"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
Albert Einstein
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Tuesday 25 February 2014
Between “Eternity” and “Now”: A Brief History of Art
Pre-modernism: Eternity
Modernisms: History
15th-16th century: Humanist Renaissance
Harmony
Anatomy
Perspective
The Camera obscura
17th-18th century: Enlightenment
19th-20th century: Modernism
When Modern Artists Discover “Motion Pictures”
Post-modernism: Now (me me generation)
It is strange to try to represent or include time in a visual medium such as painting. It would be more natural in music or literature because Visual arts deal with flat (two dimensional, 2D-) surfaces. This is maybe why some visual artists are fascinated by time: it is a mystery out of their realm.
Artists’ views on time reflect their society’s. At the beginning, art was associated with religion (as patrons and commissioners) and artists were painting religious “eternal themes”, immortal gods. Their mission was to paint Eternity (God's "Time") and art was meant to last forever. Emblematic was the case of ancient Egypt whose religion was entirely dedicated to eternal afterlife: pharaohs were godlike figures and aspired, after their time was up, to be reunited in the afterlife to this eternal spiritual world where stars are floating on this dark ocean we can sometimes witness at night. Pharaoh being on top of the society hierarchy, he was meant to be reunited to the King of all stars: the Sun, hence their worship of the Sun.
Eternity is associated in art with gold as it never rusts. It is still a symbol of eternal love as golden rings are used to mark the union of wedded couples.
Egyptians (Tutankhamen = son of Akhenaton)
Time has also been an important question in Christianity. Like the Pharaoh’s religion, this religion is defying time with a similar theme resurrection and eternal afterlife. In ancient Egypt, this resurrection was demonstrated by the Nile’s annual flooding as the Osiris’ legend symbolizes it. Christianity added an apocalyptic outlook with St. John’s “end of time” Revelation: the final judgement.
Saint John the Baptist, Byzantium, by a painter trained in Constantinople, early- to mid-15th century, tempera and gold leaf on wood
The Art of Eternity is a series of 3 1-hour documentaries on Christian art presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon.
Episode guide
Painting Paradise: The origins of Christian art in late antiquity, Coptic Egypt and medieval France, and its transition from classical art.
When East Meets West : Early Christian art's development through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and its influence on modern artists.
2. Modernisms: History
The Humanist Renaissance (14th-15th century)
The Enlightenment (17th-18th century)
"Modernism" (19th-20th century)
The impression is that almost all medieval art was religious. This is far from the case; when the church became very wealthy, it was prepared at times to spend lavishly on art, and there was also much secular art. But this secular art has suffered from a far higher rate of wear and tear, loss and destruction: the Middle Ages generally lacked the concept of preserving secular works for their artistic merit, as opposed to their association with a saint or founder religious figure. This is one the reasons why during the Renaissance, authors tended to belittle medieval art.
2.1 The 14th-15th century Humanist Renaissance
Artists become part of History; they are not anymore used to illustrate their times. The notion of Art History was initiated with Renaissance Italian painter, architect, writer and historian Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), most famous today for his 1550 "Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects." This book is considered as the foundation of art-historical writing ever since. Vasari initiated the genre of an encyclopedia of artistic biographies that continues today. Karel Van Mander was considered with his "Painting" book (Het Schilderboeck, 1604), as the "Dutch Vasari." Joachim von Sandrart, author of Deutsche Akademie (1675), became known as the "German Vasari" and Antonio Palomino, author of "An account of the lives and works of the most eminent Spanish painters, sculptors and architects" (1724), became the "Spanish Vasari." History entered the art world for the first time. This marked the birth of "Modernism," as I define it.
The period of History before the 14th-15th century Humanist Renaissance; the medieval ages is called Dark ages by historians. This term characterized the period of “intellectual darkness” between the extinguishing "light of Rome" after the end of Late Antiquity, and the rise of the Humanist Renaissance in the 14th century. This concept of a Dark Age originated with the Humanist Italian scholar and poet Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity. Petrarch (1304–1374) is considered by many to be the "father of the Humanist Renaissance." He has been credited with developing the idea of historical change. He inspired humanist philosophy which led to the intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. He believed in the immense moral and practical value of the study of ancient history and literature.
During the medieval “dark ages”; History was written by God, not by men. But Christian civilization nearly disappeared during a period of approximately one hundred years; between the time of the Black Death (1348–50) in Europe and the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This was that critical period during which the idea of a Renaissance emerged. European intellectuals resourced themselves to their historical roots: it was a re-naissance (re-birth) of European Antiquity, of ancient Rome and Greek cultures, considered as the birthplaces of (not so Christian) European civilization.
