Landscape painting, in the latter part of the
twentieth century became frowned upon by Art
Academies and to a lesser extent the major
Capital City high street galleries. Pretty much in
the same manner that as it was in the days of
Poussin and Turner.
It became regarded as unimportant, old hat and
tired with nothing left in it to benefit from.
They viewed painting as only practised by
Sunday Artists. And the worst examples of this
Art was to be seen in the landscape painters,
they said. Painting was vilified by art teachers
and a new generation that were instructed
to view all painting as non-art, worthless and
puerile. They were taught in Art Universities
that all Art should be carried out with a negative
mindset, and not an affirmative one.
Art students were instructed to make ugly Art,
without artistic merit, to symbolise the decadent
and immoral Western society (an abstract
sociaist middle class attitude, known as being
Woke). It seemed that to be taken serious,
artists needed to insult the viewer with senseless
fatuous art made from anything and without any
skill or talent, preferably getting someone else to
make the art and not themselves.
It was an early twentieth century concept that the
idea and not the object is the most important item
in art, (citing as their legitimiser an unfortunate
reference to Marcel Duchamp and his flirtation
with Dadaism, originally derived from the 1914 to
1918 antics of Artists who were disallusioned by
the world. And with some justification).
In the late twentieth century the educators
decided that artists should emphasise the disgust
they felt of the modern consumer society.
A much maligned and badly thought of system,
yet one that had literally lifted millions out of
povety, on a world wide basis.
The thinking behind the negation of art was this
would be the best way to avoid future War and
change society. It is now obvious that Art alone
cannot ‘prevent’ anything at all or change society
As any person with an average intelligence will
readily tell you. None the less, the artists went
about their ‘deconstruction’ of the consumer
society they hated with energy,
whilst at the same time holding out their palms to
receive vast sums of money from, museums, art
investors, institutional grants
and rich private collectors.
It seems some Arts teachers thought using painting to create
a work of art was beyond the possibility of it in the 20th
century. However, the products of post-modernism finally
pushed the public away from Modern Art.
They became completely exhausted by the demands of
instutionally supported Art. It is reasoanble to assume that
the post modernists eventually realised that really had
nothing to say to advance culture, or anything to give to the
mass of the people, who simply turned their backs on them.
Visual Art once again, had become the sole province of the
self appointed ‘culture elites’ whose opinion of themselves as
art experts was a complete fallacy and totally dillusional.