The unironic judeo-bolsheviks were at the vanguard of modern art. For a brief moment there was such a neat opportunity for reclaiming Jewish identity from state suppression in a positive way.
It's one of the threads I'm chasing in r/modernart along with its black equivalent, Negritude. Even before the Czarist pogroms had stopped, artists in exile like Marc Chagall were painting their shtetls and symbolism (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/s8an8y/marc_chagall_i_and_the_village_1911_cubismnaive/). Ryback (https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/shtetl-my-destroyed-home-a-remembrance-1922) and El Lissitzky (https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/lissitzky_el) made really iconic art that's drenched in Jewish symbolism as a means of reclaiming it. It was people not only proud of a post-colonial heritage but declaring it as something to be preserved within the revolution as a valid culture. If not for the suppression of the Soviet avant-garde in the 1920s I wonder how that could have influenced the events of the 1930s-40s, with a consciously liberated diaspora population rather than the hollowed out shells of communities waiting for the fascists.
I hate that I only went to the Art Institute before I had a real appreciation for modernism. When I went to MoMA in New York I already had footing in the subject and it was a religious experience. The Art Institute of Chicago gave me a naive appreciation for Asian art that I refined into loving Japonisme, but I don't remember seeing the Chagalls and the current significance of doing so would have been lost on me. At some point I need to move back to Chicago.
Highly recommend Negritude (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/ofgyit/wifredo_lam_the_jungle_cubism_surrealism/) and Catalan Modernisme (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/pmtn0z/palau_de_la_m%C3%BAsica_catalana_architecturecatalan/) as well. The Cubist Negritude works like Lam's are super interesting because Cubism is based on extracting African art from the colonies. That's a direct reclamation of the movement for liberation instead of extraction.
As an unironic judeo-bolshevik, I am overjoyed that our time has come. Tomorrow will be a shabbat to remember.
The unironic judeo-bolsheviks were at the vanguard of modern art. For a brief moment there was such a neat opportunity for reclaiming Jewish identity from state suppression in a positive way.
wait really? i want to know more
It's one of the threads I'm chasing in r/modernart along with its black equivalent, Negritude. Even before the Czarist pogroms had stopped, artists in exile like Marc Chagall were painting their shtetls and symbolism (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/s8an8y/marc_chagall_i_and_the_village_1911_cubismnaive/). Ryback (https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/shtetl-my-destroyed-home-a-remembrance-1922) and El Lissitzky (https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/lissitzky_el) made really iconic art that's drenched in Jewish symbolism as a means of reclaiming it. It was people not only proud of a post-colonial heritage but declaring it as something to be preserved within the revolution as a valid culture. If not for the suppression of the Soviet avant-garde in the 1920s I wonder how that could have influenced the events of the 1930s-40s, with a consciously liberated diaspora population rather than the hollowed out shells of communities waiting for the fascists.
I've had the pleasure of seeing some amazing Chagall works displayed in Chicago.
I hate that I only went to the Art Institute before I had a real appreciation for modernism. When I went to MoMA in New York I already had footing in the subject and it was a religious experience. The Art Institute of Chicago gave me a naive appreciation for Asian art that I refined into loving Japonisme, but I don't remember seeing the Chagalls and the current significance of doing so would have been lost on me. At some point I need to move back to Chicago.
I spend a lot of time thinking about moving back. Leaving made me happy, but it really is my home.
It's the only good city in the midwest. Denver feels quaint compared to it.
Very interesting. Thank you!
Highly recommend Negritude (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/ofgyit/wifredo_lam_the_jungle_cubism_surrealism/) and Catalan Modernisme (https://www.reddit.com/r/modernart/comments/pmtn0z/palau_de_la_m%C3%BAsica_catalana_architecturecatalan/) as well. The Cubist Negritude works like Lam's are super interesting because Cubism is based on extracting African art from the colonies. That's a direct reclamation of the movement for liberation instead of extraction.
Wow I've never seen "The Jungle." It's beautiful. It's like cubism + Rousseau.