DOCSLIB.ORG

Meyer Schapiro, "Art Front," and the Popular Front

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Meyer Schapiro, 1936: Meyer Schapiro, "Art Front," and the Popular Front Patricia Hills Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 17, No. 1, Meyer Schapiro. (1994), pp. 30-41. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0142-6540%281994%2917%3A1%3C30%3A1MS%22FA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W Oxford Art Journal is currently published by Oxford University Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/oup.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Sun Jan 13 12:07:09 2008 1936: Meyer Schapiro, Art Front, and the Popular Front On November 27, 1935, Stuart Davis wrote to Meyer in February 1936.' The two Congresses would both Schapiro soliciting an article for Art Front, the cultivate professional artists, in contrast to the John monthly magazine of the Artists' Union, then edited Reed Clubs which sought to erase distinctions by Davis. 'I would be extremely pleased if you could between amateurs from working-class ranks and find a way to propose an article on some topic within academically trained professionals. our general policy. A critical article on some The editorial policies of Art Front reflected the outstanding figure in the field ofart (who is in the news coming to terms with this new strategy. At the time at the time of publication) would be very welcome.' when Schapiro was being asked to submit an article, Davis adds that he hopes Schapiro can attend an Davis and the active members of the editorial board editorial meeting scheduled for the next day. Such were hammering out their ambitious plans to meetings served as forums where ideas could be revamp the December 1935 issue into a more shared, attacked, debated, modified and tested out in professional art magazine. Previously, from its first practice, and Davis knew that Schapiro, as a Marxist issue dated November 1934, Art Front had been an polemicist, would contribute to the debates.' eight-page tabloid hawked at demonstrations called Davis's invitation to Schapiro to become involved by the Artists' Committee for Action and the Artists' with Art Front came at a time, 1935-36, when the Union. It had provided a forum for union activities, tactics of the Popular Front strategy of the Com- had cheered on social content in art and had carried munist Party were still being worked out. The on a scrappy debate with Thomas Hart Benton and Artists' Union was firmly in the communist move- John Steuart Curry, whom, along with other ment even if not all members were card-carrying Regionalists, they accused of 'self-glorifi~ation'.~In Communists; the Union had, after all, been largely contrast, the new version of Art Front was to be organized by Party members.' By the end of 1935 smaller in format, expanded to sixteen pages, con- Schapiro had also been immersed for several years in tain better reproductions, and be more diverse in its the movement: he had written Marxist analyses for articles. The new guidelines stated: New Masses as early as 1932, had voted the Com- munist Party ticket in the elections that year,3 and Each issue of Art Front contains reports of activities of the had lectured at the John Reed Club School of Art Union and similar groups throughout the country, during the 1934-35 ~eason.~But a year later he had critical articles on outstanding art events, articles by moved away from the Party. The strains in his rela- experts on the social and economic positions of the artists to day [sic], essays of opinion on esthetic directions, on tionship with the Artists' Union and the Party point the social significance of various 'schools' of art, critical not just to Schapiro's independent Marxist position, analyses of outstanding figures in contemporary art, but they highlight some of the contradictions articles on the technique and craft of painting, editorial inherent in the Popular Front strategy. comment and of course important drawings, reproduc- During 1935, the CPUSA, in line with the tions and photograph^.^ response of the Third International to fascist threats to the Soviet Union, called for a 'united front' - a Davis, an incorrigible list-maker, enumerated issues broad alliance of the Communist Party with other 'which must be kept to the fore in Art Front', one of democratic groups and parties to fight fa~cism.~In which was 'controversial articles by artists and critics the cultural field this meant that Party members and - not in A.U'.1° fellow-travellers would phase out the sectarian, The decision by the editors of Art Front to feature proletarian culture organizations, such as the John contributors outside the Artists' Union - particu- Reed Clubs, and develop broadbased organizations larly men and women ofwell-known expertise -also of artists where leadership would be shared with conformed to the new Popular Front strategy. non- communist^.