The book section pertains to the pervasive use of fragmentation and repetition in the modern art. Varnedoe’s article attempts to explain to the readers the history as to why these techniques became the basis of the modern art. In the book, he argued that artworks of the past only focus on the earthly things which can be seen by the naked eye whereas the modern art removed its materialistic viewpoint in a sense that artists began to focus more on the abstract things; things that the human eyes cannot discern in a first glance. Therefore, the author explains that it was because of this reason that modern art can be regarded akin to the religious beliefs of the human beings since the abstract art represents the omnipotent powerful God which no one human has ever seen in their lifetime (Varnedoe 1990). “Yet all these aspects of modern art are closely tied together: its capacity to present a truth about the world, its self-consciousness about its structure as a language, and its connections to a social context” (Varnedoe 1990).
The succeeding pages of the book reveal the fragmentation technique as an expressive way to explain the emotional, motion, and physical suffering experienced by the subjects in both paintings and in the sculpture. The author cites few of Degas’ paintings which display the accurate human physique during the ballet class. In his painting Ballet Dancers in the Wings (1900), the artist mainly showcases the action of the ballerina during their theatrical performances; fragmentation of the dancing female figures increases the drama of their action which results to the distortion of their body parts such as the hands, faces, torso, and the feet. These dramatic distortions of the body parts can also be seen on his notable painting Frieze of Dancers (1895) wherein with the brilliant combination of chiaroscuro and fragmentation, the artist presented quite realistically the plight of the ballerina dancers including their exercise warm-ups before the dance practice. Their faces are purposely hidden because what the artist intended for the audiences is to concentrate on the graceful figures bending lower with their heads bowed to the ground and their feet set far wide, a task that looks easier to make yet hard to do in reality because these dancers were required to maintain their graceful, lady-like forms (Varnedoe 1990). On the other hand, a scholar named Harris (1931, p. 303) reiterated that repetition of similar or nearly-similar images was based on utilitarian aesthetics which seeks artistic satisfaction mainly because the technique itself promotes balance, symmetry, as well as proportional images. However, Varnedoe’s article presents that repetition of similar figures creates patterns and these patterns are essential in making the modern art as a systematic tool to understand the natural world. Varnedoe highlights this argument by presenting the chronophotographs of Marey and Muybridge, both of which depicts a living thing and its motion sequence. Marey’s Jumping (1886) scientifically explains the action exerted by the human during jumping and in his picture, the subject was required to simulate every action from top to bottom such as the running, slow leaping with the one leg raised mid-air whilst the other one is placed on the bottom for balance, the act of jumping which involves the raising of both legs in the air, and the lowering of one leg to support the weight during the landing. Meanwhile, Muybridge’s photo implicitly posits that by creating repetitive patterns of nearly the same images, one can obtain a helpful knowledge in understanding things such as in the Horse in Motion (1887) where the artist specifically recorded through series of photographs the physiognomy of horse with a rider on its back. In this case, the artist intends to capture the motion of running horses whilst at the same time making the public aware what other strategies can be developed in order to accelerate their running speed (Varnedoe 1990).
REFERENCES
Harris, C.A. (1931). “The Element of Repetition in Nature and the Arts.” The Musical Quarterly, 17(3), 302-318. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/739036
Varnedoe, K. (1990). A Fine Disregard: What Makes Modern Art Modern. New York: Abrams.
