Art has a high status in modern society.
People are married to museums
and artworks are at record-breaking prices.
Our time is, however, remarkably reluctant to express what art is all about.
It surrounds the puzzle, symbolized by the confusion that many of us feel
looking at another strangely looking modern artwork in the museum.
Often we are quietly and politely abandoned by thinking about what it all means.
For most of history, this question did not appear because it was certain what art was.
The question of the purpose of the art is quite modern, so let’s go back in time
and look at a wider range of options that we can rely on today.
Rome, 290 AD
Below the Reich City, the faithful secretly meet in the catacombs,
or burial hills to celebrate a new religious figure, Jesus Christ.
Christianity, though still at an early stage and cruelly punished by the Roman authorities, is rapidly advancing.
Like many religions before and after, Christianity has also been involved in art creation.
Here, an anonymous, not a particularly talented artist, portrayed Jesus the healing, bleeding woman,
an event that is written in the New Testament.
Like all religions, Christianity uses art for a clear and understandable purpose:
to report their message, to make it emotionally tempting and popular.
Art is like advertising their thoughts.
Early Christian artists dominate Europe.
For nearly 1,000 years, almost all European Christian art will be.
From modest beginnings in underground prayers,
Christian art will bring extraordinary cathedrals, paintings
sculptures and celebrations, and enhancing the reputation of his message.
Thailand, 15th century
An unknown craftsman will finish the Buddha statue.
One of the hundreds of thousands of similar statues made behind
centuries in Southeast Asia.
The purpose of such art is clear.
You have to look at the Buddha and inspire yourself to be a bit more like him.
The statue is an invitation to calm and meditation.
In the East and West, the purpose of art is obvious:
support for statements of different religions,
to make their ideas more digestible.
Paris, January 1801
French artist Jacques-Louis David completes the picture “Napoleon crosses the Alps”.
It captures the moment a few years earlier,
when Napoleon attacked the states of Northern Italy and scored several astonishing victories.
In the picture Napoleon sits on a white horse
even though the mountain was overtaken by a more beneficial mule.
Here art makes what was not an exception in the past:
is used as political propaganda.
Napoleon is inspired by Louis XIV, who
often used art as propaganda.
During his reign, it became a habit.
Paris, 1833
The poet, novelist and critic Théophile Gautier publishes an essay on art,
in which he claims that art must be free from the influence of religion and government.
The point of good art is that art is for itself,
as he himself said, “l’art pour l’art”, art for art.
The teaching of “art for art” becomes the new motto of a new generation of romantic artists,
who are opposed to an old ideal claiming that art should serve religion or mighty rulers.
Nonsense, says Gautier, true art can not serve anything
and he does not try to change anything, do anything to talk about.
Artists are separated from a bourgeois commercial society,
who constantly tries to sell things to people.
Art should try to occupy a higher, more abstract sphere.
New York, 1917
Artist Marcel Duchamp is preparing for an exhibition of his new work, organized by the Society of Independent Artists.
Surprisingly, it’s a urinal called Fountain.
Duchamp rebels against many ideas about what art is,
that it should be easy to understand, it should make sense and encourage something.
The true artist, according to Duchamp, must defend himself against any confusion
through advertising, mass media, government propaganda or religious instruction,
argues that the true intention of the artist is not to flow and create
works that are mysterious, mysteriously provocative and rather silent.
New York, 1949
Russian emigrant Marcus Ravkovic, who was renamed Mark Rothko to escape anti-Semitism,
exhibits a new series of works in the Betty Parsons Gallery in Manhattan.
They are a new discovery because they seem to have no meaning.
They are pure color fields, abstractional like music.
For some, they are the best paintings of the 20th century and they will soon get a huge prize.
The Museum of Modern Art acquires much of Roth’s paintings as well as other national museums.
Rothko becomes representative of the more obscure direction of 20th century art,
which is very impressive for the elite who often pays huge sums for these works,
but confusing to the wider public.
Venice, June 2005
The most prestigious art fair, the Venice Biennial, is launched in the newly renovated Arsenale.
Curators are the first two women, María de Corral and Rosa Martinez.
It is exhibited by 41 artists from all corners of the world.
The nearby Marco Polo airport is filled with private billionaire aircraft,
many of whom report love for art.
Sophisticated cocktail parties last long into the night.
Art has become a playground for the rich
and a mandatory tourist attraction for tired travelers.
Art is highly valued but still a puzzle.
For most of the history, it made sense:
glorify art or celebrate the state.
Modern art was the result of deviations from these intentions for understandable reasons.
But if art regains its core,
it should overcome the indecisiveness of what it is and what to do.
Art is and has always been a sophisticated aid,
which can help us deal with loneliness,
to fill us with hope,
help us with inner feelings,
a tool that questions power and tries to improve political systems.
It is never an insult to ask for art to do something for us,
to be a practical part of our lives.
We appreciate the art most when we give it the ultimate task of all:
help us lead better lives.
