What does this question mean??

Question

In the literal meaning of modern art,how can we justify the departure from the classical or could we?
Can you please explain it fully with details because I really don't undersyand this question. Thank you VERY much!!

Answer 1

Well Michelle, you're not alone. However, I think if you look up in the book you've been given, or perhaps if you could find someone who took notes in class, you will find that there you have been provided some definitions for the terms --modern art-- and --classical art--.

Given those definitions, I think the question is asking, is there a real difference between them? and if so, what is it. If there is a difference, then this justifies the departure from the classical.... now I'm not sure what the asker means by justify... maybe she means what justifies there being the modern art term...i.e., whats the difference that makes the term useful or necessary. The other thing she might mean is, how dare they come up with a new kind of art..what justifies this outrage sort of thing..the answer to that is that modern art satisfies some need or desire that is not met by the classical....

That's just a guess...look, they gotta come up with some way to give people grades in these silly classes...so they come up with questions like this...next semester, take a science class instead. :-p

Answer 2

For the sake of this forum, I'll over simplify and state my opinions. You can do searches and read about Art History to learn the details.

I see "Classical Art" as "representational". If you see a picture of a person and a house, it _is_ a picture of a person and a house. What it makes you feel is what the artist wants you to feel.

I see "Modern Art" as "experiential" and "expressionistic". If you see a picture of a person and a house, it is really a picture of how you feel about the concepts of persons and houses. What it makes you feel comes from your own psyche, triggered by the images the artist puts on the canvas.

As such, Classical Art tends to mean the same thing to all viewers in all times. Whereas Modern Art tends to mean something a little bit different to each viewer.

In essence, Modern Art makes the Viewer _part_ of the art form.

As far as justification, recall that the artist's or poet's role in society is to find ways to make us see what is right in front of us in a new way. To coax us to percieve the mundane as sublime.

If the classical theme of music or poetry or pictures "telling" you what to think or feel were not working anymore (from an artist's point of view) then a new method of expressing art needed to be found.

The modern theme is more of "asking" rather than "telling".

Personally I prefer the classical to the modern.

It takes a lot of talent to come up with a classical styled piece of art that successfully "tells" the viewer a specific message. It requires less talent (IMHO) to produce a work of modern art which "asks" the viewer to fill in the blanks from their own psyche.