According to Teige, the cubism era of brought into the world of art products that are not real as would be perceived by modernism but a distortion of the aesthetic values of artworks. Besides, poetry just like other forms of art also lost its harmony and became less compelling. What can be derived from Tiege's writing is that modern art is not created out of passion with the purpose of bringing out the aesthetic value. Contemporary art that stems from cubism which is neither decorative nor applied art and which are defined more by the economic aspects influencing decisions to use raw materials that focus on producing attractive and creative pieces. An in-depth look at some of the art movements that followed cubism reveals a distortion of the rules and formulas applied in creating artworks. For instance, the Dada which primarily focused on freeing and expanding the possibilities of art so that the authorities and regulations that described art no longer have an effect on determining what art is (Hutchinson 3). This paper, therefore, discusses some artworks produced after cubism to illuminate Tiege's argument that they are based on the values of cubism.
Cubism is a style of visual arts which existed between 1907 and 1914. The form focused on the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane which rejected the traditional techniques of foreshadowing, perspective, chiaroscuro and modeling (Encyclopedia Britannica 1).The cubist also went against the theories that emphasized that art should imitate nature (Encyclopedia Britannica 1). Moreover, Cubist painters were not bound to copying color, texture, space and form; instead, their paintings depicted radically fragmented objects presenting a new reality.
Based on the description of cubism and cubist works in the previous paragraph, it is evident that cubism introduced rebellion against time-honored theories of realism and naturalism. That failure to follow the rules of art is what other styles that followed adopted and that explains why Tiege attributes the characteristics of modern art to cubism. Tiege also points out that modernism freed poetry from the restraints of punctuations, syntax and other rules of poetry to introduce poems that are spoken and even meaningless (368). An excellent example is the "Karawane" poem by Hugo Ball. The poem written in 1916 contains nonsensical syllables whose patterns create rhythm and emotion, but the sounds do not resemble any known language. The first line of the poem reads" jofilanto bambla o failli bambla" and makes no sense at all (Ball:1). According to the poet, the lack of sense was meant to describe the failure of European powers to use rational discussions in solving their diplomatic problems leading to the First World War (The Art Story 1).
Ball also designed an artwork that he wore when reciting the "Karawane" poem. The artwork is known as "Reciting the Sound Poem 'Karawane'". The costume appeared strange as it went against any form of known art and Ball purposefully designed it to distance himself from everyday surrounding and the audience. The outfit had legs made of shiny blue cardboard cylinder and a huge coat made from cardboard together with a blue and white stripped witch doctor's hat (The Art Story 1). The features of Ball's artwork presented the Dada style through its non-aesthetically pleasing appearance but whose purpose was to question the happenings in society and in that case it was the failure of European countries to resolve their diplomatic problems through rational discussions. Besides, Dada artists used readymade materials just like Ball used cardboards and a readymade hut to create the costume.
The analysis of "Reciting the Sound Poem 'Karawane' is meant to explain Tiege's thoughts on modern art as a continuation of cubism. The costume and the poem both go against the traditional approaches of creating art and writing poetry thus supporting Tiege's argument that "art is one, and it is poetry" (368). Besides, cubism introduced the creation of art that went against the theory of producing works that imitate nature. Ball's costume is a strange piece of work and looks like nothing ever seen in nature. It is modern yes it is real, but it brings about a kind of reality that did not exist before the emergence of cubism.
Independent artist Mark Hutchinson considers the transformations made by Dada on art positive in that the style brought about a culture that reinvented the discipline of art from within and led to the acceptability of a culture that was previously deemed unacceptable (2). Hutchinson adds that Dada's immediacy and inventiveness against externally imposed restraint is a positive feature of the movement (2). The credits given to Dada here should have gone to cubism based on Tiege's views of modern art. However, Tiege does not consider the transformations brought about by cubism positive in any way. Instead, Tiege thinks modern art has lost the true meaning and purpose of art and is headed for a complete dissolution into something that should be given a different name other than art.
The concerns raised by Tiege on the erosion of art values are captured in his question of whether the new picture will remain a picture forever. The reproduction of pieces of work and the modern technologies that allow for adjustments on pieces of work deny them the aspect of originality. Tiege also views the paintings of his time a mixture of poetry and art and resulted into the picture poem. Artworks that adopt the futurism style can best be used to understand Tiege's point here since they often have titles whose words denote movement to satisfy their focus on motion and velocity. Besides, Futurists emphasized the relevance of the titles in their artworks as a means of effectively increasing the expression of movement represented (Mastandrea and Umilita 1).
Umberto Boccioni's painting "Dynamism of a Soccer Player" (1913) is one such work of Futurism which rejects the natural world and the past. The painting does not imitate nature in its real form, and in this case, one would expect to see the image of a soccer player but is treated to a mix of colors that denote movement, energy and speed (Boccioni). Boccioni aimed to present dynamism and not a fixed moment and that presentation conforms to Tiege's explanation that the fusion of pictures and poems will lead to the liquidation of traditional modes of writing poetry and making pictures (368). For example, the idea of conveying movement in the titles of futurist works is aimed at inducing the observer to see the high speed depicted in the painting. As a result, the title which is a poem does not follow the traditional approaches of writing poetry since it refers to a painting while the painting does not present the observer with a picture of a soccer player because it relies on the title do that. A study by Mastandrea and Umilita shows that paintings are appreciated for several aspects including the content they convey and formal features among many other reasons. However, in Futuristic paintings, the aesthetic appreciation of a painting increases as the motion appraisal rises (5).
Tiege's essay captured the changes in art making and poem writing during his time and also made accurate predictions of what art would look like in the future. Tiege was also correct in attributing the changes to cubism because it's the style that made acceptable approaches that were previously restricted in the area of art. The idea of liberating art from social constraints may have been perceived as appropriate by the Cubists and other artists whose works emerged after cubism. However, the freedom in art has led to the erosion of originality further worsened by the possibility of duplication and manipulation of pieces of work.
Although the aesthetic value and liking of art depend on the perceptions of the observer or the creators, art in the contemporary world tend to be appreciated because it aligns with the technological advancements of the day. Tiege may have considered modern art to less valuable and less artistic because they are neither decorative nor applied art, but the modern observers still consider it art as that is what they are presented with.
Works Cited
Ball, Hugo. "Karawane". Karawane, 1916, https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/karawane. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
Ball, Hugo. Reciting the Sound Poem "Karawane". 1916.
Boccioni, Umberto. Dynamism of a Soccer Player. Museum Of Modern Art, New York, 1913.
"Cubism | Definition & Characteristics". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/art/Cubism. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
"Dada Movement, Artists and Major Works". The Art Story, 2018, https://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
Hutchinson, Mark. "Dada Contra Art History". From Dada to Infra-Noir: Dada, Surrealism, And Romania, vol 20, 2013, pp. 1-22. The University of Iowa, doi:10.17077/0084-9537.1262. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
Mastandrea, Stefano, and Maria A. Umiltà. "Futurist Art: Motion and Aesthetics As A Function Of Title". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol 10, 2016. Frontiers Media SA, doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00201. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
Teige, Karel. "Painting and Poetry". Between Worlds, Timothy O. Benson and Eva Forgacs, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts And London, pp. 367-368, Accessed 7 Nov 2018.
Images
Reciting the Sound Poem 'Karawane'
Dynamism of a Soccer Player
