DMB's logic: Hitler liked beer. DMB likes beer. Therefore, DMB has a fascist's taste in drink.
On Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 1:55 PM, david buchanan <[email protected]>wrote: > > John and y'all: > > I was a bit disturbed by the article from Roger Scruton, which Platt > recomended earlier. http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_2_beauty.html > Maybe I was disturbed because I recently watched a documentary about > Hitler's taste in art and Scruton's similarity to that old Nazi kinda > creeped me out. One of the first things he did was gather up all the modern > art he could find, the kind Scruton condemns and which is pictured beside > the article, for a great exhibition. He wanted people to know what > "decadent" art looked like before he destroyed it all. Scruton almost > mentions this... > At some time during the aftermath of modernism, beauty ceased to receive > those tributes. Art increasingly aimed to disturb, subvert, or transgress > moral certainties, and it was not beauty but originality—however achieved > and at whatever moral cost—that won the prizes. Indeed, there arose a > widespread suspicion of beauty as next in line to kitsch—something too sweet > and inoffensive for the serious modern artist to pursue. In a seminal > essay—“Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” published in Partisan Review in 1939—critic > Clement Greenberg starkly contrasted the avant-garde of his day with the > figurative painting that competed with it, dismissing the latter (not just > Norman Rockwell, but greats like Edward Hopper) as derivative and without > lasting significance. The avant-garde, for Greenberg, promoted the > disturbing and the provocative over the soothing and the decorative, and > that was why we should admire it.The value of abstract art, Greenberg > claimed, lay not in beauty but in expression. This emphasis on expression > was a legacy of the Romantic movement; but now it was joined by the > conviction that the artist is outside bourgeois society, defined in > opposition to it, so that artistic self-expression is at the same time a > transgression of ordinary moral norms. We find this posture overtly adopted > in the art of Austria and Germany between the wars—for example, in the > paintings and drawings of Georg Grosz, in Alban Berg’s opera Lulu (a loving > portrait of a woman whose only discernible goal is moral chaos), and in the > seedy novels of Heinrich Mann. And the cult of transgression is a leading > theme of the postwar literature of France—from the writings of Georges > Bataille, Jean Genet, and Jean-Paul Sartre to the bleak emptiness of the > nouveau roman. > dmb continues:The modernist painting produced in Austria and Germany > "between the wars" was exactly the kind of stuff Hitler hated too. He was > into the Rockwellian "fugurative painting" that competed with it. In fact, > I'd characterize Scruton's example (below) as Hallmarky schmaltz. And the > whole idea that painter are supposed to uphold social moral codes strikes me > as quite wrong, reactionary and even a bit medieval. As I see it, Platt's > recommendation just shows that he has a fascist's taste in art. > > > > Here is another example: it is a special occasion, when the family unites > > for a ceremonial dinner. You set the table with a clean embroidered > cloth, > > arranging plates, glasses, bread in a basket, and some carafes of water > and > > wine. You do this lovingly, delighting in the appearance, striving for an > > effect of cleanliness, simplicity, symmetry, and warmth. The table has > > become a symbol of homecoming, of the extended arms of the universal > mother, > > inviting her children in. And all this abundance of meaning and good > cheer > > is somehow contained in the appearance of the table. This, too, is an > > experience of beauty, one that we encounter, in some version or other, > every > > day. We are needy creatures, and our greatest need is for home—the place > > where we are, where we find protection and love. We achieve this home > > through representations of our own belonging, not alone but in > conjunction > > with others. All our attempts to make our surroundings look right—through > > decorating, arranging, creating—are attempts to extend a welcome to > > ourselves and to those whom we love. > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that’s right for you. > http://www.microsoft.com/windows/choosepc/?ocid=ftp_val_wl_290 > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