^ The result was a wooing of non- Schapiro would have been seen as a rising star. He communist writers and artists considered progres- taught at Columbia College and had written sive without overtly recruiting them or otherwise brilliantly on Romanesque sculpture as well as on the making political demands on them. The two Post-impressionists; he would obviously lend stature occasions created by the Party to do this were the to the revamped publication. Other major intel- American Writers' Congress, the first conference lectuals and writers not in the Communist Party (at held by the League of American Writers in April least not openly in the Party), were also invited to 1935, and the American Artists' Congress, just then write, such as Lincoln Kirstein and Irwin Edman, being planned by Davis and others for a conference professor of philosophy at Columbia. The artist Charmion von Wiegand, wife of New Masses editor artist Louis Lozowick participated, outlined on Joseph Freeman, and Elizabeth hIcCausland, art paper the role of intellectuals: critic for the Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican who wrote under the pen name 'Elizabeth Noble', had a. The intellectual crystallizes, formulates, and interprets both written for New Masses; they now began writing the motivating forces at work in any age. He thinks, for Art Front as well. These, along with staff writers writes, paints, etc. his feelings about the society in which Harold Rosenberg, Joe Solman, and Clarence he lives. b. In this sense, intellectuals are the chroniclers Weinstock, and frequent contributors Louis Lozo- and interpreters of the movement of events. c. They feel the currents and forces underlying movements before wick, Jacob Kainen, Grace Clements and others, those currents and forces reach the surface, and through would make Art Front the most intellectually stimu- their arts and letters bring them to public attention. d. In lating magazine of art and politics of the mid-1930s." a very real sense, therefore, intellectuals may be pioneers Much has been written about the effects that the and forerunners.I6 CP's Popular Front strategy had on the fellow- travellers, liberals, Lovestoneites, and Trotskyists of To Lozowick's committee, the tasks of American the period.'* Many of these began to accuse the intellectuals are 'propaganda among the workers', Communist Party of selling out to capitalism when it 'helping the workers to articulate both their daily toned down its talk of communist revolution and needs and their class goal', and 'filling strategic posi- joined with the forces of Roosevelt's New Deal. To tions on the cultural front', which meant assuming most Communists, on the other hand, it was a war leadership responsibilities of organizations and measure, necessitated by the fact that the Soviet editorships of their publications. Clearly to Lozo- Union was having difficulty making strategic wick's group, the intellectual's role is to diagnose the alliances with France, Great Britain and the United current situation, to prescribe strategies and tactics States.13 With the Popular Front strategy in place, for, in Lenin's words, 'what is to be done', and then Communist Parties of each nation could build to join cadres working for such goals.17 support for the Soviet Union through citizen groups Through the early 1930s Lozowick and others in and professional organizations. Inevitably, problems the communist movement had thoroughly internal- arose when the Marxist rhetoric of Party function- ized these principles, and hence prescriptive art aries began to accommodate too readily to a liberal criticism became the norm. Movement critics dif- and, in the United States, to a Democratic Party fered only in the degree to which each advocated audience. For example, whereas Party Chairman stylistic imagination and experimentation and in the Earl Browder still spoke of the 'class struggle' forcefulness with which each reminded the audience between workers and capitalists when he addressed of the primacy of working-class concerns.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Russian Avant-Garde 1912-1930" Has Been Directedby Magdalenadabrowski, Curatorial Assistant in the Departmentof Drawings
    Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art leV'' ST,?' T Chairm<ln ,he Boord;Ga,dner Cowles ViceChairman;David Rockefeller,Vice Chairman;Mrs. John D, Rockefeller3rd, President;Mrs. Bliss 'Ce!e,Slder";''i ITTT V P NealJ Farrel1Tfeasure Mrs. DouglasAuchincloss, Edward $''""'S-'ev C Burdl Tn ! u o J M ArmandP Bar,osGordonBunshaft Shi,| C. Burden,William A. M. Burden,Thomas S. Carroll,Frank T. Cary,Ivan Chermayeff, ai WniinT S S '* Gianlui Gabeltl,Paul Gottlieb, George Heard Hdmilton, Wal.aceK. Harrison, Mrs.Walter Hochschild,» Mrs. John R. Jakobson PhilipJohnson mM'S FrankY Larkin,Ronalds. Lauder,John L. Loeb,Ranald H. Macdanald,*Dondd B. Marron,Mrs. G. MaccullochMiller/ J. Irwin Miller/ S.I. Newhouse,Jr., RichardE Oldenburg,John ParkinsonIII, PeterG. Peterson,Gifford Phillips, Nelson A. Rockefeller* Mrs.Albrecht Saalfield, Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn/ MartinE. Segal,Mrs Bertram Smith,James Thrall Soby/ Mrs.Alfred R. Stern,Mrs. Donald B. Straus,Walter N um'dWard'9'* WhlTlWheeler/ Johni hTO Hay Whitney*u M M Warbur Mrs CliftonR. Wharton,Jr., Monroe * HonoraryTrustee Ex Officio 0'0'he "ri$°n' Ctty ot^New^or^ °' ' ^ °' "** H< J Goldin Comptrollerat the Copyright© 1978 by TheMuseum of ModernArt All rightsreserved ISBN0-87070-545-8 TheMuseum of ModernArt 11West 53 Street,New York, N.Y 10019 Printedin the UnitedStates of America Foreword Asa resultof the pioneeringinterest of its first Director,Alfred H. Barr,Jr., TheMuseum of ModernArt acquireda substantialand uniquecollection of paintings,sculpture, drawings,and printsthat illustratecrucial points in the Russianartistic evolution during the secondand third decadesof this century.These holdings have been considerably augmentedduring the pastfew years,most recently by TheLauder Foundation's gift of two watercolorsby VladimirTatlin, the only examplesof his work held in a public collectionin the West.
