The Decline and Fall of Western Culture in One Photo

The other day I visited The Oakland Museum, and while I wandered through one of its rooms this scene presented itself to me:

Immediately a thought struck me: This is it — the decline and fall of Western culture is encapsulated perfectly in this one scene.

Let me explain.

In the foreground we have a marble sculpture entitled “California Venus,” in a timeless neo-classical style.

It was carved in 1895 by sculptor Rupert Schmid.

In the background, just a few steps away, we have its companion piece, a sculpture entitled “Pink Lady.”

It was created in 1965 by artist Viola Frey.

In just 80 years, the state of sculpture in America went from beautiful and exquisitely refined to ugly, klutzy and incompetent.

I don’t know whether the curators at the Oakland Museum juxtaposed these two pieces intentionally, or if it was just an accident, but either way they deftly summarized everything that went wrong with 20th century art.

Striving for Beauty — or for Ugliness?

The very goal of art changed radically between 1885 and 1965. Back at the end of the 19th century no one yet questioned the assumption that art was an attempt to capture or create beauty. It had been that way for millennia. Little did anyone know that within just a few decades the very philosophy of art would move away from idealization first toward abstraction, then to realism, and finally to grotesquerie.

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