Good Essay On Art History

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The complexities of witnessing
This is a story authored by Ziva Amishai analyzing stories created by other artists concerning the deplorable life of inmates while in camps. In order to ensure proper presentation of the complex evidence detailing the grievous living conditions that inmates go through, the author had to put in mind various factors such as being an expressionist. It was necessary for the author to strike a balance regarding the appropriate style of presentation, while writing. For instance, he sometimes chose to play the role of being an eye witness and narrated the events as they unfold.
The big part of the story provides a thorough analysis as well as a comparison of writing style employed by other artists such as Henry Piek. The artists employed naturalistic, realistic and exaggeration while drawing pictures of inmates, so as to reveal the true state of suppression being experienced by inmates. For instance, there are drawings of inmates standing behind barbed wire with some of them missing teeth. There are also other images where inmates are pulling rollers and wagons, after being hitched just like animals.

Art confronts the holocaust

The title itself is symbolic in the sense that it provides a situation which is had to attain. By picking on art to confront holocaust, the author brings together two concepts that exist in totally different spheres. For instance, the aspect of art has a set of rules governing the aesthetic beauty as well as personal expression. Holocaust on the other hand, represents feelings of revulsion and disgust, following the dreadful slaughter of six million people. Although artists had been officially prohibited from both writing or accessing writing materials while in the camps, they did not get scared by the dangers associated with writing . Both inmates and freed artists continued to document the true experience of life in the camps. Artists such as Picasso represented bitter facts about the holocaust without fear. An example is the revelation of the thin corpses found scattered after liberation. On the other hand, artists who had not experienced inmate life applied aesthetic in their work to get spectators’ attention. However, their message still contained terrifying aspects like skinny human beings standing next to a railway, symbolizing deportation.

Joseph Beuys and the “After-Aschwitz” Sublime

This is a story narrated by Gene Ray about Joseph Beuys. Despite having studied natural science, Beuys decided to embark on a new life project involving the work of art . He employed sculpture in achieving his goal of social transformation by bringing an end to all traditions. He also focused on the genocide and catastrophe conducted during the Nazi period. Beuys vivid description of the sad events in the society resulted to too many criticisms from other artists. For instance, Kim Levin was against inclusion of the Nazi story by terming it marginal and unsupported . However, a lot of criticisms failed to achieve the intended outcome and instead promoted interest among readers in exploring more about the negative acts committed by the Nazi. A good example is the recognition from holocaust survivors in 1957 to commemorate Aschwatz. There is a lot of sufferings and killings in the story depicting the harsh conditions experienced during the Nazi rule.
The three stories provide information on the style and difficult experiences that both artists and inmates went through, while living in camps. There were prohibitions as well as lack of materials to hinder artistic work (Nigel). All writers reveal that inmates went through deplorable living conditions while in the camps. The hardship experienced present in the society formed a major part of factors influencing artist to document the negative actions in the society. Despite great oppositions and dangers associated with exposing the suffering of the people, artist employed appropriate writing styles to bring out the evils in the society.

Works Cited

Amishai-Maisels, Ziva. "The complexities of witnessing." Holocaust and Genocide studies; Vol.2 No.1 (1995): 123-47.
Ray, Gene. Terror and the Sublime in art and critical theory: From Auschwtz to Hiroshima to September 11. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Wheale, Nigel, ed. The postmodern arts: an introductory reader. Psychology Press, 1995.
Ziva Amishai-Maisels. "Art con fronts the Holocaust." Holocaust and Genocide studies; Vol. 2. No.1 (1995): 49-78.