    [Show full text]
  • Staging Revolution: the Constructivist Debate About Composition
    Staging Revolution: The Constructivist Debate about Composition Introduction Among the relatively few areas of agreement after the 1917 Russian Revolution, two are particularly noteworthy. The first is the widespread perception that the urban environment was chaotic. Whereas few people agreed as to the source of this chaos (choosing to blame it on the capitalists, the architects, or the intelligentsia), almost everyone believed that urban life after the revolution did not justify the sacrifices and traumas imposed by three years of civil war. The second area of agreement concerned the role of the theater: despite continued and almost irreconcilable differences about what the future should look like, there was almost complete agreement that art and theater could be “weapons” or tools in the revolution. Theater, in particular, would lead the way: from Lenin’s project for monumental propaganda (1918) to the Russian futurists’ declaration that the “streets should be a holiday of art for the people,” there was widespread agreement that art should be taken to the streets, that it was capable of communicating messages in a voice which would be understood, and that theatricality was the key to the unification of the arts. Ironically, one of the reasons why constructivism has been so difficult to study is the fact that it was long understood as a form of art which was against the creation of art. But one of the core values of constructivism was not the rejection of art but the belief that the only type of art which has meaning is one which challenges boundaries and definitions, and that part of this challenge concerns the relationship between the audience and the art work, whether we talk about theater, cinema, photography, or objects.
    [Show full text]
  • David Quigley Learning to Live: Preliminary Notes for a Program Of
    David Quigley In an essay published in 2009, Boris could play in a broader social context influenced the founding director John Groys makes the claim that “today art beyond the narrow realm of the art Andrew Rice, as well as the professors Learning to Live: education has no definite goal, no world. Josef Albers, Merce Cunningham, Robert Preliminary Notes method, no particular content that can Motherwell, John Cage, and the poets be taught, no tradition that can be Performing Pragmatism: Robert Creeley and Charles Olson. for a Program of Art transmitted to a new generation—which Art as Experience Unlike other trajectories of the critique Education for the is to say, it has too many.”69 While one On the first pages of Dewey’s Art as of the art object, the Deweyian tradition might agree with this diagnosis, one Experience from 1934, we read: did not deny the special status of art in 21st Century. immediately wonders how we should itself but rather resituated it within a Après John Dewey assess it. Are we to merely tacitly “By one of the ironic perversities that continuum of human experience. Dewey, acknowledge this situation or does this often attend the course of affairs, the as a thinker of egalitarianism and critique imply a call for change? Is this existence of the works of art upon which democracy, created a theory of art lack (or paradoxical overabundance) of the formation of an aesthetic theory based on the fundamental continuity goals, methods or content inherent to depends has become an obstruction of experience and practice, making the very essence of art education, or is to theory about them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research: An
    Gregory Alan-Kingman Hom, IS 281 Historical Research Methodology The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research: An Independent Home for the Left Term paper written for Professor Maack’s class on Historical Research Methodology Introduction/Scope of the Presentation The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research (SCL) is a library and archive situated in South Central Los Angeles. The SCL has regular presentations of speakers or films on topics relating to the community organizing efforts of Los Angeles activists. The SCL was initially the work of Emil Freed, the son of anarchists and brought up with the consciousness that the world needed to be changed. His political life led him to John Reed Clubs in 1929, which were associated with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA); he eventually became a member of the CPUSA, with which he was associated until his dying days. The library has a diverse collection today. It is in possession of most of the of the run of The California Eagle, one of the West Coast’s oldest African-American newspapers; the papers of labor unions; materials of the Jewish Left in Los Angeles; and materials on the Southern California branch of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Quite interesting is that later board members joined the New American Movement (NAM), an organization that attracted those who had left the CPUSA- papers relating to their involvement with that group are included in those later board members’ personal papers. The reality is that historical collections on Chican@s and Latin@s are less well represented, and still less on Asian-Americans.
