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The avant-garde’s visual arts in the context of Santayana’s idea of vital liberty

The avant-garde’s visual arts in the context of Santayana’s idea of vital liberty In the present paper, the author looks at the political dimension of some trends in the visual arts within twentieth-century avant-garde groups (cubism, expressionism, fauvism, Dada, abstractionism, surrealism) through George Santayana’s idea of vital liberty. Santayana accused the avant-gardists of social and political escapism, and of becoming unintentionally involved in secondary issues. In his view, the emphasis they placed on the medium (or diverse media) and on treating it as an aim in itself, not, as it should be, as a transmitter through which a stimulating relationship with the environment can be had, was accompanied by a focus on fragments of life and on parts of existence, and, on the other hand, by a de facto rejection of ontology and cosmology as being crucial to understanding life and the place of human beings in the universe. The avant-gardists became involved in political life by responding excessively to the events of the time, instead of to the everlasting problems that are the human lot. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Human Affairs Springer Journals

The avant-garde’s visual arts in the context of Santayana’s idea of vital liberty

Skowroński, Krzysztof
Human Affairs , Volume 22 (2) – Mar 20, 2012
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References (28)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by © Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Wien
Subject
Social Sciences; Sociology, general; Quality of Life Research; Middle Eastern Culture
ISSN
1210-3055
eISSN
1337-401X
DOI
10.2478/s13374-012-0014-3
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In the present paper, the author looks at the political dimension of some trends in the visual arts within twentieth-century avant-garde groups (cubism, expressionism, fauvism, Dada, abstractionism, surrealism) through George Santayana’s idea of vital liberty. Santayana accused the avant-gardists of social and political escapism, and of becoming unintentionally involved in secondary issues. In his view, the emphasis they placed on the medium (or diverse media) and on treating it as an aim in itself, not, as it should be, as a transmitter through which a stimulating relationship with the environment can be had, was accompanied by a focus on fragments of life and on parts of existence, and, on the other hand, by a de facto rejection of ontology and cosmology as being crucial to understanding life and the place of human beings in the universe. The avant-gardists became involved in political life by responding excessively to the events of the time, instead of to the everlasting problems that are the human lot.

Journal

Human Affairs – Springer Journals

Published: Mar 20, 2012

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