THE DECLINE OF ART

By

John Roberts

The earliest artists were those inhabitants of Europe or, perhaps, even Australia, who recorded their impressions of the animal life, with which they were familiar, in the caves or protected rock surfaces where they happened to live. Some of these primitive but sometimes skilful paintings may have been made over thirty thousand years ago. It is reasonable to suppose that man, from the dawn of his appearance on the Earth, has developed the gift of expressing himself in this or in other forms of Art: e.g.: in simple musical composition.

In historical times, Art has developed considerably, to the stage wherein we can recognize many forms of artistic expression: Painting, Sculpture, Music, Poetry, Dancing, Prose-writing of great charm. In addition, there are many craft skills that might well aspire to the status of an art: amongst the most important would, of course, be Architecture. Some of the beautiful furniture or scientific equipment manufactured during the 18th or 19th Centuries would very well be regarded as depicting a highly developed artistic ability in the craftsman who created the object, be it a mahogany sideboard or a delicately constructed instrument.

Our earlier predecessors were occupied with creating objects of beauty, of which they have left us a noble legacy. The benefits of television and the film have made available to all of us who live in the developed world, the vision of great works of art, the beauty of which is so often breathtaking.

Before the invention of the camera, itself of great and lasting benefit to mankind, the skill of artists was concentrated in the reproduction of natural wonders. Not only were the beauties of nature copied in great detail but portrait painters dutifully and accurately copied the features of their patrons, leaving us a marvellous legacy of portraits: revealing the appearance of those who were fortunate and wealthy enough to be able to afford to have their likenesses painted.

We are able to observe the development of artistic skills through many hundreds, if not thousands of years. By the mid-19th Century, these skills were greatly advanced. Music also, had reached the zenith of perfection, in the music of Mozart and Beethoven: in the operas of Bellini and Donizetti.

However, the camera, with its ability to capture the features perfectly or to detail a landscape accurately, induced painters to vary their techniques. By the early 19th Century, painters like Turner were already developing abstract skills, in which the painter's subjective view of an object, rather than its photographic appearance, began to predominate in all forms of pictorial art. Very soon, there were great changes to be observed: abstract art had arrived with the advent of the Impressionist School of Paris. Artistic style varied greatly during the latter half of the 19th Century and well into the 20th. It is not proposed to dwell on the various French and Continental Artists who were involved in these developments. Some names come to mind: Monet, Manet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gaughan, etc.. The writer has a passing acquaintance with the paintings of these artists, some of which is greatly appealing. However, he has no skills that would qualify him as an Art Critic. Each one of us has his or her own sense of what is beautiful and what is not.

During the Twenties of the present Century, art took a more degenerate path, with the development of cubism and related trends. Germany became a centre of abstract art, (The Bauhaus and Dada) until the advent of Adolf Hitler put a stop to this style of painting. Abstract Art continues to have appeal and the paintings of the Spaniard, Picasso, fetch millions in the Art Market, testifying to the continued truth that it is the fashionable thing that sells, not necessarily the most beautiful work of art. In fact, one could be excused for believing that the Art World is presently in the grip of international confidence tricksters. The purchase, twenty years ago, by the Australian National Gallery, of an outrageous daub, entitled "Blue Poles", by one, Pollock, for some million or more dollars, was an insult to the intelligence of the Australian Public. This piece of artistic dribble is now valued at much more than the sum originally paid by the National Gallery. It should be sold back to the good old USA, where such rubbish is highly prized.

However, I digress. The foregoing is merely an attempt to outline the sad fact that pictorial art, with some exceptions, is a sad and grotesque caricature of what it was. In addition to painting, the use of bits of wire, old junk, trash of all descriptions, is used in the construction of "artistic" pieces, which are often acclaimed by those who "know", as depicting works of genius. The latter "artworks" would strictly be regarded as sculpture. One has but to visit the "Modern Art" section of the local Art Gallery, to understand what is meant by "Junk Art". It sells like "Hot Cakes!".

At the latter end of the 20th Century, we have reached the stage at which, were it not for the continued dedication of a number of highly skilled, and often amateur, artists, who continue to produce intelligible and beautiful works of art, it would be true to state that the visual arts have reached a condition of irremediable decline.

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Sculpture is a true art form and one which was, as is well known, developed to high perfection by the Greeks. Much later European sculpture was devoted to copying the style of the ancient masters.

In Africa, sculpture as an art form also developed highly sophisticated and lovely forms of wood-carving. Oriental art produced intricate and complex forms of sculpture in the shape of wood and ivory carvings. Life size earthenware models of horses and men have been discovered in ancient Chinese tombs, revealing great skills in the ancient craftsmen. Indian temples have been decorated with similarly complex stone carvings, depicting many scenes of religious and social life.

It may be truthfully stated that Sculpture reached a peak of artistic perfection in Greece in the 6th Century BC: a standard that has never been equalled. Whilst there is much first-class material from the 19th Century, much of it of a stylised nature, sculpture too went into decline in the latter part of the Century and is now but a shadow of its former self. Sculpture, with exceptions, has deteriorated to the stage where it hardly merits serious attention. One has only to look around to observe the truth of this assertion. In public places are to be seen the monolithic productions of the modern sculptor, which have meaning only for the artist himself: shapeless hunks of steel, fit only for the scrap-yard, but costing thousands of dollars.

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A similar decline is observable in the history of music in the 20th Century. Very few great composers have appeared since Beethoven: Brahms, Verdi, and one or two lesser lights have illumined the Musical Horizon. The sphere of Opera: itself a section of the Arts which reached a high pinnacle of perfection with the music of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and later Verdi, declined with Puccini, who was the precursor of the modern Light-Operatic composer. This is not to deny that Puccini wrote two masterpieces in "La Boheme" and "Tosca". However, his music is, in the writer's modest view, inspirationally inferior to that of the earlier composers mentioned above. Since Puccini, there are some delightful musicals from the early 20th Century in the form of light, melodious and entertaining productions. The music of Coward, Berlin, Gershwin and others, lingers in the memory of older people, as part of the lovely musical tradition of their youth.