1348–50: The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people. This was during that period of time that Petrach was active.
1453: Christianity saw Byzantium (Constantinople) taken by the Turks (Ottoman Muslim Empire). Constantinople, known as the “second Rome”, was after Rome, the second capital of Christianity at the time. Islam challenged Christianity and the Ottoman Empire also blocked the traditional medieval trade routes.
Threatened by the advances of the Ottoman Empire which also blocked their access to North Africa and the Red Sea -- two very important trade routes to the Far East and Asia, the Christian monarchies (Portugal, Spain and Rome) decided to “go west.” On behalf of the Spanish monarchs, this “Italian” (Genoese) explorer known as Cristoforo Colombo (Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; English: Christopher Columbus) attempted to find a trade route to Asia by sailing west: to the “West Indies”. Instead, he reached America in 1492, and the rest is history.
The "Age of Exploration" (or Discovery) had started changing world history forever: the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492 caused an unprecedented exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations, communicable diseases, technology and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres which lasted until the 17th century. It is called by historians the “Columbian Exchange”.
This crisis of Christian civilisation: the Italian (and European) Renaissance contributed to an emphasis on reason and humanism over faith, that is more down to earth human values and less on the “divine and eternal” purely spiritual values. It contributed to the birth of science (natural philosophy) and “classical (academic) art” which lasted half a millennium. It was the birth of "modernism," in arts, sciences, in society.
In (visual) arts, Humanist Renaissance revolutionised the arts with the help of some new "scientific concepts" :
Harmony
Anatomy
Perspective
The "Camera obscura"
1. Harmony
Elevations and Horizontal Outlines of the Human Head | Piero della Francesca in "De Prospectiva Pingendi" (around 1480)
4. The "Camera obscura" It is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen and is used in drawing or for entertainment. It was one of the inventions that led to photography and the camera. The camera obscura has been known since the time of Chinese scholar Mozi (470 to 390 BCE) and Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE). It was used for centuries all over the world. During the Humanist Renaissance it was improved by polymath Giambattista della Porta. During the 17th century Dutch Masters, Vermeer made it central in their technique and style. It also influenced then scientists such as German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
Camera obscura in "Encyclopédie", enlightened philosophes Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert , 1751
By the 18th century, more easily portable models became available. These were extensively used by amateur artists. Such cameras were later adapted by Joseph Nicephore Niepce, Louis Daguerre and William Fox Talbot for creating the first photographs.
2.2 The 17th-18th century Enlightenment
The 17th-18th century Enlightenment’s ideals were true heir of the Humanist Renaissance: the Enlightenment saw the intellectual maturation of the humanist belief in reason as the primary guiding principle in the affairs of humans.
After the Enlightenment and its political consequences such as the French revolution, no religious perspective was considered in human affairs: only the march of human history. The open-minded 18th-century thinker believed that nearly everything could be submitted to reason: tradition, customs, morals, even art. The Enlightened thinker favoured a renaissance of “classicism” in arts as developed under the Humanist renaissance: neo classicism where references to ancient Greek and Roman themes were used to give a historical perspective about contemporary events. Here is a typical example: the “Oath of the Horatii” by David.
The painting depicts a scene from a Roman legend about a dispute between two warring cities; Rome and Alba Longa showing three brothers expressing their loyalty and solidarity with Rome before battle, wholly supported by their father. As revolution in France loomed, paintings urging loyalty to the state rather than to clan or clergy abounded. It became one of the defining images of the time.
2.3 The 19th-20th century Modernism
Modernism is considered to have started as an art movement after Edouard Manet used such classical theme to express mundane situation... This shocked the art establishment and society.
Nudes were acceptable in historical and allegorical paintings. But in 1863, he submitted his Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), showing them in common settings was forbidden! Manet was inspired by “The Judgment of Paris” (c.1510) after Renaissance painter Raphael but this didn’t convince the jury.
In retrospect we can recognize in Renaissance humanism an expression of that modernist confidence in the potential of humans to shape their own individual destinies and the future of the world. Also present in this tradition is the optimistic confidence that humans can understand nature and the universe.
2.4 When Modern Artists Discover “Motion Pictures”
But the Humanist Renaissance and Enlightenment’s scientific revolutions will have a deep impact on the arts future: invention of photography and cinema. It had already started with the use of the "Camera Obscura". It dramatically changed with the invention of “Motion Pictures”; the cinema. It indeed deals both with time and images and became a perfect invitation for some artists to explore that world. This new technology had particularly a deep influence on Cubist painters such as Braque and Picasso in early 20th century. They were big fans of movies! It also influenced a Marcel Duchamp.
