SWK wrote:You will see the day that Zion will be far ahead of the outside world in everything pertaining to learning of every kind as we are today in regard to religious
matters.
Kimball's vision of utter Mormon domination of the arts worldwide ultimately to the end of flooding the earth with Mormon propaganda, in all its horror, is plainly laid out in his 1976 talk, "The Gospel vision of the Arts". The parallels to Soviet, state sanctioned works of doctrinal propaganda are hard to miss. Further, Mormon art seems to a large degree to have aligned itself with bland, socialist realism. And I think there are good reasons for this. Granted, as Christopher Lasch and others have pointed out, no art is free from ideology and the Unites States most certainly played its own hand in a cold war over superior culture with the Soviet Union. It would seem as if Kimball, like many other power-brokers of modern times, saw a necessary connection between superior political ideology and the development of high culture. I'm not taking personal sides here on who had the upper moral hand in the culture war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., but I think it's noteworthy that the "American religion" which praises capitalism and prophesied against communism rejected American trends for an LDS socialist realism and Soviet hero worship where Joseph Smith and Brigham Young take the place of Stalin and Lennin. The American answer to the rigidity of Soviet art forms was, in a cry for freedom, to wholesale embrace modern art and twentieth century music. It would appear that Mormonism and the American message of freedom aren't nearly as compatible as Ezra Taft Benson would liked to have believed. Before continuing though, let's take a look at some of points Kimball made in his address, points that, ironically enough, border on the madness and lunaticary he disparages. These comments make clear the Church's necessity to dominate the world through superior art:
In the field of both composition and performance, why cannot someone write a
greater oratorio than Handel’s Messiah? The best has not yet been composed nor produced. They can use the coming of Christ to the Nephites as the material for a greater masterpiece.
How could one ever portray in words and music the glories of the coming of the Father and the Son and the restoration of the doctrines and the priesthood and the keys unless he were an inspired Latter-day Saint, schooled in the history and doctrines and revelations and with rich musical ability and background and training?
It has been said that many of the great artists were perverts or moral degenerates. In spite of their immorality they became great and celebrated artists. What could be the result if discovery were made of equal talent in men who were clean and free from the vices, and thus entitled to revelations?
They must be faithful, inspired, active Church members to give life and feeling
and true perspective to a subject so worthy. Such masterpieces should run for months in every movie center, cover every part of the globe in the tongues of the people, written by great artists, purified by the best critics.
One last quote is especially interesting:
We must recognize that excellence and quality are a reflection of how we feel
about ourselves and about life and about God. If we don’t care much about these basic
things, then such not caring carries over into the work we do, and our work becomes
shabby and shoddy.
SWK, in his presuppositions and prophetic vision has strangely enough, set up a "by their fruits" test hypothesis for the church's truthfulness akin to the American/Soviet assumptions that the greater art will directly and naïvely correlate with the greater moral right and political truth. The bizarre, mind-twisting verdict of this test will be explored in the final part of this post.
wiki on Social Realism wrote:Communist doctrine decreed that all material goods and means of production belonged to
the community as a whole. This included works of art and the means of producing art, which were also seen as powerful propaganda tools
SWK wrote:Brigham Young said, “Every accomplishment, every refined talent every useful attainment in mathematics, music, and in all sciences and art belong to the Saints.”
The ends of art as propaganda rang through clearly in the above quotes. On another post, I noted the Encyclopedia of Mormonism's pale outlook on Mormon art:
Much discussion about a "Mormon aesthetic" has taken place in recent years, but it seems that the very personal nature of this spiritual artistic quest prevents the attainment of a prevalent aesthetic.
Yet absent that prevalent aesthetic, it's unlikely that the church could ever develop something along the lines of a "high art" to beacon the world with. The implication not only being that Mormon art is behind the times, but will never find its way into the grand vision of Spencer W. Kimball. Noting the lag of LDS style, Benson Parkinson comments,
Swanson follows Art and Belief through two more generations. Wulf Barsch is credited with "breath[ing] new life into the sagging Mormon art movement and basically
propell[ing] it into the 1980s. . Barsch's exploration of spiritual-mystical themes through his own very private interpretations has established him as one of America's premier religious artists" (201-2). There is truth to the term "private interpretations,"
Wulf Barsch's work is also cited in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism's article. I like Barsch's experimental art, and I'd be interested if any church owned buildings outside of BYU feature it. I have a hard time finding a revolution in Barsch, however, because "private interpretations" raise an eyebrow with the brethren. There seems to be a natural tension between the blind obedience expected by Mormonism and any progressive art forms or thinking for one's self in a spiritual way.
There have been some links to Mormon art on other threads, and I have to say that popular Mormon art fits the bill as described by the Encyclopedia of Mormonism as,
"...primarily oriented toward service in the Church, much of it has been didactic.
Yes, expressly realistic and naïve didactic art fits well within totalitarian regimes. There is in intent, no room for interpretation, the message is clear and promotional for the autocrat. Look at the similarities between Liz Swindel's paintings and those faithful to Stalinism:
http://www.ldsart.com/ll660.php
wiki on Soviet art wrote:Painters would depict happy, muscular peasants and workers in factories and collective farms; during the Stalin period, they also produced numerous heroic portraits of the dictator to serve his cult of personality.
http://www.ldsart.com/llrevenge.php
Who can't help but think of "Roses for Stalin" as the great prophet makes time for the children? And lets not forget the 4,000 pound statues of Steven Lloyd.
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/medicin ... igham.html
Will there be a day when gigantic statues of Smith and Brigham line the streets as a reminder of Mormonism's world conquest? Perhaps only in SWK's wild imagination. But, lest the apologists reading think I'm stretching the connection to Stalinism, note that Parkinson is more hopeful (or current) than the author of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism's piece in the quest for a Mormon art style. He writes (in comment on Utah art histories he's reviewing),
The most surprising development in Utah art," they write, ". .. has been the incredible rise of classical realism in Utah County...BYU ought to encourage it because it spoke so immediately to ordinary Mormons.
Another thought I had a few years back on seeing all the Soviet realism that Swanson was collecting for the Springville museum, was that BYU ought to take advantage of some of the Russian emigres to give a boost to what could become a world-class tradition here.
Indeed! While the thought a world baptized in Mormon "tractor art" is thoroughly repulsive, we have to acknowledge the possibility that a didactic socialist realism might be the only viable option for a Mormon "High Art" that would fulfill SWK's pipe dream. Which leaves Mormonism in a strange dilemma, either to fail SWK's test hypothesis and admit defeat as the world premiere venue of the arts and stick with its rampant and often vulgar popular art, thus falsifying the church, or pick up where Stalin left off with all its totalitarian implications.
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SWK
Art from EoM
Lasch etc.
Socialist realism
Benson Parkinson
High Culture
