What is Art? - Southwestern Law School

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$S:\Externship Forms Revised May 2005\EXTERN POLICIES ...$

120 J. INT’L MEDIA &ENTERTAINMENT LAW VOL. 4,NO. 2The Roman Catholic Church at that time jealously guarded its articlesof faith, especially from attack by the rapidly growing ProtestantChristian faiths in Northern Europe: so much so that, a decade earlier,the Ecumenical Council of Trent had decreed a key tenet to be that thebread and wine at the Roman Catholic Mass transubstantiated into thebody and blood of Christ. In this politically sensitive climate, it wasinevitable that Veronese was prosecuted for his inclusion of such charactersin his composition. 35 The Inquisitor asked Veronese “Did someperson order you to paint Germans, buffoons, and other similar figuresin this picture?” Veronese replied “No, but I was commissioned toadorn it as I thought proper; now it is very large and can containmany figures ...Wepainters take the same licence as do poets andmadmen.” 36 The Inquisition’s judgment was temperate: Veronesewas ordered to “correct” the painting. After some months of reflectionVeronese achieved this, by painting on the canvas these words: “Feastin the House of Levi”. 37This uncompromising yet elegantly diplomatic solution evidentlysatisfied the court of Inquisition, 38 and not only demonstrates the professionalconfidence of the artist in defending his own work under forensicinquiry; but also reflects the Inquisition’s surprisingly enlightenedapproach that respected the artist’s professional independence.This case also heralds key issues (to which we return later): thepower and influence exercisable by artists of high standing; and judicialrecognition of the importance of the artist’s intentions in the creativeact.III. Trials of Modern ArtFrom the early Italian Renaissance period around 1400 through tothe mid-19th century, successive generations of artists in the westernworld sought to produce images as true to life as their techniqueswould allow. Even though the form and content of art was increasinglynaturalistic and realistically representational throughout these centuries,courts struggled to interpret, construct and apply the law tocases where they were required to recognise and understand the art35. Crawford, supra note 30; Childs, supra note 30.36. Id.37. Reference to the feast is contained in Luke’s Gospel: “And Levi made him agreat feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of othersthat sat down with them.” Luke 5:29 (King James version).38. The canvas survived, unaltered further; it now hangs at the Gallerie dell’Accademiain Venice, Italy.
WHAT IS ART? 121of their era. 39 Such forensic difficulties were relatively modest, comparedwith the greater challenges thrown up by the work of artists fromthe second half of the 19th century 40 to date. Around 1840 artistsfiercely debated whether the invention of photography 41 heralded“the death of art”. 42 Many young and emerging artists reacted againstphotography by creating works depicting images a photograph couldnot achieve. The celebrated 1863 Salon des Refusés 43 in Paris, Franceheralded the birth of what we now know as Impressionism, 44 whichthen developed into Post-Impressionism. 45 The innovation continuedas subsequent generations variously developed Symbolism, 46 Fauvism,47 Cubism, 48 Expressionism, 49 Surrealism, 50 throughtoPopArt 51 :a hundred year period contemporary art historians now classify asModern Art.39. See McClean, supra note 24.40. See Whistler v. Ruskin, discussed in the text accompanying notes 53–59 infra.This 1878 lawsuit exemplifies the turbulent debates during the last quarter of the 19thcentury between artists themselves, and with critics and connoisseurs, over thennascent Modern Art styles, forms, techniques, and subject-matter.41. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) was a French artist and physicist,who invented the first (daguerreotype) photographic technique in 1837.42. Walter Benjamin, A Short History of Photography (Literarische Welt, Germany,18 & 19 Sept. and 2 Oct. 1931).43. The prestigious Paris Salon of 1863 was inaugurated by the French government.The selection jury rejected as unsatisfactory around 3,000 works submittedby young and emerging artists, who vociferously complained to the authorities.Such artists were offered showing space in a small annex to the main Salon, whererejected works were shown; these works included one by the 31 year-old ÉdouardManet (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1862–3), which is now in the French national collectionat the Musée d’Orsay, Paris) and one by the 29 year-old James McNeill Whistler(Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1861–2), which is now in the collectionof the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.44. Early Impressionists notably included Frédéric Bazille (22), Armand Guillaumin(22), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (22), Claude Monet (23), Paul Cézanne (24), AlfredSisley (24), Édouard Manet (31), and Camille Pissarro (33).45. Notably: Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Georges-Pierre Seurat, PaulCézanne, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.46. Notably: Frida Kahlo, Gustav Klimt, Gustave Moreau, Edvard Munch, andAuguste Rodin.47. Notably: André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Henri Matisse, Jean Puy, and GeorgesRouault.48. Notably: Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Francis Picabia,Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, and Max Weber. Also notably, Cubist works werefirst exhibited in the United States in 1913 at the landmark Armory Show in NewYork City.49. Notably: Egon Schiele, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Willemde Kooning, and Max Weber.50. Notably: Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Francis Picabia, SalvadorDalí, Luis Buñuel, Alberto Giacometti, and René Magritte.51. Notably: Peter Blake, Patrick Caulfield, Jim Dine, Richard Hamilton, KeithHaring, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Allen Jones, Roy Lichtenstein,Takashi Murakami, Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi, Robert Rauschenberg, LarryRivers, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol.
Page 1 and 2: What is Art? A brief review ofinter
Page 4 and 5: 114 J. INT’L MEDIA &ENTERTAINMENT

What is Art? - Southwestern Law School

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?