“Moving pictures” were known as illusion toys in very early times. The modern “zoetrope” (meaning “wheel of life“) was invented in 1833 by British mathematician William George Horner. Almost simultaneously, similar inventions were made independently. In Belgium the “Phenakistoscope” was invented by JosephPlateau and in Austria the stroboscope by Simon von Stampfer: pictures were viewed through slots and appeared to move when the two were spun and viewed in a mirror. This illusion toy “zoetrope” was in fact invented much earlier in China around 180 AD by Ting Huan.
But it was soon eclipsed in popularity by the photographic film projector of the Lumière Frenchmen brothers sometimes credited as the inventors of the motion picture camera in 1895. The ease of use and portability of their device soon made it the rage in France where most artists were residing then in Montmartre. Cinematographes soon were in the hands of Lumière followers all over the world, and the motion picture era began.
It is not surprising that Paris-based artists such as Cubist Picasso or Braque were “taken” by this new invention called the “Motion Pictures”.
Zoetrope
“The most extensive consideration of movies and Cubism was made by Natasha Staller in 2001, in her book “A Sum of Destructions: Picasso’s Cultures and the Creation of Cubism,” in which she found specific correspondences between some of Picasso’s work and the images and techniques in the films of Georges Méliès, the French moviemaker and special-effects pioneer. “Picasso appropriated Méliès’s techniques of jarring multiple perspectives, fragmented bodies and body parts, a comic self-conscious dialogue between apparent art and apparent reality,” Ms. Staller wrote.” From WhenPicasso and Braque Went to the Movies
Another acquaintance of Braque and Picasso was artist Marcel Duchamp. He was possibly inspirede by English photographer Muybridge’s book “Animal Locomotion,” (1887), which included a sequence of twenty-four images of a naked woman descending a flight of stairs. It is believed to be a sourcefor Duchamp s landmark painting Nu descendant un escalier n° 2 (1912).
Left: Marcel Duchamp; Nu descendant un escalier n° 2 (1912).
Duchamp’s interest in plotting the static phases of a moving subject has often been compared to the work of other artists; the Italian Futurists, who were obsessed with notions of velocity and dynamism, i.e. time. Futurist Boccioni wrote:
"...Instead of the old-fashioned concept of sharp differentiation of bodies, instead of the modern concept of the Impressionists with their subdivision, their repetition, their rough indications of images, we would substitute a concept of dynamic continuity as unique form. And it is not by accident that I say form and not line, since dynamic form is a species of fourth dimension in painting and sculpture, which cannot exist perfectly without the complete affirmation of the three dimensions that determine volume: height, width, depth."
(Boccioni, "Plastic Dynamism", 1913. in, Futurist Manifestos, ed. Apollonio, trans. Brain, Flint, Higgitt, Tisdall, p. 93)
Like Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2”, futurist works, most notably Balla's "dynamisms" show scenes over a period of time with clearly express the idea of the fourth dimension as time.
Giacomo Balla-Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912)
More at http://bittleston.com/artists/giacomo_balla/ Around the same time as Balla's paintings, it was reported by Kahnweiler that Picasso "considered setting his pictures in motion using a clockwork mechanism or producing a series of works which could be shown in rapid succession."(Wolter-Abele, "How Science and technology changed art", History Today vol. 46 no.11 , November 1996, p. 64) The futurist method was so impressive that even Picasso reconsidered the possibilities of exploring the “fourth dimension.” This will be the subject of another text.
// US consumerism (1920s>) and Andy Warhol (1960s >)
Vanities: today’s cult of the artist
To emphasize God's "eternity", there was also an emphasis on the “briefness” of human existence: the 17th century Dutch vanities are illustrative of this. They were called “Vanitas” which is a Latin word meaning "vanity" and loosely translated corresponding to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the passing nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. This term comes from Ecclesiastes 1:2 of the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible. The verse reads “Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas” (“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity”).
Common vanitas symbols include skulls, which are a reminder of the certainty of death; rotten fruit, which symbolizes decay; bubbles, which symbolize the brevity of life and suddenness of death; smoke, watches, and hourglasses, which symbolize the brevity of life. Vanities now:
Today, a Damien Hirst’s obsessive artistic themes indicate he is a very vain artist and has a morbid obsession with death. It started with his rotten shark (exhibited in 1991 at "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living") and other skulls. He is also obsessed with money and fame: vanity.
