Art That Shocked the World PDF

Art that Shocked the World Kristine May D. Martinez, LPT, MA Sacrilege Is art religious in origin? Art proceeds primarily from a love of beauty, which man later harnessed to a spiritual purpose. linked to shamanistic rites or designed to secure divine interve...

Art that Shocked the World Kristine May D. Martinez, LPT, MA Sacrilege Is art religious in origin? Art proceeds primarily from a love of beauty, which man later harnessed to a spiritual purpose. linked to shamanistic rites or designed to secure divine intervention Religion imposed detailed rules on artists. The various religions have generated a vast array of magnificent works of art of all kinds. Western art initially geared to depict a Catholic universe Pope Gregory I: stipulated that art had two functions to spread knowledge of the faith by creating and disseminating images of religious figures and scenes Sacrilege to move the faithful to devotion through such images and so elevate their souls 16th century: reformers’ establishment of the Protestant Church rivalry between Catholicism and Protestantism a fight for the moral high ground, which in turn led the papacy to monitor art very closely Council of Trent: set out principles designed to intensify the Counter Reformation a decree that there was absolutely no place for profanity of any kind in a sacred work Renaissance: Artists began to gain greater freedom and confidence. Sacrilege As time has gone on, religion has come to play an increasingly smaller role in society and art, and profane, lay, even anti-clerical subjects have become permissible. Blasphemy continues to vex some authorities. The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden (1427) fresco by Masaccio a pioneer of Renaissance humanist thought that placed Man at the center of everything made religious painting human found at Brancacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy size of the figures: governed by perspective Adam and Eve are bigger than the angel. Saint Sebastian (1526) painting by Fra Bartolomeo removed almost all traces of violence and suffering and focused instead on Saint Sebastian’s unashamedly sensuous body was hung in all reverence in a church in Florence but had to be swiftly removed shows Saint Sebastian’s graceful, languid pose, prominent muscles, genitals barely veiled by light gauze Reformation: the epitome of the perversion of religion by painters The Last Judgment (1536-1541) fresco by Michelangelo Buonarroti commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel commissioned by Pope Clement VII to paint the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel found at the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City criticized for nudity and the depictions of Christ and the torments of Hell “Make the world a more respectable place and painting will quickly follow suit.” (Michelangelo) The Feast in the House of Levi (1573) painting by Veronese found in Gallerie dell’ Accademia, Venice, Italy portrayed Christ’s Last Supper as a bustling, lavish, profane banquet The Inquisition was displeased. shows The Last Supper: Christ and the Twelve Apostles and more… “We painters take the same liberties as poets and fools.” (Veronese)  The Death of the Virgin (1601-1605/1606) painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio found in Musée du Louvre, Paris, France the Virgin as a drowned prostitute or peasant woman fished out of the Tiber with her swollen body and shamefully exposed legs shows a common, everyday scene of death The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-1652) sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini found at Cornaro Chapel, Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy embodies the spirit of baroque sculpture with its dramatic tension, intricacy, and sense of movement controversial for the ambiguous nature of Saint Teresa’s reaction divine ecstasy as an orgasmic mixture of pleasure and pain coursing through the body Divina Tragedia (1865-1869) painting by Paul Chenavard found in Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France Théophile Gautier: about the death of pagan gods rendered obsolete by the advent Christianity shows death lunging at the Christian Trinity presents complicated religious symbolism that turned out to be not very Catholic  Immersion (Piss Christ) (1987) photograph by Andres Serrano found in the Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, France Pat Robertson: “government-funded blasphemy” shows a crucifix immersed in urine, and the artist’s own at that  Poleteismo (2011) mixed-media collage by Mideo Cruz displayed during the “Kulo” Art Exhibit sponsored by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Cruz: about the worship of relics and how idolatry evolves through history and modern culture criticized as blasphemous Political Incorrectness “No, painting is not made to decorate houses. It is an instrument of offensive and defensive war against the enemy.” (Pablo Picasso) For centuries, art depended almost entirely on the munificence of those in power. Relations between politics and art are often poisoned by mistrust or even contempt. Artists inevitably communicate a way of looking at the world. works of art can become political tools for they reflect the prejudices and hopes, the hidden desires and fears of the time The