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| ARC Philosophy Chapter I, by Fred Ross | - detail from a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme |
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F COURSE, THIS ISN'T EXACTLY the first time that ideas that were complete shams managed to engulf the belief systems of entire cultures and civilizations. In many of those in the past, the lunacy was enforced by the severest of punishments for anyone who would dare to speak out. At least we live in a time and place where it's possible to speak against this consummate con that has been perpetrated against the greatest period of artistic achievement in history. Three quarters of the 20th century will go down in art history as a great wasteland of insanity - a nightmarish blip in the long road of the development of human logic and reason, from which we are only just starting to awake.The artists of the 19th century exhibited a deep abiding respect for humanity and human feelings; a respect for our minds, our spirits and our reason, and a love of beauty, grace and true excellence and accomplishment. Bouguereau, Lord Leighton, Waterhouse, Burne-Jones and the other giants of the 19th C. tried to exemplify all that is good and decent in our species. Their accomplishments are the quintessential high point of hundreds of years of human study and development in the art of painting. They are arguably the greatest painters that history has ever produced. Bouguereau especially fits this description. How fitting and sadly obvious that he should be characterized as the chief villain by those who would destroy rather than build-who celebrate chaos and would deprive the artist of any skill needed to portray anything. If someone with intelligence takes the time to understand advanced mathematics and physics, computer science, or biogenetics, there is something there to understand. If you take the time to understand Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Colorfield, Pop-art, Op-art etc. you will find clever con game perpetrated by a sophisticated gang of public relations experts that figured out a great tactic to make millions. The underlying philosophy is totally without merit, and amounts to nothing more than a misuse of language, which is sufficiently complex as to be usable in the wrong hands to justify nearly anything. If you read their discussions of what makes a Rothko or a Dekooning or Jackson Pollock painting great, you discover an enigma wrapped in a paradox and embedded in a quandary. With looping cadences of illogical chaotic thought, usually vocalized by individuals with flowery credentials next to their name, the average listeners, who lacks self-confidence in their understanding of the arts and are intimidated by their inability to understand, usually meekly backs away. Or they protect themselves by proclaiming that they do fully understand, so that they too may feel part of the anointed. The effect of "prestige suggestion" could never be seen more clearly. Many of us here have said it countless times before, but apparently it needs to be said yet again. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES! Just because other fields of discipline are hard to understand by the layman, does not in anyway justify the incomprehensibility, lunacy and fakery of most modern art. Do we really want the works of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem DeKooning to be representatives of the best of what mankind can produce? They are a hoax. And the public has been for too long subjected to the farce of modernism that has captured and laid siege to civilization's museums and institutions. If you are a musical artist in this century and you are moved by something in your life, you can write a moving song about it. If you are horrified by aids, appalled by racism, scandalized by government corruption, encouraged by examples of human kindness, exhilarated by beautiful scenery or enthralled with the subtleties of human relationships, you can find beautiful ways of expressing it providing you have mastery over your medium, and a poets soul. If indeed you are a poet or a writer, you can find countless means within the conventions of language to express your thoughts and feelings, and even endeavor actively to effect those people who will read or hear your work. You can use your art to change peoples' minds and even change the world. But if you are a Modern or Post-modern artist, every possible method of expressing these feelings and ideas has been removed. Story telling, drawing, illusion, perspective, modeling, and harmonious blending of these with color, tone and design are all forbidden to you. Nothing at all from the real world or even your dreams is permitted. But in the late 19th century it is increasingly being recognized that the greatest artists were not establishment old order supporters, but are more appropriately thought of as liberal activists, both for the advancement of our culture and the righting of societies wrongs. They spoke to our hearts and feelings. They expressed: the good and the bad-the beauty of life and the horrors of war-the rapture of love and the fear of abandonment - the joys of family life and the plight of the homeless - the exaltation of nature and the debasement of societies outcasts - the heady heavenly heights, and the steamy fires of hell. All of humanity's fear, feelings, accomplishments, problems, history, literature, religion and ambitions were fertile subject matter for the taking. An open book to be drawn composed and painted with a tradition of training and a network of institutions in place to find, nurture and bring to fruition the greatest artistic talents of their day. Today ... The recapture of this rich artistic heritage from near destruction has been a monumental task being attempted by a handful of living artists. Over the last 6 decades they and many who are now gone have barely but successfully protected, preserved and perpetuated it for the sake of our children and future generations. After decades of being mocked and ignored, finally the winds have changed. Now over the last 20 years there has been an enormous turn around in the perception of historians, museums, galleries and collectors in their attitudes towards 19th Century realism and concomitantly of contemporary realism. Finally in the last ten years the fortunes of these artists have rapidly turned upwards, and a great many of them are making solid livings, some booked a year or two out on commissions. Allan Banks, the current President of the American Society of Classical Realism, painted the portrait of Congressman Hamilton Fish, Richard Whitney of New Hampshire painted John Sununu, and Jim Childs of New York City painted the children of Donald Trump. Stephen Gjertsen and Allan Banks have both appeared on the covers of American Artist Magazine and have been the subjects of feature articles. Our own Virgil Elliott has been honored with feature articles on technique in Portrait Signature magazine. Numerous museum exhibitions have been held for them from coast to coast, as well as a multitude of books and articles written about them. Dozens have won countless awards and honors, where 25 years ago they wouldn't have even been allowed in the competitions. And their works are in the collections of dozens of museums around the country.
The art world needs a living, thriving, dynamic community of artists who honor that 500 years of knowledge and tradition and who are helping to reinstall proper standards and rigor in our art schools and institutions of art education. ARC promotes a growing number of "ateliers" modeled after the systems of prior centuries, for the purpose of producing new generations of great art and artists. The Traditional and Classical Realists see no contradiction in valuing Impressionism and Academic art in the same breath, in fact there is nothing mutually exclusive about these two styles. The great masterpieces of tomorrow will come from expressing universal themes or contemporary subjects by blending Impressionistic techniques with a solid foundation in drawing, modeling, composition and perspective; the right blend to be determined by the artist and the needs of the specific subject being treated. Ultimately, history will see these artists as the indispensable link between the 19th and 21st centuries. They courageously swam against the tide and it is with great privilege that I have been asked to help lead this essential cultural shift back to sanity and forward to new and greater levels of human artistic achievement. I ask all who agree with the importance of our mission to join the ART RENEWAL CENTER now. With an active and growing membership, we are having a real impact and truly making a difference. Once again great art from living masters must be shown in world class museums, and a talented child instead of being given some oblique admonishment to go and "do your own thing," must instead be able to find trained, knowledgeable and experienced professionals in our schools and universities from whom they can receive a solid foundation based on real knowledge and training.
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