Cult of ugliness

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Consideration 1: The difference between the grotesqueries and incongruities that had existed since Antiquity (continuing with Bosch and Mannerism) on the one hand and the modernist cult of ugliness on the other, is that the former was full of awesome laughter and the latter was deadly serious.

Consideration 2: The sublime was the first aesthetic category to diverge from the beauty of the pastoral landscape and the beauty of the feminine form, and in doing so was the first cultural tendency to subvert classic aesthetics.

--J.-W. Geerinck

"If - in the 20th century - beauty was exiled from the arts, it found refuge in advertising, fashion, cinema, product design and consumer culture" --Sholem Stein

"Modern art's impulse was to destroy beauty." -- "The Sublime is Now" (1948), Barnett Newman

"Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all" --André Breton

"What is beautiful is always bizarre" -- Charles Baudelaire

"It is no paradox to say that there flourishes just now a cult of ugliness. It is not confined to literature, for witness a vast deal of the fashionable portrait painting , from some even of Mr. Sargent's presentments downwards ."-- The Edinburgh Review (1808)

L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar Degas

The "Pégase romantique" caricature by Jean-Gabriel Scheffer
Left to right: Petrus Borel, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas
Its motto reads "Only the ugly is beautiful, only the ugly is likeable."

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Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Cult of ugliness refers to a relatively new phenomenon – largely coinciding with the arrival of modern art – in the history of art and aesthetics: the rejection of classical beauty ideals and the embracing of ugliness.

A predecessor for the cult of ugliness was Francis Bacon who said "There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion," not calling the ugly beautiful just yet but "strangeness in proportion" beautiful.

The Romantics where the first to profess a true cult of ugliness with the anonymous dictum "Only the ugly is beautiful, only the ugly is likeable" and Victor Hugo saying "the beautiful has but one type; the ugly has a thousand."

Baudelaire picked up on both Bacon and Hugo and said "what is beautiful is always bizarre".

Naturalistic works of literature such as those of Émile Zola often include uncouth or sordid subject matter. They exposed the dark, harshness of life, including poverty, racism, prejudice, disease, prostitution and filth. These 'warts and all' novels were often criticized for being too blunt.

In 1836, German writer Georg Büchner writes that in art, "no one can be too low or too ugly."

In art, French realist painter, Gustave Courbet's large canvas A Burial At Ornans (1850) is a possible originary date of the modernist cult of ugliness in painting.

In his 1913 essay The Serious Artist, Ezra Pound discusses two types of art; The "cult of beauty" and the "cult of ugliness". He compares the former with medical cure and the latter with medical diagnosis, and goes on to write "Villon, Baudelaire, Corbière, Beardsley are diagnosis."

In his 1917, Marcel Duchamp exhibits a urinal, calling it Fountain.

Breton in 1928 said "Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all".

Equating modern art with ugliness Clement Greenberg suggested that "all profoundly original art looks ugly at first" in 1945.

Anaïs Nin stated the following on the "cult of ugliness" in The Novel of the Future (1969):

"I think that natural truths will cease to be spat at us like insults, that aesthetics will once more be linked with ethics, and that people will become aware that in casting out aesthetics that they also cast out a respect for human life, a respect for creation, a respect for spiritual values. Aesthetics was an expression of man's need to be in love with his world. The cult of ugliness is a regression. It destroys our appetite, our love for our world."

