Conflicts about Art

Conflicts about ArtWeek Three, G125 Humanities, Chapter 15

Objectives for this week:

Analyze the conflicts that have arisen between society and its artists

Assess the role that different groups have played in suppressing the Humanities

Discuss the five major causes for social conflicts in the Humanities.

Describe some of the measures taken against artists

Explain the stages of stereotyping and the impact such stereotyping has, especially on women.

How some Artists fared in their lifetime:

Belated Recognition Salieri Van Gogh

Recognition in lifeShakespeareMichelangeloGoyaPicassoTennessee WilliamsAaron Douglas – Harlem Renaissance

Reasons for Conflict Religious Content Political Views Sexual Content The Artist’s Behavior

Religious Content Moliere – Tartuffe

the word "tartuffe” designates a hypocrite who ostensibly and exaggeratedly feigns virtue, especially religious virtue

Martin Scorsese – Last Temptation of Christ Showed Jesus as a married man with children

Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ Incredibly graphic violence and suffering

Dan Brown – Da Vinci Code Catholic church opposed to the portrayal of Opus Dei

Harry Potter Witchcraft and Wizardry = devil

Native Americans Hostility toward Native Americans who practiced their religious

ceremonies—people considered them inferior

Political Views Richard Wright – Native Son

Native Son is about how society’s stereotypes put a black man in a terrible position in a wealthy white man’s house.

Diego Rivera – mural in Rockefeller Center included Lenin—Man, Controller of the Universe—see next slide

Middle East -- Many governments censor films – for example, Turkey banned a film called Yol (The Road of Life). The movie showed Kurds standing up against military repression and cruel treatment of women.

Diego Rivera’s Man, Controller of the

Universe

Sexual Content Edouard Manet – Olympia

painting (opposite) James Joyce – Ulysses D.H. Lawerence – Lady

Chatterly’s Lover Censorship stops people from

writing – who knows how many other great writers there have been, but we don’t know of because of censorship

Artist’s Behavior Oscar Wilde - Bio

The love that dare not speak its name.

“One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.”

“Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.”

Repressive Measures against Art

Suppression of “degenerate” art Membership in different political groups Moral Censorship Stereotyping as a form of suppression Persistence of stereotypes

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo Crippled in a trolley crash

when she was 19 Art always overshadowed

by husband Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera—painted murals

“Man at the Crossroads” in Rockefeller Center—demolished before people could see it over the inclusion of Lenin

Frida—The Movie—FANTASTIC!!

Frida’s Art

Suppression of “Degenerate” Art

Hitler and Goebbels set out to purge the nation of “degenerate art”

Destroyed all art by “foreigners”—see next entry:

Burned all books by “foreigners” – Jews, Bolsheviks, modernists, homosexuals, or anyone else at odds with “Aryan purity.”

House (on)Un-American Activities

Committee (HUAC)– Committee formed to

get rid of anyone, or any group they deemed, “Un-American”. Anyone with radical ideas such as equal rights, fair pay, etc. was brought before the committee.

“Are you now, or have you ever been. . .”

Paul Robeson Richard Wright (video – 4:21) Arthur Miller

Witch Hunts

HUAC, continued Many other people were

brought before the committee

The first clip is on the Hollywood people brought before the committee: watch for the part on the Hollywood 10 who defied the committee.

The Hollywood Blacklist: 1947-1960

Arthur Miller: writer Walt Disney –argued that h

e agreed with the committee

Jackie Robinson Others?

Women and the Humanities

Virginia Woolf Shakespeare’s Sister

Early Exceptions to the rule Ancient Greek women

were recognized. Progress (Getting Closer)

!Women Art Revolution

Danger of Censorship How many writers, artists, musicians, etc.

have not produced art because of the fear of censorship.

Personally, I think that if you haven’t gone through a censorship issue, you have no idea how personally devastating it can be.

Remember that people committed suicide after being accused of being Communist by the HUAC.

“In a free society art is not a weapon... Artists are not engineers of the soul.” (John F. Kennedy)

Key Terms Assimilation Blasphemy Communism Degenerate Art Fifth Amendment HUAC Stereotype Stream of Consciousness