    [Show full text]
  • The Distancing-Embracing Model of the Enjoyment of Negative Emotions in Art Reception
    BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (2017), Page 1 of 63 doi:10.1017/S0140525X17000309, e347 The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception Winfried Menninghaus1 Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [email protected] Valentin Wagner Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [email protected] Julian Hanich Department of Arts, Culture and Media, University of Groningen, 9700 AB Groningen, The Netherlands [email protected] Eugen Wassiliwizky Department of Language and Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany [email protected] Thomas Jacobsen Experimental Psychology Unit, Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, 22043 Hamburg, Germany [email protected] Stefan Koelsch University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway [email protected] Abstract: Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model to explain this much discussed (apparent) paradox. We argue that negative emotions are an important resource for the arts in general, rather than a special license for exceptional art forms only. The underlying rationale is that negative emotions have been shown to be particularly powerful in securing attention, intense emotional involvement, and high memorability, and hence is precisely what artworks strive for. Two groups of processing mechanisms are identified that conjointly adopt the particular powers of negative emotions for art’s purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Crimes of Government': William Patterson, Civil Rights, and American Criminal Justice
    “Crimes of Government” William Patterson, Civil Rights, and American Criminal Justice Alexandra Fay Undergraduate Thesis Department of History Columbia University April 4, 2018 Seminar Advisor: Elizabeth Blackmar Second Reader: Karl Jacoby Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Radical Beginnings ......................................................................................................................... 8 The Scottsboro Nine ..................................................................................................................... 17 The Trenton Six ............................................................................................................................ 32 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 52 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 63 2 Introduction “Why did you do this thing, Patterson?” demanded Channing Tobias. At the 1951 United Nations convention in Paris, Tobias represented the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Dignified, sixty-nine-year-old Tobias was an official American delegate. Bombastic, bespectacled, sixty-year-old William Patterson arrived in Paris despite the State Department’s best efforts to keep him away. His mission
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Dadaism? Some Explanations and Definitions Dada Was, Officially, Not a Movement, Its Artists Not Artists and Its Art Not Art
    What is Dadaism? Some explanations and definitions Dada was, officially, not a movement, its artists not artists and its art not art. That sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Of course, there is a bit more to the story of Dadaism than this simplistic explanation. Dada was a literary and artistic movement born in Europe at a time when the horror of World War It was being played out in what amounted to citizens' front yards. Due to the war, a number of artists, writers and intellectuals - notably of French and German nationality - found themselves congregating in the refuge that Zurich (in neutral Switzerland) offered. Far from merely feeling relief at their respective escapes, this bunch was pretty ticked off that modern European society would allow the war to have happened. They were so angry, in fact, that they undertook the time-honored artistic tradition of protesting. Banding together in a loosely-knit group, these writers and artists used any public forum they could find to (metaphorically) spit on nationalism, rationalism, materialism and any other -ism which they felt had contributed to a senseless war. In other words, the Dadaists were fed up. If society is going in this direction, they said, we'll have no part of it or its traditions. Including...no, wait!...especially artistic traditions. We, who are non-artists, will create non-art - since art (and everything else in the world) has no meaning, anyway. About the only thing these non-artists all had in common were their ideals. They even had a hard time agreeing on a name for their project.
