and went to an exhibition on Russian Constructivism at the Tate Modern. On display was art from 1917 onwards and shows Russians such as Liubov Popova and Aleksandr Rodchenko struggling to develop an aesthetic by which they could move art forward in a progressive way. They were attempting to develop a more objective aesthetic to better articulate the new, the modern, the revolutionary world in which they were caught.
The exhibition shows this really well through paintings, sculpture, geometric models but also how they tried to develop a proletarian art celebrating the ordinary. In a country where the majority could neither read nor write they sought to harness an art for the revolution and for the everyday. For instance they developed street posters that were loud and brash, designs for cigarette packets that were colourful and challenging, even adverts for biscuits (cookies) using collage and photographs. These artists challenged conventional views of stage design and film, or street aesthetics such as in posters and adverts. Overall the exhibition shows all of this really well. However, for all their virtuosity and visual bravery there was something cold about the aesthetic, certainly in the paintings that were mainly shapes and lines. That said, and given these artists were battling against the dominant romantic aesthetic where the artist is king and the single point of view is truth, what they produced was very impressive.
3 comments:
Good review Dan, good review.
What I find impressive is how other countries study themselves through art...and here, we don't. How I wish we DID. I don't think art is taught in schools today. Sad, eh?
If they did something like that about Canada, it would be such a mish mash. We're such a multicultural society here now that they're even broadcasting Hockey Night in Canada in Punjabi now.
It makes me wonder what is Canadian Identity these days
G,
You underestimate yourself as a writer. Your blog is an example of the art of looking. Fine prose from a fine mind.
x
K,
I thought you Canadians were a pretty laid back group of folk about mixed cultures especially given your English/French/aboriginal origins. I quite like living here in the UK where so many cultures have settled and developed. I'd prefer to visit Canada rather than the US because of this as much as anything else.
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