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Lecture Topic The Purpose of Art?

Part Two

Last time...
A brief look at a definition of art and the way in which
one of its purposes might be seen as the creation of a more emotive connection to world and to ourselves.

A look at a handful of examples of the modern art


that Huxley would probably been aware of as he was growing as an artist.

Some thoughts about what these different pieces


might represent in terms of a general attitude towards what art can do.

Lots of Modernisms
All of the previous examples can be seen as examples of Modernism, or Modernisms. They are all connected by this modern desire to challenge, break down, disrupt, destroy, etc. traditional forms and find modes that better represent modern society, the modern psyche and the modern situation of a humanity that was becoming utterly disconnected from traditional spirituality. And so what ended up happening was that all of these schools of thought started popping up. These schools were generally based around differing thoughts about what art should be trying to achieve and what the best ways of going about achieving that was - through painting, poetry, theatre, etc. It was one of the liveliest times in artistic history in terms of the number of different movements that appeared within such a small space of time - as soon as something established itself, something else popped up to challenge those established beliefs.

What did this do?


Its difficult to say that these shifting beliefs about art did anything. However, what could be argued is that all of this debate about art challenged and shaped the ways in which we see. The way I see it is that modern art opened up different ways of seeing - abstract ways of looking at the world and existence through a range of different lenses.

Futurism helped people to see the fundamental beauty of progress and the machine, while allowing these artists to express their beliefs about progress, technology, etc.

Impressionism was a way of seeing emotively. It helps people to see beyond the physical nature of the things they see and to examine their perception of them - the idea that seeing is bound in emotion.

Surrealists got us seeing the truth in the dream and helped us to see profound meaning in the initially incongruous.

The necessity of difference


The reason why all of this was possible is because schools challenged each other. Where the Impressionists often saw the purpose of art as the emotive connection to natural surroundings, the Futurists saw the purpose of art to revel in speed and the machine. By reacting, sometime violently (the Futurists were well-known for causing fights in public places and throwing their manifestos at people), to the art they saw around them, we get progress, we get alternative ways of seeing, we get a rich culture full of different windows to see the world through. If the Impressionists didnt react against Realism, we may never have had the chance to reflect on the possibility of seeing emotively, or of seeing by perception rather than by maths or science. Through their point of difference, we are offered the chance to see differently.

Wildly individual
So, what Im hoping to express, is that this time that Huxley was writing was such a rich time of independent and individual thought - especially in the art world (all arts, not just painting). The art was liberating and I think it enriched not only the artists (in terms of their ability to express themselves) but the viewer too as they became better able to understand, appreciate and see their world by looking at it through the unique vision of these modern artists. Its not surprising to me that art is such a big deal in Brave New World - especially if John is to represent Huxley throughout this text.

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