| Artist: | Schnabel, Julian |
|
|---|---|---|
| Title: | Blue Nude with Sword | |
| Date: | 1979 | |
| Nationality: | American | |
| Context: | Postmodernism | |
| Movement: | Neo-Expressionism | |
| Materials: | oil paint & plates on masonite | |
| Subject: death of the hero or mutilated hero, no longer whole; the body in bits and pieces; the theme of the fragment; the broken surface; loss of culture; a state of ruins; haunted by the past (figures Ten Nudes"); the sacred made profane; kitschinspired by Pollaiuolo's "Battle of the Ten Naked Men" (the Olympic torch is modeled after a cheap paper cup) Style: works all-over field that recalls Pollock, but the broken crockery prevents a wholistic vision; a fragmented whole that cannot be pieced back together again; influenced by Gaudi. Context: comes on the seen after the 70's conceptual and performance art, a time when many saw painting as dead; ushers in a "Return to Painting' (title of his 1979 exhibit); was such a return authentic or market-induced? No longer the post-war Existential moment where mark-making carried so much weight; the1980's is a post-pop moment of commodification and art world-hype; the modern transcendental heroic quest for the Sublime vs. a postmodern critique of the hero. | ||
