3 ms·

Why couldn't we have technically impressive art of modern subjects? I would agree that I've seen enough Christs and Madonnas and Zeus's (what the heck is the p

by douche 11y ago

Why couldn't we have technically impressive art of modern subjects? I would agree that I've seen enough Christs and Madonnas and Zeus's (what the heck is the plural of Zeus?) and other traditional themes. I'm a philistine, I suppose, but I used to get military history magazines, back when magazines were a thing, and one of my favorite parts were the ads for prints of beautiful paintings of P38s and Mustangs dogfighting, panzers and T-34s squaring off at Kursk, Picket's Charge, and U-Boats running on the surface in a stormy sea. Two of my favorite paintings that I have seen in an actual art museum are "In the Troops' Quarters outside Paris"[1] and "Eisenwalzwerk"[2], both of which would fail the 1870 cutoff... [1] https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/in-the-troops-quarters-outside-paris/sgHs0ePrEKaoNQ?hl=en https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/in-the... [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolph_Menzel_-_Eisenwalzwerk_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolph_Menzel_-_Eise...

ghaff 11y ago
I assume by "technically impressive," you mean in classical European style. And, I suppose the answer is that you're probably not going to be regarded as a leading painter if you follow that path. I'm not saying I agree, but scenes from Middle East conflicts in a classical style is probably not the way to get gallery exhibits. Another difference is that we have photographs today and those have probably reduced the interest in a lot of realist paintings or illustrations. [Edit: I'd just add that painters don't generally exist outside of a market--which comes back to my comment about gallery exhibits. There probably isn't a big market for large-format expensive oil paintings of modern warfare.]
- douche 11y ago
  I agree with you that it's not "arty" enough, and even stylized reproductions of reality are not post-modernist or up-their-own-ass-enough to move the dial in the art world. But those could be some powerful paintings, if well executed. Even the best photographs feel somewhat sterile - a well done painting can evoke a real sense of emotion and life that's on a different level.
  - clock_tower 11y ago
    There's still a living tradition of military oil paintings, which have a symbolic or stylized arrangement of realistically-depicted subjects; this is well becoming familiar with. (There's some discussion of this subject in a book on the modern Japanese military by a female German author -- I don't remember the book's name.) Also interesting, for modern war depicted in a traditional style: Afghan war rugs. The classic "red-figure war rugs" depict the Soviet war, but fighting never really stopped in Afghanistan, and neither did depictions of the fighting in traditional Persian-style carpets.
anon4 11y ago
Those are reports. They merely show things as they are, without conveying a message. Therefore, they are not art.

by douche 11y ago

ghaff 11y ago

I assume by "technically impressive," you mean in classical European style. And, I suppose the answer is that you're probably not going to be regarded as a leading painter if you follow that path. I'm not saying I agree, but scenes from Middle East conflicts in a classical style is probably not the way to get gallery exhibits. Another difference is that we have photographs today and those have probably reduced the interest in a lot of realist paintings or illustrations. [Edit: I'd just add that painters don't generally exist outside of a market--which comes back to my comment about gallery exhibits. There probably isn't a big market for large-format expensive oil paintings of modern warfare.]

douche 11y ago
I agree with you that it's not "arty" enough, and even stylized reproductions of reality are not post-modernist or up-their-own-ass-enough to move the dial in the art world. But those could be some powerful paintings, if well executed. Even the best photographs feel somewhat sterile - a well done painting can evoke a real sense of emotion and life that's on a different level.
- clock_tower 11y ago
  There's still a living tradition of military oil paintings, which have a symbolic or stylized arrangement of realistically-depicted subjects; this is well becoming familiar with. (There's some discussion of this subject in a book on the modern Japanese military by a female German author -- I don't remember the book's name.) Also interesting, for modern war depicted in a traditional style: Afghan war rugs. The classic "red-figure war rugs" depict the Soviet war, but fighting never really stopped in Afghanistan, and neither did depictions of the fighting in traditional Persian-style carpets.

anon4 11y ago

Those are reports. They merely show things as they are, without conveying a message. Therefore, they are not art.