ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 640 / C& R L N ew s Signposts and semaphores: Art o f the western world By Janice Woo Associate University Librarian New School f o r Social Research A new PBS series explores the role o f art in western society. W o rks of art are th e signposts and sem a­ phores of culture; th at is, they can both mark or reflect the ten o r of a society and act as a signal or catalyst for a culture still evolving. Art shapes and is shaped by the tim es in which it is made, be it in accordance or contradiction with its prevailing milieu. That art is not an isolated activity is a key premise of A rt o f the W estern World , a nine- p art Annenberg/CPB series which will air this fall on PBS television stations. It will ask: W hy is the universal urge to go on pilgrimages, as well as the cult of saints in the M iddle Ages, responsible for many of th e forms in a Rom anesque church? How did th e P rotestant Reform ation affect th e style of Caravaggio and oth er Catholic Baroque painters? W hat is the connection between early 20th-century discoveries in physics and chemistry and the devel­ opm ent of Cubism?1 A rt o f the W estern W orld approaches its topic from the point o f view that art m ust be studied against the backdrop o f its social and historical contexts and that th e works of art must be seen in their actual physical settings. As explained by Perry Miller Adato, the Emmy-winning producer of this series, “W e filmed over 150 locations in eight dif­ ferent countries. Our philosophy in producing these films was th at a work of art cannot be com pletely lA rt o f the W estern W orld Preview Book (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 9. understood until it is seen in its context. And not only its physical and geographical context, b u t also its historical, and perhaps m ore im portantly, its social context.. .The idea th at we are trying to con­ vey is that the works we are examining are the artifacts of vibrant living times, no less vital than our own.” H osting the series is historian and journalist M ichael W ood who takes the role o f a fellow trav­ e le r as he walks among th e m onum ents, observes the works of art, and stops to share his commentary. In addition, over tw enty renow ned art historians appear on-screen to discuss specific works at hand. These experts range from the British M useum ’s John Boardman on Classical Greek art to Rosalind Krauss of th e City University of New York on contem porary art. The series advisory panel con­ sists of James Ackerman of H arvard University, R ichard Brilliant o f C olum bia University, Linda Nochlin at th e City University of New York, and Leo Steinberg at the U niversity of Pennsylvania. The nine one-hour programs chronicling nearly 3,000 years of art are entitled: The Classical Period, 600 B. C.-350A. D .; A W hite Garment o f Churches: Romanesque and Gothic; The Early Renaissance in Italy and the North; The High Renaissance: Rome and Venice; Images o f Authority in Seventeenth Century Art; The Age o f Revolution, 1770-1830; Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism; S e p te m b e r 1 9 8 9 / 641 M ichael W ood, host o f Art o f th e W e ste rn W orld, takes view ers to Sounion, Greece, in the fir s t program, “The Classical Tradition. ” Tw entieth C entury A r t Before W orld W a r IT, Tw entieth C entury A r t A fte r W orld W a r II. Although it has lim ited itself to only w estern art, the series still has an incredible span o f achieve­ ments to cover in a very short period of time. To add to this difficulty, th e program s w ere developed not only to teach art history at an introductory level but to be of interest to th e m ore knowledgeable viewer as well. A solution was arrived at by creatin g p ro ­ grams which clarify m ajor them es and m ilestones in th e history of art. R ather th an overw helm th e view er w ith a barrage of nam es, dates, and styles, each of th e program s focuses on several re p re se n ­ tative works th a t can serve as paradigm s for th e most salient concepts of the period in question. The tre a tm e n t of each p eriod focuses on several works th at are generally agreed to be sem inal, b o th as em bodim ents o f th e achievem ents of th e ir tim e and as hallm arks of th e fu tu re .2 In taking this approach each w ork of art becom es a signifier for th e greater body of work which constitutes its style or era. Som etim es th e works and artists chosen are th e obvious and famous ones; at o th er tim