    [Show full text]
  • Symposium on the Dura-Europos Synagogue Paintings, in Tribute to Dr
    SYMPOSIUM ON THE DURA-EUROPOS SYNAGOGUE PAINTINGS, IN TRIBUTE TO DR. RACHEL WISCHNITZER, NOVEMBER, 1968: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MORTON SMITH AND MEYER SCHAPIRO* INTRODUCED AND EDITED BY STEVEN FINE Academic conference lectures often afford important University), and art historian Meyer Schapiro glimpses into the process of academic knowledge (Columbia University), with Rachel Wischnitzer as formation and performance in the period prior moderator.2 Shortly after the symposium, a young to publication. They are environments in which Vivian Mann, then teaching at Wichita State scholars try out new ideas and frequently take University, requested and received a recording of chances without the commitment implicit in pub- the conference, which she recently gave to me. The lication. Conference invitations are often occasions recording, both the original reel and in digitized to enter into and try on new areas of research and form, now resides in the Yeshiva University archives. to formulate work for new audiences. Recordings I am most pleased to present transcripts of two of and transcripts of academic conferences are, thus, the more significant contributions at this conference, important historical sources, reflecting the palimpsest those of Morton Smith and Meyer Schapiro, in this nature of academic composition, presentation, and issue of Images honoring Vivian. publication. When no publication results, they are Morton Smith, (1915–1991), professor of Ancient often the only evidence of the conference having History at Columbia University from 1957 to 1985, taken place and of the learning that took place. was an extremely influential, cutting-edge, and On November 6, 1968 Yeshiva University held often provocative historian of ancient Judaism and a conference on the campus of its Stern College Christianity.
    [Show full text]
  • Morris Childs Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf896nb2v4 No online items Register of the Morris Childs papers Finding aid prepared by Lora Soroka and David Jacobs Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6010 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1999 Register of the Morris Childs 98069 1 papers Title: Morris Childs papers Date (inclusive): 1924-1995 Collection Number: 98069 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English and Russian Physical Description: 2 manuscript boxes, 35 microfilm reels(4.3 linear feet) Abstract: Correspondence, reports, notes, speeches and writings, and interview transcripts relating to Federal Bureau of Investigation surveillance of the Communist Party, and the relationship between the Communist Party of the United States and the Soviet communist party and government. Includes some papers of John Barron used as research material for his book Operation Solo: The FBI's Man in the Kremlin (Washington, D.C., 1996). Hard-copy material also available on microfilm (2 reels). Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives Creator: Childs, Morris, 1902-1991. Contributor: Barron, John, 1930-2005. Location of Original Materials J. Edgar Hoover Foundation (in part). Access Collection is open for research. The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to copies of audiovisual items, computer media, and digital files. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos, films, or digital files during your visit, please contact the Archives at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see or hear. Please note that not all material is immediately accessible.
    [Show full text]
  • The Left Front : Radical Art in the "Red Decade," 1929-1940
    LEFT FRONT EVENTS All events are free and open to the public Saturday, January 18, 2pm Winter Exhibition Opening with W. J. T. Mitchell Wednesday, February 5, 6pm Lecture & Reception: Julia Bryan-Wilson, Figurations Wednesday, February 26, 6pm Poetry Reading: Working Poems: An Evening with Mark Nowak Saturday, March 8, 2pm Film Screening and Discussion: Body and Soul with J. Hoberman Saturday, March 15, 2pm Guest Lecture: Vasif Kortun of SALT, Istanbul Thursday, April 3, 6pm Gallery Performance: Jackalope Theatre, Living Newspaper, Edition 2014 Saturday, April 5, 5pm Gallery Performance: Jackalope Theatre, Living Newspaper, Edition 2014 Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 6pm Lecture: Andrew Hemingway, Style of the New Era: THE LEFT FRONT John Reed Clubs and Proletariat Art RADICAL ART IN THE "RED DECADE," 1929-1940 Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art Northwestern University 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208-2140 www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu Generous support for The Left Front is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, as well as the Terra Foundation on behalf of William Osborn and David Kabiller, and the MARY AND LEIGH BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART Myers Foundations. Additional funding is from the Carlyle Anderson Endowment, Mary and Leigh Block Endowment, the Louise E. Drangsholt Fund, the Kessel Fund at the NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSIty Block Museum, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. theleftfront-blockmuseum.tumblr.com January 17–June 22, 2014 DIRECTOR'S FOREWORD The Left Front: Radical Art in the “Red Decade”, 1929–1940 was curated by John Murphy undergraduate seminar that focused on themes in the exhibition and culminated in and Jill Bugajski, doctoral candidates in the Department of Art History at Northwestern student essays offering close examinations of particular objects from the show.
