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What does "etymology" mean? This is "the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed" over time.Define "Kitsch." Kitsch consists of "art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way." Further, Kitsch "is seen as a type of creation that reaffirms rather than challenges the collective norm" (Rugg, 2002). According to the BBC, "It's agreed the word emerged in the art markets of Munich in the 1860s and 1870s, describing cheap, popular, and marketable pictures and sketches, but there are several ideas about how it was derived. Among the theories are: (1) From the dialect German word, kitschen - to smear; (2) From the German verb verkitschen - to cheapen; (3) A mispronunciation of the English word sketch; or (4) an inversion of the French chic (fashionable)."Define "ubiquity." Calling something "ubiquitous" means that it's common and can be found just about anywhere. For example, "bacteria are ubiquitous."Why was the word "kitsch" used to describe both "objects" and "a way of life" in the early 20th century? In your answer describe the "objects" and "the way of life" that came before that time. How was it different? According to Rugg (2002), "Kitsch gained theoretical momentum in the early to mid-twentieth century, when utilized to describe both objects and a way of life brought on by the urbanization and mass-production of the industrial revolution. Thus, [K]itsch possessed aesthetic as well as political implications, informing debates about mass culture and the growing commercialization of society" (emphasis added). Put in simpler terms, Kitsch is a manifestation of modernity, in both its mass productive and mass culture dimensions. It represents a broadening of access to art forms previously restricted (by scarcity) from a much narrower audience (of elites) to a mass audience, by means of mass production. This broader audience consists in part of a class of people without the higher education previously believed necessary to appreciate fine art, that is, the blue-collar working class. Rugg (2002) writes that "[a]fter the industrial revolution, urban working and middle classes became materially and spiritually linked to mechanized means of production, counteracting their lack of autonomy with an increased emphasis on personal leisure."What is meant by "the Two Tiers of Kitsch?" Milan Kundera (one of my favorite writers) commented that "Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see the children running in the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running in the grass! It is the second tear which makes [K]itsch [K]itsch" (Rugg 2002).Give some examples of objects in culture that do what this statement describes: "Kitsch's ubiquity as the faked article that surrounds and presses in obscures - some would claim consumes - the reality that it imitates." He (Hermann Broch) compared the difference between art and kitsch to the absolute schism between good and evil: "The Anti-Christ looks like Christ, acts and speaks like Christ, but is all the same Lucifer." Rugg (2002) includes several examples of Kitsch, among them (1) "Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post magazine covers," epitomizing an idealized American World War II-era culture, and (2) "souvenir replicas of famous tourist landmarks the world over," such as die-cast reproductions of the Eiffel Tower and a London double-decker bus, and a refrigerator-magnet copy of the Mona Lisa. I have a large collection of the second type of Kitsch, obtained during my travels around North America, and in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Thus my common, ubiquitous refrigerator magnet Mona Lisa, easily accessible to the public from many sources (including, ironically, the Louvre museum shop -- in Paris -- where I bought it) is the Kitschy, mass-produced "devil" that suffocates, by shear numbers, the Louvre's single (and original) Mona Lisa "Christ," which hangs on a wall inside an air-tight glass container, roped off from easy access by the public, and watched over by an armed guard. Rugg (2002) also lists "Pre-Raphaelite paintings and some Wagner compositions," which are noted for their "theatrical emotionalism and affectation" as Kitsch. I must say that I like the "Pre-Raphaelites" (perhaps because I naively find them beautiful, and perhaps non-threatening), and have several of these paintings on the walls of my house. And Wagner's music, in addition to being "better than it sounds," is nothing if not overtly emotional. With this in mind, perhaps another word that might apply to Kitsch is "accessible."Why did Greenberg see Kitsch as a threat to High Culture? In Partisan Review (1939), Greenburg wrote that "Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch [consists of] vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times. Kitsch pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money - not even their time" (click link for source). He believed that Kitsch was akin to Avante Garde art, but that the latter was "too innocent" to be used in pursuit of a particular cause (capitalist commercialization and cultural manipulation), while Kitsch -- full of empty sentimentality and devoid of meaning or value beyond the commercial -- was "ideal for stirring up false sentiment" (click link for source). He viewed Avante Garde as the 20th Century manifestation of high culture, informed by modernism (in particular Marxism), while Kitsch merely uses "the raw material of the debased and academicized simulacra of genuine culture," cultivating "insensibility" (click link for source).Who was Clement Greenberg? According to Wikipedia, Greenberg "was an American essayist known mainly as an influential visual art critic closely associated with American Modern art of the mid-20th century. In particular, he is best remembered for his promotion of the abstract expressionist movement and was among the first published critics to praise the work of painter Jackson Pollock." In 1939, Greenberg wrote that "there are only two possibilities available to the artist now. Either you belong to the avant-garde, challenging the old ways of figurative painting, or you produce [K]itsch. And the fear of [K]itsch is one reason for the compulsory offensiveness of so much art produced today. It doesn't matter that your work is obscene, shocking, disturbing - as long as it isn't [K]itsch" (click link for source). I suspect he would loudly condemn my humble collection of souvenirs, as well as the Pre-Raphaelite paintings that hang in my living room.|
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