I read a fascinating article in the Review Section of the Wall Street Journal, entitled “How Modern Art was Sold,” the book is entitled, “Picasso’s War,” by Hugh Eakin. The book explains what it took for modern art to be accepted in the United States. The struggle the Museum of Modern Art, located in New York City went through.
My father first introduced me to the Museum of Modern Art in the late 40’s. Little did I know then, that only a scant ten years before, the Museum of Modern Art had successfully ended a thirty-year struggle to create a museum for modern painting in America.
To me, a young boy, it was first a place where I was exposed to the great works of the masters of the silent cinema. The films of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd, entertained, and fascinated me, then as they do today. One of the legacies my father wanted to expose me to, before they were replaced by other film auteurs. Something I am so very thankful for, even though it was only designed to educate me, and not influence my future, which it did.
When we viewed the abstract art, that’s when my understanding of what I was viewing became a little difficult. What was the artist saying? What did the painting convey? Why did the artist choose that particular style, shapes, and colors? Why such a break from traditional art, even modern art? These were perhaps the different reactions of our American art world at the beginning of the century and through the 30’s.
In the article, it talks about the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art, the “Amory Show,” in New York City. Collectors called the Cubists “ridiculous” and Henri Matisse “poisonous.” Even the students of the Art Institute of Chicago burned mock-Matisse’s on the steps of the museum and conducted a “ritual execution” of Picasso’s effigy. This is the part that astounded me. That trained artists were so stayed in their art appreciation. What were they frightened of? Yes, radical change could be unnerving, but as creative people, there should have more curiosity about these new art forms. That there wasn’t saddens me.
When I examined the abstract art, then and now, yes, there are many paintings, that I can’t figure out what it represents, its name, the artists thought process. But, is that really important? I found out what was really important to me, was my overall reaction to the painting. Did I like the design, the technique, the colors, and the shapes? If I did, who the hell cared, what it was depicting, what the actual name of the piece was. Maybe I’ll learn those things later on. If it didn’t interest me, then it was a question of why? Then further inspection, and thought was required.
