August 21, 2010

Was Art Nouveau "the clumsy process of trying to 'dress up' the inorganic forms of modern construction in the false clothing of the natural world"?

That's what Walter Benjamin thought.
If Benjamin was right about Art Nouveau in general, then Jean Carriès was a dissenter from the movement who refused to play along with the lie. Carriès did not carry the prettifying gene. He had an eye for the monstrous, for the contortions of nature and its abnormalities. If Carriès accepted the idea that the modern city is an extension of the natural world, he did so with the proviso that the extension was a malignant tumor.
The dissent from the lie looked like this:

8 comments:

KCFleming said...

Nihilism is best discarded by age 30, lest it consume and debilitate you.

TMink said...

What Pogo said. And there is absolutely nothing clumsy about the art nouveau that I have seen. It is lovely, vibrant, and makes me want to own it so I can look at it every day.

Trey

Unknown said...

I've always thought modern art (and that include Nouveau) was an attempt to find something relevant for paint and sculpture after photography became the medium for objectively recording the moment.

traditionalguy said...

That figurine is either a demon or a salmonella bacteria, both of which are quite natural.

ricpic said...

Does this make Notre Dame an art nouveau precursor?

Andrea said...

I think it's cute. *wants*

wv: bulag. I do believe the internet just told me the creature's name!

traditionalguy said...

Or is it a TCU art class project?

J said...

I thought he was the drummer in The Feederz.