The Other Contemporary Art: True Artists and False Values.
Grasset| N° d'inventaire | 23314 |
| Format | 13 x 20.5 |
| Détails | 168 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2021 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782246823971 |
Written by a passionate non-specialist, this lively and brilliant little book is aimed at everyone, and aims to provide a manual for resisting the discourse on contemporary art. The latter bases its hold on a mythified vision of art history: the 20th century was above all the century of avant-gardes, each having gone further than the previous one in questioning notions such as figuration, beauty, and even the work. Yet not only did these ancient notions continue to exist in the so-called minor arts, but above all, there was another artistic 20th century, a tradition of painting that persisted in representing reality and that is reemerging today, from Bonnard to Balthus, from Morandi to Hopper, from Giacometti to Lucian Freud. This essay presents this other history of art, whose existence invalidates the discourse, the myth... and the contemporary art market. This story has secretly continued to us: in France, over the last half-century, there have been very great artists, some of whom are still alive, who have continued to represent the world and seek beauty. Known to a small circle of collectors, critics, and poets, but ignored by cultural institutions and the general public, these artists are the sacrificed of contemporary art, the true accursed artists of our time. Like the accursed artists of yesteryear, they are the ones who make our modernity worthy of being loved and saved. They are the glory of French art.
Written by a passionate non-specialist, this lively and brilliant little book is aimed at everyone, and aims to provide a manual for resisting the discourse on contemporary art. The latter bases its hold on a mythified vision of art history: the 20th century was above all the century of avant-gardes, each having gone further than the previous one in questioning notions such as figuration, beauty, and even the work. Yet not only did these ancient notions continue to exist in the so-called minor arts, but above all, there was another artistic 20th century, a tradition of painting that persisted in representing reality and that is reemerging today, from Bonnard to Balthus, from Morandi to Hopper, from Giacometti to Lucian Freud. This essay presents this other history of art, whose existence invalidates the discourse, the myth... and the contemporary art market. This story has secretly continued to us: in France, over the last half-century, there have been very great artists, some of whom are still alive, who have continued to represent the world and seek beauty. Known to a small circle of collectors, critics, and poets, but ignored by cultural institutions and the general public, these artists are the sacrificed of contemporary art, the true accursed artists of our time. Like the accursed artists of yesteryear, they are the ones who make our modernity worthy of being loved and saved. They are the glory of French art.