Raft of the Medusa (1819) painting by Théodore Géricault harshly criticized for his hideous pursuit of realism found in Musée du Louvre, Paris, France portrayed the terrible story of the raft of The Medusa cause of controversy: the violence of the painting distress of the victims: a veiled criticism of the abuse of power, negligence, and racism Liberty Leading the People (1830) painting by Eugène Delacroix sympathy for the values of the Revolution found in Musée du Louvre, Paris, France considered a key work in French culture the choice of subject and its treatment as tantamount to an incitement to riot a reminder of the Revolution: the Phrygian cap on the woman’s head, the stripped corpses, the smoke, the violence  Gargantua (1831) lithograph by Honoré Daumier accused those in power of squeezing the people dry taught and inspired by Charles Philipon Act of 1831: prohibited the publication of his prints published in La Caricature shows a bloated king greedily swallowing up all the money of the emaciated, poverty- stricken people  Balzac (1897) sculpture by Auguste Rodin deliberately chose to portray Honoré de Balzac in a rough and slightly distorted style in order to convey the emotional state of the writer found in Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France commissioned by Société des Gens de Lettres considered Rodin’s work a crude and ugly figure  The Trench (1920-1923) painting by Otto Dix led an artistic and literary movement called the Neue Sachlichkeit best-known works depict the horrors of war shows mass graves, abandoned corpses, dismembered bodies, eviscerated torsos, eyeless faces shown at the exhibition of “degenerate art” in 1937 One-Thousand-Yen Note Trial Impound Object: Mask (1963) by Genpei Akasegawa avant-garde artist who made imitations of banknotes and turned them into artistic works It was only art! found in Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapolis to make simulacra of banknotes is to interfere with the function of a major instrument of the state  Him (2001) sculpture by Maurizio Cattelan depicts recognizable historical figures and the great masters of modern art found in Maurizio Cattelan’s Archive controversy: exhibited in the old Warsaw Ghetto “an insane provocation that insulted the memory of the Nazi’s Jewish victims” (Simon Wiesenthal Centre) Transgressions “Beauty is a way of death. The newness, the intensity, the strangeness; in a word, all of the values of shock supplant it.” (Paul Valéry) Breaking the basic rules of art amounts to overstepping the conventions of representation and creative production. 19th century: Artistic controversies became more frequent. Romanticism: invested the artist with the status of a leader of men, of a rebel and prophet The influence of the Church and European monarchies decreased. new adversaries: the critics and judges of official exhibitions  Fountain (1917/1964) readymade by Marcel Duchamp selected an everyday object that he transformed into art and then duplicated an upside-down urinal signed “R. Mutt” presented to the Society of Independent Artists in New York One: Number 31 (1950) painting by Jackson Pollock known for his dripping and pouring techniques professed a belief in radical abstraction found in Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York “On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.” (Pollock) Merde d’artiste (1961) work by Piero Manzoni found in Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges, Pompidou, Paris 90 yellow cans, numbered consecutively and signed guaranteed to contain Manzoni’s own excrement “Artist’s S**t, CONTENTS: 30 gr net, FRESHLY PRESERVED, PRODUCED AND TINNED IN MAY 1961” a contract of confidence between the artist and purchaser For the Love of God (2007) work by Damien Hirst known as a “shockaholic” the enfant terrible of contemporary art shown at an exhibition in the White Cube Gallery, London a platinum cast of a skull studded with more than 1,100 carats of diamonds controversies: cost close to 15 million euros; Hirst never even got his hands dirty Hirst: accused of producing a “publicity” stunt devoid of any artistic content  Helena (2000) work by Marco Evaristti shown at the Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding, Denmark an installation in which food mixers take the place of goldfish bowls aimed at drawing in 3 categories of spectators: the “idiot,” the “voyeur,” and the “moralist” The work is open: what happens when an ordinary viewer finds himself alone with his conscience? Balloon Dog (Magenta) (1994-2000) sculpture by Jeff Koons the king of kitsch and neo-pop shown at the Château de Versailles (Hercules Salon), Paris, France Jeff Koons – Versailles exhibition: a “risk” and an “ephemeral folly” a 3-meter high balloon dog in the midst of all the marble, mirrors, gilding and sumptuous fountains of the palace Body Worlds Exhibition (2009) works by Günther von Hagens fascinated by the human body and how it functions invented “plastination” shown in Berlin, Germany Muscles, veins, arteries, intestines, and tendons are visible. Solidified bodies were staged in particular scenes or positions.  Sources:  Baucheron, Éléa, and Diane Routex. The Museum of Scandals: Art that Shocked the World. Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2013. Print.  Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation.