Art As Adversary Politics
While much of the art of this time period stayed away from politics, there were still many artists who dealt with political matters. Throughout time, “modernist artists have most often associated themselves with liberal, radical, and sometimes revolutionary political positions when they are not apolitical or neutral in their social and political views” . “Many politically slanted works were shown in the sixties, but most of these were of little lasting aesthetic value” . Yet, one place where politics was abundant in art in the 1960’s was in African-American art. This was because of the militant black struggle against racism and for Civil Rights during this time period. But modernist art was not a place where African-American art was found. Black art of the 1950’s and 1960’s is indeed its own style completely and belongs in an account outside of modernism. It seems though that artists generally put themselves rather than their art into politics. For example, in 1965, there was a full page article in the New York Times “under the headline, ‘End Your Silence’ signed by more than 500 artists and influential art-oriented persons and calling for a protest against both the Vietnam War and the US intervention in the Dominican Republic” . Although many people saw Pop art as nothing more than the “flaccid capitulation to the commercial materialism that modernism had always resisted” , many of the artists including Andy Warhol, may have hidden politics in their complex, nuanced, and ironic art. For example, were Warhol’s repetitive silk-screen images of race-riots, automobile disasters and electric chairs “mere bids for publicity and bourgeois titillation, or were they efforts to demonstrate the desensitizing effect of the endlessly repeated scenes of horror in the press and on the tube? Was he just taking things from popular culture and utilizing them in art, or was he commenting on them? This forces a new analysis of Pop art. Is there a deeper meaning to these simple, commonplace objects and of these seemingly repetitive ideas? Did they use things from Pop culture because they were there or because they were showing what they mean? Is it possible that the art of this time period was more than meaningless abstractions and redundant images? Yes. As we look back on the art of the 1960’s, we can see deeper into what these pieces mean. How could any artist living in some of the most volatile and explosive times this nation ignore the fierce political and social problems surrounding them? The reason politics wasn’t emphasized in art during this time may have been to escape the things happening in the world. It also may have been that they weren’t emphasized so that the viewer could do it by him or herself rather than be handed the meaning instantly.
Conclusion:
While it may not appear at first sight, the art of these times truly did reflect the politics surrounding it. More importantly though are the new ideas which emerged during these times. Never before had the world seen so many movements occurring during one time. Artists during the period from the end of WWII until the height of the Vietnam War created and recreated art. Art had already been classified as “modern” and this put restraints on these artists. They had to explore ways to modernize themselves even more whether it was from leaving the eye and exploring the brain in concepts or returning to the same photo-realism that the old masters used. Critics were saying that art had become a challenge to create with out being redundant, so artists pushed the limits and became redundant purposely. That is what the art of this time period encompasses: pushing the limits until it seems that they cannot be pushed anymore and then doing it again and again until art is truly created. Art in the mid-19th century was the most dynamic and influential art of the century and possibly some of the most influential ever. By using what was already there, these artists produced completely new ideas. Their brilliance may not be seen in their skill, but rather in their concept. So as we start in a new millenium, we have to ask ourselves what will be the next great movement in art? Could there be anything again as influential as the times that existed here? Only time will tell.
SOURCES:
Cagle, Van M., Reconstructing Pop/Subculture: Art Rock and Andy Warhol,
New York: Sage Publications, 1995
Yapp, Nick, Ed. The 1950s, Chicago: Konemann, 1998
Yapp, Nick, Ed. The 1960s, Chicago: Konemann, 1998
Reed, T.V., American Popular Culture. (online) Available:
http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/tvrguide.html, February 17, 2000
Seitz, William C., Art in the Age of Aquarius, 1955-1970, Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992
Alloway, Lawrence. American Pop Art, New York: Macmillan Publishing
Co., Inc., 1974
Dynamic Movements. (online) Available: Http://library.thinkquest.org/
17142/dynamic-movements/
Jansen, H.W., The History of Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1997,
p. 914-915
Warhol’s Reflection of the Social Times. (online) Available:
Http://vc.lemoyne.edu/ant305/students/7_abarnett/page3.htm
Marcel Duchamp. (online) Available:
http://www.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/duchamp.html
Bibliography
SOURCES:
Cagle, Van M., Reconstructing Pop/Subculture: Art Rock and Andy Warhol,
New York: Sage Publications, 1995
Yapp, Nick, Ed. The 1950s, Chicago: Konemann, 1998
Yapp, Nick, Ed. The 1960s, Chicago: Konemann, 1998
Reed, T.V., American Popular Culture. (online) Available:
http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/tvrguide.html, February 17, 2000
Seitz, William C., Art in the Age of Aquarius, 1955-1970, Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992
Alloway, Lawrence. American Pop Art, New York: Macmillan Publishing
Co., Inc., 1974
Dynamic Movements. (online) Available: Http://library.thinkquest.org/
17142/dynamic-movements/
Jansen, H.W., The History of Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1997,
p. 914-915
Warhol’s Reflection of the Social Times. (online) Available:
Http://vc.lemoyne.edu/ant305/students/7_abarnett/page3.htm
Marcel Duchamp. (online) Available:
http://www.peak.org/~dadaist/English/Graphics/duchamp.html