Before the nineteenth century European critics generally believed that works of art that were based on Greco Roman ideals of beauty represented the pinnacle of achievement Artwork based on those ideals strived in part to represent the physical world at it

Before the nineteenth century, European critics generally believed that works of art that were based on Greco-Roman ideals of beauty represented the pinnacle of achievement. Artwork based on those ideals strived, in part, to represent the physical world at its aesthetic best. In the twentieth century, however, philosophical views concerning art significantly changed. Notable critics began to judge work not by whether it subscribed to those Greco-Roman standards, but instead by its power to evoke powerful ideas and emotions, even through jarring, at times unattractive abstraction. Although some artistic works continued to draw from Greco-Roman ideals, the ways in which they were judged shifted notably.

Script
Narrator

Now listen to part of a lecture in a class focusing on the history of modern art.

Female Professor

Scholars sometimes like to say that in the twentieth century, art based on Greco-Roman ideals of beauty and physical perfection fell totally out of favor thanks to the work of pioneering critics like Roger Fry. But today, I’m going to argue that this is actually an OVERSIMPLIFICATION.

Paintings in the twentieth century certainly became more ABSTRACT than at any other time in history. In some ways, though, umm…in some ways, this had NOTHING to do with the work of professional critics like Roger Fry. I mean, I think it can be convincingly argued that the change in style was simply due to the invention of the camera. It was no longer necessary to turn to professional portrait painters to have one’s picture taken. For this reason, there was a gradual DECREASE in the number of students who went to painting school. It was… it was simply no longer important to spend years mastering technical painting… and instead, it became possible to produce highly abstract works meant to express IDEAS.

However, many of these IDEAS still had to do with age-old Greco-Roman ideals. For example, Manet’s painting, Luncheon on the Grass, which is sometimes called the first modern painting…actually used images originally copied from an ancient Roman coffin. Pablo Picasso, a great abstract artist, also created several paintings reacting to Greek mythology. And to this day, advertisers and filmmakers often turn to Greco-Roman notions of beauty in order to entice audiences. In fact, many modern artists have reacted to too much ABSTRACTION in modern art and are returning to classical Greek and Roman themes in their work. So the Greco-Roman tradition in art is far from dead!