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The Dream (The Bed) (Painting)
Kahlo, Frida. The Dream (The Bed), 1940. Frida Kahlo. Image retrieved at https://www.fridakahlo.org/the-dream-the-bed.jsp. Kahlo’s The Dream (The Bed) is a reflection of Frida’s thoughts of death and mortality. Or in Collingwood’s case, it is a shadow of Kahlo’s beliefs. One can see Kahlo’s husband looking down as she sleeps with explosives attached to his body. -
Molded Plywood Chair (Furniture)
Eames, Charles and Eero Saarinen. Molded Plywood Chair, 1940, image by Vitra Design, retrieved from//www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/images/uc9658.jpg.
Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen created the future of function and fashion for the Museum of Modern Art's "Organic Design" competition. They won first place and made waves with their pragmatic, design-conscious chairs. Eames's and Saarinen's design is timeless, and its beauty is recognized by the educated and unaffected critic. -
Period: to
Art of the Forties and Fifties
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The Face of War (Painting)
Dali, Salvador. The Face of War. 1942. Dali Paintings. Image retrieved at https://www.dalipaintings.com/the-face-of-war.jsp. Dali’s The Face of War reflects the horrors of war. Dali’s surreal painting moves the viewer to what Hegel calls the spiritual realm. One is able to see the horror in the surreal images of Dali’s painting. -
Bull's Head
Picasso, Pablo. Bull’s Head. Image retrieved at https://www.pablopicasso.org/bull-head.jsp. Picasso’s Bull’s Head moves beyond the imagination. One can connect the simple bicycle seat and handlebars to Schiller’s thought that the sculpture brings the viewer outside of the objects themselves and into imagination. -
Constellation with Red Object (Sculpture)
Calder, Alexander. Constellation with Red Object, 1939. Calder Foundation, image retrieved at https://calder.org/works/constellation/wall-constellation-with-red-object-1943/. Calder’s sculpture frees art to be semblance. As Schiller suggests, Calder expresses freedom in abstraction, creating a piece that is recognizable and drives the viewer into deeper understanding. As MoMA suggests, it makes one wonder if the objects are connected or trapped in a web. -
"Koko" (Song)
Parker, Charlie. “Koko,” performance by Charlie Parker, Savoy, 1945. Image retrieved at https://www.allaboutjazz.com/charlie-parker-in-praise-of-bird-on-his-100th-birthday-charlie-parker. Charlie Parker’s “Ko-Ko” was the first bebop song to make it to tape, starting a movement that showcased the spirit of improvisational jazz. Schopenhauer would suggest that the spontaneity of bebop was a pure reflection of the will. -
The Plague (Novel)
Camus, Albert. The Plague. Knopf, 2021. Image retrieved at https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/june/books-that-shaped-the-1940s.html.
Camus’s “The Plague” reflects post-war anxiety. It articulates the absurdity of life, reflecting the absurdist movement. Camus's work has aesthetic value through the text, embodying Hegel’s art and philosophy connection. -
"I Saw the Light" (song)
Williams, Hank. “I Saw the Light,” performance by Hank Williams, MGM, 1948. Image retrieved at https://countrymusichalloffame.org/artist/hank-williams/. “I Saw the Light” was not an immediate hit. The tune is one of William’s most successful songs to date. The timelessness of the song is relevant, and while Williams may not be a classically trained musician, Bell could defend the aesthetics of William’s song with its emotionally charged composition. -
A Streetcar Named Desire (Play)
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. Directed by Elia Kazan, performance by Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, 1947. William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. The dialogue and dark realism articulated William’s poetic and groundbreaking play in the first stage performance. Brando’s version of Stanley still lives on today. Kazan’s version of the play lives through modern performances. Hume would find its significance because of its continuing popularity. -
Waiting for Godot (play)
Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Directed by Roger Blin, 1949. Image retrieved at https://literaryocean.com/samuel-becketts-waiting-for-godot-as-an-absurd-drama/. Beckett’s play was the figurehead for the Theatre of the Absurd. Beckett’s play best exemplifies the art as philosophy of Hegel. Beckett’s play articulated absurdity and all of its implications. -
1984 (Novel)
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. Penguin Classics, 2021. Image retrieved at https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2020/june/books-that-shaped-the-1940s.html. Orwell’s novel coined “Big Brother,” “Newspeak,” and “Double Think.” The novel’s philosophy is created through the narrative of George Orwell, rising through the story, relative to Hegel’s art and philosophy connection. The aesthetical value of the novel is the sum of its parts. -
Mu (Sculpture)
Noguchi, Isamu. Mu, 1950. Isamu Noguchi, Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo, August 18–27,
1950. Image retrieved from https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/digital-features/landmark-exhibitions/. Noguchi’s Mu works with space and integrates with its surroundings. The simplicity and organic shape speak to Hegel’s spirituality of art. -
Number 28, 1950 (Painting)
Pollock, Jackson. Number 28, 1950. 1950. Met Museum, image retrieved at https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm. Jackson Pollock’s painting is representative of Hegel’s art reflecting philosophy. The abstract expressionists reflected emotion with color and focused on gesture and abstract imagery. -
Homage to the Square (Painting)
Albers, Joeseph, Homage to the Square: Dissolving/Vanishing. 1951. LACMA. Image retrieved at https://collections.lacma.org/node/246383. Albers’s Homage to the Square is reflective of Albers’s color work, making three-dimensional space out of his two-dimensional work. His art explodes color and challenges space with his work in relativity and perception. Albers’s work reflects Bell’s notion that great art will exist outside of humankind’s plane of reality. -
Chisenhale Road (Photography)
Henderson, Nigel. Chisenhale Road, 1951. Tate. Image retrieved at https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/display/walk-through-british-art/1940. Henderson’s Chisenhale Road is a Leica photograph, depicting the life of locals in urban London. Dewey would find the photo comes alive in its home of London with its familiarity charging the photography with life. -
David S. Ingalls Rink (Architecture)
Saarinen, Eero. David S. Ingalls Rink (Connecticut), 1953. Image retrieved at https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/11/14/approaching-60th-birthday-the-whale-stands-strong/. Saarinen’s “The Whale” stands as an innovative structure, nodding to the future and appealing to the emotions with its sweeping roof. Reflecting on Kant, one can imagine the beauty of the building can be rationalized and objective with its universal beauty. -
No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) (Painting)
Rothko, Mark. No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue).1954. Image retrieved from http://www.markrothko.org/no-1-royal-red-blue-1954/. Rothko created large pieces meant to be immersive. Rothko was a prominent color-field artist that refrained from semblance in his color-field work. One can find themselves deep in Rothko’s work, moving beyond the object and into free play. Rothko’s work also is representative of philosophy that reflected Rothko’s feelings of being misunderstood. -
"Maybellene" (Song)
Berry, Chuck. “Maybellene,” performance by Chuck Berry, Chess Records, 1955. Image retrieved at https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/remembering-chuck-berry-who-died-at-ninety. Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene” is influential beyond imagination. The song is the blueprint of rock ‘n’ roll that followed. The song endures and transcends one into what Bell calls “aesthetic ecstasy.” -
"Howl" (Poem)
Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl.” Pocket Poet Series, City Lights Books, 1955. Ginsberg’s “Howl” electrifies the senses with thought-provoking imagery and metaphor. “Howl” is art and philosophy much like Hegel suggests. “Howl” continues to challenge and testify to modern readers. -
Western Dream (Painting)
Frankenthaler, Helen. Western Dream. 1957. Met Museum. Image retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/781757. Frankenthaler’s Western Dream evokes warm emotion, using semblance and color in the abstract work. Collingwood’s idea that the work is a shadow comes into play as the viewer strives to meet the artist at her vision. -
Three Flags
Johns, Jasper. Three Flags, 1958. Whitney Museum of American Art. Image retrieved from https://whitney.org/collection/works/1060. Johns’s Three Flags uses the iconic American flag as geometry, pushing the senses beyond its already powerful imagery. As Schiller suggests, great art moves beyond the object. Johns’s art moves beyond the flag and creates an image where depth and color create beauty and intrigue. -
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York) (Architecture)
Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), 1959. CNN. Image retrieved at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/frank-lloyd-wright-architecture-150-years/index.html. In Wright’s Guggenheim Museum, the architect sought to build a museum that supports emotional and ideological sentiments. Wright’s power is relative to the free-play that Kant writes about in “Analytic of the Aesthetic Power of Judgement.” -
Black, White, and Gray (Painting)
Kline, Franz. Black, White, and Gray, 1959. Met Museum. Image retrieved at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/489060. Kline’s Black, White, and Gray allow the viewer to be transformed. The deep contrast and grays allow the viewer to get lost in the abstract. One can imagine Kant’s free-play at work with Klein’s calligraphy-like beauty. The spontaneity that Klein expressed is still alive today.
