Saturday 4 September 2010

The Pursuit of Truth within Modernism

Modernism is that most ubiquitous yet at the same time, paradoxically, an elusive term.  Many people believe they know what it means, but pushed to define it, they soon flounder.  Isn't it to do with 'being up-to-date?' Well, not really.  In that way, the term is very much misused these days- we say we live in Modern Times, when by the real definition of 'modern,' we don't [well not in the West anymore, anyway].  Modern as a word, has become the victim of it's own essential conceptual power, practical application and  subsequent over-use; it is used now, still, in the place of the word 'contemporary,' when that latter word is a more accurate verbal describer of our times.

Modernism emerged in the 19th century as a volatile,  multi-faceted movement- it's constituent thinkers and practitioners were often at war with themselves as much as the outer world establishment they were actively challenging and opposing- that developed out of the Enlightenment, taking on a very base, practical Materialism as the foundation of its artistic and political agenda and, that was an important aspect of modernism: it's intent to synthesise both art, and politics.

Before the immense economic and social upheavals of the 19th century industrial revolution in Europe and North America, art had been a very codified activity.  From the building of the great cathedrals, to the mannered art of the Renaissance, through to the portraiture and Arcadian landscapes of the Regency period, the artist/artisan had had a prescription to work to; the end result, whether it be a stone finial or a large, usually biblically based wall painting, was achieved within set technical parameters, social mores and expected output.  The skills were often handed down from generation to generation, the end result measurable within set, pre-conceived ideas of 'correct' aesthetics and acceptable subject matter.  'Taste' was a veritable, definable even quantifiable arbitrator of human assessment.

Modernism set out to dismantle this century's old idea of taste and 'acceptable' art.  Modernists believed that art could be taken out of it's cultural context and the human condition expressed in a pure, abstract form, and it could be practised by anyone.  In terms of conventional, visual fine art, the invention of photography obviously aided the cause for the acceptance of abstract painting into the mainstream-still life's and convention portraiture became rather lame artistic pursuits when photographs could do the same job [albeit crudely of course at first].

And so Modernism inevitable developed it's political profile and agenda; it became to symbolise a particularly egalitarian and then socialist movement.  It was of the people for the people; we were all artists making our own unique impression upon the world regardless of class, colour or creed, and although this may at first appear to be the celebration of the individual above all else, it proved more sophisticated than that, in that it believed in the erosion of class boundaries, the elevation of the lowliest of men to greater heights, and the demotion of the highest of men- in particular those who had the temerity to place themselves in the position of having the right 'taste'- to lower levels of greater humility.

Modernism set out to be the Great Leveller and to a large extent, it succeeded.  It's power and reach rumbled on into the sixties, expressed perhaps most completely [and brutally] in the monolithic social architecture of that period.  But we are hardly in modern times now. The cult of the individual sans community commitment has our society in a vice-like grip; contemporary art is seen as 'post-modern' now, which means it is arch, knowing and more often than not, cynical.  Modernist purity of thought, action and art in all it's holistic glory and thorny confrontation has all but gone underground, and I believe that is a great shame. 

But surely, as our currently unsustainable economy and society teeters ever more on the edge of collapse, it's day will once again return....

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so where do we go from now , to be honest in such a fast paced world i truly wonder if any thing is really modern , maybe the rule should be "modern for a day"

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