AHIS BC 3626y Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Abstract Expressionism, Museum Of Modern Art, Arshile Gorky
25 Aug 2016
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We need to return to a premodern context. Pollock took inspiration from first nation sculpture. This returned art towards a ritualistic practice. A return to a culture of myth is an attempt to reinvent culture with rituals and collectivity. There was also a utilitarian purpose because they had a function. Picasso of the 30s and 40s was very important. Picasso engaged in a political cause (spanish civil war + wwii) Picasso was protesting the annihilation of an entire city by a german blitz. It"s a pubic mural painting that can be looked at by a large group at once. Therefore, it"s a collective response, not for the individual. For contemporary art to function as a public political intervention. The bull is a metaphor for irrationality of fascism. She hovers over a woman who is sobbing over her child. There is a horse who has been stabbed with a large hole. Placed in 1940 in moma until democracy returns to spain.