Sadly, all this is gone: the "modern" composer: desperate for some form of originality, is incapable of producing melodious or harmonious music. "Serious" music has lost all its credibility and young people, in the present generation, under the influence of media propaganda, are presented with an unremitting diet of noise, which they absorb in the belief that they are listening to music. One rarely hears a sound from modern motor-cars, as they pass-by in the street, such is the efficiency of modern technology. But the same technological expertise has resulted in the distinct possibility that the sound of an approaching vehicle may be very evident in the continuous thud of the amplified drumming sound, which is the driver's "musical" accompaniment.

There are exceptions to this rule, but it must be true that the vast majority of Western children have no concept whatever of the nature of melody or harmony in their lives. The divine melodies of a Mendelssohn or a Vivaldi are totally lost upon them. All is high-volume noise of the most destructive character: destructive both spiritually and physically, in the damage directly caused to the organ of hearing by exposure to high-decibel levels of jarring and discordant rubbish.

Such an unfortunate situation would not arise, were the younger generations brought more into contact with harmonious and beautiful music. Sadly, one has only to switch-on the radio and listen to what passes nowadays for serious music, to realize why there is no audience. Here again, there is no attempt at the creation of harmony and melody has disappeared forever. One could not be blamed for switching-off immediately, which is what I myself quite often do.

This, then, is the position in which the musical world finds itself. It is obliged to fall back upon the time-honoured and well-loved music of the great composers, in order to bring to our auditory sense, a perception of the divine harmony which true music creates. It is fortunate, indeed, that this music is still available to us and that modern musicians (and orchestra's) exist who are able to recreate these masterpieces for our delight. What hope is there for the continuance of this into the twenty-first Century? This will depend upon developments in musical education and perhaps, more importantly, upon the financial interests of those who have the control of cultural forces in the developed world.

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Changes in the sphere of poetry echo the above remarks. The long tradition of song in poetry to which we are all heirs is a divine gift to mankind. The lovely words of Shakespeare, Milton, Shelley and Keats remain forever an inspiration to the English-speaking person, as no doubt, does Dante to the Italian. The fund of wond'rous poetry is enormous and we are well-blessed to have the thoughts and delicately expressed ideas of the great poets to inspire us today.

What about beauty or harmony in Poetry at the present time? Where has it gone? Our modern poets have lost the art of rhyme: it is no longer relevant. Instead, the flight of modern fancy aspires to incomprehensible forms of expression, which are meaningless, except perhaps to the "poet" himself. At least, they are meaningless to my undeveloped and simple intelligence. Perhaps wiser and deeper intellects may be able to make sense out of them, particularly, if they are interested in selling the product to the general public. I, perhaps, may be excused if I do not give an example. Might I suggest that you read any modern poet at random and ascertain whether or not you can make sense out of what he or she says.

Whatever one may think about poetry today, much of it is certainly something which our forebears would have discarded as amateurish and inadequate. My own yardstick, when reading poetry, is whether or not it impresses me as a thing of beauty or is expressive of a noble idea. Even a great story, told in rhyme, is both instructive and entertaining. If it does not satisfy these criteria, I do not read it. If I cannot understand what I am reading, I certainly do not enjoy it. Such poetry is solely for the poet's satisfaction.

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A few words on the art of Dance.

Primitive man enjoyed dancing, which seems to be popular with all simple cultures: the Australian Aborigines: Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert: The New Guinea Highland Tribes, all enjoy elaborate dance forms. Dancing, therefore, as a rythmic and harmonious practice is a natural skill with humankind. As societies developed, musical skills accompanied by dancing became more and more elaborate and varied, according to the distinctive culture represented by the dancers. For example, Flamenco or Scottish Highland dancing.

Of course, Ballet, perhaps the most beautiful of all forms of dancing, developed as a graceful and appealing entertainment only during the 19th Century. It resulted in the production of breathlessly lovely images, accompanied by delightful music.

From time immemorial, folk dancing provided an intensely popular form of public and private entertainment. "Old-time" dancing is still popular and Ballroom dancing, once practised by millions of Westerners, has a large professional following. Nowadays, US style dancing seems to be popular with certain groups here in Australia, e.g., "Line Dancing". It would be true to state that these forms of dancing remain, largely unchanged during the latter part of the 20th Century.

In the domain of Ballet, great changes have been made in recent years, with the introduction of degenerate and discordant dance techniques, which are presented as "improvements" on the traditional dances. Some of these productions reveal great technical skill in the dancers themselves and, no doubt, require concentration. They are certainly innovations, often applauded but lacking any lasting appeal. Once more, what is beautiful is relegated to the realm of the unwanted past.

Conclusion: The artist is continually called-upon to present something new and, no doubt, racks his or her brain in endeavouring to devise a new medium of expression. There does not appear to be much success in these endeavours, although one occasionally sees an interesting and appealing creation, which has both form and intelligible content and has obviously required the development of a certain skill in its production. The layman can recognize such work and understands that, in its own way, it is a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, a great bulk of the productions of the modern artist are simply not worth the materials of which they are composed and the creator is simple wasting his own time and that of the long-suffering Public. Sadly, so long as there are people with money to throw away and Art Dealers prepared to accept such rubbish, so long will Society be unable to stem the tide.

With the 21st Century looming around the corner, one wonders what on earth it is going to be like fifty years from now. Thank Heavens! One will not be around to observe the chaos.

THE END

John Roberts, Sydney,

Australia.

18th December l998

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