The Decline and Fall of Western Art

by Brendan Heard

  “Symmetry is a proper agreement between the members of the work itself, and relation between the different parts and the whole general scheme, in accordance with a certain part selected as standard.”

  — Vitruvius

  Plato himself, of whom it is said all other philosophy is but a footnote, has many passages relating to good proportion or the ratio of parts. Alongside symmetria, Plato had a theory revolving around eternal, idealized Forms that act upon the world. Things become beautiful because they decide to take part in the Form of beauty. Plato also said this Form of beauty was also directly associated with the Form of good. In his Symposium, the Form of beauty was also associated with the acquisition of knowledge, which inspired inquiry in the world and led to the sciences. To think of beauty (and goodness) as corporeal, idealised Forms that the real world can only move towards in exultation and learning, means they are absolute and everlasting. The tangible result of this insight is the unsurpassed beauty and confidence of traditional Western art.

  The great NeoPlatonist Plotinus (204-270AD) expounded on the notion that Intellect (nous) is the cause of beauty, that it is the Intellect that imposes the Forms on to passive matter, thus producing beauty. Those entities that do not participate in the Forms of beauty and intellect are ugly. Plotinus said the Form is therefore capable of producing beauty by virtue of its being an instrument of the Intellect that creates order and structure out of chaotic matter in the universe. In the macrocosmic sense this is the same work Greek sculptors Phidias (480-430BC) and Polykleitos (died 420BC) performed when creating their timeless sculptures. Their intellect was the instrument that derived primal Forms from marble.

  Polykleitus wrote in his treatise, entitled Kanon, how beauty derives from symmetria, and explained the construction the ideal human figure using ratios, rhythmic poses, and as a system of measure similar to that used in temple building. The Kanon (meaning measure or law), which is now sadly lost, discussed not only ideal proportions for the parts of the human body in relation to one another, but how sculpture of the human figure must achieve a dynamic counterbalance between relaxed and tensed body parts, and the directions in which the parts move. He put these principles into practice in his own sculpture, which then formed a framework for all ordered European sculpture since. The basis of this art is number, tempered with philosophy and spirituality, with an aim to express beauty values in the exultation of goodness, truth and reason.

  This idealization with the human form as premise was a groundbreaking civilizational achievement. It is an advanced level of otherworldly perfection, which captures both the Form of the subject and the Form of beauty (and thereby goodness): ennobling and boundless. It is more or less, in fact, the exact opposite of what Modernist art values teach, which is that idealism does not exist at all and we should all wallow in valueless subjectivity (nihilism) and excuse ugliness. When you see a Greek sculpture, you sense immediately the greatness of the underlying civilization or philosophy. Who made this? What is the mystery of this achievement? You know you have been witness to the artistically superhuman and that work can never be unseen. You know too, in an instant, the near impossibility of surpassing the maturity of that idealism. That it presents a monumental task, requiring confidence and optimism, because it has expended such effort that it has tapped into the eternal. And setting this near impossibly high standard as the goalpost of excellence has been antiquity’s greatest gift to the legacy of European art. That is the track whereon was set the locomotive of Promethean achievement. This is the vitality of tradition, and why it cannot be discarded out of hand for convenience-technology and a confused and vacant newness. It is the striving upward, reaching for the impossible, and it has memory.

  In the concept of heroic nudity, a Hellenistic idealism also championed in the Kanon, we find another recurring artistic theme from all subsequent (pre-Modernist) Western art. Nudes were not celebrated in the lusty, juvenile way they might be today, nor depicted in warts-and-all realism. Avoiding that obvious realism was the stratagem to ennobling the naked form. Hellenic men were depicted as fit, ready for war, but formularized to avoid any tawdry sexual aspect that takes away from that visual nobility. This creates the perception that the figures are closer to demi-gods or titans than common men — by insinuating a powerful aloofness from worldly pleasures and animalistic distractions. This is why their genitals were not enlarged, and their gesture or expression betrayed nothing resembling sensuality or material lust, despite being both nude and athletically exaggerated. To suggest divine nobility, they presented the stark honesty of nudity, the majesty of fitness, but without the invocation of sexual desire. This is no easy feat.

