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Thursday, June 2. 2022

QQQ

George Balanchine, paraphrased: "Any distinction between art and entertainment is not worth making."


If something is labeled as "art," I think we tend to give more attention to what is done. Is that right?  




Posted by The Barrister in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 13:46 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0)

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Speaking of entertainment; This was perfect! https://neveryetmelted.com/2022/06/02/winning-response/
#1 OneGuy on 2022-06-02 15:26 (Reply)
I think "modern" art has so devalued the word that we avoid the stuff in favor of entertainment. Some which can be great art., e.g. the set and costume design for the latest iteration of the movie Dune.
#2 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2022-06-02 16:42 (Reply)
I'm sure that Balanchine was speaking the truth, as it referred to his own work. All "entertainment" involves some "art", although it is often of a vulgar or trivial kind.

For me, the difference is that great art speaks for itself over the centuries; it is timeless. Entertainment is tied to a time and place, and often to performers themselves. It tends to fade with time, to seem jejune or dated.

It's not a simple thing to predict which new work will end up in one category or the other, so I tend not to be dogmatic about it. But that does not mean that the distinction is a meaningless one.
#3 Hairless Joe on 2022-06-02 19:30 (Reply)
I think this is right. Most art in history has had religious or deep cultural meaning. Even these might have had an aspect of entertainment in some broad sense, but they didn't think of temples as entertainment in the way we usually think of the word.
#3.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2022-06-03 10:04 (Reply)
I disagree. Art is more important that mere entertainment. Ayn Rand wrote:
QUOTE:
Man’s profound need of art lies in the fact that his cognitive faculty is conceptual, i.e., that he acquires knowledge by means of abstractions, and needs the power to bring his widest metaphysical abstractions into his immediate, perceptual awareness. Art fulfills this need: by means of a selective re-creation, it concretizes man’s fundamental view of himself and of existence. It tells man, in effect, which aspects of his experience are to be regarded as essential, significant, important. In this sense, art teaches man how to use his consciousness. It conditions or stylizes man’s consciousness by conveying to him a certain way of looking at existence.
A perfect example is a painting by Clem Hall, which I first saw in the ante-room of the American Pavilion at Epcot Center. https://www.epcotlegacy.com/america/history/exhibition That's my view of how life should be.

More examples of the art in the America Pavilion are here: https://www.epcotlegacy.com/america/history/exhibition. Those paintings are NOT entertainment; They are metaphysical.
#4 snopercod on 2022-06-02 19:52 (Reply)
Many of us have worked in public buildings where one door is used by smokers and others to step outside for a few minutes. Often these doors are propped open by a piece of wood or sometimes by stuffing tissue into the lock slot to prevent the bolt from engaging. I'm guessing that is what happened in Uvalde. Not just for one teacher to go retrieve her cell phone butt that the door was always open and the lock defeated. How many other school in the U.S. have one door that is always unlocked or the lock defeated?
#5 OneGuy on 2022-06-03 11:46 (Reply)
That's an interesting question. I can largely agree that most entertaining things have artistic stylings in them.

Benny Hill had great timing, and knew acting skills to generate laughter. He practiced his craft, and some would consider it art.

But, many of us find puppies playing and tumbling entertaining. A child's babbling can stir emotion and we can listen for long stretches. I don't know that I'd consider either of those art, even though they are entertaining.
#6 DrTorch (Link) on 2022-06-03 13:00 (Reply)
Pushing aside Balanchine's outsize influence in pushing so many young girls and women into anorexia with his, let's say preference, for skeletal bodies on dancers, he is defining art way to narrowly. Not even just fine art. But he discounts completely the useful arts that bring beauty and function together in the design of say a firearm, or a beautiful drop header on a steam boiler.
#7 JK Brown on 2022-06-04 15:06 (Reply)

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