Premium Only Content

Kitsch, Propaganda and the American Avant-Garde | An Interview with Michael Pearce
Michael Pearce is a writer, painter, teacher and curator, as well as the founder of The Representational Art Conference (TRAC). His book "Kitsch, Propaganda and the American Avant-Garde" uncovers one thing Lenin, Hitler and Roosevelt had in common:
A keen eye for art as state propaganda.
Avoiding the old-fashioned vs modern dichotomy, Pearce shows the cultural historical roots of employing both figurative and abstract painting to further political correctness.
Pearce traces it back to 19th century socialist thinking, and goes in-depth on the ideas of philosophers like Proudhon and Saint-Simon, as well as the protests of Emile Zola.
First and foremost, however, he shows how the the American government and a few wealthy families made Avant-garde art into the preferred art form of the 20th century, casting it as the antidote to the sentimentality of kitsch.
👍✨ Support our show and get access to more than 200 exclusive posts:
https://patreon.com/caveofapelles/
Chapter markers:
00:00 Intro
01:32 Understanding Kitsch and the Avant-Garde
05:01 Who is Michael Pearce?
08:06 The proto-Communist Avant-Garde
12:47 Proudhon's authoritarian state art
16:22 Proudhon on Courbet and aesthetic ideals
22:02 Courbet, Repin, and Russian realism
23:25 The Bohemian Avant-Garde
26:00 Emile Zola's individualism vs Proudhon
29:59 Capturing the Zeitgeist
33:50 The battle between Avant-Gardes in Soviet Russia
41:49 An individualist Avant-Garde?
42:43 Socialist Realism in the USSR and the USSA
45:36 Nazi art vs Roosevelt's path
47:46 Socialism and the art of the enemy
50:20 Hitler's qualities as a painter
52:19 Degenerate Art and House of German Art
57:25 The sentimental art of the enemy
59:45 The propagandist Nelson Rockefeller
1:02:24 The figurative/kitsch/Hitler connection
1:06:37 Greenberg's essay Avant-Garde and Kitsch
1:11:37 Nazi art: kitsch or bona fide modernism?
1:20:11 Primitive American art as the mother of modernism
1:26:33 Roosevelt & the marriage of USSA and MoMA
1:30:04 The current situation in the art world
1:35:56 The American illustration tradition and escapism
1:38:37 Fergus Ryan: What is "Imaginative realism"?
1:40:37 Fergus Ryan:: What is "emergence" in painting?
1:43:59 Question: Is there a refuge for the human spirit?
This episode featured Michael Pearce & Jan-Ove Tuv and was filmed and edited by Bork Nerdrum.
The centerpiece was a reproduction of Courbets painting of Proudhon and his children.
SHOUTOUT to our TOP SPONSORS!
Fergus Ryan
Matthias Proy
Diego
Subscribe to our newsletter. It is the only way to make sure that you receive content from us on a regular basis:
https://bit.ly/2L8qCNn
Check out our other channels:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SchoolofApelles
https://www.youtube.com/c/CultureWarsNow
Podcast available on SoundCloud, iTunes, and Spotify:
https://soundcloud.com/caveofapelles
https://spoti.fi/2AVDkcT
https://apple.co/2QAcXD6
Website:
https://caveofapelles.com
Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/caveofapelles
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@caveofapelles
Instagram:
instagram.com/caveofapelles/
For inquiries — [email protected]
-
1:27:21
Cave of Apelles
1 year ago $0.06 earnedSeth Fite on Sincerity in Painting, Andrew Wyeth, and Human Suffering as the Superior Subject Matter
315 -
LIVE
Joe Donuts Live
2 hours ago🟢How It All Began — Mafia: Definitive Edition Story Mode | The Monday Job
65 watching -
1:38:19
NAG Podcast
14 hours agoSay Something Beyond W/MikeMac: INSURRECTION BARBIE - Ep.10
17.4K3 -
LIVE
TonYGaMinG
46 minutes ago💥Midnight Walkers last day of playtest!
14 watching -
LIVE
FyrBorne
11 hours ago🔴Battlefield 6 Live M&K Gameplay: How To Snipe Without Target Finder
43 watching -
13:29
Daniel Davis Deep Dive
1 day agoCol Doug Macgregor: NATO Hungry for MORE WAR
2.42K2 -
8:27
BlackDiamondGunsandGear
1 year agoThis 100 Year old Shotgun, is Full Auto?
3.11K5 -
40:31
Degenerate Plays
15 hours ago $0.37 earnedWe Need A Big Controversy - Batman: Arkham Asylum : Part 14
12.7K -
8:26
Millionaire Mentor
16 hours agoMaria Bartiromo SHOCKED As Navarro Reveals FBI’s Dirty Secret
9.63K5 -
12:22
Actual Justice Warrior
1 day agoChicago Gives Sucker Puncher UNLIMITED Chances
101K61