The second significant artwork of the 20th century

The Fourth Estate, Il Quarto Stato (1901) – Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo

The second significant artwork of the 20th century is The Fourth Estate, a 1901 painting by Giuseppe Pellizza that depicts in – “MGM grandeur” – sepia-toned rows of handsome Italian workers marching toward a new dawn behind two men and a woman holding a baby.

This entry is part of a new series: “100 artworks that set the world on fire (while no one was watching)”, inspired by Wire’s 100 records that set the world on fire (while no one was listening).

See the previous entries here.

Informe, abjection and Robert Gober

Happy birthday Robert Gober. Google gallery.

I have found 35 useful sources for the informe, the abject, and religious purity, which tend to be related in current discourse. These terms are often seen as variations on a theme but should be considered as quite separate according to Rosalind Krauss (see October Winter 1993 and Krauss, 1997).

Three theorists appear in this discourse: Georges Bataile, Julia Kristeva, and Judith Butler.

The artists that have been associated with the informe, the abject, and the grotesque include Fontana, Joel-Peter Witkin, Robert Gober, John Miller, David Hammons, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and David Lynch. [1]

Elsewhere

It’s been a while since I reported on my befriended blogs’ activities. That’s because I forgot to use del.icio.us, with del.icio.us installed, you just bookmark all the worthwile posts you read, and after a while you copy-past the entries in your WordPress (or other blog).

Some recent favorites:

  1. DC’s on Thurston Moore

    Actually lots op posts on Moore, click on from this one

  2. DC’s: ‘Here Lies Pierre Molinier. This was a man without morality.’ *

    Dennis Cooper on Molinier

  3. The Laughing Bone: Dust is the signature of lost time.

  4. The Laughing Bone: Lachenden Knochen

  5. The Laughing Bone: Information Policy for the Library of Babel: One or More of Its Secret Tongues Does Not Hide a Terrible Significance

  6. Marcel Duchamp « >dmtls Merzbau

    Clip from Dadascope (1961), directed by Hans Richter, contains two poems by Marcel Duchamp. “Carte Postale” and “Puns”.

    Duchamp vs Venetian Snares (Szamar Madar). Duchamp’s cinema and mr. Funk’s breakbeats.

  7. Giornale Nuovo: Alberto Savinio

    From the brother of de Chirico

Citizendium: improvements and bowlderizations

Last October I reported on Citizendium as the first Wikipedia fork, today we are seeing the first results of this fork. My feelings are mixed. Take for example the Pierre Molinier entry at Wikipedia and its sister article at Citizendium. While the Citizendium “sister” is more elaborate and in depth (thanks to the contributions of one Pierre Petit who also contributes a nice photo) than the Wikipedia entry, it is also a bowlderized version. Compare the entry on the death of his sister.

Wikipedia:

“Molinier began to take photographs at the age of 18. When Molinier’s sister died in 1918, he had sex with her corpse when he was left alone to photograph it. “‘Even dead, she was beautiful. I shot sperm on her stomach and legs, and onto the First Communion dress she was wearing. She took with her into death the best of me.” [1]”

Citizendium:

“Having been in love with his younger sister for a long time, he took a photograph of her on her deathbed, in 1918, thus starting his quest for androgyny identity, which would be a recurring theme throughout his life and work. “

The first significant artwork of the 20th century

The first significant artwork of the 20th century is The Road to Hell, a 1900 drawing by Alfred Kubin that depicts a tunnel, at the end of the tunnel is a woman, between this woman’s legs disappear rectangular boxes speeding towards her.

This entry is part of a new series: “100 artworks that set the world on fire (while no one was watching)”, inspired by Wire’s 100 records that set the world on fire (while no one was listening).