Journalism
12
Assignment:
Socially significant art
The purpose
of this assignment is to examine how art has been and is used as a vehicle to
express social or political concerns. There has always been lively debate about
the role of art in social life. Some people feel that the social role of art of
any kind should be to divert attention from daily concerns. Others feel that if
a big music or film company paid for the production of the work, then there’s
no way that art could threaten the status quo. Opinions are sometimes
particularly fierce when it comes to art produced within the realm of popular
culture.
Perhaps the
best-known piece of art inspired by real-world events is “Guernica,” the 1937 painting
by Pablo Picasso. It was created the same year that fascist airplanes from the
regimes of Germany’s Adolph Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini bombed and
destroyed the Spanish town that gave the painting its name. Picasso was already
internationally famous, and the painting – done in Paris where he lived in
exile – focused attention on the plight of Spanish pro-democracy forces.
For the purposes
of this assignment, I’m using the term “art” broadly to include any form of
artistic expression (music, film, theater, and so forth). Your task is this:
1. 1800s; 1900-1950: Find one work of
socially or politically inspired art from the 1800s and one from the years 1900-1950.
Provide the name of the work, the artist (or artists) names, and write one
paragraph that will include a description of the work and summation of the
situation or events that inspired it.
2. 1951-2000: Do the same thing, except
you must find and write about work created using these three media: music,
film, and literature or poetry.
3. 2001-present: Find one work of
socially inspired or relevant art from this era. Write at least three
paragraphs describing the work and the context that gave birth to it. You must
also consider the intent of the artist(s) and the impact of the work on its
intended audience.
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