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Originally Posted by Marvin Mattelson
David, I thought this thread was about your odessy to find Bougereau's final resting place.
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It was, but I don't mind that this thread has morphed. Way more interesting this way.
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Originally Posted by Marvin Mattelson
Always happy to chime in and defend the great master. I've had all that modern art propaganda shoved down my throat since I was in art school and it just never rang true for me.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Modernism (and "postmodernism" is simply an extension, a continuation of Modernism) has run its course. It's dead. I mean, when you have a dead shark in a tank of formaldehyde being celebrated as an important artistic statement...it's over. The "shock of the new," (to use the term Robert Hughes coined), becomes empty, boring and old. When I went to art school it was a competition to see who could be the most daring, unusual, shocking, etc. What we're left with is the glorification of unbridled self-indulgence. And so now we see this great resurgence and great hunger for a return to representational, figurative art, accompanied by this phenomenal rise in the number of classically oriented ateliers and workshops. It's a great time to be alive.
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Originally Posted by Marvin Mattelson
While we are at it, the other thing that really bugs me (besides Bouguereau bashing) is the inappropriate grouping of all refined works into the category of photo realism (mind-numbing is the typical adjective). The object of photorealism is to blow up photos into paintings. Certainly not my goal. Creating an illusionistic reality is something entirely different.
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Thank you, Marvin! Raphael was not a photo-realist, though David Hockney may still have his doubts.