"Great" Modern Art: "Horrible" Victorian Art

I recently came across a very poignant post on Art by “Faust.” It is stunning to compare the differences in what historically was passed as art, and what passes as “art” today.  What is most important is the cultural shift in the value statement of what art is supposed to be.

Artwork as a form of imitation can be used as learning tool for mankind to further its understanding of itself and the world around it, or so thought Aristotle. This conception of the utility of art is best revealed in the Classical sculpture of the Greeks; the human form was shown to be divinely perfect, not out of merely a love of physical beauty, but to reveal the potential of moral excellence in humanity. The perfection of the body was used to allegorically display the beauty of moral virtue. To ennoble the human form then was to show the best at what humanity could be, or to follow the philosophy of Aristotle, to pursue its Arête. This is a common trend that influenced the content of art all the way up to the Victorian age.

If we follow this line of thinking, what is revealed about the philosophical of content of post modern (post Marxist?) art?

Plato in his famous Republic correctly believed that art in all its forms had a direct bearing on the condition of its society, and in turn was a reflection of the condition of that society. What does it say then to depict humanity is such crude caricature; is not the debasement of the human form a judgment of its spiritual condition? And if you view humanity in such cynical terms, why then would you aspire to give such wretched creatures liberty to dictate the course of their own lives? Perhaps instead of being a reflection on the world and its inhabitants, this warped picture we are given of reality indicates instead a warped mind on the part of the artist.

Since childhood I remember reading about how “horrible” the art of the Nineteenth Century was and about the “great” pioneers of “Modern” Art who destroyed the age old traditions Europe Art. Marxist scholar Georg Lukács asked “Who will save us from Western civilization?” And decided to create “a culture of pessimism” and “a world that has been abandoned by God.” The fruits of Cultural Marxism ugly “art” made to drive people to despair. Remember if you like the second picture better you are “hateful,” a “Racist,” and a “Neo-fascist.”

The goal of Victorian Art as stated by Burne-Jones:
“I mean by a picture a beautiful romantic dream of something that never was, never will be — in a better light than any light that ever shone — in a land no one can define or remember, only desire — and from forms divinely beautiful.”

Staircase:

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