Materialist Art History And Marxist Analysis

From the above, we can see the essential role played by the capitalist society and its relation to the theory of Marxist aesthetics under the discussion of Marxism. To develop a further understanding in the art history related to Marxism, the materialist art history should also not to be missed out in the context of Marxist aesthetics. From the point of view of Marx and Engels, they believed that the forms of society is the most hostile to art when the society is developed into industrial capitalism in a full way, while the division of material labor and mental labor may have to go through the point of extremeness. (Klingender, 1943) The art history of materialism has focused on the production modes of art, in the other words, the labor of

Therefore, in the perspective of understanding materialist art history by the discussion focused on the labor of the production line, different forms of arts then no longer refer to the product labeled and produced by the so-called ‘artistic genius’, but a product of complex relationship between social, economic and political sphere. (Klingender, 1943) To be more specific, the relationship between materialist art history and Marxist art history is demonstrated with the practice of artwork in relation to society, economy or politics, with detailed and specific analysis in the context of social cultures and the idea of class in the capitalist society. (D’Alleva, 2005) In a particular cultural environment, we can realize the outgrowth of the interactions between patrons and artists in a more complicated way. Art therefore is no longer believed to be the product made by the so-called artistic talents under the manifestation of

(Lang, 1972) Social realism refers an international art movement that is originated in the United States as a new developed trend of art around the 1930s. In the context of social realism, we can discover that the artists emphasize the daily life and conditions facing by the poor or the working class. In an artwork produced by a social realist, there is often a critical idea or message lies behind towards the social structure of the society. (Klingender, 1943) As the same as its literal understanding, social realism is in great relation to realism and it reflects the reality with figurative images. The ‘masses’ is the most common subject matter that can be found in the artwork produced by social realists, and the term ‘masses’ encompasses not only the working class, but also other lower classes or the unionists or labor. Social realism is of great difference to a literally similar term, socialist realism. Although the artwork of both two concepts do make certain focuses on the working class, not to be confused with socialist realism, the development of social realism has less relation to the communist parties and it is not the art form introduced and institutionalized in relations to the former Soviet Union. (Korin, 1971) As an international art