An Example of an A Paper -- Spring 2004

Essay One – Second Question –
"The Building Blocks of Artistic Revolution in France"

The beginning of the 1900s in Paris not only marked the start of a new century, but of an artistic revolt against the traditional art of the preceding century as well. This revolution in art consisted of several different movements, each of which built its foundation upon the success and strength of the previous one. However, even though each movement grew from another, the new group of artists was often very critical of its predecessor. These criticisms were, of course, what caused the new artists to break off and form a new movement in the first place. Despite their differences, however, they are each only a piece of the artistic revolution known as the French Avant-Garde.

In order to explain what the Avant-Garde was revolting against it is necessary to examine the major characteristics of nineteenth century art. An example of this kind of art is "The Birth of Venus" by Alexandre Cabanel finished in 1863. (Class website "Academic Painting") This painting depicts a voluptuous, pale Venus with long flowing hair lying atop the waves of the sea while several small cherubs hover over her. Like other paintings of this period it demonstrates a refined style of art in which the trace of brushstrokes is eliminated and the scene is extremely realistic. In fact, "realism" was a term often used for this type of art and was accomplished due to the artist's large concentration on technique which included a meticulous attention to detail. One author states, "Painters were expected to create the impression that their work was a ‘window' onto a particular scene"(Class website "Academic Painting"). A painting was judged on how realistically it portrayed a specific scene.

The scene itself was also very important during this period. The artists wanted the audience to be bettered by the painting in some way, so the subjects being depicted were limited to religion, history, and classical mythology. (Class website "Academic Painting") These were the only themes considered significant enough to uplift the audience. Scenes from everyday life were not considered to be of any value at all. In a sense this was a throwback to Greek art due to the nineteenth century artist's quest to portray what was truly beautiful. Everything portrayed in the paintings was idealized. "The Birth of Venus" is a wonderful example of this period not only due to its realism, but because it also illustrates the use of classical mythology in art, as well as this idealistic beauty. Cabanel's Venus is painted as the ideally beautiful woman of that time; she has sensuous curves and flawless pale skin as well as long, abundant wavy hair. The cherubs above her are also perfect little angels, fat and joyous.

The nineteenth century artist existed to uplift society morally and aesthetically with his/her work. It was, in a way, a very elitist movement that felt it could push the people towards attaining truth and a better life through viewing art.

In the last years of the nineteenth century the Avant-Garde was born and created a legacy that would soon dominate French art and culture. Composer Erik Satie wrote pieces that would later define the most innovative music of this new movement. His piece entitled "Gymnopédies" completed in 1888 is a wonderful example of the Avant-Garde in its infancy. (Shattuck 118) This movement was based in a rebellion towards the concept of "realism" that dominated most nineteenth century art, and the idea that art must have a specific form from which it should not deviate. Artists like Satie, Rousseau, and Jarry rejected this tradition and claimed through their compositions that everyday life could inspire art, that people could enjoy art for art's sake without having to be morally uplifted in some way. People were allowed to bring their own, personal interpretations to a piece. The role of the artist was simply to create something to interpret that opened minds and broke people out of the traditional mold.
Musically, Satie was rebelling against a long period dominated by German romanticism and symbolism which reached its peak with the composer Richard Wagner. Wagner had already begun to experiment with traditional form in music, a concept Satie elaborated on, but this is where the similarities end. German symbolism in music was much like realism in painting. Composers like Wagner developed motifs in their music that were created to musically represent certain aspects – light, emotion, location – of real life. These motifs were not to be interpreted by individuals, but to be understood universally like the scenes of realist painters. Satie rejected this symbolism and wrote pieces like "Gymnopédies" that contained no motifs, but existed simply as beautiful music. Satie also rebelled against traditional tonality, an important part of Wagnerian works, and instead played with atonal sounds and harmonies.

There is no specific or identifiable beginning, middle, or end to "Gymnopédies" and the variations that occur in it are subtle. The piece is basically circular with only very small changes that allow one to identify what part of the piece one might be hearing. Shattuck explains these subtle variations in The Banquet Years. He states, "He [Satie] varies only the bare contour, the notes in the melody but not its general shape, the chords in the accompaniment but not its dominant mood. An artist drawing a head from three different sides could obtain the same effect"(141). Shattuck goes on to explain how this technique could also compare to the cubists of the same era who also liked to look at objects from several different perspectives in their art.

In relation to literary art during this period, the goal of making music autonomous might be comparable. Music is often written in certain forms such as sonatas and symphonies just as poetry is often written in forms such as haikus and sonnets. Essentially, these form poems and pieces of music are about the form itself. To make art autonomous was to stop writing in form and to let the piece stand on its own. (Shattuck 329) Satie's "Gymnopédies" rejected traditional form and was self-reflexive, an important aspect of art during the start of the French Avant-Garde.
Eventually this rebellion against the traditional was not enough for many French artists, especially those who witnessed World War I up close. The war was a significant factor in the development of the drastic Dada movement. It made little sense to many artists, causing them to have a complete disregard for tradition, convention, and authority. Dadaists rejected everything, including art, and emphasized chance in the process of creation. The Dadaists claimed that art was not deliberate or conscious, but that when left up to chance, art would be created by the Unknown and become part of the artist. The movement deemed this as anti-art. Tristan Tzara, one of the most influential Dadaists, wrote some instructions on how to make a Dadaist poem. (Class Website "The use of chance") His instructions are to simply find a newspaper article of preferred length, cut out each word of the article, place all the words in a bag and shake them, and then randomly pick the words out one by one, writing them down in the order you pull them from the bag. The poem is created through chance and by no specific motive of one's own, therefore removing all conscious thought, and bringing one closer to the voice within him/herself.

Dada threw away all the rules of art in a total repudiation of everything traditional. It was based in the dualism of conscious and unconscious. Hans Richter states, "Dada throve on the resulting tension between premeditation and spontaneity, or, as we preferred to put it – between art and anti-art, volition and non-volition, and so on"(Reader 9). The negation of everything that was essential to Dada, however, eventually became destructive, causing several Dadaists to leave the movement and create a new one.

This new movement was deemed "Surrealism." Surrealist art was also based in the dualism of conscious and unconscious, but unlike Dada it did not reject everything. Instead it viewed middle-class societal conventions as prohibiting people from delving into their unconscious and using their inner voice to discover truth and better their lives. In his "Manifesto of Surrealism" Andre Breton claims, "I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak"(Reader 29). Jean Arp's "Automatic drawing in ink" from 1916 is a great example of how Surrealists accomplished tapping into their unconscious. (Reader 43) Arp's drawing looks like a bunch of blobs and lines, but it is not the actual picture that is important, it's how Arp created the drawing. Automatic drawing and writing was a simple technique many surrealists used that consisted of the artist drawing or writing whatever came to mind without thinking about it. The result was a piece of art that was a representation of the artist's unconscious.
In both Dada and Surrealism the audience played an interactive role in viewing the art. The reaction of the audience to a piece of art completed the work. Unlike nineteenth century art, the meaning of works produced by these two movements were not meant to have universal meaning, but were meant to be interpreted and redefined by their audience. The goal, to some extent, of both groups was to encourage people to find the voice hidden within themselves by discovering their unconscious. What you did with that voice was different for Dadaists than for Surrealists, however.
All of these movements of the French Avant-Garde were responses to the society in which they existed. Most of them were a rebellion against tradition and convention, and an attempt to delve deeper into and express the human experience.