  The same can be said, and more importantly so, for female sculptural nudes, who are even more difficult to portray without sexual connotation. Yet Hellenic female nudes, while beautiful, are neither voluptuously sexual nor realist-ugly. Rather, they are ennobled with the finer virtues, with the form of femininity. They are portrayed in sybaritic nakedness, yet they do not exude sexual lewdness. Again, not an easy achievement, considering the powerful allure of the fairer sex. But this is the achievement of Greek sculptors. Long torsos, Roman noses, smaller cone-shaped breasts, delicately posed hands and feet, juxtaposed matronly hips and stances, and all balanced with Euclidian proportions. The accentuated points of beauty are not the obvious but rather the sense of weight in the figure and the naturalistic folds suggesting action of the flesh. An artistic view of beauty so mature it transcends (without rejecting) erotic desire.

  Venus Braschi by Praxiteles, type of the Knidian Aphrodite, Munich Glyptothek.

  Focus on what would seem mundane elements elevates the subject to the divinity of high art. The position of a finger, perfectly fleshed, the weight of the gait. These idealized marble females appear fertile, matronly and goddess-like. They inhabit metakosmia: empty spaces between worlds in the vastness of infinite space. Because each tiny section of Hellenic sculpture is created in relation the rest and the whole, in accordance with the Golden Ratio, that sense of potency (the eternal) lives within them, even when the works are damaged or survive in fragments. As the French sculptor Rodin said: “Beauty is like god, a fragment of beauty is beauty complete.” The sculptures are inspired by nature and are therefore devotional to nature, and like her they are timeless. This relates again to the magic of equilibrium and rhythmos found in the Golden Ratio. These principle of ratios and sacred geometry will always apply, to all craft, from Mozart sonatas to basket weaving. Aspiring artists must understand this formulation and the philosophy surrounding it as fundamental to art, yet today they are not even taught about its existence. The formula’s importance to the Hellenes meant their art was not a passing onerous hobby, taken glibly as we sadly see today. It was religious, it was tied into daily reality and the eternal, and superseded all other considerations, or was intrinsic to them. Art was of paramount importance. That cogency was common knowledge to all successful civilizations and this simple reality is somehow hidden from us now. True art has no end but its own perfection.

  “For he who would proceed aright... should begin in youth to visit beautiful forms... out of that he should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another, and that beauty in every form is one and the same.”

  – Plato

  When the Roman architect Vitruvius (died 15AD) used this concept of symmetria in his seminal work De Architectura, he explained it in terms of specific numerical ratios. Vitruvius noticed that ancient architects always used a system of proportions to ensure harmonious design, rather that picking each dimension with no regards to the others in a structure. For most of history and all worthwhile architectural epochs, this was achieved using nothing more than straight edge, compass and stretched cord.

  The power of the hand-made.

  Thus, as per Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man (after Vitruvius, around 1490), beautiful proportions are found in the same ratios whether it is in the dista
nce from the chin to the scalp on a human head or the relation of the placement of windows on a building’s facade. All good proportion follows the beauty Form — and the subject is interchangeable.

  The Roman commitment to Hellenistic beauty values can still be seen today in their surviving monumental aqueducts and public buildings. These æsthetic leftovers of empire have inspired our forebears again and again, as they do us today. They are a reminder: do not succumb to luxury or mediocrity, or aim anywhere but upwards — for instinctual and intellectual idealism. The Romans understood well and prudently that ultimately in life, there is only weakness or strength. We are very far from the days of the Colosseum, stunted and childishly reliant on technology, while a man you never see kills the chickens and cows you eat every day. A Roman noble was expected to hunt boar with his spear held in front of him, unmoving, to be gored or run the beast through. To turn away, a coward, was the only way to lose. Honesty and truth above safety and comfort. Modern Westerners live in comfort and think sadly little of the honour or courage espoused by Homer, brainwashed into dismantling what was built for us by our betters. We have a tough, ancient lesson to re-learn, a lesson that is going to be more taxing the longer we put it put off.