    [Show full text]
  • The Karl Marx
    LENIN LIBRARY VO,LUME I 000'705 THE TEA~HINGS OF KARL MARX • By V. I. LENIN FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY U8AARY SOCIALIST - LABOR COllEClIOK INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS 381 FOURTH AVENUE • NEW YORK .J THE TEACHINGS OF KARL MARX BY V. I. LENIN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS I NEW YORK Copyright, 1930, by INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CO., INC. PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. ~72 CONTENTS KARL MARX 5 MARX'S TEACHINGS 10 Philosophic Materialism 10 Dialectics 13 Materialist Conception of History 14 Class Struggle 16 Marx's Economic Doctrine . 18 Socialism 29 Tactics of the Class Struggle of the Proletariat . 32 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MARXISM 37 THE TEACHINGS OF KARL MARX By V. I. LENIN KARL MARX KARL MARX was born May 5, 1818, in the city of Trier, in the Rhine province of Prussia. His father was a lawyer-a Jew, who in 1824 adopted Protestantism. The family was well-to-do, cultured, bu~ not revolutionary. After graduating from the Gymnasium in Trier, Marx entered first the University at Bonn, later Berlin University, where he studied 'urisprudence, but devoted most of his time to history and philosop y. At th conclusion of his uni­ versity course in 1841, he submitted his doctoral dissertation on Epicure's philosophy:* Marx at that time was still an adherent of Hegel's idealism. In Berlin he belonged to the circle of "Left Hegelians" (Bruno Bauer and others) who sought to draw atheistic and revolutionary conclusions from Hegel's philosophy. After graduating from the University, Marx moved to Bonn in the expectation of becoming a professor. However, the reactionary policy of the government,-that in 1832 had deprived Ludwig Feuer­ bach of his chair and in 1836 again refused to allow him to teach, while in 1842 it forbade the Y0ung professor, Bruno Bauer, to give lectures at the University-forced Marx to abandon the idea of pursuing an academic career.
    [Show full text]
  • Theory and Philosophy of Ar T
    Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist, and Society SELECTED PAPERS MEYER SCHAPIRO G EORGE BRAZILLER NEW YORK THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF AR T ndemned in perpetuity, he said, to repeat his doubtful successes, the Jtic little landscapes with horsemen, remembered from the African .vels of his youth. In this mood, he undertook the trip to Belgium The Still Life as a Personal Object­ d Holland, not knowing whether a book would come out of it, A Note on Heidegger and van Gogh hough urged to write by his friends who had enjoyed the brilliance his casual talk on the painters of the past and knew his gifts as a ·iter. He was certain only that the journey would not contribute to his (1968) :, for he felt rightly that his troubles as a painter were lodged too deep thin his personality to be resolved by new inspirations from the past. N HIS ESSAY 0 N The Origin of the Work of Art, Martin Lt this concentrated, solitary experience in a foreign land was a pow­ [ul reawakening; it stirred his energies as nothing had done before. Heidegger interprets a painting by van Gogh to illustrate the 1 1e accumulated forces of a lifetime were suddenly sparked, and in a I nature of art as a disclosure of truth. He comes to this picture in the course of distinguishing three N months, with an incredible speed, he wrote out this book which presents his gifts better than his paintings, refined as these may be. It modes of being: of useful artifacts, of natural things, and of works of 1ched a greater public and provoked controversies that have not yet fine art.
    [Show full text]