Forgive me for talking about how modernist art comes across now rather than the theory that inspired it. But how modernist art has integrated into our world is fascinating.
Modernist theory seems very aggressive. Puritanical even. That the movement died out is not surprising. Saying that painters can only work with paint as paint was as confining an idea as saying that video games should have no narrative or that comic books must only be light-hearted and silly. These restrictions are so intense it would not take long for artists to rebel. Video games had Silent Hill. Comics had The Night Gwen Stacy Died. Modernism too would have it’s day.
Time has made even the darkest arcade games and the most mature silver age comics seem funny, warm and safe. I feel like something similar might have happened to modernist art.
Mondrian, Rothko, Kandinsky, and even The Futurists’s paintings seem to me to be fun, cute, relaxing and even playful. Like easy listening music. They make me feel happy. Even in galleries and media these artworks would be used to add some colour and frivolity to room. The bright colours and bold shape are both child-like and would look good in media for children. That these painting once caused anger and came from an angry place.
But sometimes the past can surprise you.
Does this change my feeling on the paintings? I don’t think so. It is certainly fascinating to learn. But for better or for worse these paintings really do stand on their own. Separate from the artistes who made them and the movement they embodied.
Because even if Modernism was a cage the foundations for making great paintings were solid. Making paintings just about paint and colour was a path truly worth following. Even if only for a while.
John's Learning Journal 