Design Debates

Kaiwan Mehta
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Child Could Have Done 

That 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Monish Jhaveri
UA 1312 
The White Painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 

Not more than a few days ago, I came across an article about an all-white painting by 
renowned artist ​Robert Rauschenberg ​sold to ​San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ​ for 
$20.8-million. YES. A freaking All-WHITE painting, with absolutely nothing on it. Upon further 
enquiry, I discovered that it isn’t just Rauschenberg that produced such kind of artworks - other 
artist such as Kazimir Malevich, Agnes Martin, Jo Baer, Joseph Albers, most of whom were 
associated with an art movement called ‘Minimalism’, that began in the late 1950s as a 
rejection to ‘Abstract Expressionism’, produced works of similar kind. Regardless of the 
philosophy that underpinned the production of such works, what really bothered me is that 
how could something so plain and simple (objectively speaking) in relation to the great works 
of art such as ​‘Mona Lisa’ ​by​ Leonardo da Vinci, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ ​by​ Johannes Vermeer, 
or​ ‘The School of Athens’ ​by​ Raphael​, be deemed equally marvellous and almost equally 
expensive as well. 

White Painting (Three panel) by Robert Rauschenberg. 

What the heck happened to ART? 
 
For a score of centuries, artists in western societies, produced work of art that 
represented a skill set of excellent level, that depicted an objectively measurable aesthetic 
beauty, and that inspired the forthcoming generations of artists to push the standards high by 
perfecting their skills. These benchmarks in Art were maintained and promoted by a network 
of European Academies of Fine Arts. However, towards the end of the nineteenth century, 
something happened… something that pivoted the progressive directions of Art for ​good​, or 
maybe for ​BAD.   
 
The nineteenth century remained the time for fast-growing significant changes. The 
Industrial Revolution impacted the manufacturing, the technology, the urbanisation, and the 
development of economic systems across Europe. People started moving to the cities. The 
demand for goods increased. Machine-made products occupied the households of the general 
public. There was a total shift towards production of machine-made objects. This, eventually 
drained the value of handicraft products. Later on, two inventions - one being a camera and the 
other being Tin-made Paint tubes, collectively led to the shift that gave birth to ​“Modern Art”​. 
 
In the late nineteenth century, a group called ‘The Impressionists’, broke away from the 
restrictive boundaries of academic subjects that limited paintings to mythology and religion, in 
order to explore new themes in painting which were about the public life, the cities and the 
ideas that inspired the artists themselves. However, this was merely a part of a wider change 
that was shaping up in France and in other parts of Europe during that time. Fed up with the 
traditional academic art forms, artists around Europe started producing “Modern Paintings” 
that were new, different and explored a range of other concepts, themes and materials in Arts. 
Further on, an entire band of artist joined this revolution to produce paintings that later on 
came to be regarded as bold, daring and evocative. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract... Vague... Bullcrap... 
 
As with most revolutions, the first generation of artists of the Modern Movement, did 
produce work of genuine merit. Impressionist artist like, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne used 
non-natural colour schemes and highly textured brush work to capture fleeting moments of 
light & colour, whilst still maintaining artistic discipline. 
 

 
Bal du moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste  Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet. 
Renoir. 
 
 
Fauvism, which came in later, was a short-lived, yet highly influential movement, led by 
Henri Matisse that depicted bold and expressive use of colours. Its vivid style of painting and the 
use of non-natural colour scheme made it quite fashionable, paving way for abstraction in 
Modern Art. 
 

​Woman with a Hat by Henri matisse. 

In the early twentieth century, Cubism was developed by Pablo Picasso, which went on to 
become one of the most influential styles of its century. Its use of fragmented geometric shapes 
with flattened perspectives to depict objects in an abstract style went on to influence Abstract Art 
for over fifty years. 
 

 
Woman with a Mandolin by Pablo Picasso. La Ville No. 2 by Robert Delaunay. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Expressionism originated in Germany, along with Cubism, having its main intention to introduce 
the artist’s subjectivity into the painting by distorting the image radically for an emotional effect in 
order to portray its mood along with a strong sense of colour-scheme. 
 

​Houses at Night by Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff. 

 
 
 
 
After the Second World War, Abstract Expressionism developed in New York which promoted 
the use of automatic, spontaneous creation owing to the subconscious mind. This became a way 
for artists to express themselves through their works.  
 
“Every good Painter, paints what he is”​ - Jackson Pollock. 
  

 
Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock. 
 

 
The Eye is the First Circle by Lee Krasner. 
 
 
 
 
And as a rejection of Abstract Expressionism, the Minimalism Art Movement began which gave 
rise to works of Robert Rauschenberg and other artist such as Frank Stella, Paul Kremer. 
 

 
Hyena Stomp by Frank Stella. Table Weight 4 by Paul Kremer. 
 
 
How does one measure quality in ART? 
 
Much has been debated about the deteriorating quality of work in Modern, and later on 
in Contemporary Art. The development of the above mentioned movements did open up 
newer perspectives to conceive art, but also at the same time, it reduced the value of art from 
artistic perfection to mere relative personal expression of the artist. This is where it becomes 
problematic to measure quality in Art. If on one hand, a universal standard for qualifying art 
based on the demonstration of the skill set of the artist is met with strong reluctance, then on 
the other hand, the idea of art being a personal expression of the artist turns everybody into an 
artist and everything into an artwork. The question here is where does one draw a line 
between these two paradigms - ​universal standard for quality in art​ and ​personal expression in 
art​.