Kitsch and art PDF
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Kitsch and Art This page intentionally left blank. Tomas Kulka a n d A r t The Pennsylvania State University Press University Park, Pennsylvania Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kulka, TomPS. Kitsch and art / Tomas Kulka. P cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-271-01556-X (cloth) ISBN 0-271-01594-2 (paper) 1. Kitsch. 2. Arts, Modern-20th century. I. Title. NX456.5.KS4K86 1996 700-dc20 95-20626 CIP Copyright O 1996 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802-1003 It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper for the first printing of all clothbound books. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences- Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-1992. Contents vii List of Illustrations ix Preface Introduction 1. What Is Kitsch? 2. Why Is Kitsch Worthless? 3. Varieties of Kitsch Appendix: On the Alleged Impossibility of Defining Aesthetic Concepts Select Bibliography Index This page intentionally left blank. List of Illustrations Fig. 1. Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Chair Fig. 2. Edouard Manet, The Bar at the Folies-Bergere Fig. 3. Lady Playing the Violin Fig. 4. Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Fig. 5. John William Waterhouse, The Lady ofS halott Fig. 6. Alexandre Cabanel, The Birth of Venus Fig. 7. Jorn Utzon, the opera house in Sydney Fig. 8. Angeles Abbey in Los Angeles Fig. 9. Me1 Ramos, Val Veeta This page intentionally left blank. Preface As the title suggests, this book involves two distinct fields of inquiry. One, which is quite specific, pertains to the peculiar nature of kitsch. The other pertains to art appreciation in general. Shouldn't these two topics be dealt with independently? In view of the contention (endorsed in this essay) that kitsch is discontinuous with art, shouldn't one keep kitsch and art appreciation as far apart as possible? That the two areas of inquiry could be treated independently is obvious enough. Theses about the nature of kitsch have been advanced without consideration of the nature of art appreciation, and vice versa. The first reason for the link is essentially autobiographical. I have not been able to explain to myself the aesthetic deficiencies of kitsch without entering into broader issues pertaining to aesthetic evaluation and art appreciation in general. Questions such as why kitsch is bad have led to more general questions such as, What do we value in real works of art? How can we justify aesthetic value judgments? For some questions I have not found satisfactory answers in current theories of art. 1 thus found it necessary to make some amendments to the prevailing conceptions of aesthetic value judgments and art appreciation in general. These amendments, revisions, and elaborations naturally do not amount to a comprehensive theory of art evaluation, and kitsch remains the central focal point of this inquiry. However, some of the conclusions clearly transcend the bounds of this specific topic. The second reason for dealing with kitsch and art appreciation together is the conviction that analyzing artistic failures and borderline cases of art may help us to see more clearly what it is that we ought to look for in respectable works of art. Since kitsch could be, in a certain sense, seen as
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