  “Ex nihilo nihil fit (Nothing comes from nothing)”

  – Lucretius

  Hard work is the sacred element to any achievement. Our lives are given meaning not by their comfort or longevity but by the overcoming of tremendous obstacles — to really feel alive you need something worth dying for. Europeans have a long legacy of tireless heroes and scholars we are indebted to — and the threat of losing their efforts is something worth dying for. If by any twist of fate we find ourselves in a new Renaissance, you will know that Belle Époque has returned by the appearance of æsthetic monumental art. Only with regained idealism will we again behold art that channels and reveals the eternal Platonic Forms – and know that Goodness has returned.

  PART 2: How art has declined

  Art in decline: a PROBLEM IN THREE PARTS

  We must now start breaking down in detail the philosophy of Modernism and its origin. But momentous things always come in threes (a sacred number). The artless world of today is a three-headed monstrosity, each head with its own motivation for chaos. These evils feed off each other and into increasing decline, in a glut of destruction. There may be additional cultural processes at play in this degenerative work but they generally fall under one of these three categories. Because they are seemingly unrelated, yet in congress and each multi-faceted, attempted resistance to modern art and industrial exploitation can feel overwhelming, our search for escape blocked at every turn. Nevertheless, this is the task fate has put before us.

  These forces are:

  1) The philosophy of Modernism, an invention of art criticism we will trace to its inception, along with the first truly abstract art, and outline an art history timeline which examines the degenerative movements alongside the uncorrupted. This philosophy, while an idea and not exactly a force, is nevertheless the foundation upon which stand the other two forces.

  2) The rise of materialism over idealism and religious morality. This entails populist atheism (nihilism), consumerism, corporatism, feminism, multiculturalism, relativism and our current devolution towards a strange corporate communism through censorship and media collusion. All of which need to be addressed individually, or broad and instantaneous annulment through the restoration of traditional morality.

  3) Industrialization and mass-production, both of which are obviously a facet of technological advancement but in the service of capitalist globalism become a tool of the materialist mercantile class against localized art and craft diversity.Each of these three evils is independent but they also work in tandem. First, we must discuss the theory of Modernism and it’s roots in the art criticism of Clement Greenberg5. From there, we must take a long look at the rise of cultural materialism, starting with political correctness. Finally, we consider the knotting of both these problems in the fabric of industrial mass production and exploitation.

  I. The philosophy of Modernism

  Understanding Artspeak

  “The notion that the public accepts or rejects anything in modern art is merely romantic fiction. The game is completed and the trophies distributed long before the public knows what has happened.”

  – Tom Wolfe

  The ‘Fine Art’ critic with his verbose obsfucations is the true modern artist, the architect of our artless wasteland. The actual artist or art creator is a secondary and superfluous consideration to the published criticism. The critic’s flowery language and fantastical postulations leverage a false over-confidence in his virtue signalling — that is, in his expression of liberal opinion in exchange for social reward. Working tirelessly to defend this Modernist art that is so obviously worthless, his philosophy seems to rest defensively upon the seemingly simple trickery of descriptive muddling. That is to say, talking nice-sounding nonsense that confuses and disguises garbage as highbrow intellectual sleight of hand.

  This customized gibberish language has become known as Artspeak. Its meaninglessness is implied in the name but this does not impede its continued prevalence.

  “Her practice provides a useful set of allegorical tools for manoeuvring with a pseudo-minimalist approach in the world of conceptual art: these meticulously planned works resound and resonate with images culled from the fantastical realm of imagination. With a conceptual approach, she presents everyday objects as well as references to texts, painting and architecture. Pompous writings and Utopian constructivist designs are juxtaposed with trivial objects. Categories are subtly reversed.”

