It appears that Werckmeister, as a dedicated Marxist, is far more concerned with the "hyperbolic" evils of Capitalism today -- and how contemporary visual culture, both popular and high-end, serves to mask them -- and fails to provide any kind of criticality.
What did he have to say about the totalitarian states of the 1930's ? I don't know -- because he has provided all of the illustrations for his lecture online -- but none of the text -- which may have been a wise decision -- just letting the pictures tell their own story. And what a story they tell! For example: There's the ugly/monstrous figures of Thorak: http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/art-history/werckmeister/March_30_1999 /Thorak.jpg Are these masking the brutality of fascism -- or are they revealing it -- just like Picasso did in "Guernica" ? Is Speer's architecture masking the cold, inhuman severity of Nazis in Berlin -- or it revealing it -- just as Mies Van Rohe did for Capitalism in Chicago ? (and I wonder whether anyone else sees the strong similarity between the architecture for the Fascist Italian pavilion in 1937 -- and the architecture for the new, Modernist wing of the Art Institute of Chicago by Renzo Piano) ____________________________________________________________ Home prices too high? Click here for interest only loans to buy the home of your dreams. http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/Ioyw6ijlfrI58ofgQc6XYhkp13B9ym TnipdM6qz1orSNIrP9Ere0ja/