es, how ­ ever, they m ight be lesser-know n rep resentatives w hich can m ore clearly d em o n strate th e rela tio n ­ ship b etw een th e art and its social/historical con­ text. U nderstanding the function of art in its society is p erh a p s th e m ost im portant lesson which this or 2A r t o f the W estern W orld Preview Book (N ew York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 6. any o th e r program m ight have to offer. Art is like lite ra tu re which can docu m en t history, express sensibilities, critique, affirm, be frivolous or seri­ ous, p ro p o u n d new theories or debase old ones, reflect on the past or muse about the fu tu re . W here freedom o f expression has been realized, the valid­ ity of all forms o f th e p rin te d w ord are accepted or at least tolerated. Art, however, has not always been afforded this safeguard. R ecently th e Am erican L ibrary Association u n d e r th e initiation o f th e I n ­ tellectual Freedom Com m ittee adopted a “Resolu­ tion on th e In tim id atio n o f th e N ational E n d o w ­ m en t for th e Arts (N E A ).” This resolution was occasioned by th e cancellation of an exhibition of photographs by Robert M applethorpe at the Corco­ ran Gallery of Art and by efforts to suppress support for th e Southeastern C en ter for C ontem porary Art which exhibited a photograph by Andres Serrano. In th e case of th e M applethorpe works, th e C orco­ ran Gallery p erceiv ed th a t th e exhibition m ight provoke controversy and thus jeo p ard ize c o n tin ­ u ed funding o f th e N EA th ro u g h C ongressional appropriations. It th ere fo re felt obliged to cancel the show and thus deprive the late-artist of the right to be exhibited as well as th e right of th e public to view th e art. Som e of M a p p le th o rp e ’s w ork deals w ith hom osexuality and also depicts scenes of so- called deviant sexual practices. S e rra n o ’s work caused outrage by its depiction of a plastic crucifix subm erged in a jar of th e artist’s u rin e . Serrano was re p o rte d as describing his photograph as a p ro te st against th e com m ercialization o f sacred imagery. O bjections to this w ork arose afte r th e exhibition 6 4 2 / C & R L N ew s had closed when a reproduction in the exhibition’s catalog brought letters of com plaint to th e NEA which had funded the Southeastern C enter exhibit Those who oppose these photographs say that tax­ payers’ m oney should not pay for th e exhibit of pornographic and blasphemous art. Others, whether they approve of the art or not, feel that government funding should not be denied on account of p a r­ ticular points of view as to what constitutes accept­ able art. The American Library Association resolu­ tion specifies its disapproval of denial based on “a potential politicization of the grants-making proc­ ess, ” ln short, the controversy deals with patronage, th e integrity and autonom y of the artist, and the free expression of art. Program s such as A rt o f the W estern W orld can help us to understand these issues as ongoing concerns in the developm ent of our cultural tradi­ tion . W hile not all of the them es explored relate to patronage, the status of the artist, and th e expres­ sion of art, it is perhaps a little surprising to see how pervasive these issues have actually been. R ather than beginning the story of w estern art with Egypt or Persia or the Altamira cave paintings, th e series begins with ancient G reece w here c e r­ tain ideals of freedom and hum anism first take shape in th e dem ocratic city-states. According to the program, the autonomy of these cities gave the Greeks a sense of individuality which was reflected in their ideas about the stature o f man which was in tu rn expressed in th eir art. Andrew Stewart of the University of California at Berkeley explains how th e kouros was emblematic: the nudity of this type of statue showed man fully accepted as the measure of all things; being free-standing and poised as if walking forward portrayed its autonom y; and its beautiful and youthful depiction showed an ideal­ ism that claimed that the Greeks were beholden to no one. This program also describes an early p a ­ tronage problem in the opposition which Perikles encountered in trying to fund the rebuilding of the Akropolis in th e 5th century B.C. W hereas the series views G reece as the source of w estern tra d i­ tion, Roman art was to em body that which is the western tradition. H ere we see programmatic archi­ tectural works created for the good of the populace