scholarly journals 1968: In Search of “Socialism with Human Face” in Czech Art History

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-236
Author(s):  
Milena Bartlová
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Art History ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
Historical Practice

The five or eight years leading up to the failed “Prague Spring” represent the most important period of Czech humanities tradition during the Communist Party dictatorship. Art history did not directly participate in either of the most prominent period discourses, but it was able to develop its own specific methodologies following the Czech continuation of the Vienna School legacy. The contribution analyzes the discourse of Marxist Iconology, developed by J. Neumann and R. Chadraba, and presents the case of F. Šmejkal and his concept of Imaginative Art, which was, interestingly, the sole case during the whole 40 years of the Communist Party rule when the highest Party officials became directly involved in Czech art historical practice. From the point of view of art historical practice, the most important feature of the brief period 1963–1969 was the new possibility of contacts with foreign art historians and of traveling abroad.

The Rise and Fall of Alexander Dubček*

1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-218
Author(s):  
Josef Kalvoda
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Personal Communication ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Personal Security ◽  
Prague Spring ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
The One

Very few people outside Slovakia ever heard of Alexander Dubček prior to his elevation to the position of the First Secretary of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia in January 1968. A few years later, after a shortlived prominence, his name fell into oblivion, appearing only occasionally as a symbol of the “Prague Spring” and “socialism with a human face.”The amount of writing relevant to the short career of Dubček and the developments in Czechoslovakia in 1968 is tremendous; yet it is not possible to write a “definitive” study on the “Prague Spring” and Dubček's role in it, for the story of those events is still unfolding. Also, interpretations of the Dubček phenomenon will continue to vary due to bias of authors and the lack of hard evidence. Finally, the archives of the Communist parties of the Soviet bloc countries and private papers of Communist party officials are not accessible. It is not possible, for political, personal, security or other reasons, to obtain the one particular piece of evidence — the one vital letter, memorandum of conversation, revealing diary, or a note of personal communication — which would explain conclusively why Dubček rose and fell.

The Rise and Fall of the American Artists' Congress

Prospects ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 325-340
Author(s):  
Garnett McCoy
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Art History ◽  
Art Market ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Stock Market Crash ◽  
John Reed

In the fall of 1929, just after the stock market crash but before its effects were widely felt, a group of radical artists and writers in New York established the John Reed Club, named after the already legendary journalist, poet, and revolutionary activist. The founders, some of them members of the Communist Party, some loosely associated with the party's cultural magazine New Masses, were committed but restless young men in search of a focus for their political energies. Soon after the club began, the artist members created an art school, organized exhibitions, and sponsored a lecture series and discussion groups with emphasis on the practice and theory of art and art history from a Marxist point of view. As the Depression deepened, with dire consequences to artists dependent on an art market in a state of collapse, the John Reed Club's approach attracted growing attention.

The Rise and Fall of the American Artists' Congress

Prospects ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 325-340
Author(s):  
Garnett McCoy
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Art History ◽  
Art Market ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Discussion Groups ◽  
Stock Market Crash ◽  
John Reed

In the fall of 1929, just after the stock market crash but before its effects were widely felt, a group of radical artists and writers in New York established the John Reed Club, named after the already legendary journalist, poet, and revolutionary activist. The founders, some of them members of the Communist Party, some loosely associated with the party's cultural magazine New Masses, were committed but restless young men in search of a focus for their political energies. Soon after the club began, the artist members created an art school, organized exhibitions, and sponsored a lecture series and discussion groups with emphasis on the practice and theory of art and art history from a Marxist point of view. As the Depression deepened, with dire consequences to artists dependent on an art market in a state of collapse, the John Reed Club's approach attracted growing attention.

