The Art of Social Critique Painting Mirrors of Social Life

by Bingham, Shawn Chandler; Arvidson, Sven; Breitschmid, Markus; Chepp, Valerie; Curtis, David; Dean, Paul; Rosso, Jared Del; Gill, Timothy M.; Koch, William; Lamons, Brent; Lanahan, Lawrence; Leavy, Patricia; Lewin, Philip G.; Miller, Elaine; Mosson, Gregg;

• ISBN13: 9780739149232
• ISBN10: 0739149237
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-02
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

From novelists to political cartoonists, artists have long brought a unique perspective to important public discussions of social and political issues. Yet, fury and debate over the role of the artist has resulted in blacklisting, banning, and symbolically burning artists who use their work as a means of social critique and social change. Art Reflects Life makes a case for the complexity of artistic ways of '¬Sseeing'¬ social life -- observing, analyzing and portraying society '¬ ; by examining the interdisciplinary nature of imagination. The authors cover a range of novelists, painters, musicians, cartoonists, poets and others whose explorations of the human condition directly connect to complex methods of social inquiry often associated with other disciplines. Specific parallels are drawn between the social sciences and the theories, lenses, and aesthetics that allow these artists to gain a clearer view of social life. Artistic techniques, such as metaphor, caricature, and irony, are examined as unique methods of social inquiry, while the novelist and poet become ethnographers of social life. By treading the common ground between the arts, humanities and social sciences, Art Reflects Life raises a number of important questions about the role of art in society: What are the relationships between imagination, creativity, perspective, experimentation and unveiling social life? How does the artistic perspective engage in representation, give voice, or unveil? How have artists examined the relationship between the individual and society, social structures, or social norms that we take for granted? Each chapter explores how the '¬Sartistic eye,'¬ as a form of qualitative social inquiry, helps both the artist and the audience arrive at a more complex understanding of society. From art as a social movement to the important relationship between art and collective memory, Art Reflects Life covers imagination as an interdisciplinary concept that draws on the sociological, psychological, historical, and political. Together these essays reveal art as more than mere entertainment or amusement '¬ ; it is an interdisciplinary way of knowing our social world.

Author Biography

Shawn Chandler Bingham teaches at the University of South Florida. His recently authored books include Thoreau and the Sociological Imagination and a forthcoming book on disability and comedy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Seeing Beyond the Verge of Sight: Art as Social Inquiry	p. 1
Novel Visions
Sociology on the Road: The Sociological Imagination of Jack Kerouac	p. 23
Jean Genet: A Case Study of the Artist's Explication and Alteration of Social Practice	p. 45
Entrapment and Examination of Self and Social Image: James Baldwin's Persistent Ascent up the Mountain	p. 67
Poetic Inquiry
Carolyn Forché and the Fraught Nature of Poetic Witness	p. 87
American Poetry: Process as Vision and Social Change	p. 107
Building Social Structures
Frank Lloyd Wright: Building an American Architect(ure) from Within Outward	p. 133
The Architect as "Molder of the Sensibilities of the General Public": Bruno Taut and his Architekturprogramm	p. 155
Painting Mirrors
Tellin' It Like It Is: Social Realism and the Art of Aaron Douglas	p. 183
Political Cartoons: Artful Commentary	p. 205
Mourning America's War Harms: Alan Magee's Trauerarbeit	p. 221
Image Gallery	p. 231
Performing Life
Other People's Dancers: Paul Taylor's Choreography by Messenger	p. 261
Reconceptualization through Theater: Reflections on Mirror Theatre's "(Re)productions"	p. 287
Standing Up Racism: Richard Pryor and the Development of a Contentious Racial Politics	p. 315
Sounding Off
Learning from Lennon: Using Songs and Stardom to Promote Peace and Justice	p. 341
"She is Risen": Creating Feminist Identities and Challenging Patriarchy through the Music of Tori Amos	p. 365
Propagandhi and the Politics of Subcultural Resistance	p. 391
Reel Life
Staging Truth: Errol Morris's Pursuit of the Objective in the Subjective	p. 419
Aesthetic or Movement? Fascism, Italian Neorealist Cinema, and Social Activism through Film	p. 439
New Possibilities and Old Limitations of Political Art in The Wire	p. 463
The Interior and Exterior Elements of Art
Articulating a Critical Voice: Artists Who "Rattle the Cage" about the Environment	p. 491
Museums of Experience: The Artist as Curator of Memory and Loss	p. 511
Artistic Reverence	p. 531
Index	p. 559
About the Contributors	p. 577
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