The JEWISH MUSEUM OF MILWAUKEE is currently showcasing an exhibit that will never be seen again after it closes. Pieces have been collected/borrowed from local/regional private owners and will be returned to those folks at the end of the exhibit. If the dangerous and widely used contemporary phrase, CANCEL CULTURE, bothers or confuses you in the least, I urge you to visit this exhibit while it stands to learn from what has happened in the past.
Globally, a disruptive art movement was intentionally named the nonsense word DADA, This movement originated in Europe but affected artists across the world in the years 1916-1923, wrapping its challenging ideas around the chaos and fears of WWI and the Pandemic of 1917-1919. It poses the question "WHAT IS ART?" and usually involves intentionally non-representational collages using entirely real pop cultures images, news, and other elements. In isolation, each element could tell an individual story, but together the art offers new interpretations when arranged and displayed contrary to expectations.
The disruption of norms that Dadaism intended and achieved was the antithesis of the emerging Nazi political and cultural power block in Germany and beyond. Dadaism invites rethinking traditional art, assumptions, and depictions while demanding individual thought. That was viewed as threatening to the uniformity and compliance necessary for a successful Third Reich. Thus, all Dada art, modern art, impressionism were actively condemned as "DEGENERATE ART". The works themselves and their creators were challenged as enemies of the people. Cancel culture taken to the ultimate, sometimes murderous, extreme.
Why does this information matter in a blog about pictures books? Because my premise in launching and continuing this blog is that many picture books serve to inform, challenge, and entertain all ages. In this case, a biographic/profile picture book that was among the nominees for Cybils Awards in nonfiction is an extraordinary example of such a picture book that kids will love and also provides older readers with history and food for thought.
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| Henry Holt & Company, 2022 |
MARCEL'S MASTERPIECE: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art is written and illustrated by Jeff Mack.It's the story of how a young Marcel Duchamp set out to challenge the way art was defined, viewed, discussed, and evaluated. Mack explores both Marcel's life and Dadaism itself using the characteristic collage style of much of Dada art, combining hostage-note-style text clips with drawings, photo clips, and more. Those who embrace messages shaved into hair may be surprised to know that Marcel launched that approach with a star shaved into the back of his head a century ago.
This story features his attempt to bring Dada discussions to America, scouring New York City for a TOILET. Eventually he recognized the perfect piece for his next project in the "toilet store" (yes, you read that right). A particular URINAL offered just the object he desired. He examined it, considered it, and ultimately turned it upside down, signed it R.Mutt 1917, and labeled it FOUNTAIN.
The language within Mack's text is flush with humorous puns, and Marcel's cartoon-style face is perpetually upbeat and lighthearted. He found a clever way to display his FOUNTAIN in a "Fancy Art Show", which spawned criticism and canceling (surrounding it by a screen, trying to keep it out of the news). The more it was denied a place, the more it sparked conversation and heated debates. It was eventually thrown out as trash. Yet Marcel was thrilled with the results, because it led people to think about, talk about, have opinions about ART. Dadaism continues to do that today.
In a few pages following the story of this event in New York City, Mack describes more of Duchamp's choices, art pieces, and the impact of Dadaism on the art world and on people across time. Duchamp's choices involved performance art, like dressing as an alter ego to provoke changed behaviors in those he encountered. The extent to which he and others accomplished their goal continues today, when those (you?) who view art exhibits know you are free to have varied opinions, to even insist that certain pieces are or are not ART. His central question was: WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT IS ART? with the corollary: "Anything is ART if an artists says it is."
As noted in the introduction above, such radically individual insights could undermine the guided and regimented mindsets that eventually formed the foundation of NAZI-ism in the 1930s to the end of WWII. It was this unquestioning approach to every bureaucratic and political decision that girded decisions leading to mass murders and concentration camps, the Holocaust. The Nazi government's anti-DEGENERATIVE ART movement years before that was a propaganda training ground for turning the German population into practices of compliance and commitment to single-mindedness.
You may not make it to the exhibit (although I hope those who can will do so), but everyone can enjoy this colorful, informative, and appealing picture book. I urge you to share it with kids and adults and witness for yourself the variety and intensity of reactions it evokes. Then ask yourselves if such differences and debates aren't more valuable than the most expensive art. Aren't we all a richer community by airing our opinions civilly than we are by demanding exclusion and conformity? Hold that thought, and share that thinking when fearful members of your own community attempt to demand social or governmental uniformity and censorship of anything that reflects differences.
