Kalen Nicole

After my many month fascination/ concern by the rampant role of minimalism in on my IG feed and TV screen, something suggested that to me that this was only a cultural moment. (maybe I saw it in a blog, I really don’t remember). Anyway, with this in mind, I remembered a paper I had written during a college humanities class that echoed the temporal nature of aesthetic minimalism as aspirational. The thoughts of that paper are inscribed below through the voice of 2014 Kalen:

According to Cultural Epoch Theory, the state of society is constantly in flux, always transitioning through states of chaos, adjustment, or balance. During the Renaissance, European society was chaotic. Beginning after the Dark Ages, with its rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek writings, the Renaissance was a time of humanism and discovery. The invention of the printing press, the discovery of North America, and the Protestant Reformation were major milestones of the period. The teachings of the Dark Ages were to renounce the flesh, but with new discoveries focus shifted to humanism, “the worth and dignity of the individual.” Petrarch is known as the father of humanism. By placing classical ideas in a religious framework, he reconciled Christianity and humanism. The humanist belief was that the God within each human was important. Martin Luther was a humanist and began the Protestant Reformation by publicizing his 95 Theses against the Catholic Church. This was the most influential event of the time socially, artistically, and religiously. It changed the course of history. Luther was a lover of the arts, but his teachings inspired John Calvin, who believed that images were contradictory to God’s Ten Commandments. Calvin’s views were catalysts in destroying hundreds of art pieces in a wave of Protestant iconoclasm.

As Protestants criticized art for its secularity, the Catholic Church embraced art’s influential powers arguing that visuals play an important role in spiritual guidance because they are accessible to those who can and cannot read. The Catholic Church accepted that honoring a likeness of a holy figure in statue form is an act that shows reference to the person that the statue is carved after, thus confirming one’s faith. In response to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church issues a Counter Reformation, and tried to remove heresy by spreading its doctrine, reaffirmed teachings, and commissioned artwork to involve the audience emotionally to win back its members. For effectiveness, all art commissioned needed to be “clear, persuasive, and powerful,” inspiring while being instructing. The increased production of art that met the Church’s requirements prompted the Baroque period. The Catholic Church was losing power. Matters were made worse when King Henry VIII separated from the Church and was made an English monarch. This was an unprecedented action since the Church was no longer the center of English life.

European society began to adjust as intellectuals and church leaders suggested new ways to improve society’s condition. After the sack of Rome in 1527, the faith of Renaissance humanities was replaced with ambiguity and despondency. In an attempt to convey these emotions, mannerist art emerged, where visual tensions in paintings corresponded with the social and political tensions of the time. Upon the death of artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci the classical and clinical nature of the Renaissance began to fade away. Art was full of emotion and change seemed to be one the horizon. In the scope of art history, Mannerism is no important in itself, but was a bridge between the Renaissance and the Baroque.

Renaissance art centered on “order, rationalism, nature, and symmetry.” Martin Luther’s 95 Theses started the Protestant Reformation changing the course of history. As members left the Catholic Church, the Church commissioned art designed to illicit an emotional response to draw the members back. The goals of the Baroque art are aptly represented in the colonnade of St. Peter’s, where the architecture of the colonnade is meant to draw viewers in, symbolizing God’s all-encompassing love.

In order to fully understand and analyze any history period, it is important to research the events surrounding the time being researched. Just as the Renaissance affected the Baroque period, noting in history stands alone, but is influenced by the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of the past.

Works Cited

Benton, Janetta Rebold and DIYanni, Robert. Arts and Culture: An Introduction to the Humanities, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc, 2021. 4 March 2014.

Camara, Esperanca. Smart History Khan Academy- The Baroque: Art, Politics & Religion in 17th-century Europe. 19 Feb 2014.

Florence Public School District 1. Renaissance vs. Baroque Art. 19 Feb 2014.

Infocobuild. Masters of Baroque. 20 Bed 2014.

Kunstokle. Youtube- Renaissance Iconography. 27 Jan 2012-. 26 Feb 2014.

McKay, Bret and Kay. The Art of Manliness- Basics of Art: The Baroque Period. 18 Oct 2010. 19 Feb 2014.

So back to 2021. In a nutshell, I think our current focus on minimalism result from the rampant overconsumption of media, things, and opinions, so electing to consume/own/convey less is deeply soothing. And that is all I have to say about that!