I think it’s more like Rococo times – frivolity while Rome burns, Paris sizzles and the peasants starve. Let’s all bury our head in the sand and hope the Big Issues go away.
“Desperate times…” as they say, and Picasso et al certainly lived through those. I don’t think it pays to be in too much awe of the past though. Ultimately it’s a foreign land. You will have to bulldoze it to make way for a future. You always do. It’s called making history and it starts with ‘tude.
But at this stage we can at least look seriously at the first half of the 20th century again. There was a long period when artist daren’t even look there. That’s how we got to be in the pickle we’re in now. Not enough history – too much ego and business. Easy to say in hindsight of course.
Sometimes I test myself by asking would you rather a Cezanne still life or a Picasso still life? (Cezanne) Would you rather a Renoir nude or a Matisse nude? (Renoir) Would you rather a Van Gogh landscape or a Braque Landscape? (Van Gogh) The first half of the 20th century was not that great….