Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, Jean Delville, William Degouve de Nuncques and Felicien Rops defined late period Symbolism, as it began to coalesce with German and Austrian Symbolists who would later be known as the masters of Art Nouveau. 'Der Kuss Der Sphinx: Symbolismus in Belgien' makes a compelling case for Belgium as the artistic pinnacle of the movement. Arnold Bocklin, Ferdinand Hodler, Giovanni Segantini, and Carlos Schwabe were giants all. 'Myths and Mysteries: Symbolism and Swiss Artists' gives a vast retrospective platform to examine its contributions as perhaps the soul of Symbolism. There have been some very significant monographs and exhibitions relating to Symbolism, most of them isolating what Symbolism meant in various European nations and periods. The fractal, tree-like chaos of the Post-Modern art world, however, sees Symbolism as a vital, loosely related movement whose choice of subject matter anticipated the rise of Psychology and Surrealism, as well as New Objectivism, Fantastic Realism, and scores of the most important names in Contemporary Art. Certain artists have been deemed worthy of study, but only as they relate to more 'relevant' artists for the most part they've been seen as transitional oddities. The linear view of art history that ignores everything branching off from the primary shoot culminating in Modern art has shown little interest in Symbolism.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |