Essay

Art and persecution seem to go hand in hand. Wherever one goes, art can be found. It is found in the reproductions of famous paintings on library walls, the wall art in schools, and art on buildings in the cities. Even though art can be classified as anything (such as music, writing, or performance arts) painters, sculptors, and other visionary artists have been persecuted since the beginning of time. If art was so incredibly important and prevalent in society, why do some give art a negative analysis and discredit it? Aestheticians believe that when we see art "our senses interact with our imagination and understanding when we experience art." (World Book Encyclopedia) Certain painters have changed the world though their paintings. Books have been written about art and the cost of being an artist. Yet, when people can't understand something new, they do the thing that is most familiar to them, they lash out against it. Such is the nature of persecution in art.

Art, on a canvas or in a slab of clay or marble, in the sweep of a stick of charcoal is, to the artist, a gesture of emotion and feeling, possibly even a comment about a certain subject. A way to let out what they are feeling, art is a release for artists."The sea and wide skies which were enthusiasms of his childhood figure strongly in his (Magritte's) paintings."(Britannica) "I drew a point with the pencil on the first page of the sketchbook. I drew another point a few inches away...Then I was drawing a face. Then I was drawing faces...I drew faces of children laughing and crying. I drew the look of the street from the window of our living room...I drew a man walking alone beneath the trees of the parkway...I drew until the point of the pencil was gone; then I tore at the wood with my fingernails to get to the lead.....I was filing the pages with beings and shapes and textures, trying to feel the rain on the windows and on the trees, trying to feel cold and snow, trying to feel darkness and night..."(Potok 132-133) The thought is if others don't care, then they should not purchase or view the art. The emotion in a work of art is always varying and different in some splendid way. "(Through art, van Gogh) wrestled with temperamental difficulties and sought his true means of self-expression." (Britannica) Most accept it, but most always at least a handful of people will not accept what is in front of them because the art is not representative of their emotions, the ideal emotions inside of them, and thus does not qualify as outstanding, and does not qualify as art."Judgements about works of art have appeared since ancient times in descriptive and poetic writings, (and) histories..."(Doubet) The most severe example of persecution in art took place during World War Two. An exhibit titled "Degenerate Art" was put together for the sole purpose of mocking, laughing at and disrespecting the works of art displayed. The art was labeled "Degenerate Art" because there were emotions in the art that the Nazi regime could not accept and the works were called nonart, signifying that these paintings were no more than paint on a canvas, not the emotion that the artist attempted to convey.

All artists, from VanGogh to Magritte to Pollock have been outsiders, outcast from society because of their different views, yet when those views are expressed on a canvas, those views suddenly become quite great by the standards of the actual art society. "(Art) meditated between the visible and invisible forces that governed peoples lives."(material given 421)Yet, these people are still outcast, away from "normal" society because of these different views that in fact made their paintings, and thus, as stated above, emotions famous. Yet, as also stated above, artists' emotions are very violated and ravaged. The critics, and non critics as well, decide to pick the works of art apart because the artist is different, and the emotion is as well. In the novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, the main character Asher became an outsider in his own community because what he was doing was "foolish", "childish", and a waste of time:

"I removed my hand from the notebook. I had drawn his face, giving his eyes the stern and serious expression they always wore.

He looked at my drawing. Then he looked at me.

‘When will you grow up, Asher Lev?' he said sadly. ‘You are eleven years old.'"(Potok 157)

Consequently, Asher became a great artist, yet it cost him his religion, and his family's traditions. Being outcasts, artists paint raw emotion. Silence by Wassily Kandinsky is one example out of hundreds of paintings that use emotion simply and only as the subject. Though not all artists are outcasts, some are eccentric, some are dull, emotion seems to be the one thing on canvas that is the most fufillingly profitable to paint, and thus is why some artists are labeled outcasts, because they create emotion that does not coincide with the emotion the viewers feel.

Particular works of art can pose a threat, or a boundary to some people. Thus, these works of art must be persecuted and in essence, banned from society. In the novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, Asher creates a painting that disturbs his entire community because it is against everything that they believe in and know, yet Asher needed to use the crucifixion as a form of painting because it was the only one he knew of at his disposal. The crucifixion was the only thing that he could utilize that would depict his emotion, and the emotion that he knew his mother must have been feeling. "The torment, the tearing anguish I felt in her I put into her mouth, into the twisting curve of her head, the arching of her slight body...I painted swiftly in a strange nerveless frenzy of energy. For all the pain you suffered, my mama. For all the torment of your past and future years, my mama. For all the anguish this picture of pain will cause you."(Potok 313) This painting was the one final blow that completely alienated Asher from his parents and community. Certain paintings also induce emotions in people. These emotions may frighten them, or they may not understand these emotions and thus the art is rejected by those people. Any art that is foreign or not emphatically perceived, is not accepted in the eyes of society.

Art is a very powerful medium, which can hurt or joy. Bring pain or exuberance, or in the case of the Nazi regime, and the "Degenerate Art" exhibit, can bring no emotion at all. Emotion in art is even more influential and if perceived in a positive manner is received and accepted. Yet, some decide not to see the emotion, or cannot detect the emotion inside the painting. Plato himself dismissed all art by saying that "artists cannot usually explain their works...he believed that artists create because they are seized by irrational inspiration."(World Book Encyclopedia) Persecution and art go hand in hand because each and every individual is not the same, and if we were, our society would be insipid and blase. Each artist harbors his or her own emotion, places it on canvas, or sculpts it, and the emotion is in art form. Not everyone is able, or chooses to see the emotion in the way it was meant to be depicted, and persecution exists when the emotion is misinterpreted, or not interpreted at all.