Are Seekers of Politically Autonomous Art Barking up the Wrong Tree?

With the presidential election less than a month away, it’s hard to go to a museum or gallery in the United States right now and not see art that either directly or indirectly references the election. In his essay, “Autonomy in Conservative Times,” Bret Schneider describes how the idea of autonomy has “crept into the lexicon of contemporary art,” despite the fact that the debate itself over autonomy in art is “passé.” Schneider sees the whole revisiting of political autonomy as a huge misinterpretation, but a misinterpretation that holds important implications for society today. Are people pursuing political autonomy in art, like the title pooch in Joan Miró’s Dog Barking at the Moon (from 1926, shown above), barking up the wrong tree for a reason? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Are Seekers of Politically Autonomous ArtBarking up the Wrong Tree?"

[Image: Joan Miró. Dog Barking at the Moon, 1926. Oil on canvas. Unframed: 73.03 x 92.08 cm (28 3/4 x 36 1/4 in.). Framed: 87.6 x 107 x 7 cm (34 1/2 x 42 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.). Philadelphia Museum of Art, A.E. Gallatin Collection, 1952. © 2012 Successió Miró/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.]

[Many thanks to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, for providing me with the image above and a review copy of the catalog to the exhibition Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape.]

Leonora Carrington: Last of the Surrealists

Surrealism never served its women well. Lee Miller basically seduced Man Ray to gain entry into what was predominantly a men’s club. Leonora Carrington met Max Ernst at a party. Ernst left his wife for the striking art student 25 years his junior and introduced her to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Yves Tanguy. Joan Miró once asked Carrington to go out and pick her up some cigarettes. Carrington refused, unable to accept second-class status as a Surrealist. This past week Carrington passed away at the age of 94, the last of the legendary Surrealists and a reminder of how difficult it once was (and in many ways still is) for women to break into the ranks of art. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Leonora Carrington: Last of the Surrealists."

[Leonora Carrington (Mexican, born England, 1917). The Inn of the Dawn Horse (Self-Portrait), ca. 1937–1938. Oil on canvas; 25 5/8 x 32 in. (65 x 81.3 cm.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, 2002 (2002.456.1). © 2004 Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.]