The Golden Avant-garde: Idolatry, Commercialism, and Art
University Press of Virginia, 2000 - Literary Criticism - 147 pages
Since the eighteenth century, artists--especially so-called avant-garde artists--have played a conflicting role in society. Part of the reason for their complex position, argue Raphael Sassower and Louis Cicotello, is the survival of the culture of idolatry in the modern age. In the twentieth century, artists can criticize the worship of material things or they can produce the things themselves. They can paint the scenes of worship of the golden calf--as the German expressionist Emil Nolde did in "Dance Around the Golden Calf" (1910), in which garish exaggerations reflect a condemnation of materialistic culture--or they can be the ones fabricating the idol for a fee.
Part radical critics, part celebrity servants of bourgeois tastes, avant-garde artists such as Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte, Andy Warhol, the Christos, and Keith Haring have captured the twentieth-century imagination and inspired the artistic community to reconsider its social, political, and cultural roles. Charting the uneasy middle ground occupied by these artists and their work, Sassower and Cicotello argue that their success has as much to do with their complicity with capitalist forces as it does with their defiance of them. Indeed, the major theme of The Golden Avant-Garde is the inability of any cultural subgroup to withstand the overwhelming power of capitalism, commercialism, and science and technology.
While some artists are paid by governments and institutions to construct national and religious monuments that express and honor society's most valuable principles and goals, the same society has fabricated a romantic myth of artists as revolutionary heroes who defy the authorities and pay dearly for their passion and vision. The Golden Avant-Garde is a unique collaboration between a philosopher and an artist, who bring their different perspectives to bear on how the avant-garde navigates the cultural, financial, and technological challenges presented by this postmodern dilemma. Often, Sassower and Cicotello conclude, avant-garde artists have become adept at manipulating the same forces that they seek to exaggerate and articulate in their work.
The Golden Avant-Garde: Idolatry, Commercialism, and Art University Press of Virginia, 2000 - Literary Criticism - 147 pages Tangu karne ya kumi na nane, wasanii - hasa waitwao wasanii wa avant-garde - wamekuwa na jukumu la kupingana katika jamii. "Kwa mujibu wa Raphael Sassower na Louis Cicotello, ""sababishi moja la msimamo wao mgumu ni kuokoka kwa utamaduni wa ibada ya sanamu katika enzi ya kisasa.""" Katika karne ya ishirini, wasanii wanaweza kukosoa ibada ya vitu vya kimwili au wanaweza kutengeneza vitu wenyewe. "Wanaweza kuchora mandhari za ibada ya ndama wa dhahabu - kama vile mchoraji wa Ujerumani Emil Nolde alivyofanya katika ""Dance Around the Golden Calf"" (1910), ambapo mambo ya kupita kiasi yanaonyesha hukumu ya utamaduni wa vitu vya kimwili - au wanaweza kuwa wale wanaotengeneza sanamu kwa ada." "Wanaamuziki wa kisasa kama vile Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte, Andy Warhol, na Keith Haring wamekuwa wakichanganya mawazo ya watu wa karne ya ishirini na kuchochea jamii ya wasanii kutafakari upya majukumu yao ya kijamii, kisiasa na kitamaduni.""" Kwa kuelezea hali ya kati ya wasanii hawa na kazi zao, Sassower na Cicotello wanasema kwamba mafanikio yao yanahusiana sana na ushirikiano wao na nguvu za ubepari kama inavyofanya na upinzani wao. "Hata hivyo, ""Golden Avant-Garde"" inaonyesha kwamba hakuna jamii yoyote ya watu inayoweza kukabiliana na nguvu za ubinafsi, biashara, sayansi na teknolojia." Wakati wasanii fulani hulipwa na serikali na taasisi kujenga makaburi ya kitaifa na ya kidini ambayo yanaonyesha na kuheshimu kanuni na malengo ya thamani zaidi ya jamii, jamii hiyo hiyo imeunda hadithi ya kimapenzi ya wasanii kama mashujaa wa mapinduzi ambao hupinga mamlaka na kulipa ghali kwa shauku na maono yao. The Golden Avant-Garde ni ushirikiano wa kipekee kati ya mwanafalsafa na msanii, ambao huleta mitazamo yao tofauti juu ya jinsi avant-garde inavyoendesha changamoto za kitamaduni, kifedha na kiteknolojia zinazotolewa na shida hii ya baada ya kisasa. Mara nyingi, Sassower na Cicotello wanahitimisha, wasanii wa avant-garde wamekuwa stadi katika kudhibiti nguvu zile zile wanazotaka kuzidisha na kuelezea katika kazi zao.