Colorful History: Art as a Reflection of Society Through the Ages
Art as a form of communication can be traced back as far as the beginnings of modern humanity. In more recent history, art has been created as personal expression and representation and has also played an important function in reflecting the triumphs and ills of society. Countless famous and unknown artists have used their art for social commentary, which provides a unique and important perspective when studying or researching certain points in history. Below are some significant periods and events in history that are heavily featured in artists’ works:
Victorian era: Paintings created during the Victorian era have both classical and gothic inspiration and distinguishable features. Oil paints and realistic representations of human and natural subjects were common for artists around this time. Royalty or members of the nobility and the elaborate worlds they inhabited were the chief subjects of art during this time. The prevailing sentiment was that the subjects of paintings should be shown to be as noble and prestigious as possible. These factors speak to the deep class divisions in society at the time.
World War I: An intriguing movement, known more commonly as Dada or Dadaism, began in response to the First World War. ‘The Great War’ resulted in untold devastation for Europe and for many people (especially from the arms of society who were called to fight and die in the name of patriotism), unraveling the romanticized notions of royalty and what it represented. Dada attempted to represent the glaringly nonsensical brutality that the war had brought the First World War out in humanity. Collage was a common technique used in this period, often using images from mass media. Combined pieces commonly had no obvious connection to one another – just as the war had turned society on its head, so this movement challenged the art world. ‘Readymade’ was a term coined during this period, referring to the use of manufactured, everyday objects being repurposed as art. Dada artists aimed to express their dissatisfaction with the status quo, with the bourgeois, and with popular politics.
World War II: Following the Second World War, a movement called abstract expressionism emerged and continued throughout the Cold War period. Artists from this period saw their art as being representative of the human condition and humanity’s collective unconscious. Barnett Newman, one of the most prolific artists of the time, is quoted as saying, “We felt the moral crisis of a world in shambles, a world destroyed by a great depression and a fierce World War, and it was impossible at that time to paint the kind of paintings we were doing – flowers, reclining nudes, and people playing the cello.”
A key subset of abstract expressionism is color field art, in which artists used large canvases and filled them with solid blocks of color. Color field art rejected the imitative, classical or academic qualities of art, and aimed to challenge the ideas of symbol and form that consumers of art were accustomed to. This form of abstract expressionism aimed to explore the transcendental and emotive powers of color.
1980s – 1990s and social activism: Social activism began during the Civil Rights Movement and, as a response to the Vietnam War, continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Social issues included LGBTQ rights, women’s rights and anti-Apartheid movements. Transgressive art was common during this time as an expression of dissatisfaction with political and social realities. Transgressive art uses shocking images as social commentary. There are many examples of this (and what was called “resistance art”) from South African and international artists critiquing the racist Apartheid regime.
1990s – current: Culture jamming was another method used to comment on society’s conformation to pervading capitalist sentiment endorsed by Western political regimes. Artists who use culture jamming typically use a recognizable symbol present in mass media or communications and change or manipulate its original form in order to pass comment on society. Culture jamming is still commonly used today to confront consumers with uncomfortable or unpopular facts or information. The aim of culture jamming is to force people to see the darker, often hidden, aspects of modern society and consumerism. Culture jamming is often used to incite social change or justice.
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