vivacious luminosity and saturated tint, and most of his creations focused on people in personal and honest compositions (Jean Leymarie et, Melot M, 1971). One of the most important subjects that are seen prevalent in his art is his creation of the Female nude. The work of Renoir is usually seen to be loyal to the impressionist style which was endorsed by the artist. For example in the case of most of his paintings he uses a free use of color by his brush to ensure that details are reflected, and he also employees the technique of brushed touches so that his figures are fused with each other and their surroundings.. The modern ideology supported universality, originality but the most important aspect was paradox, which was central to their enterprise. As has been illustrated by Manet, whose art reflects that contradictory to representational art that there exist a shared selectiveness between realism and symbolism, design and illustration, conception and authenticity, and so on. The amalgamation of contradiction was extremely thought-provoking from the productions of Manet to the conceptualists. One of his most famous works is the Bal du Moulin de la Galette, or the Le Moulin de la Galette which he painted in the year of 1876. The painting depicts a usual Sunday afternoon in the district of Montmartre at the Moulin de la Galette in Paris. In the painting, his mastery over brush work is clearly visible (Collin 1962). Renoir uses patches of muted color, interspersed with brightly colored figures, to convey the impression of dappled light coming through the foliage overhead. These patches of light are rendered in soft shades of pink and purple, while the figures are dressed in bold shades of blue, red and green. Renoir uses a feathery brushstroke, almost comma-like, to give a sense of movement to his figures (Valéry and Vollard). Renoir’s feathery stroke also adds depth to his painting; notice how the blurred images in the background appear to recede into the distance. The painting clearly reflects the liberal philosophy and ideology that is omnipresent in the modernistic era. The painting reflects the joy and happiness of the crowd that has gathered (Duret T 1924). It reflects the social attire which was prevalent at the time. It also reflects the freedom and liberty that is experienced by the people in the society. The crowds are depicted to be enjoying the afternoon without any intervention or obstruction. This is clearly a departure from the paintings and art of the romantic era which were seen to glorify war and suffering. The painting also points out to the changes that have taken place in the political philosophy and ideology of society at the time, where the middle class was emerging and the working class was gaining political and social rights for themselves. The painting reflects the basic ideology that emphasized that all individuals were rational and therefore had the right to make their own decisions based on their personal rationality. As is depicted in the figure of the lady who is dancing, the contrast of pink and the darker shade of the skirt under her dress, reflects her choice. The painting also looks at the challenges that were coming up in the society with new emerging thoughts like the Marxist theory of the state, and the answer to these economic and political challenges. Renoir depicts local workers enjoying this popular form of entertainment, as well as the pleasures of being young and in good health. Post Modern Art: There has been seen that in the post Second World War era there has emerged the post modern art which is in sync with the changing modern philosophy. There has been seen that with the challenges that were posed to the global society during the war by fascism and Nazism, there was a return to the modern ideology which emphasised on the limited role of the state and emphasis was laid on the rationality and freedom of the individual (Lewis, Pericles 2007). There was seen that this developed into many new forms of art being developed which extended into areas including collage, photography, multimedia, pop art, performances and other such forms of art. The most important characteristic of the post modern art is that it emphasises on the reality and depicting the true experiences of the individuals. The post modern art attempts at moving away from the traditional for of art formation and depiction. They too believe that it is colour and texture and not the depiction of the natural that is important as was emphasized by the impressionists. For example Arnold Schoenberg abandoned the erstwhile conventional tonal synchronization the hierarchical organization of arrangement of musical productions that had been followed by the music composers and producers for the preceding for almost a 150 years. It was his belief that he had invented a completely new method of organizing resonance, which he based on the different usage of the twelve note use. There is seen that in the work of most of the post modern artists there is under emphasis laid on the materialistic aspect and they are of the belief that this will help ensure that the spiritual input in their work is enriched (Pegrum M A 2000). The post modern artists are of the belief that the spirituality of their work is suppressed if the use of material depiction is too strong. There can be seen that although there is a close semblance between modern and post modern art there are also certain modern ideologies which are rejected by the post modern artists (Sheppard R 2000). They accept concepts of liberty, universality, originality, but reject paradox which is as mentioned earlier central to the modern enterprise. Modernism allows space for different cultural perspectives to come forth and allows for freedom of expression and provides space for experimentation. One of an important post modern artist in the current scenario is Joshua M Rosenthal. He is an Australian artiste who is presently living and functioning in the United States of America. His work ‘Almost famous’, was displayed by the Venice Arts Council in Venice, California in 2006 and 2007. Josh Rosenthal's efforts reflect a close entwinement of the human psyche along with the individual’s emotions. His work shows a clear undertaking of exploration of the characteristics of an individual where he through his work he tries to understand and comprehend the unconscious of the human mind and psychology. His work like all post modern productions portrays a combination of the naïve and pure segments of the society in collaboration and coexistence with the dark elements that are present and prevalent in the current society. These are usually given a natural and elemental background in his work to emphasize on the realistic context of his production. . He was critiqued by Erin Mackay in 2007 on his painting, ‘Almost Famous’-“Josh works the negative space of his works--filling it with an underlying tone of voyeurism. The voyeurs are his figures who represent seedy characters of society and the viewer. Rosenthal demonstrates a genuine affection and interest in his figure’s lifestyles. His work is reminiscent of the German Dada artists George Grosz and J Heartfield. The scale and sketchy lines of Rosenthal’s work makes the viewer think about Basquiat.” His painting shows the changes that have been experienced in the post modern era, where the space and individuality of the artist is clearly reflected in the painting. These relate to the spirit of the individual, and not to just the aesthetic sensibility of the population. It has been observed that through his work the watcher can relate to the characters portrayed, where the painting comes alive and communicates to the viewers. His work reflects an isolation and loneliness at the first glance which eventually leads to the viewer to inevitably be drawn to depths of the soul. Reference: Collins, 1962: Renoir, Jean: Renoir, My Father, pages 57–67. Duret T 1924: Renoir. Paris: Bernheim-Jeune. Jean Leymarie et, Melot M, 1971: Les Gravures Des Impressionistes, Manet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, Sisley. Paris: Arts et Metiers Graphiques Lewis, Pericles 2007: The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Mackay E 2007: Josh Rosenthal, Passionate Painting Style, New York Times, 2007, accessed on January 2010-01-22 at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1478875/. Mathews R K, Ingersoll D E 1991: The philosophical roots of modern ideology, accessed on January 2010-01-22 at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Philosophic_Roots_Ideology.html McGowan J P 1991: Postmodernism and its Critics, Cornell University Press, 1991, p10.  Pegrum M A 2000: Challenging Modernity: Dada Between Modern and Postmodern, Berghahn Books, 2000, pp2-3.  Sheppard R 2000: Modernism-Dada-Postmodernism, Northwestern University Press, 2000, p359 Stephen K 1983: The Culture of Time and Space, Cambridge, MA, pub Harvard University Press, 1983. Valéry and Vollard: Renoir, Jean, Different and less life-threatening versions, In all accounts, however, their re-acquaintance led to great celebration. , pages 118–21 Wadley, Nicholas: Renoir, A Retrospective, page 15. Park Lane, 1989.     Read More