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 | style="text-align: left;" |
-Rumination 1: The difference between the [[grotesque]]ries and [[incongruity|incongruities]] that had existed in art at since Antiquity, continuing with Bosch and Mannerism on the one hand and the modernist cult of ugliness on the other, is that the former was full of awesome laughter and the latter was deadly serious.
+Consideration 1: The difference between the [[grotesque]]ries and [[incongruity|incongruities]] that had existed since Antiquity (continuing with Bosch and Mannerism) on the one hand and the modernist cult of ugliness on the other, is that the former was full of awesome laughter and the latter was deadly serious.
-Rumination 2: The [[sublime]] was the first aesthetic category to diverge from the beauty of the pastoral landscape, the beauty of the feminine form, and in doing so was the first cultural tendency to subvert classic aesthetics.
+Consideration 2: The [[Sublime (philosophy)|sublime]] was the first aesthetic category to diverge from the beauty of the pastoral landscape and the beauty of the feminine form, and in doing so was the first cultural tendency to subvert classic aesthetics.
+--[[J.-W. Geerinck]]
+<hr>
+"If - in the 20th century - beauty was exiled from the arts, it found refuge in advertising, fashion, cinema, product design and [[consumer culture]]" --Sholem Stein
+<hr>
+"[[Modern art]]'s impulse was to destroy [[beauty]]." -- "[[The Sublime is Now]]" (1948), Barnett Newman
+<hr>
+"[[Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all]]" --André Breton
+<hr>
+"[[What is beautiful is always bizarre]]" -- Charles Baudelaire
+<hr>
+"It is no paradox to say that there flourishes just now a [[cult of ugliness]]. It is not confined to literature, for witness a vast deal of the fashionable portrait painting , from some even of Mr. [[Sargent]]'s presentments downwards ."--
+''[[The Edinburgh Review]]'' (1808)
---JW Geerinck
 |}
 [[Image:L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar Degas.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[L'Absinthe]]'' ([[1876]]) - [[Edgar Degas]]]]
+[[Image:Pegase romantique.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The "[[Pégase romantique]]" caricature by [[Jean-Gabriel Scheffer]]
+<br>
+Left to right: [[Petrus Borel]], [[Victor Hugo]], and [[Alexandre Dumas]]
+<br>
+Its motto reads "[[Rien n'est beau que le laid, le laid seul est aimable|Only the ugly is beautiful, only the ugly is likeable]]."
+]]
 {{Template}}
-'''Cult of ugliness''' refers to a relatively new phenomenon -- largely coinciding with the arrival of [[modern art]] -- in the history of [[art theory]]: the rejection of classical [[beauty ideal]]s and the embracing of [[ugliness]].
+'''Cult of ugliness''' refers to a relatively new phenomenon – largely coinciding with the arrival of [[modern art]] – in the [[history of art]] and [[aesthetics]]: the rejection of classical [[beauty ideal]]s and the embracing of [[ugliness]].
 A predecessor for the cult of ugliness was [[Francis Bacon]] who said "[[There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion]]," not calling the ugly beautiful just yet but "strangeness in proportion" beautiful.
-The Romantics where the first to profess a true cult of ugliness with the anonymous dictum "[[Only the ugly is beautiful, only the ugly is likeable]]" and [[Victor Hugo]] saying "[[Le beau n’a qu'un type ; le laid en a mille]]."
+The Romantics where the first to profess a true cult of ugliness with the anonymous dictum "[[Only the ugly is beautiful, only the ugly is likeable]]" and [[Victor Hugo]] saying "[[the beautiful has but one type; the ugly has a thousand]]."
+Baudelaire picked up on both Bacon and Hugo and said "[[Le beau est toujours bizarre|what is beautiful is always bizarre]]".
+Naturalistic works of literature such as those of [[Émile Zola]] often include uncouth or sordid subject matter. They exposed the dark, harshness of life, including poverty, racism, prejudice, disease, prostitution and filth. These '[[warts and all]]' novels were often criticized for being too blunt.
-Baudelaire picked up on both Bacon and Hugo and said "[[Le beau est toujours bizarre]]".
+In 1836, German writer Georg Büchner writes that in art, "[[Lenz (fragment)|no one can be too low or too ugly]]."
-Naturalistic works of literature such as those of [[Emile Zola]] often include uncouth or sordid subject matter. They exposed the dark, harshness of life, including poverty, racism, prejudice, disease, prostitution and filth. These '[[warts and all]]' novels were often criticized for being too blunt.
+In art, French realist painter, [[Gustave Courbet]]'s large canvas ''[[A Burial At Ornans]]'' (1850) is a possible originary date of the modernist cult of ugliness in painting.
-In art, French realist painter, [[Gustave Courbet]]'s ''[[A Burial At Ornans]]'' (1850) is a possible originary date of the modernist cult of ugliness.
+In his 1913 essay ''[[The Serious Artist]],'' [[Ezra Pound]] discusses two types of art; The "[[cult of beauty]]" and the "[[cult of ugliness]]". He compares the former with medical [[cure]] and the latter with medical [[diagnosis]], and goes on to write "[[François Villon|Villon]], [[Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire]], [[Tristan Corbière|Corbière]], [[Aubrey Beardsley|Beardsley]] are diagnosis."
-In his 1913 essay ''[[The Serious Artist]],'' [[Ezra Pound]] discusses two types of art; The "[[cult of beauty]]" and the "[[cult of ugliness]]". He compares the former with medical [[cure]] and the latter with medical [[diagnosis]], and goes on to write "[[Villon]], [[Baudelaire]], [[Tristan Corbière|Corbière]], [[Beardsley]] are diagnosis."
+In his 1917, [[Marcel Duchamp]] exhibits a urinal, calling it [[Fountain (Duchamp)|''Fountain'']].
-Breton in 1928 said [[La beauté sera CONVULSIVE ou ne sera pas]].
+Breton in 1928 said "[[Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or will not be at all]]".
 Equating modern art with ugliness [[Clement Greenberg]] suggested that "[[all profoundly original art looks ugly at first]]" in 1945.
-[[Anais Nin]] stated the following on the "cult of ugliness" in ''The Novel of the Future'' (1969):
+[[Anaïs Nin]] stated the following on the "cult of ugliness" in ''[[The Novel of the Future]]'' (1969):
-:"I think that natural truths will cease to be spat at us like insults, that aesthetics will once more be linked with ethics, and that people will become aware that in casting out aesthetics that they also cast out a respect for human life, a respect for creation, a respect for spiritual values. Aesthetics was an expression of man's need to be in love with his world. The cult of ugliness is a regression. It destroys our appetite, our love for our world."
+:"I think that natural truths will cease to be spat at us like insults, that aesthetics will once more be linked with ethics, and that people will become aware that in casting out aesthetics that they also cast out a respect for human life, a respect for creation, a respect for spiritual values. Aesthetics was an expression of man's need to be in love with his world. The [[cult of ugliness]] is a regression. It destroys our appetite, our love for our world."
 ==Further reading==
 *''[[The Aesthetics of the Ugly]]'' (1853) by German philosopher Karl Rosenkrantz
-*''[[Venus in Exile]]'' (2001) by [[Wendy Steiner]].
+*''[[Venus in Exile]]'' (2001) by Wendy Steiner
 *''[[On Ugliness]]'' (2007) by Umberto Eco
+*''[[Why Beauty Matters]]'' (2009) by Roger Scruton
 == See also ==
 *[[Anti-aesthetics]]

Cult of ugliness

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