Damien Hirst and one of his skulls
This "Zeitgeist" started at the turn of the 20th century with Dadaism (Duchamp) and broke through during the 1970s with the first post-modern artist: Andy Warhol. He contributed to the cult of the "artist" where fame, name and greed became more important than art. Post-modern “Zeitgeist” emphasises "now” and “death” over “life” and “future”. Arts are living a nihilistic period of its history. Its emphasis of the "now" means "now future". A Damien Hirst is symptomatic of Post-modernist “Zeitgeist”.
In my What's the Time? text, I have challenged the ideas of self-appointed “spiritual teacher” Eckhart Tolle and author of bestseller "The Power of Now". His popularity is not surprising. He is part of our “Zeitgeist”, the spirit of our time. “Zeitgeist” is German and means the intellectual dominant fashion/ school of thought that typifies our culture of a particular time. Today’s “Zeitgeist” is “post-modernism”, a modern form of nihilism which Eckhart Tolle propagates, whether consciously or not. Nihilism comes from Nihil, in Latin and means “nothing”. Tolle says:
“Every physical object or body has come out of nothing, is surrounded by nothing, and will eventually return to nothing.” (Power Of Now, p. 87)
As I argued Tolle is wrong: "Nothing comes out of nothing" (Latin: ex nihilo nihil fit)... therefore himself (including the money and fame he enjoys now.) His denying of the reality of time (past and future) stems from his denying of the existence of the "present", the "instant". Tolle argues further that this "Now" is all we have... yet denies its reality! This is the same error made thousands of years ago by the Greek “monist” school of philosophy as I explained in my What's the Time?. They considered time as “continuous”, made of zero-instants as if time were infinite, eternal: "God's time". As a consequence, monist Zeno’s paradoxes intended to convince us that our human time does not exist. Eckhart Tolle, in his own idiosyncratic “mystic” (theosoph) way, defends the same view. This error brings us back to the "pre-modern times" when "God's time" was ruling and "human time" (History) was not. Men were then living in the "now" and left up to fate their future, their history.
This postmodern nietzschean “Zeitgeist” where the sense of history has disappeared to be replaced with a postmodern emphasis on the "now" can be traced back to Friedrich Nietzsche's nihilistic philosophy. In 1874, the young Nietzsche published "On the Use and Abuse of History for Life," a clear rejection of history. He wrote:
"Observe the herd which is grazing beside you. It does not know what yesterday or today is. It springs around, eats, rests, digests, jumps up again, and so from morning to night and from day to day, with its likes and dislikes closely tied to the peg of the moment, and thus neither melancholy nor weary. To witness this is hard for man, because he boasts to himself that his human race is better than the beast and yet looks with jealousy at its happiness. [...] Thus the beast lives unhistorically, for it gets up in the present like a number without any odd fraction left over; it does not know how to play a part, hides nothing, and appears in each moment exactly and entirely what it is. Thus a beast can be nothing other than honest. [...] The person who cannot set himself down on the crest of the moment, forgetting everything from the past, who is not capable of standing on a single point, like a goddess of victory, without dizziness or fear, will never know what happiness is. "
Nietzsche developed this notion of an "end of history" with the old concept "Eternal return" (also known as "eternal recurrence"). It is a concept that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur, an infinite number of times across infinite time or space. The concept is found in Indian philosophy and was subsequently taken up by the Stoics (See my rejection of Stoic philosophy HERE). This notion fell in decline with the spread of Christianity until Friedrich Nietzsche. Tolle is popular because he happens to be part of this trendy Postmodern Nietzschean "Zeitgeist", a form of nihilism. It denies and rejects ideas, ideals, theories, be them political, scientific or cultural. It rejects any notion of human time or history as does Tolle. Postmodernism rejects “modernism”, and by doing so it rejects an old tradition that can be traced back to the 14th-15th century Humanist Renaissance in Europe, to the 17th-18th century Enlightenment and to the 19th-20th century “modernism” as this will be further detailed in this text.
This historical tradition has given us a sense of human History: men’s future was not determined by an external divinity or by chance any longer. Men took their fate and future into their own hands: humanism. The ancient, premodern “Zeitgeist” claimed that “men’s time” (history) does not really exist. History was then always allegorical, symbolic or cheer legend. What existed was “eternity” only, that is the “time“of immortal deities. Men aspired to this eternity, to some eternal afterlife.
With postmodernism : everything is being rejected. Not only religion but also what the Humanist Renaissance, the Enlightenment and of course Modernism contributed to our society. It is deeply nihilistic and it is today’s “Zeitgeist.” Tolle’s nihilism (and pessimism) is transparent. (quote here!)
Postmodernism rejects “modern ideals”. It rejects any historical perspectives (including the visual one!) which it labels as “meta-narratives”.
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