What do you think?
Rate this book
Who’s Afraid of Modern Art?: Essays on Modern Art and Theology in Conversation
Modern art can be confusing and intimidating--even ugly and blasphemous. And yet curator and art critic Daniel A. Siedell finds something else, something much deeper that resonates with the human experience. With over thirty essays on such diverse artists as Andy Warhol, Thomas Kinkade, Diego Velazquez, Robyn O'Neil, Claudia Alvarez, and Andrei Rublev, Siedell offers a highly personal approach to modern art that is informed by nearly twenty years of experience as a museum curator, art historian, and educator. Siedell combines his experience in the contemporary art world with a theological perspective that serves to deepen the experience of art, allowing the work of art to work as art and not covert philosophy or theology, or visual illustrations of ideas, meanings, and worldviews. Who's Afraid of Modern Art? celebrates the surprising beauty of art that emerges from and embraces pain and suffering, if only we take the time to listen. Indeed, as Siedell reveals, a painting is much more than meets the eye. So, who's afraid of modern art? Siedell's answer might surprise you.
- GenresArt
180 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 7, 2015
2 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 25, 2023
Just a nice little reminder that God makes suffering into something beautiful and modern art can do the same thing.
“You don’t paint souls, you paint bodies; and when the bodies are well painted, dammit, the soul, if they have one, the soul shines all over the place.”
“You don’t paint souls, you paint bodies; and when the bodies are well painted, dammit, the soul, if they have one, the soul shines all over the place.”
December 8, 2022
In his introduction, Daniel Siedell states that his love of modern art started with a critic’s prose. My dislike of modern art began with the controversy over the Whitlam government’s purchase of Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock in 1973. I had no interest in reading this book until I randomly opened it up and saw the quote on page 28, which rang true to me as an amateur artist:
“A painting by its very nature fights against words, defies words, undermines the capacity of words to make sense of it…A painting is more complex than we assume.” He also reminds us that “a painting is not its interpretation.”
Daniel Siedell is an Art Historian at The King’s College in New York City and Associate Professor of Christianity & Culture at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has also had years of experience as a museum curator and this book shows the insights he has learned in his teaching in the seminary and experience in the art world. In the first chapter he invites us to hear The Scream, by Edvard Munch. He describes this artist, who lived a life of grief and pain after the death of his older sister, Sophia, as a theologian of the cross in the tradition of Martin Luther. In arguing this contention, he quotes copiously from Oswald Bayer.
In chapter 2 he argues that the Audience for a work of art is not just the contemporary one, but unfolds over time, as the canon evolves over time. In chapter 3 he gives an insightful description of the Art World. He begins by stating that because we have all done art at school, we all assume we know what art is about: Art after the fifth Grade, p.45. This makes much of what goes under the name of modern art, including dead sharks in tanks of formaldehyde, as incomprehensible. He recommends Seven Days in the Art World, by Sarah Thornton, which describes the art world as a secular religion, p.47-51. He also shows real insight into the reality of the artist’s world in his section entitled Death, wine and cheese.
Chapter 4, The Artist, begins with a chilling excerpt from a letter to Ernest Hemingway from his youngest son, Gregory, in which he accuses his father of destroying the lives of all his family members for the sake of his ’self-centred shit’. Gregory died as an alcoholic transvestite (p.67). He talks about the artist as someone who experiences the battle between the old Adam and the new Adam described by Paul and Luther: “Artists know they work with a radically unfree will when they finish a painting, stand back to look at it, and realise it is doing something they not only did not expect but could not control, yet also revealing something profound about their experience” (p.69). He quotes the critic Jose Ortega y Gasset that the modern slogan ‘art for art’s sake’ simply recognises that modern art has no transcendent importance and is an acknowledgement of modesty, not arrogance: just art with no other pretenses (p.84). He notes the fact that paintings being precarious, vulnerable, useless artifacts makes for great anxiety in the art world, not to mention insecure collectors.
In chapter 5 he analyses the whole cultural controversy that swirled around the photograph by Andres Serrano entitled Piss Christ (1987). He notes that the prosaic description of the artwork as ‘a plastic crucifix immersed in a glass of the artist’s urine’ was used by conservative cultural warriors to attack the whole movement of modern art as anti-Christian. It also belied the unexpected beauty of the artwork when one actually saw it. This was certainly my experience.
In Chapter 6, The Poetics of Modern Art, he argues that within the modern artistic tradition, the artist is free to make anything. However, the challenge is that she must make something (p.129). The artist must invent his own living tradition from the art of the past. As a curator, Siedell has often heard the accusation levelled against modern artists: “My kid can do that.” His response is to say, “Well, that was the point.” The modern artist attempts to re-enter the stage of life which was filled with wonder and enchantment, in which painting, poetry and song were the natural responses to the world. He concludes with the important insight of the Reformation to restore the dignity of the human being as a creature and the world as a gift. Modern art has returned to the realm of creation, including the manure heap and the cesspool, instead of attempting to climb the ladder of divine ascent, to aspire to the heavens and commune with the divine. These paintings often offend our inner theologians of glory, who want to see our own distorted images of self-importance reflected back to us (p.150-1). Luther would be pleased.
