[lit-ideas] Re: Art and the Wall
- From: Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:23:30 -0700
Andy Amago wrote:
Isn't this recapping what I said earlier, that art is beautiful as long as
it agrees with our agenda? If it doesn't, it gets the old heave ho.
I don't think so. You linked the removal of Diego's work to
Rockefeller's not finding it beautiful ('It was not beautiful to
Rockefeller.') Not finding something beautiful and finding it
politically or ideologically embarrassing are two different things.
There is no evidence that JDR was displeased with its form, as opposed
to its content.
I wrote:
I've seen the Detroit murals; they're moving enough, but I suspect that
most people who see them no longer recognize most of the people depicted
in them, so their former (attempted) didactic power is lost.
and Andy replied.
Like most works throughout the centuries.
I grant that e.g. most of the Christian symbolism and allegory in
Medieval and Renaissance art is lost to the casual viewer (who may,
nonetheless, be struck by the aesthetic power of certain works). The
same would be true of most works that depict classical themes, myths,
etc. So, if this is the sort of painting you're referring to, then yes.
I wrote:
I wonder if Andy considers the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or ceilings
by e.g. Tiepolo,—not to mention the 'cave paintings' at such sites as
Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, 'graffiti.'
He replied.
I said art on the outside of buildings looks like graffiti to me.
What you wrote was:
'Diego Rivera's art was not beautiful to Rockefeller. I personally
think "art" on building walls looks like graffiti.'
The proximity of these two sentences suggested to me that you believed
that Diego's Rockefeller mural was painted somewhere on an outside wall
of Rockefeller Center. Forgive me.
Robert Paul
Reed College
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