Unions and the Popular Front: The West Coast Waterfront in the 1930s

1986 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Nelson
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
The United States ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Human Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Made In

Recent discussions of the history of American communism have generated a good deal of controversy. A youthful generation of “new social historians” has combined with veterans of the Communist party to produce a portrait of the Communist experience in the United States which posits a tension between the Byzantine pursuit of the “correct line” at the top and the impulses and needs of members at the base trying to cope with a complex reality. In the words of one of its most skillful practitioners, “the new Communist history begins with the assumption that … everyone brought to the movement expectations, traditions, patterns of behavior and thought that had little to do with the decisions made in the Kremlin or on the 9th floor of the Communist Party headquarters in New York.” The “new” historians have focused mainly on the lives of individuals, the relationship between communism and ethnic and racial subcultures, and the effort to build the party's influence within particular unions and working-class constituencies. Overall, the portrait has been critical but sympathetic and has served to highlight the party's “human face” and the integrity of its members.

Baroque and the Political Language of Formalism (1845–1945): Burckhardt, Wölfflin, Gurlitt, Brinckmann, Sedlmayr

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evonne Levy
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Art History ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nazi Party ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The World ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
Central Argument

<P>This study in intellectual history places the art historical concept of the Baroque amidst world events, political thought, and the political views of art historians themselves. Exploring the political biographies and writings on the Baroque (primarily its architecture) of five prominent Germanophone figures, Levy gives a face to art history, showing its concepts arising in the world. From Jacob Burckhardt’s still debated "Jesuit style" to Hans Sedlmayr’s <I>Reichsstil</I>, the Baroque concepts of these German, Swiss and Austrian art historians, all politically conservative, and two of whom joined the Nazi party, were all took shape in reaction to immediate social and political circumstances. </P> <P>A central argument of the book is that basic terms of architectural history drew from a long established language of political thought. This vocabulary, applied in the formalisms of Wölfflin and Gurlitt, has endured as art history’s unacknowledged political substrate for generations. Classic works, like Wölfflin’s <I>Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe</I> are interpreted anew here, supported by new documents from the papers of each figure.</P>

Hans Sedlmayr (1896–1984): Structural Approach and Pre-Modern Values

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Angelov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Modern Art ◽  
Socialist Realism ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Structural Approach ◽  
Sacred Text ◽  
Modern Conception ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
History Of

The prevailing part of art historians, critics and theoreticians from the mid-1950s even until today feels related to the means of expression of the modernist art trends from the last decade of 19th c. until the end of 1960-s. Modernism has become a sacred text, whose complexity should be interpreted, but not criticized. Sedlmayr’s conception of art is built on moral, religious, aesthetic and political grounds, which are the very reason for the actuality of his works – both in the specialized sphere of art history and in the wider public debate on values. That is why I will analyse his structural approach mainly in relation to his anti-modern conception of art. This is the task of this study. Sedlmayr’s effort to turn art history into a “strict science” is an independent part of his scientific pursuit; it is in relation, but is not subordinate to his conception of modern art. Those publications of his are discussed but only in the specialized literature on history of the methods in humanities, while his conception against modern art acquires an exceptional popularity. Because of that reason his theoretic contribution to the study of art remains in a penumbra. I argue that Sedlmayr’s conception has the following coinciding points with the official understanding of art in the time of socialism: – A denial to estimate art with aesthetic criteria, which the ideologists of socialist realism define as formalism, and Sedlmayr as aesthetism; – In socialism art should represent a positive ideal; Sedlmayr calls this ideal “human measure”; – Art should habituate to morals; – A conviction that the modern art from the end of 19th c. on is decadent; – A criticism against the “dehumanization” of art.

Images at Work

2016 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Hannah Baader ◽  
Ittai Weinryb
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Material Object ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Historical Understanding ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Art Historians

In recent years the field of art history has seen a shift in the historical understanding of the material object, drawing further attention to historical experience and potential historical efficacy as a means of historical interpretation. Anthropologists and art historians alike have established viable interpretive schemes for the exploration of material objects. This essay outlines the various problems encountered in articulating notions about the historical efficacy of an object.

scholarly journals Issues of Ethnic Benefits in Ho Chi Minh

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Assoc. Prof, Dr. Pham Ngoc Tram ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Leader ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Party Building ◽  
The People ◽  
State Construction ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Historical Methods