  - The Guardian, Artspeak: Culture Sector’s Most Wanted,

  Matthew Caines

  Artspeak is language, an expected absurdity of pseudo-intellectual babble that interprets emotionally the random nonsense one finds in modern art galleries with a cheap pretense of intellectualism. This is usually achieved by implying that any subject artwork somehow abstractly ‘represents’ a topical liberal subject. This wilful irrationality makes for a sort of instant social currency in our bizarre age of popular anti-traditionalism. Those who decry the obvious nonsense as nonsense are shouted down as ‘Nazis’ and ‘bullies’.

  Artspeak is the vehicle for delivering these bad ideas. It is a jargon that is unclear even to those who use it regularly. And, indeed, it is meant to be so as its goal is obfuscation, and to some degree aggrandizement, and it does not survive serious scrutiny. It is a weaponised relativism and subconsciously excuses every base anti-art discipline from graffiti to cringe-inducing ‘performance art’. I say subconscious because we are trained to accept it from our youth.

  Critics refer to Artspeak as the ‘language of modern art’ while admitting that almost no one understands it.

  Another typical example:

  ‘…a group of sculptural works that aims at a void that signifies precisely the non-being of what it represents…’

  The more obscure or the harder to find the hidden meaning behind the pointlessness is, the more successful the game. Thus, admirers of Modernism like to speculate on what the artist is ‘saying’, whereas the former purpose of art was the expression of beauty and cultural affirmation.

  Despite being a fairly obvious swindle, this funny game has enjoyed terrific success. I suppose initially this was due to an apathetic or bored bourgeois conformism, and later (now) by media-monopoly propaganda, surrounding a racket that may easily be, at the top levels, revolving around money laundering. Artspeak has at intervals not escaped scrutiny and has been labelled by the sceptical as ‘the lingo of intellectual kitsch’. Here are several incidentally humorous (but by no means uncommon) examples of Artspeak available online, posted by disenfranchised former art students, as nobody with anything better to do tends to take any interest.

  “The subject matter of anal sex invites an examination of cultural psychologies of domination and submission as they relate to labor, race, gender and class. Th
ough conceived upon a mathematical formula, the film’s acts arrive at a succession of fluctuating outcomes, which yield an analysis of contemporary social structures in Spain.”

  – Source: press release Santiago Sierra @ Team Gallery

  “These and other spatiotemporal preconceptions are superimposed and interwoven in an alluring filmic meditation on standardization and irreversibility titled The Refusal of Time (Prologue) – Anti Mercator, 2011. Here, scattered flecks of charcoal magically revert to the coffeepot shape they formed before being dispersed, while a dancer wearing a globe-shaped costume symbolizes resistance against the flatness of the Mercator. Finally, another drawing from Towards the Black Wall Procession references the third moment, the theory of black holes which are thought to destroy spatiotemporality altogether: It shows a procession of people inexorably marching toward their death.”

  – Source: Rahma Khazam reviewing The Refusal of Time

  “Allusions to variously hued skin, voluptuous folds and juicy orifices merge with the words and punctuation marks—loaded, humorous and poetic by turn. War Frieze IX (1992), a multipart, 10-foot-long section from a 200-foot-long work concerning the Gulf War, demonstrates Schor’s early fusion of words and paint, as well as the importance to her of feminism, which has informed her practice into the present. Issuing from a breast on one end and a phallus attached to an ear on the other, a red liquid stream outlined in squiggly pubic hairs spells out the word ‘undue’ in cursive. The pink, impastoed, fleshlike ground bears the word like a tattoo. In the Gulf War context, ‘undue’ could describe excessive force; but, given Schor’s predilection for double entendres, it also implies ‘undo’, as milk morphs into blood, the nurturing breast undone (presumably) by the weaponlike phallus.”