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Irony - Stalin & Hitler's Artistic Tasts

Reader comment on item: Beauty and Nausea in Venice

Submitted by Ludvikus (United States), Dec 28, 2017 at 12:31

There is something to be said about the artistic taste of a truck driver, or peasant for that matter, or the working class vs. the bourgeoisie.

This so-called "modern art" actually began at the end of the 19th Century in Paris, France; it was apparent;ly developed in response to the Industrial Revolution which produced the Camera and the Mass Production of fungible "beautiful" objects. By the sixties everybody had their "plastic Jesus" hung up on the windshield of their annual car.

Industrial Designers were the new artists - and Andy Warhol elevated his canvas of "Campbell Soup" to a work of Art. We must recall that in the Renaissance it was the wealthy who could afford a Work of Art, having oneself depicted by a Michelangelo in paint or stone. Thereafter, Mass Production enabled the Average Man to own a Useful Work of Art in his or her own Tenement or Apartment. So now the Artist's job became the craft of what one could not get in one's supermarket.

I'm not justifying Modern Art - only accounting for its rise and existence.

Now we live in the age of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution." Works of Art abound in Cyberspace - to anyone's taste and delight if you will. And Photoshop surpasses the Horse's Hair Brush.The Nude Form of a Beautiful Woman is readily available - and far "superior" to the Pornography of its industrial startup. Just enter "XXX" (or some related equivalent thereof) into the Google Search Engine and the most fantastic beauties in perfect color and form appear, which Leonardo Da Vince would not surpass, and might admire. Why an image of a human, unclothed, can ever be considered only art when a nude poses near a canvas is a mystery it seems no extra-terrestrial being could ever understand. Or why it becomes "art" when an "artist" produces it is another aspect of this strangeness.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (19) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1La biennale di Venezia, ossia la fabbrica del nulla [53 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Carlo BrozziApr 4, 2022 08:07279621
Stalinist-style buildings [114 words]EdoardoJan 29, 2018 07:34242012
Perspicacious perspectives! [4 words]Rachamim FreerJan 12, 2018 17:14241840
1Congratulations for your intervention [24 words]Georges BrandstatterJan 7, 2018 12:56241800
La biennale di Venezia, ossia la fabbrica del nulla [30 words]Carlo BrozziApr 22, 2022 08:04241800
Romanticizing the Italian Renaissance [67 words]François GravelJan 2, 2018 12:46241741
All too true [25 words]Leslie ShawDec 29, 2017 04:02241703
3I Agree [34 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Brian YoderDec 29, 2017 00:36241700
1Evelyn Waugh was right there... [24 words]Maria MeylikhovaDec 29, 2017 00:30241699
Art [51 words]Glenn CurtamDec 28, 2017 16:26241695
1Nausea at this show, yes, but 1910 is too early [122 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
MalcolmDec 28, 2017 14:40241694
1Art used to be about the magic and skill in the execution [46 words]AnonDec 28, 2017 12:58241693
1Artists as tradesmen [65 words]Barbara Schmidt-RunkelJan 3, 2018 08:46241693
Irony - Stalin & Hitler's Artistic Tasts [316 words]LudvikusDec 28, 2017 12:31241692
1Sadly provincial [127 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Vadim DralukDec 28, 2017 12:08241691
2away from the public eye [103 words]rwDec 29, 2017 04:25241691
The mentality surrounding culture after the horrors of the 20th century--thoughts of two masters [652 words]RizhulkaJan 1, 2018 11:53241691
Thanks [17 words]OrnellaDec 28, 2017 12:02241690
Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson [16 words]Alvin SamuelsDec 28, 2017 11:59241689

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