Ho Chi Minh is the eminent political leader of the nation and the Communist Party of Vietnam, one of the major politicians in the world. Ho Chi Minh's ideology on national interests is the viewpoints expressed deeply in Party building, formation and state construction of the people, by the people, for the people. From a historical point of view, the article uses historical methods and qualitative analysis to clarify the issue of national interests - Ho Chi Minh's core political ideology expressed through the work of Duong Kach Menh. The article argues that the national interest in Ho Chi Minh's thought is a creative philosophy, philosophy, thought of action, meeting the aspiration of independence and freedom of the entire nation, in accordance with the context. Specific aspects of the Vietnamese revolution and inherited and applied by the Communist Party of Vietnam in the current country development policy.

scholarly journals Temptation, Resistance, and Art Objects: On the Lack of Material Theory within Art History before the Material Turn

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Charolotta Krispinsson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Art History ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Visual Culture Studies ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
History Of ◽  
Material Turn

Niccolò di Pietro Gerini's painting “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” (1390-1400) serves as a point of departure for this essay. It depicts Saint Anthony during a lapse of self-control as he attempts to resist an alluring mound of gold. Since the mound is in fact made of genuine gold leaves applied to the painting's surface, it works both as a representation of temptation as well as an object of desire affecting the beholder. The aim of this essay is to explore different approaches to materiality before the material turn within the art history discipline by examining two opposing directions within the writing and practice of art history:  the tradition of connoisseurship; and the critique of the fetish within the theoretical apparatus of new art history and visual culture studies of the 1980s and 90s. As an expression of positivism within art history, it is argued that connoisseurship be considered within the context of its empirical practices dealing with objects. What is commonly described as the connoisseur's “taste” or “love for art” would then be just another way to describe the intimate relationship formed between art historians and the very objects under their scrutiny. More than other humanist disciplines, art history is, with the possible exception of archaeology, an object-based discipline. It is empirically anchored in the unruly, deep sea of objects commonly known as the history of art. Still, there has been a lack of in-depth theoretical reflection on the materiality of artworks in the writings of art historians before the material turn. The question however, is not ifthis is so, but rather, why?In this essay, it is suggested that the art history discipline has been marked by a complicated love-hate relationship with the materiality of which the very objects of study, more often than not, are made of; like Saint Anthony who is both attracted to and repelled by the shapeless mass of gold that Lucifer tempts him with. While connoisseurship represents attraction, resistance to the allure of objects can be traced to the habitual critique of fetishism of the first generations of visual culture studies and new art history. It reflects a negative stance towards objects and the material aspect of artworks, which enhanced a conceived dichotomy between thinking critically and analytically in contrast to managing documents and objects in archives and museum depositories. However, juxtaposing the act of thinking with the practice of manual labour has a long tradition in Western intellectual history. Furthermore, it is argued that art history cannot easily be compared to the history of other disciplines because of the simple fact that artworks are typically quite expensive and unique commodities, and as such, they provoke not just aesthetic but also fetishist responses. Thus, this desire to separate art history as a scientific discipline from the fetishism of the art market has had the paradoxical effect of causing art historians to shy away from developing methodologies and theory about materiality as an act of resistance. 

Inca Aesthetics and Scholarly Inquiry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Herring
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Art History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry ◽  
Andean Culture

This chapter discusses the interpretive challenges that art historians and anthropologists have faced in approaching Inca intellectual and artistic achievements, which do not fit comfortably in Western categories. George Kubler took up the question of Inca art in the mid-twentieth century, creating a space in art history for studying the Incas. This development occurred at a time when archaeologists such as John Rowe worked to place the Incas within the broader context of Andean civilizations, and structuralists like Tom Zuidema were beginning to challenge historical narratives in search of underlying elements of Andean culture. The scholarly interest in Inca art, material culture, and intellect was but one aspect of the Inca focus of that time, as artists found inspiration in Inca ruins and museum galleries in the United States, and other countries began to exhibit Inca artifacts as an art to be approached on its own terms.

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