<story><title>What the Hell Was Modernism?</title><url>https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/jerry-saltz-new-moma-modernism.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hestipod</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know if it&amp;#x27;s the same for everyone, but I know with age and I hope &amp;quot;maturity&amp;quot; I appreciate many more forms of art. Things I didn&amp;#x27;t have the life experience or emotional depth to grasp when I was younger can deeply impact me now. An example would be Mark Rothko&amp;#x27;s paintings. I would have said &amp;quot;pfft anyone can do that...just some stripes or blocks&amp;quot; when I was a kid, and probably did, but have recently rediscovered his work and absolutely love it. Same with a lot of poetry as you mentioned. I really regret not having more openness and ability to grasp these things before. I really wish I had more health and life stability, and the resultant time and means to explore and experience creative things.</text></item><item><author>bonecrusher2102</author><text>What a great read. I think that we see the same thing in poetry as well -- the inaccessible modernist expiriments with form, while interesting to insiders, is at its conclusion an esoteric pursuit.&lt;p&gt;I think that the turn back toward classical forms, towards a broader audience, and largely the turn inward (the self as the primary concern of the work, rather than it&amp;#x27;s form) really is a wonderful new wave across many genres, and makes for an wonderful time to be a consumer of art.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>puranjay</author><text>I never really understood modern art until I a) saw it in person, and b) saw it in the context of its time.&lt;p&gt;I was at the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg. I&amp;#x27;d done museum tour after museum tour in both Moscow and Petersburg. Nearly all of this art was classical&amp;#x2F;neo-classical or romantic, rococo, etc.&lt;p&gt;By the end of your 1000th neo-classical painting, you get exhausted of the sameness of the realistic style. The themes, colors, sensibilities all appear similar.&lt;p&gt;Then I walked into the modern and post-modern hall and there was a massive Matisse painting on the wall. The bright blue was such a revelation. You see a painting like that after 400 years worth of realistic painting style and it takes your breath away. It was particularly impactful when contrasted against the neoclassical architecture of the museum itself.&lt;p&gt;The worst way to appreciate modern and post modern art is on a computer screen. These things have to be experienced in person. For one, their sheer size can&amp;#x27;t be captured on screen. A 12&amp;#x27; x 10&amp;#x27; canvas has a visual impact that&amp;#x27;s not possible to replicate anywhere. Second, their experimental quality has to be contrasted against the dominant art forms of their time. Anyone can technically paint like Matisse. But they didn&amp;#x27;t.</text></comment>
<story><title>What the Hell Was Modernism?</title><url>https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/jerry-saltz-new-moma-modernism.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hestipod</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know if it&amp;#x27;s the same for everyone, but I know with age and I hope &amp;quot;maturity&amp;quot; I appreciate many more forms of art. Things I didn&amp;#x27;t have the life experience or emotional depth to grasp when I was younger can deeply impact me now. An example would be Mark Rothko&amp;#x27;s paintings. I would have said &amp;quot;pfft anyone can do that...just some stripes or blocks&amp;quot; when I was a kid, and probably did, but have recently rediscovered his work and absolutely love it. Same with a lot of poetry as you mentioned. I really regret not having more openness and ability to grasp these things before. I really wish I had more health and life stability, and the resultant time and means to explore and experience creative things.</text></item><item><author>bonecrusher2102</author><text>What a great read. I think that we see the same thing in poetry as well -- the inaccessible modernist expiriments with form, while interesting to insiders, is at its conclusion an esoteric pursuit.&lt;p&gt;I think that the turn back toward classical forms, towards a broader audience, and largely the turn inward (the self as the primary concern of the work, rather than it&amp;#x27;s form) really is a wonderful new wave across many genres, and makes for an wonderful time to be a consumer of art.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>deogeo</author><text>&amp;gt; I really regret not having more openness and ability to grasp these things before.&lt;p&gt;Ironic - modern art has such a lack of this same openness, that the classic techniques it despises were nearly lost. It was not enough for modern art to be accepted - classical art had to be driven &lt;i&gt;out&lt;/i&gt; from contemporary galleries:&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Slade school in London used to be world-famous for turning out fine British draftsmen. A distinguished British painter who taught at the Slade asked me, &amp;#x27;How did you learn how to do animation?&amp;#x27; I answered that I was lucky enough to have done a lot of life drawing at art school, so without realizing it I got the feeling for weight which is so vital to animation.&lt;p&gt;Then I said, &amp;#x27;What am I telling you for? You&amp;#x27;re teaching at the Slade and it&amp;#x27;s famous for its life drawing and excellent draftsmen.&amp;#x27;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#x27;If the students want to do that,&amp;#x27; he said, &amp;#x27;then they&amp;#x27;ve got to club together and hire themselves a model and do it in their own home.&amp;#x27; At first I thought he was joking - but no! Life drawing as a subject went out years ago. It wasn&amp;#x27;t even on the curriculum!&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;-- Animator&amp;#x27;s Survival Kit, page 32. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;docs.google.com&amp;#x2F;file&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;0B-OTUJDZcAzLcDhFbVN3TjdwUnc&amp;#x2F;view&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;docs.google.com&amp;#x2F;file&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;0B-OTUJDZcAzLcDhFbVN3TjdwUnc&amp;#x2F;...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>