K-12 Art Education

From Monet to 50-Cent

Today we live with an idea. This idea is so commonly believed that no one thinks to challenge it.

Hip-Hop, Beatnik or Hippie, artists are supposed to be wild and colorful.

This idea also demonstrates how art is connected to everything else, a common theme in these essays. Up until 1848 artists worked for the wealthy and powerful. Painting and sculpting idealized images of and for the people who employ them. In 1848 there were many revolutions all across Europe challenging the social structure of the day a society of rich people and poor people, people with power and people without. This revolution failed. However an idea coming out of 1848 was very successful and this idea was that there is value in ordinary people doing ordinary things. In France a group of artists adopted the idea that they should paint ordinary people doing ordinary things rather than studio portraits of the famous and powerful posed to impress. These artists called themselves “The Independents” and they created a new style to paint quickly in order to capture impressions of light and capture people busy in the activities of their everyday lives.

Ordinary People doing ordinary things, Captured with quick brushstrokes

The establishment called these artists “Impressionists” as a way to insult them (they made only an impression of a painting); this is the name we have come to call them today. So these Impressionist artists broke with the establishment and behaved in a fashion that was severely criticized by the establishment. Their paintings seemed unfinished, the paintings celebrated ordinary people, the Impressionist were accused of trying to destroy society and being against the values and traditions of the countries they lived in. The names of these artists include Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Degas, Manet and Cézanne and the Impressionists became very successful. Ever since the Impressionists, we have expected our artists to be wild, against the common styles of society, people who expect their art to change society. As you can see this has not always been true. Next time you go to the museum study the differences between the art before 1848 and after 1848 and think about why the styles are so different.

And consider the path of artists from their role as employees of the ruling class to their role as the leaders of the counter-culture.

	September, 2003 From Monet to 50-Cent The source of the idea that artists represent the counter culture

From Monet to 50-Cent Today we live with an idea. This idea is so commonly believed that no one thinks to challenge it. Hip-Hop, Beatnik or Hippie, artists are supposed to be wild and colorful. This idea also demonstrates how art is connected to everything else, a common theme in these essays. Up until 1848 artists worked for the wealthy and powerful. Painting and sculpting idealized images of and for the people who employ them. In 1848 there were many revolutions all across Europe challenging the social structure of the day a society of rich people and poor people, people with power and people without. This revolution failed. However an idea coming out of 1848 was very successful and this idea was that there is value in ordinary people doing ordinary things. In France a group of artists adopted the idea that they should paint ordinary people doing ordinary things rather than studio portraits of the famous and powerful posed to impress. These artists called themselves “The Independents” and they created a new style to paint quickly in order to capture impressions of light and capture people busy in the activities of their everyday lives. Ordinary People doing ordinary things, Captured with quick brushstrokes The establishment called these artists “Impressionists” as a way to insult them (they made only an impression of a painting); this is the name we have come to call them today. So these Impressionist artists broke with the establishment and behaved in a fashion that was severely criticized by the establishment. Their paintings seemed unfinished, the paintings celebrated ordinary people, the Impressionist were accused of trying to destroy society and being against the values and traditions of the countries they lived in. The names of these artists include Monet, Renoir, Morisot, Degas, Manet and Cézanne and the Impressionists became very successful. Ever since the Impressionists, we have expected our artists to be wild, against the common styles of society, people who expect their art to change society. As you can see this has not always been true. Next time you go to the museum study the differences between the art before 1848 and after 1848 and think about why the styles are so different. And consider the path of artists from their role as employees of the ruling class to their role as the leaders of the counter-culture.