While the perspectives of each of the artists on the revolutionary nature of art is interesting, it does little to convince us that art can play a central role in effecting social change. As idealists, both Lissitzky and Rodchenko fell under the sway of Stalin and would serve as propagandists for this ruthless leader in a period that was rather unfortunate in the careers of both artists. While Margolin does his best to read their works from this period in a fair light, what we know today about Stalin does overshadow such readings of this work. In this respect, one's knowledge of politics can indeed interfere with one's interpretation of a work of art - and have detrimental effects.
Of course, reading works of art in terms of a group of artists' political views and aspirations towards social...
Art history has always striven to show us the interconnections between artists and artworks and the society that produced them, so as to provide a version of the evolution of humanity, as Preziosi has shown us. But we must be careful to not let our political readings of works of art override all our other considerations of artworks, because by doing so we are ultimately doing a disservice not only to the object, but to its creator.
Bibliography
Margolin, Victor. 1997. The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy 1917
1946. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Preziosi, Donald, ed. 1998. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. Oxford: Oxford
Utopia by Thomas More From the set of attributes that Thomas More employs to describe Utopia, the most likely to be the target of significant social critique is that of communal property. Indeed, the issue of property was a major tenant in the development of British law -- and ultimately, in systems of law established in many other lands. Moreover, property ownership has been a key point of departure with regard
While this ensures that there will be no plotting against the state, it also means that dissidents must fear for their lives if they disagree with the dictates of their rulers and desire to talk about it. This is essentially censorship and control of speech coded in the language of open deliberation, and it reveals another problem inherent in Utopian society. Here, More is not attempting to present an ideal
Utopia Voltaire's "Candide" nowadays is considered to be one of the most famous variants of a Utopia provided by authors that dedicated their works to the creation of a "perfect" society. As every book "Candide" has its plot- line, which goes through the whole book and with the help of which the author manages to show the controversy of the real world with an "ideal" one. The book by itself impresses
Utopia's origin in the More's and hopes of the individual author's times. Utopia is the place where all our needs are balanced by abundant resources. Utopia is believed to be a perfect state, a place which has social justice, political peace, and moral harmony in all aspects of life. If such a place did exist, how would it be structured? How would people work and live together in harmony, while at
Utopia In Thomas More's 1516 Utopia, the flaws of European society are revealed in typical Enlightenment style. That is, More champions individual rights and freedoms and disparages state or Church control. More seems particularly concerned with thought control and the prescription of social norms and behaviors. In Utopia, Raphael Hythloday describes a world that is only partly utopic. There is a degree of gender equity, at least compared with European sixteenth-century
Many of the advances of science in the area of technology are at best quite fearsome for human beings until they become accustomed with these functions and applications. One can only imagine how strange the creation and development of all of this must have been ten, or twenty years ago and even more so in the earlier 1900's as all of this began to fall into place in the