Some writers have argued that each discipline has 'essential characteristics'. To what extent do you agree with this type of argument? Critically discuss, making use of one or more of the set texts on this course.

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Some writers have argued that each discipline has ‘essential characteristics’. To what extent do you agree with this type of argument? Critically discuss, making use of one or more of the set texts on this course.

‘Will no-one stand up to assert the consciousness of having an aesthetic conscience of his own and bring some spontaneous echo of his inner being, some genuinely individual contributory to the furnishing of his own home.’

This essay aims to unravel the possible ‘essential characteristics’ of each discipline in order to determine the credibility of such a universal statement.  I will seek to identify the essential characteristic of disciplines in an attempt to support this statement.  I will be focusing upon modernism in art, and more specifically, Cubism and Futurism. The last two movements will be shown to offer identifiabble essential characteristics.  These will be discussed in relation to their place within modernism, and alongside the essential characteristic of Modernism.  It will then be possible too determine if each discipline is characterised by essential traits or if in fact modern art, and subsequently art as a subject, possesses generic essential characteristics.  I will discuss whether or not each discipline merely adopts these generic traits in the creation of new movements or whether each discipline is in fact entitled to claim an identity from individual essential characteristics.  

When art was deemed independent from the service or religion of the state artists were given more scope to express themselves in their work. Expressionism was a movement dominated by Germany in 1905-1925. It included everything expressive and unlike trying to be an exact replica of the subject being portrayed it had abstract qualities. Expressionism was intended to represent the feelings and emotions pf the artist, ‘the artist expresses only what he has within himself, not what he sees with his eyes.’ Colour, abstraction, line, noise, movement, rotation and shape are all expressive and therefore form the essential characteristics of Expressionism, ‘the entire arrangement of my pictures is expressive: the place occupied by the figures, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything has its share.’ Avant-garde is a term commonly used to describe modern art. It represents what is new, original and cutting edge.  What makes it this though – colour etc.  How can you define a work of art? Is it to do with having essential characteristics or can it be categorised without such criteria. These characteristics of modern art can be seen in all works and movements, whether it be Impressionism, Cubism or even Pop Art. From Picasso to Duchamp the Avant-garde philosophy is always present.

Cubism was not intended to create a new movement when it was first found. Picasso said ‘when we invented Cubism we had no intention whatever of inventing Cubism. We wanted simply to express what was in us. Not one of us drew up a plan of campaign’. The collective aim of the Picasso’s paintings was to represent some of the aspects of 3d objects so that all angles can be seen and to correct the inaccuracy of  critics’ views. By all the objects being presented on one canvas it brings into view hidden views that traditional paintings would had portrayed. For Cubists and the school of philosophy, the idea of a hidden element being present in the image, therefore may not essentially ‘exist’, made the idea of knowing the far side an abstraction.  The Cubists focused upon and incorporated this into their idea. The Cubist artist creates his work with the view of mobility and access to the world.

The characteristics are removed from the traditional method of conveying a sense of realism as it explores the concept of reality on a deeper level.  These artists paint reality as a stark visualisation to the raw sight, without any censorship or traditional symbollism: ‘one does not imitate the appearance, the appearance is the result.’  The idea Braque and Picasso depicted is that the scene must not be copied but created. Braque stated: one must not imitate what one wishes to create.’ The paintings also went away from the idea of space and more towards a thickness to reality and that everything is somehow connected.

Pre-Cubism was painted in an expressionist way. It was interested in block geometric shapes. Braque and Picasso became very friendly in 1908 in the Pyrenees and had studios together in Paris and both had a period of similar ‘Pre-Cubist’ work Picasso and Barque had got to the stage where their works could barely be told apart. They where both taking high risks in producing such a controversial and different style. Their new style of painting had a profound effect on all artistic work after it.

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There where two phases of Cubism; Analytic Cubism and Synthetic cubism. Each carried the essential characteristic of flatness but had evolved into specific genres.

Analytic Cubism explored the idea of being able to see multiple views of objects and surfaces on one piece of art work. The objects and spaces within a work of art where taken apart and destroyed built re-created with angular geometric shapes. Artists used limited amounts of colour, with very natural and earthy shades such as browns, greys and blacks. Analytic Cubism explores the way in which we can make sense of things. There ...

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