as well as to reflect the pow er of th e im perial government. The them e of patronage arises again in both the Rom anesque and Gothic periods. In th e early Middle Ages, churches built to accom m odate pil­ grimages and designed to provide crow d control becam e the physical manifestation o f the monastic em pires which had come into power following the fall of th e Roman em pire. In th e 12th century, the im portance of cities was renew ed due to a popula­ tion boom which in tu rn caused trade and industry to flourish. Gothic cathedrals grew taller and taller as symbols o f the sponsoring cities’ rivalries. M ore­ . over, th e beauty, light, and m agnificent spaces of th e G othic cathedrals functioned as a panacea to th e squalid conditions u n d e r which the masses of th e peasant class lived. As th e m erchant class continued to grow in the early Renaissance, the secular sector becam e a more im portant force in the field of art. The arm or­ ers guild commissioned Donatello’s St. George; the Medici family com m issioned his David; th e bank­ ers guild sponsored G h iberti’s St. M atthew. H ere th e great skill which these craftsm en exhibited caused th e status of the artist to rise. According to th e program , th e famous and sought after artist B runelleschi had begun to resent th e restrictions which the craft guilds could place on the design of his art. This developm ent in the artists’ sense of self can also be seen in D ü re r’s series of self portraits. In th e high Renaissance th e idea o f artist as genius grew to mythic proportions in the person of Raphael. In his own tim e many thought that his art was so p erfect th at fu rth e r advancem ent was not possible. At his request, Raphael was buried in the Pantheon, tem ple to both C hristian and pagan gods. Artists of this tim e were often com pared with princes, and their private lives were investigated in works such as Vasari’s Lives o f the Artists. O f sim ilar fame was M ichelangelo whose D avid was called a miracle o f art. This work becam e a m eta­ phor for th e F lo ren tin e body politic, a symbol of right over might. Nevertheless, M ichelangelo’s art was not only a reflection of his external world but also of his own internal, personal struggle with his thoughts and ideas. In fu rth e r illustration o f the growing individualism and independence o f the artist, this program chooses to discuss a somewhat less famous work by Veronese. His Last Supperwas called into question by th e Inquisition in 1573 because o f extra figures such as G erm an soldiers, dwarfs, and Moorish slaves which did not appear in traditional depictions of this scene. When instructed to am end th e painting, Veronese instead changed th e name to Feast in the House o f Levi. H e justified his actions by saying, “W e painters take the same license th at poets and jesters take. ..If in a picture th e re is some space to spare, I enrich it with figures... I was com m issioned to decorate th e pic­ tures as I see fit.” In response to th e heights reached by R enais­ sance artists, th e 17th century saw the establish­ m ent of academies to carry on this tradition. “With academic art came all the intellectual baggage such institutions embody: theories of art, theories of style, hierarchies o f value, and systems of teach ­ ing.”3 This did not stop the innovative artist Carav­ aggio, however, from painting works which w ere 3A rt o f the W estern W orld Stu d y Guide (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989), 123. S ep tem b er 1 9 8 9 / 643 called vulgar or rejected for th e ir originality. W hile the academ y system continued to dictate popular taste in th e 18th century, som e artists began to employ their art as covert or overt political statem ents. An example of the form er is the Oath o f the Horatii by Jacques-L ouis D avid w hich may have served as an inspiration for those on th e tennis courts in 1789. A less obscured statem ent is Goya’s T hirdofM ay, 1808 execution scene. Art as a critique of society becam e m ore prev a­ lent in the 19th century. As “paintings o f m odern life,” M anet’s Olympia a n d Le Dejeuner s u r l’Herbe are famous for the scandal surrounding their recep­ tion . W hile bo th depict nude w om en, this was not so m uch th e p roblem as th a t th ese n u d e w om en were interpreted as real, contem porary figures, not classical, idealized goddesses. It appeared to be an affront to genteel sensibilities. In discussing th e beginning o f th e 20th century, host Michael W ood em