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Introduction: ‘Art for Art’s Sake’
The so-called academic painters of the 19th century believed themselves to be doing their part to improve the world in presenting images that contain or reflect good conservative moral values, examples of virtuous behaviour, of inspiring Christian sentiment, and of the sort of righteous conduct and noble sacrifice that would serve as an appropriate model toward which we should all aspire to follow.
The conservatives wished to maintain existing institutions and preferred gradual development over radical change. The progressives, on the other hand, were critical of institutions, political and religious, as restrictive of individual liberty. Progressives placed their faith in the goodness of mankind, a goodness which they believed.
In the late 19th century, we find art beginning to be discussed by critics and art historians largely in formal terms which effectively removed the question of meaning and purpose from consideration. From now on, art was to be discussed in terms of style -- colour, line, shape, and space, composition -- conveniently ignoring or playing down whatever social, political, or progressive statements the artist had hoped to make in his or her work.
Plate 1A Composition VIII |
(Wassily Kandinsky, 1923) |
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1B Composition A |
(Piet Mondrian, 1923) |
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