Thursday, December 23, 2010

Michelangelo, Michael Jackson, and How Arts & Crafts Might Help Save The World

I apologize in advance for my poor language skills - I am a visual creature more than a verbal one and I've been plagued with terrible grammar all my life. I also beg your forgiveness if I sometimes seem an egoist; I pray daily for deliverance from my insufferable vanity with limited success. I therefore beseech you in this, my first correspondence for Talianna, to overlook my faults in the hope that you might find something worthwhile in what I have to share.

 PIRO AMALFITANA BY RAPHAEL - 1515

     I have been asked to write about Arts & Crafts for this blog – probably because I’ve been a student of both all my life and, when you have lived as long as I have you witness a great many things. While I have been given a free rein when it comes to the subjects I write about, I’m not sure that my ‘keepers’ are prepared for my unpredictable digressions. For example, as I sit down to write about Arts & Crafts I start to daydream about the history of craft and how much I've seen change regarding how we view craft, work, and even Nature itself. This gets me thinking about our planet and the big question on everyone's mind these days - can our planet survive Mankind's abuses much longer? In July 2009 it was believed that there were 6.8 billion people on earth – with 212,035 new people born each day. How can we sustain such growth – particularly when we consider the rapid advance of industrialization and consumerism?  Don’t get me wrong, in my lifetime I have seen how technology has created healthier lives for hundreds of millions, so please don't think that I'm anti-technology. I knew Ned Ludd and I’m no Luddite (more on Ned later)! It is generally accepted that technology and industry have given Man a much improved standard of living, but the true cost of this development is only now becoming understood – and it might be too much for our planet to bear. Rampant consumerism has led many of us to acquire a whole lot of junk – and now the rest of the world wants the fashion & entertainment we few enjoy! How can the world endure such abusive waste? How did we get to this point? Is there a solution? Well, I've become a firm believer that some old world Arts & Crafts can help us as we seek to invent a new model for growth and a cleaner, more sustainable existence. 

 MAN BECOMES GENIUS
 
 “CREATION OF ADAM” by  MICHELANGELO -  SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME 1512

     When I was a boy in Italy during an era we now call the Renaissance my father had a friend – the well-known Humanist Leon Battista Alberti - who advanced the idea that Man as an individual is limitless in his capacity to develop – that "a man can do all things if he wills.” As simple as this now sounds it was revolutionary at the time and it unleashed a wave of confidence and optimism that led to, arguably, the greatest age of discovery and artistic outpouring the world has ever known. Individual achievement and the creative process began to be valued much more than it had in the past  - and the authority of Church & State could now be challenged by individuals. (at their peril). Suddenly people like my friend, the sculpture Michelangelo who, only a generation earlier would have been considered a glorified ‘church painter,’ were being celebrated as superstars of creative genius.

MAN CONQUERS NATURE

GARDEN AT THE CHATEAU de VERSAILLES BY ANDRE LE NOTRE - 1661

     Through the years I continued to watch as this idea of Renaissance Humanism evolved and permeated the cultures of Europe and her newly established Colonies around the world. I remember being in France in 1661 when André Le Nôtre showed me his designs for Louis XIV’s garden at the Château de Versailles. In them Le Nôtre illustrated how Man can force Nature to bend to His will and, to the Monarch’s delight, symbolically showed the Sun King’s absolute sovereignty over his realm. In this new Age of Reason the natural world was no longer a place in which Man was trying to survive within Nature – instead Man would control Nature and dominate it, using its resources for His enjoyment and pleasure. Most people now believed that God created the Universe and gave Man  dominion over the earth, setting the Monarchies to govern Man as Man ruled over Nature.

TECHNOLOGY CONQUERS MAN     
     By the 18th century Man had invented ways to harness the natural world with great beneficial effect. All sorts of newly invented machines replaced hand labor and, as productivity increased so did living standards - the Industrial Revolution had begun.  



WEAVING LOOM FRAME  BREAKING 1812
        The social impact of this revolution was enormous and craftspeople immediately felt their ancient ways of life threatened. In the second half of the 18th century a new artistic, literary, and intellectual movement called Romanticism emerged and began pushing back against the effects of increasing  urbanization  and industrialization by looking back at all that had been lost since the Middle Ages. As early as 1812 skilled handloom weavers in England revolted - smashing and burning the new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by less expensive, unskilled labor. They called themselves Luddites after the weaver Ned Ludd who, it was said, had smashed some looms years earlier (I happen to know that Ned broke those looms as a rebellion against his father – Ned wasn’t a revolutionary at all – he just hated weaving!). So, while many benefits accrued from increased industrial output our civilization began losing something vital – a connection with nature and handwork – and this loss increased as the earth continued to turn, the seasons changed, and industrialization intensified.






PUSHING BACK

     During the next hundred years I spent a lot of time in England, where the Industrial Revolution had  started, and I watched as London and other cities grew larger, the factories grew more pervasive, and handcrafted traditions disappeared in the wake of mass production. I saw how Mankind became aware, right from the start, that we were losing something important amidst the gains technology brought us. Amongst my circle of friends was the painter Edward Burn-Jones who was so alarmed at the changes he saw happening in the Decorative Arts that he and William Morris helped start the Arts & Crafts Movement which pursued the authenticity found in handmade folk traditions and Medievalism.


In 1895 I was urged to visit  a place in New York called Roycroft - a community of crafts workers and artists founded by Elbert Hubbard. I sat with Hubbard discussing the phenomenon of mass production and how it had steadily  gained strength in America during and after the Civil War. When I commented that, although these large quantities  of standardized products being made in the new factories could be criticized as lacking 'personality,' it was good that their relatively high quality  and  low cost allowed workers to afford what used to be considered luxuries. Hubbard replied saying, 

"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man."

And with those words of Elbert Hubbard floating in my head I sit here today - daydreaming in the 21st century - as Industrialization spreads throughout the Earth via the phenomenon of Globalization. Nowadays even the most remote corners of our globe are connected, controlled, assessed, and gleaned of their resources. As we lose more and more of our world's cultural and natural diversity, as our planet groans beneath the weight of Man's abuse, as we struggle to improve global poverty, health, and the environment - I believe that Arts & Crafts offer some answers. And it pleases me to know that I am not alone, that many feel that we would do well to recover some of what we have lost...that Arts & Crafts can help save the world. As I wind this up I leave you with a relevant song from Michael Jackson and A quote from Fyodor Dostoyevsky I saw in ABOVE  magazine: "Beauty will save the world."



IMAGES
Portrait of Piro Amalfitanna by Raphael (originally thought to be the banker Bindo Altoviti) Washington National Gallery of Art (google images).
Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. Vatican City, Rome (google images).
Jardin de Versailles (google images)
Frame Breaking - 1812 (wikimedia Commons)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Piro,

I loved reading this, a great way of putting things into perspective. It's lucky you have such a good memory!

Rough Luxe Girl