Art and Society OR Society and Art. I think the eternal question is: Does Art represent/mirror society or it plays a role in shaping it ? To answer this question we should ask the basic question What is Art itself ? I read a definition somewhere which I really like. It goes something like this. The representation, expression of the world unknown confined in the frame of the mind. A moment arrested in eternity. Sometimes morbid, revolting, spooky, sick turning your stomach putting a disapproving frown on your face, sometimes too esoteric, rambling, abstruse, convoluted raising eyebrows. Other times, speaking in images, it takes your breath away leaving you gasping for air by its beauty all consuming, overwhelming. Art is everything, anything that has you thinking deep, forgetting yourself for a moment, be it a piece of symphony, poetry or a painting or a sculpture.
Now for the second part of the question: Does Art shape society ? For this part, I will again give you somebody else's words/argument. "Yes. Why? I`ll try to put you on the picture without getting muddled when attempting my sentences. What do you go to galleries for? And what about theatres? Music concerts? Do you hit such spots only because your friends say it is a trendy thing to do? Or simply to be surrounded by the bohemian spirit for a while just to show off in front of a bunch of simpletons afterwards? – No. We go there hoping, believing, thirsting for expansion, expansion of the mind, soul, world perception. We seek release, realization of our own fantasies and dreams in what we see around us in there. We go there to push the boundaries, horizons of our own minds by means of having a look into the inner worlds of others." This particular argument explains both sides of the coin but we can still recognize that art does shape society in a lot of cases. Thus Art mirrors the minds/perception of those who create it and helps shape the minds of those who admire/understand it.
This discussion should logically should pose a few more questions in front of us. Why does only some Art works are recognized over the world or over the time ? How do we know that they represent society truly ? Does Art shown in gallery/museums is representative of all this ? Can only a few paintings represent the complete state of society ? Well answer should be logically "no" because art is relative (Beauty is in the eye of beholder), what is art for somebody can be blasphemy to others. But lets look at the few major milestones in history and try to associate or recognize paintings from that era and do they reflect that change in society ?
The Religious World: At peak of Roman and Greek civilization, religious paintings were there to symbolize/strengthen people's beliefs. Like early christian paintings, how there was god among life and motivation of religious movement began.
Renaissance And Patronage: The very essence of the Renaissance was encapsulated by the work of three Masters , who were Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, and Michelangelo Buonarottio. Leonardo Da Vinci was seen as the perfect man of the Renaissance. There might have been a few more artists and I am sure there were who were probably not as recognized by time and people and their paintings might have been as good as these people’s work. But then according to “connosieurs of art” of that time felt that probably paintings of these artists were more powerful.
19th Century Art: During early 19th Century woman in Art and society were divided sharply into either domestic goddesses or ‘fallen women’, which made eroticism an area for Artists. Jean Auguste found the most acceptable way to express eroticism by referencing to Eastern societies where women were seen as merely sexual objects, a reflection of the exotics that grew amongst British Colonies.
Industrial Age: From mid to late 19th century, it was the era of slavery and child labour. The Industrial Revolution had provided cheaper goods and by doing so had drawn workers on the land into dark and growing cities. Its housing and living conditions were known to be scandalously inhuman. The Artist felt passionately about the situation and responded by identifying in their Art the human implication of what was happening, and realized too that there was a new audience for their works.
Impressionism: In the Industrial World of Impressionists, a crisis entailed a lack of emotional commitment occurred in the 1880s. Post-Impressionist, George Seurat, with his technique of Pointillism painted Sunday afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte 1886, it depicted people enjoying themselves along the bank on a Sunday afternoon, shared with the Industrial occupation at the background.
There is one very famous example of how an artist painting can show the change in society. Titan, a patronage Artist, one of his works, Christ Crowned with Thorns depicted the execution of Christ. Two versions of this painting were made approximately 30 years apart. In the earlier version, Christ rolled his eyes towards Heaven, giving the painting a melodramatic effect, which was unusual in Titan’s work. In the later version, his eyes were cast so that Christ wore a more traditional air of resignation. Colours were painted with a more muted, darker tone compared with its earlier version where the brushstrokes was not as vigorous, nor was the pain and torture depicted as energetically. By looking at the two pieces separately we see how he had changed as time past. The disappointment caused by human violence had saddened him, and in return, his painting also expressed his sad feeling towards the society.
So from all these examples and this evaluation, we can say that Art is the product of our society, which can reflect its nature, the reflection of Art let us, experience the changes and behavior of our civilization. A piece of Art is a history reference of the society at that particular time. But as limited by our time and other factors we can see only very few of them and Art museums do an amazing job for us by selecting a few pieces from infinite which contains almost everything if not complete depiction of a part of history.
Author's Note: All these examples are taken from somewhere and I acknowledge all the people through this note. I apologize for not referencing personally for each example. I should also thank my friends Ankit Chandra and SIbin Mohan as this blog is a result of the discussion we have had on this topic in a last few weeks. They deserve as much credit as mine if not more.
