After this week’s presentation with Anita Chari, I wanted to reflect on some of her points and how I have come to understand the role of Marxism in the context of art history.
The Marxist concept of alienation was particularly enthralling. Chari clarified that alienation refers to how material goods further isolate and separate a person from their innate perceptions of their own humanity. The materiality of capitalist life, promotes this alienation and isolation of the individual. An ideal world allows a person’s labor to be an expression of self but as goods are commodified and mass produced, this connection between the productions of labor and the laborer are separated from each other. This alienation from labor is what leads to this alienation of self expression and isolation of the self from labor.
As this relates to art history, the direction of the patron- and specifically the influence of the Bourgeois- creates a division between the artist and the art. Looking at the art market of the Baroque era as an example, the influence of the papacy in the content of a work and the overall composition expresses how an artist is torn from their labor and their skills are exploited for a materialist gain. In cases where artists were able to reach a degree of fame for their skill, their works began to regain an identity more related to the artist and that labor had more agency yet even still, if an artist produced something that diverted from the goals of the commission than they would lose the commission. A historical example of this is the design of the Louvre created by Bernini. Louis XIV commissioned the design from Bernini but the dramatics and Roman influence of the design were so drastically against every hope and expectation that Louis XIV fired Bernini. In this example, even Bernini’s fame as an architect and sculptor was a commodified element, and Bernini was just a name to be attached to the commissioners. Bernini’s own aesthetic values were not wanted in Louis XIV’s commission, just Bernini’s commodified name attached to an architectural wonder.
Featured Image:
Bernin, Design for the Louvre, 1665