People are married to museums
and artworks are at record-breaking prices.
Our time is, however, remarkably reluctant to express what art is all about.
It surrounds the puzzle, symbolized by the confusion that many of us feel
looking at another strangely looking modern artwork in the museum.
Often we are quietly and politely abandoned by thinking about what it all means.
For most of history, this question did not appear because it was certain what art was.
The question of the purpose of the art is quite modern, so let’s go back in time
and look at a wider range of options that we can rely on today.
Rome, 290 AD
Below the Reich City, the faithful secretly meet in the catacombs,
or burial hills to celebrate a new religious figure, Jesus Christ.
Christianity, though still at an early stage and cruelly punished by the Roman authorities, is rapidly advancing.
Like many religions before and after, Christianity has also been involved in art creation.
Here, an anonymous, not a particularly talented artist, portrayed Jesus the healing, bleeding woman,
an event that is written in the New Testament.
Like all religions, Christianity uses art for a clear and understandable purpose:
to report their message, to make it emotionally tempting and popular.
Art is like advertising their thoughts.
Early Christian artists dominate Europe.
For nearly 1,000 years, almost all European Christian art will be.
From modest beginnings in underground prayers,
Christian art will bring extraordinary cathedrals, paintings
sculptures and celebrations, and enhancing the reputation of his message.
Thailand, 15th century
An unknown craftsman will finish the Buddha statue.
One of the hundreds of thousands of similar statues made behind
centuries in Southeast Asia.
The purpose of such art is clear.
You have to look at the Buddha and inspire yourself to be a bit more like him.
The statue is an invitation to calm and meditation.
In the East and West, the purpose of art is obvious:
support for statements of different religions,
to make their ideas more digestible.
Paris, January 1801
French artist Jacques-Louis David completes the picture “Napoleon crosses the Alps”.
It captures the moment a few years earlier,
when Napoleon attacked the states of Northern Italy and scored several astonishing victories.
In the picture Napoleon sits on a white horse
even though the mountain was overtaken by a more beneficial mule.
Here art makes what was not an exception in the past:
is used as political propaganda.
Napoleon is inspired by Louis XIV, who
often used art as propaganda.
During his reign, it became a habit.
Paris, 1833
The poet, novelist and critic Théophile Gautier publishes an essay on art,
in which he claims that art must be free from the influence of religion and government.
The point of good art is that art is for itself,
as he himself said, “l’art pour l’art”, art for art.
The teaching of “art for art” becomes the new motto of a new generation of romantic artists,
who are opposed to an old ideal claiming that art should serve religion or mighty rulers.
Nonsense, says Gautier, true art can not serve anything
and he does not try to change anything, do anything to talk about.
Artists are separated from a bourgeois commercial society,
who constantly tries to sell things to people.
Art should try to occupy a higher, more abstract sphere.
New York, 1917
Artist Marcel Duchamp is preparing for an exhibition of his new work, organized by the Society of Independent Artists.
Surprisingly, it’s a urinal called Fountain.
Duchamp rebels against many ideas about what art is,
that it should be easy to understand, it should make sense and encourage something.
The true artist, according to Duchamp, must defend himself against any confusion
through advertising, mass media, government propaganda or religious instruction,
argues that the true intention of the artist is not to flow and create
works that are mysterious, mysteriously provocative and rather silent.
New York, 1949
Russian emigrant Marcus Ravkovic, who was renamed Mark Rothko to escape anti-Semitism,
exhibits a new series of works in the Betty Parsons Gallery in Manhattan.
They are a new discovery because they seem to have no meaning.
They are pure color fields, abstractional like music.
For some, they are the best paintings of the 20th century and they will soon get a huge prize.
The Museum of Modern Art acquires much of Roth’s paintings as well as other national museums.
Rothko becomes representative of the more obscure direction of 20th century art,
which is very impressive for the elite who often pays huge sums for these works,
but confusing to the wider public.
Venice, June 2005
The most prestigious art fair, the Venice Biennial, is launched in the newly renovated Arsenale.
Curators are the first two women, María de Corral and Rosa Martinez.
It is exhibited by 41 artists from all corners of the world.
The nearby Marco Polo airport is filled with private billionaire aircraft,
many of whom report love for art.
Sophisticated cocktail parties last long into the night.
Art has become a playground for the rich
and a mandatory tourist attraction for tired travelers.
Art is highly valued but still a puzzle.
For most of the history, it made sense:
glorify art or celebrate the state.
Modern art was the result of deviations from these intentions for understandable reasons.
But if art regains its core,
it should overcome the indecisiveness of what it is and what to do.
Art is and has always been a sophisticated aid,
which can help us deal with loneliness,
to fill us with hope,
help us with inner feelings,
a tool that questions power and tries to improve political systems.
It is never an insult to ask for art to do something for us,
to be a practical part of our lives.
We appreciate the art most when we give it the ultimate task of all:
help us lead better lives.
Please follow and like us: