9/20 - Siddhartha

"Passionately he wished to know nothing about himself anymore, to have rest, to be dead. If there only was a lightning-bolt to strike him dead! If there only was a tiger a devour him! If there only was a wine, a poison which would numb his senses, bring him forgetfulness and sleep, and no awakening from that! Was there still any kind of filth, he had not soiled himself with, a sin or foolish act he had not committed, a dreariness of the soul he had not brought upon himself? Was it still at all possible to be alive? Was it possible, to breathe in again and again, to breathe out, to feel hunger, to eat again, to sleep again, to sleep with a woman again? Was this cycle not exhausted and brought to a conclusion for him?" 

I think this passage embodies the concept of nihilism. Siddhartha has reached his breaking point where he no longer sees the meaning in what he does. He's done it all and has started to question what is the true meaning of what he is doing. He's gotten to the point where he basically sounds suicidal only wishing death upon himself. He doesn't feel satisfied with the life he has lived and even worse sees it as being all meaningless. Nihilism is essentially that; it is the idea that life is meaningless. Siddhartha has been seeking a higher sense of self and hasn't been able to achieve that, not by following a complete rejection of the material world or being a part of the material world. Siddhartha doesn't feel as if he belongs anywhere, he is in his own personal limbo that has become a pseudo hell. This passage expresses all of his frustrations. It is one of the climatic moments in the story where he has reached a breaking point and truly questions the meaning of his life. 

I chose this passage because it is something I can personally relate to. There has been times where I have questioned the meaning of why I am here, why do I go to class every day, why do I spend money, why do I do everything, what is the point of it at the end of the day. I have thought about what is the purpose of humanity and what are our real contributions to this life. As we have discussed in class, I would love to just get up and drop everything and just live in the woods or out on a farm and live off the land. One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite shows expresses just that: 


"This is nice country, maybe I'll retire out here, tell 'em all to go to hell.." - Bobby Hill, King of the Hill  


I would love to just give up everything, maybe not by retiring age but younger and just go somewhere beautiful and peaceful. But we all know that is pretty much impossible unless you're, ironically enough, the richest person in America. The odds of someone actually giving up life in society and just going off on their own is pretty slim. I am sure that it is possible, but the possibility is so slim it might as well not be considered so. We are a part of society that we need to live in to survive. Not all people know how to survive out in the wild for 50 years. We require education that gives us careers and careers that give us money to buy a home, a car, food and all of these other things that have become essential necessities in our lives. As much as I hate to admit it, it is pretty inescapable. We do have the ability, however, to manipulate our own destinies and live how we want to live. We can choose what we major in, which then determines what kind of job we have and were we will live as a result. Some people choose careers because they are highly ambitious individuals who want the big house with the luxury cars. Some people choose careers because it's what they love do to and are willing to risk never finding a job and living in a rinky dink place just to keep doing what they love. This passage from Siddhartha expresses our deep rooted need to find meaning in life. As the most highly evolved intelligent beings on the planet and known universe we have the ability to think of all these abstract thoughts beyond our survival needs. We are curious creatures who want to know everything and have come across some amazing scientific discoveries. Our thirst for knowledge will always be unquenchable because we will never truly know why we are here. I believe that from this stems the many different religions that provide people with guidance in their lives, that reassures them of a higher being that knows why you are here and that promises something better in the afterlife or maybe just something new. I don't think it's bad that we are searching for these answers I just think we should realize that we might never get them. This passage makes me truly believe that everyone has a moment in their life where they are nihilistic. As for our class studying a time period between two World Wars really amplifies why people might create a movement out of this one concept.   

P9/6 Expressionism, Dadaism, "New Objectivity"

Assignment: 

Part 1 - Written

"I don't want words that other people have invented. All the words are other people's inventions. I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and consonants too, matching the rhythm and all my own." 
- Hugo Ball (Dada Manifesto, 1916) 


This quote from Hugo Ball's Dada Manifesto is about individual identity and ownership of something you create. Hugo Ball is saying this because of the growing popularity of Dadaism. Everyone was creating their own forms of the so called "anti-art" to express the realities of the world. I agree with the message this quote is trying to send out because I understand it's artistic relevance. When this was written the artists art the time were trying to breakaway from the traditional rules and guidelines of what art should look like, this is especially seen with the Dadaist artists. Dadaist art is unlike anything anyone had really seen at the time, as mentioned it the lecture it was meant to be as realistic as possible to the point where it was intentionally ugly. War had created this growing sense if nihilism that people were using art as a medium to express these realism ideas. Creating something unique is then very important in order to captivate the audience that will see your work. Dadaism is about creating your own style, Dadaism is what you make of it as long as you follow your own rules to create your art and not the typically expected. In terms of the present I believe this quote still holds true. People are constantly trying to create something about themselves that sets them apart from others. Artists are usually really good at doing this by finding other unconventional ways to create art. Writers try to think of stories that will become the next big thing that could be proceeded by a film being made as well. Everyone usually tries to stand out one way or another and create something that others will recognize them for. This is how Dadaism came to be, it came from people wanting to express themselves in unique ways that will catch the attention of an audience. 

Breaking away from tradition accomplished that and makes the artist memorable. 

Part 2 - Art 

 

Claude Monet, "water Lillies" 1920 

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a French impressionist artist. His most famous works include mostly landscape art from the area Giverny in France where he lived. He was widowed by his wife Camille and suffered from cataracts in his later years before his death. His water lily art is part of a much larger collection of oil paintings of ponds. The painting that I chose is only a small portion of a huge collective work done by Monet. Unlike traditional paintings that try to capture as much realism as possible Monet dabbled in finding a way to depict nature as it is but not concealing it through perfection. Monet's work like the water Lillie's is painted using rough brush strokes. Monet made sure that the strokes were visible in the painting instead of trying to make it look like a flawless photograph. His usage of bright colors in this piece highlight the main theme of the painting which are Lillie's. Although when this painting is combined with all of the other ones you can see the pond is actually beneath a gray sky. this painting is showing the calm after the storm in a way. It also relates to the end of World War I just two years after it ended. It seems this painting holds true to a still nihilistic feeling or sorrow that is going around. The harsh reality of war still sits within the minds of the people and painting a "perfect" pond would be the same as trying to cover up the casualties of the war. As an impressionist artist with terrible eyesight at the time, the rough brush strokes don't only represent the harsh reality of life but aid in giving the pond it's own unique feel. The pond is an impression of beauty amongst the chaos Monet saw in Europe. 

  George Grosz, "Metropolis" 1917 

George Grosz (1893-1959) he is best known for his works themed on life in Berlin during the 20s. He was a part of the Dadaist and New Objectivity artistic movement during World War I. In this painting called "metropolis" we already get a sense of chaos coming from a city that seems be caught is some impending doom. The very geometric ways the people are drawn and the style the city is depicted is very Dadaist in that it doesn't follow the "expectations" of what life looks like. It is drawn in a style that enhances the chaos that is occurring. A very big factor is also the use of color in this painting. The dark shades of reds, oranges and black along with yellow create a theme of almost a city on fire. This painting was almost done in 1917, during World War I. During this time we know that Germany especially had a growning sense of nihilism and Dadaism was the artistic outlet of artist at the time. As a German citizen living during the war, Grosz had a lot of mixed emotions to present and most of these if not all where nihilistic towards the war. As a city burns in the background or is about to be attacked the people are fleeing in fear and confusion. Drawing the people not using the conventional techniques helps bring out the confusion they might have felt towards the war. The American flag standing and flying above the chaotic city unharmed expressed grosz own personal

Views on America and it's magnificence to rise high above the chaos brought upon by the war. Later in his life Grosz immigrate to America and becomes a citizen. 

  Edgar Degas, "Woman in the Bath" 1886 

Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was another very famous French Impressionist artist although he referred to himself as a realist. His most famous works surround the theme of dance and capturing the body in motion. Many of his paintings and well was sculptures are of ballerinas. He was also an Anti-Semite.