Monday, April 23, 2012

The Armory and Epistemology



The Armory Show of 1913 is incredibly diverse, demonstrating the radical ideas that were presented to unsuspecting eyes of the time. If students like us, who have, at one time or another, seen modern art of sorts in the past, can be appalled with the immense differences in abstract representations of humans and nature, it can easily be assumed that those present at the Armory showing 100 years ago were even more shocked and amazed with the distinctly unique works of art quite unlike the realist artwork of the past.

Kenneth Hayes Miller’s The Waste brings up particular thematic similarities to Elliot’s “The Waste Land.” Not only is the title representative of the works of both artists, but the overall feeling of a futuristic, yet regressed un-civilization pervades the viewer/reader. Miller’s oil painting uses light to capture the darkness of the scene, an ironic combination that shows the beauty that once was. We can only assume that The Waste represents a scene of destruction, shown by the woman’s disheartened expression as she sits among the desolate land next to what looks appears to be the sea.

Edward Munch’s Vampire is very much a modernist piece merely in regards to theme. Like his other paintings, faceless people are the center of each work of art, which allows the viewer to create imagined emotions of the characters as there is no facial expression to base an emotion off of. Through the use of color, black in his Vampire painting, and abstract positioning of each character, the viewer is able to create a reality of his or her own. Munch’s Vampire does differ from his other works of art in that the undead vampire does have facial characteristics: eyes, cheekbones, and a nose. Because the vampire is not a human, she is provided with unique characteristics, clearly setting her apart from the rest of the scene. This painting would have been considered grotesque and disturbing to those at the Armory show 100 years ago, those that were used to the lifelike and relatable artworks of realism.

Like Hemingway’s In Our Time, each work of art in the gallery, like each short story, can be looked at as individual representations of a scene, or as connected pieces, and deciphering which of the two it is “supposed” to be can confuse the viewer or reader, which is more likely than not, precisely the point.

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