“A painting by its very nature fights against words, defies words, undermines the capacity of words to make sense of it…A painting is more complex than we assume.” He also reminds us that “a painting is not its interpretation.”
Daniel Siedell is an Art Historian at The King’s College in New York City and Associate Professor of Christianity & Culture at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He has also had years of experience as a museum curator and this book shows the insights he has learned in his teaching in the seminary and experience in the art world. In the first chapter he invites us to hear The Scream, by Edvard Munch. He describes this artist, who lived a life of grief and pain after the death of his older sister, Sophia, as a theologian of the cross in the tradition of Martin Luther. In arguing this contention, he quotes copiously from Oswald Bayer.
In chapter 2 he argues that the Audience for a work of art is not just the contemporary one, but unfolds over time, as the canon evolves over time. In chapter 3 he gives an insightful description of the Art World. He begins by stating that because we have all done art at school, we all assume we know what art is about: Art after the fifth Grade, p.45. This makes much of what goes under the name of modern art, including dead sharks in tanks of formaldehyde, as incomprehensible. He recommends Seven Days in the Art World, by Sarah Thornton, which describes the art world as a secular religion, p.47-51. He also shows real insight into the reality of the artist’s world in his section entitled Death, wine and cheese.
Chapter 4, The Artist, begins with a chilling excerpt from a letter to Ernest Hemingway from his youngest son, Gregory, in which he accuses his father of destroying the lives of all his family members for the sake of his ’self-centred shit’. Gregory died as an alcoholic transvestite (p.67). He talks about the artist as someone who experiences the battle between the old Adam and the new Adam described by Paul and Luther: “Artists know they work with a radically unfree will when they finish a painting, stand back to look at it, and realise it is doing something they not only did not expect but could not control, yet also revealing something profound about their experience” (p.69). He quotes the critic Jose Ortega y Gasset that the modern slogan ‘art for art’s sake’ simply recognises that modern art has no transcendent importance and is an acknowledgement of modesty, not arrogance: just art with no other pretenses (p.84). He notes the fact that paintings being precarious, vulnerable, useless artifacts makes for great anxiety in the art world, not to mention insecure collectors.
In chapter 5 he analyses the whole cultural controversy that swirled around the photograph by Andres Serrano entitled Piss Christ (1987). He notes that the prosaic description of the artwork as ‘a plastic crucifix immersed in a glass of the artist’s urine’ was used by conservative cultural warriors to attack the whole movement of modern art as anti-Christian. It also belied the unexpected beauty of the artwork when one actually saw it. This was certainly my experience.
In Chapter 6, The Poetics of Modern Art, he argues that within the modern artistic tradition, the artist is free to make anything. However, the challenge is that she must make something (p.129). The artist must invent his own living tradition from the art of the past. As a curator, Siedell has often heard the accusation levelled against modern artists: “My kid can do that.” His response is to say, “Well, that was the point.” The modern artist attempts to re-enter the stage of life which was filled with wonder and enchantment, in which painting, poetry and song were the natural responses to the world. He concludes with the important insight of the Reformation to restore the dignity of the human being as a creature and the world as a gift. Modern art has returned to the realm of creation, including the manure heap and the cesspool, instead of attempting to climb the ladder of divine ascent, to aspire to the heavens and commune with the divine. These paintings often offend our inner theologians of glory, who want to see our own distorted images of self-importance reflected back to us (p.150-1). Luther would be pleased.
June 7, 2017
Seidel is adept at describing that zone between the artist/Arts and the non-artist. Even though this is directed at orthodox Christians his topics are accessible to any creed. Even though I disagreed with him on some points and found some arguments needing more vigor it was still engaging. Having lived in New York City for a time and now in a small Southern town working in the Arts I found his section on the importance of large cities and small communities and their importance to artists growth rare. I believe his content in this subject deserves more development in the ecosystem of the Arts. Worth having in your library.
December 6, 2018
This is such a wonderful book! As a teacher of humanities, lover of modern art & music, and Christian, Siedell's beautiful writing and charitable, expansive views was a balm to my soul and has better equipped me with the ability to theologically support my own love of such things.
Write more books!
Write more books!
May 27, 2019
This is one of my favorite books about art. Siedell explores theology and modern art in a way that reenchants them both. Every time I read it, I find new drive to make and experience great art. If you are a Christian who cares about art you absolutely should make time for this book.
Read
July 28, 2023dnf
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews