Essay question analysis and response strategies

¶ … human nature to want to project our personal and societal values on others, there must be some cultural areas that are protected from our tendency to impose moral restrictions. Art is one of those areas. It is the role of art not only to reflect the society in which it is produced, but also to question that society and push the boundaries of accepted ideas. For this reason, it is important for the law to protect works of art and the artists who create them from censorship. Unfortunately, this leads to a constant tension between the avant-garde of the art world and the moralists who seek to protect the values that they consider inviolable. The recent attack on the Gauguin painting at the National Gallery and other recent attacks on art in museums around the world highlight the need to consider the relationship between public art and public morality.

There is some question as to whether or not public funds and public spaces should be used to support and display art that is morally controversial. The National Endowment of the Arts is under constant pressure to withhold support for art that could be seen as indecent (Biscupik). While not supporting this art with public funds does not violate the right to freedom of expression because it does not stop the artists from creating it, withholding such support would limit the livelihood of artists who create these works and would limit the availability of an audience for these works. I believe that this in itself constitutes censorship -- not of the artists themselves, but of the concept of public art. Because public art plays an important role in the questioning and advancement of the social status quo, it is my opinion that the concept of public art must be legally protected from censorship as much as the individual art itself, and public funds and spaces should be legally protected in their ability to support and display art that some might consider offensive.

Question 2. Censorship by the government is not the only threat to art. Vandalism by individuals who are offended by the art or artist is also a method of censorship, and art must be physically protected against censorship through vandalism just as it is constitutionally protected from government censorship. Measures like Plexiglas barriers and extra security personnel can be effective for art that can be recognized as potentially offensive in advance by museum personnel. However, it is not feasible to put all art under such security measures, and there is always some risk that someone will attempt to vandalize a piece of art that does not strike most people as offensive. Clear laws against vandalism, adequate surveillance technology, and consistent consequences for those who break the laws can act as a deterrent in these situations.

Question 3: Two Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms is a fascinating combination of elements from several different styles. Its formal composition is an even blend between a primitive type of naturalism and modern abstraction, with the figures posed very naturally but placed against a completely abstract background. The painting also has elements of several different stylistic schools. Several elements are typical of Cloissonism, especially the flat aspect and the bold, distinctly separated colors (Turner, 66). Its dominant style, however, is Synthetism, evident in the combination of the simple representation of objects, the complex rendering of emotion, and the distinctness of line and dimension (65).

Question 4: In painting Two Tahitian Women, Gauguin seemed to be pursuing two different roles of an artist. The first is to give tangible forms to feelings and ideas (Getlein, 10). In this painting, Gauguin sought to capture the mixture of innocence, naivete, sophistication, and knowledge that he saw in Tahitian women, and perhaps in women in general. He was able to translate this mixture through the simultaneous demureness and frankness of the women's expressions, and through the unassuming but vivid portrayal of their nudity. He also participated in the role of refreshing our vision and helping us see the world in different ways (Ibid). The clarity with which the forms are placed against the abstracted background and the strong association between the women and the basket of blossoms transform what might be a typical study of the human form into a statement about the power of unashamed exposure and the symmetry of natural and human self-display.

Question 5: 1899 was a difficult year for Gauguin. After a brief period of fortune, he was again destitute, was suffering from a leg injury, and had for all intents and purposes settled in Tahiti and separated himself from the Parisian art world. He painted Two Tahitian Women shortly after a suicide attempt (Walther, 87). Chances are that his audience at this point was himself, though the specter of the Parisian art culture probably still played a role in his decisions. He may still have been seeking ways to break with the Impressionist tradition, but the purity and emotion of the paintings of this period suggest an artist who was using art to experience and internalize the world more than one who was seeking to deliver a message to an audience.

Question 6: Gauguin's Tahitian paintings are strongly representative of the Expressionism movement. Expressionism sacrifices realism for the sake of evoking the strong emotions of the artist (Grove). This is usually done through the use of bold, graphic colors and simplified, strongly outlined forms. Symbolism is also used in Expressionism to express the artist's message. The characteristics of Expressionism can clearly be seen in Gauguin's paintings, especially in his use of colors, primitive and flattened forms, and his use of fertility and sexuality symbols.

Question 7: 1899 was a complicated time for Europe and for the European colonies. In the "fin de siecle" culture of France in which Gauguin came into prominence, there was a sense of boredom with the old culture and uncertainty about the new century (Britannica). This led to a feeling within artistic and intellectual circles of boredom, disillusionment with European culture and human nature in general, and decadence. Gauguin had participated to some extent in all of these feelings, and part of the allure of Tahiti (especially the Tahitian women) was the simplicity and naivete of the culture in comparison to the corrupted and corpulent European civilization. Gauguin's paintings present pure, direct, clean representations of this innocence and the natural, pure state of humans not yet warped by the corruption of civilization. Though he is well-known to have participated in much of the decadence of his age, paintings like Two Tahitian Women with Mango Blossoms reveal his appreciation for, and perhaps even longing for, a clean, simple, straightforward existence. His assertion that this painting represents a "Tahitian Eve" before the Fall shows that he viewed Tahiti as a Garden of Eden untroubled by the sinfulness and selfishness of the world around it.