art / culture / politics

“politics” —

“pōlis” . . .

“city” . . .

“politics” —

“pōlis” . . .

“city” . . .

“the place (and the governing institutions of the place)

where the dēmos (the people) live”

Plato:“Politeia”

Plato:“Politeia”

“the conditions and rights of the citizen, or citizenship,”

analogous to the Latin “civitas.”

[Plato did not write “The Republic” . . . ]

“politics,” the “political” . . .

“having to do with government and governing”

[“politics” is about power . . . ]

The Artworld is political . . .

“It” governs the definition,

dissemination, evaluation, Economy

of art.

The Artworld is political . . .

“It” governs the definition,

dissemination, evaluation, economy

of art.Because after all,

What do we “know” of the artwork?

The Artworld is political . . .

“It” governs the definition,

dissemination, evaluation, economy

of art.Because after all,

What do we “know” of the artwork?

The artwork.

socius

socius becomes polis

when valuesare institutionalized

socius becomes polis

when valuesare institutionalized

(when art becomes aestheticit becomes political)

Example:

Jacques-Louis David

1. The “Old World”

Jacques-Louis David,

“The Oath of the Horatii,”

1784

—monarchy (Louis XVI)

—stability—loyalty—traditional

patriarchal values—traditional gender

politics—neoclassical style—grand, dramatic

gestures

1789

2. The “Revolutionary World”

Jacques-Louis David, “The Death of Marat,” 1793

—revolutionary

government—martyrdom—simplicity—austerity—anti-monarchism—religious imagery

1799-1800

3. The “New World”

Jacques-Louis David, “Bonaparte Crossing the Alps,” 1801

—hero worship—dynamic energy—force(s) of nature—size of figures—security—trust—leadership

1804

4. The “New Old World”

Jacques-Louis David,“The Coronation of Napoleon,” 1806

—royal pageant—opulence—huge scale—stability—traditional patriarchial values

politics . . .

Francisco Goya,

“The Family of Charles IV,”

1800

Francisco Goya,“Third of May,

1808,”1814

Eugène Delacroix, “Liberty Leading the People,”1830

WE’VE ALREADY LOOKED AT SOMETIMELY

AMERICAN EXAMPLES

Dorothea LangeMigrant Mother1936

Robert FrankTrolley, New Orleans

1955

Thomas BallThe Emancipation Group1874

politics . . .

p r o p a g a n d a

politics . . .

. . . if “art is manipulation”

. . . if “art is manipulation”

then propaganda is “manipulation through art”

propagandapropagare . . .

propagandapropagare . . .

“to circuate, disseminate, or spread the faith”

(In Catholicism, instruction for foreign missionaries)

propaganda

this is how it started . . .

propaganda

this is how

propaganda

propaganda

this is how it started . . .

By the 19th and early 20th centuries . . .

propagandathe systematic setting down and spreading

of (generally false or misleading)

ideas or information to support or injure

an institution, person, cause

. . . not intended to mislead, but to make a strong political point . . .

Thomas BallThe Emancipation Group1874

Perhaps not intended to

mislead, but

consider the politics

of the image

Thomas BallThe Emancipation Group1874