phasizes a “delib erate and sweeping break with th e past” or what we might call the idea o f th e avant-garde. D ada art such as D ucham p’s Urinal qu estio n ed not only th e func­ tion of art but the very concept of what art was to b e . In arc h ite c tu re th e Bauhaus, Le C orbusier, and Frank Lloyd W rightw orkedtocreate art that could shape o r b e tte r society. T he program notes, how­ ever, th a t m any co n sid ered m odern art to be too decadent, elitist, or am biguous. Those who op­ posed it included H itle r and Stalin. In th e U nited States, even realistic art could be m et with opposi­ tion; D iego Rivera’s m ural for th e R ockefeller C enter was destroyed in 1934 because its advocacy of w orkers’ control via socialism was d eem ed unac­ ceptable fo rsu c h a capitalistically oriented edifice. M odern art continued to develop, however, and w hen w ork by Jackson Pollock and o th e r ab stract expressionist painters did becom e accepted, it was m et with great acclaim. F or th e most part, art o f the latter 20th century has been accepted, understood, and appreciated in all of its m any forms, and th e re have b e e n a p leth o ra o f them . T h e last program includes Yves K lein’s body painting, Nikki de St. P halle’s pop sculptures, Jam es T u rre ll’s c ra te r earthwork, and Jenny Holzer’s electronic signboard art. A r t o f the W estern W orld shows that art can take m any form s, for m any purposes, and for many reasons. T he p a rticu la r examples rela te d h ere a t­ te m p t to show th a t th e trad itio n o f w estern art includes th e idea th a t artists cre a te because they are independent hum an beings in spite of the need to be supported by patronage. T heir work is created in th e context o f th e ir society though it may be e ith e r in affirm ation or contradiction. T h e key is that all such work is valid as a representation o f the culture w hatever it may be. As executive p roducer Perry Miller Adato has said o f this series, “Ifw e can foster a new appreciation for art, I think we will have succeeded.” As p a rt of its educational function, libraries can help to cre a te an aw areness o f th e im portance of the tradition o f w estern art and its impact on today’s w orld by tying into this television series. T he A m erican L ibrary Association has p re p a re d an inform ation kit th at will be sen t to public, high school, college, and art m useum libraries which can be used to help publicize th e program s. T he free package includes a po ster, bibliography, video film ography, clip art for ads and bookm arks, and display and program m ing ideas. A few o f these ideas are to sponsor talks or demonstrations by local artists; to build a display of books about art featured in th e series; and to host aprogram on “The Wages of Art, ” inviting a variety of professionals working in th e visual arts to discuss how th ey m ake a living, including th e non-m onetary “wages” exacted from art. A rt o f the W estern W orld has been p roduced by W N E T /N ew York in association with TV South/ G reat Britain, O F R F /A ustria, and Television E s­ panola, S. A. T he series is also being offered as part of a television course through th e A nnenberg/CPB Project. Major funding for th e series and its accom ­ panying television course was provided by the A nnenberg/C P B P roject cre a te d in 1981 to su p ­ p o rt projects th a t use telecom m unications te c h ­ nologies to en hance th e quality of h igher ed u ca­ tion. B B Annenberg Research Institute Library wins architectural award T he Philadelphia architectural firm o f G e d ­ des B recher Qualls C unningham was selected by th e A m erican In stitu te o f A rchitects (AIA) for th eir 1989 Award for Excellence for Library A rchitecture in th e design o f th e A nnenberg R esearch In stitu te Library, located at 420 W alnut S treet in Philadelphia. T he library was designed by G eorge Qualls. T he In stitu te library was one o f seven se­ lec ted for th e aw ard from 141 en tran ts. The award was p resented to G eddes B recher Qualls C unningham du rin g th e AIA annual c o n fe r­ ence in Dallas on June 24. T he A nnenberg Research Institute is a post­ doctoral research institution for th e scientific study o f th e history, culture, litera tu re , and religion o f Judaism , C hristianity, and Islam in th e M iddle East. T h e library com prises m ore than 150,000 volumes, including many ancient and m edieval rare m anuscripts and books, plus a unique collection of ancient artifacts.