Savage Beauty
30 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Art, Culture Tags: fashion, MadQuote, Metropolitan Museum of Art
I’m an unabashed fan of American Arts Quarterly, a publication of the Newington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center. The writings contained within the journal resonate strongly with my personal beliefs concerning the arts, their value to society, and the importance of beauty, good craftsmanship and taste. The Center reflects these beliefs in its mission statement:
The Center is dedicated to the principle that the arts help shape our world, from our cultural perceptions to the physical experience of our communal space. We recognize that it is imperative that the arts reflect the many voices of the diverse American community. Encouraging artists from all disciplines who are selectively and imaginatively revisiting traditional and classical forms, and exploring the great myths we hope to reunite the artist with society. Beauty, virtue and spirituality are again becoming part of cultural life.
Writing for Fall 2011 edition of American Arts Quarterly, James F. Cooper reviews the 2011 exhibition “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At first glance an article about fashion art may seem out of place in a journal dedicated to exploring and defending the relevance of classical art concepts to today’s institutions and culture, based on the conviction that the arts are a perennial resource in sustaining and advancing civilization. The author goes far in convincing us that McQueen’s fashion art is fine art indeed.
Here are selections from the article that are particularly meaningful:
Speaking of the one of a kind the fashion art of Alexander McQueen, Cooper writes:
Powerful, imposing, aloof, evoking associations with ancient myth, spirituality and nature, as richly ornamented as a medieval reliquary, they require no justification for existence other that their own self-contained magic.
What makes it different from the silly, vacuous postmodern detritus that fills our modern museums? Indeed, what makes McQueen’s work so different from the attractive, expensive fashions created by the most successful designers? [...] The difference is taste, moral passion and a highly refined sense of beauty and craft.
According to Cooper, McQueen “…never succumbed to the kitsch and cheapened sentiments that characterize much of postmodern culture.”
McQueen’s work doesn’t require textual explanations, but is ripe for psychological and cultural analysis. He has applied the highest craftsmanship to his garments, at a time when sloppiness and poor craftsmanship are all too common.
…commitment to beauty and craft should always be recognized…
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