{"id":5246,"date":"2015-07-08T10:19:17","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T14:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=5246"},"modified":"2015-12-08T08:05:20","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T13:05:20","slug":"how-art-became-irrelevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/how-art-became-irrelevant\/","title":{"rendered":"How Art Became Irrelevant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Lewis<\/a>‘ long piece in Commentary<\/a> titled, How Art Became Irrelevant<\/a>, is a tour de force of cultural analysis.    In his well-written and long article (did I mention it is long?), Lewis’ breadth of knowledge provides a wealth of thoughtful observations and quotable passages.<\/p>\n

To buttress his main thesis, which I think is reasonably embodied in the two quotes below, he surveys developments in art since the ’70’s. Like anyone else trying to sort out and make sense of developments over the past fifty years, some things Lewis highlights are idiosyncratic corner cases that do not represent significant trends.  This is another way of saying I don’t agree with him at every point.  Having said that, Lewis  shines a powerful light on the art world and illuminates it in a way I find compelling.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Renovations<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Among many quotable passages, I think these two provide a good summary of Lewis’ article:<\/p>\n

“For a generation or more, the American public has been thoroughly alienated from the life of the fine arts while, paradoxically, continuing to enjoy museums for the sake of sensation and spectacle, much as it enjoyed circuses a century ago. The public accepts that it has nothing important to say about who we are, though it does occasionally rouse itself when something is at stake that does reflect our collective values…”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

…and…<\/p>\n

“This estrangement has been a disaster for the arts, which need to draw inspiration from the society and culture that is its substrate. It is a myth that an art withdrawn from the realm of public inspection and disapproval is a freer and superior art….”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael J. Lewis‘ long piece in Commentary titled, How Art Became Irrelevant, is a tour de force of cultural analysis.    In his well-written and long article (did I mention it is long?), Lewis’ breadth of knowledge provides a wealth of thoughtful observations and quotable passages. To buttress his main thesis, which I think is reasonably embodied in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[251,17,253,1],"tags":[265,270],"class_list":["post-5246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aesthetics","category-art-museum","category-culture","category-uncategorized","tag-art-hiatory","tag-art-museum"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9722,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/07\/thomas-crow\/","url_meta":{"origin":5246,"position":0},"title":"Thomas Crow","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Thomas Crow is an American art historian. For a short time, his interests overlapped with mine, which is how I became aware of him. Some readers might know that I am a fan of the French artist J.L David. Early in his career, Crow wrote a book focused on David\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "aesthetics"","block_context":{"text":"aesthetics","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/aesthetics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/crow2.jpg?fit=474%2C244&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5086,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/the-new-whitney\/","url_meta":{"origin":5246,"position":1},"title":"The new Whitney","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 17, 2015","format":"link","excerpt":"The new Whitney. The Whitney Museum recently opened its new digs in Chelsea. My first (tiny) apartment in New York was in Chelsea (20th & 8th), of course, that was before Chelsea became an art center.\u00a0I plan to pay my first visit this summer. I read a slashing review, A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3468,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/art-museums-and-technology\/","url_meta":{"origin":5246,"position":2},"title":"Art museums and technology","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"April 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In their\u00a0fierce competition\u00a0for\u00a0the vast pool of entertainment dollars, art museums are attempting\u00a0to use technology to\u00a0reinvent themselves. \u00a0The theme-park-ization of museums is replete with interactive attractions and high-tech gewgaws. \u00a0On the surface this sounds, if not exactly winning, reasonable. \u00a0After all, what could be more natural for\u00a0our\u00a0(so-called) cultural leaders than to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cleveland Museum of Art's New Atrium","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/IMG_0261.jpg?fit=552%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/IMG_0261.jpg?fit=552%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/IMG_0261.jpg?fit=552%2C395&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4270,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/review-the-art-of-slowing-down-in-a-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":5246,"position":3},"title":"Review: The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"October 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In her\u00a0recent New York Times article,\u00a0The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum, Stephanie Rosenbloom admonishes us to slow down when we visit museums. 20 minutes, she says, in front of a single work of art provides the most therapeutic experience. She sights several studies and experiments to buttress her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/met.jpg?fit=500%2C397&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5045,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/excellent-survey-of-the-modern-art-museum\/","url_meta":{"origin":5246,"position":4},"title":"Excellent survey of the modern art museum","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 1, 2015","format":"status","excerpt":"Excellent article about the sate of the modern art museum. The author, Jerry Saltz, hits many of the points I've written about. Of course, it doesn't take special insight to notice the immense\u00a0changes taking place in the modern museum. 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