<A>
The “form" and the “content" of an art work: *
Form versus content was a major feature of the Abstract movement in the early 20th century. Gombrich (The Story of Art, 1950) sums up the situation. Art had begun with the artist receiving commissions (which always included a subject) from patrons. This was more often the Church, sometimes a prince or city, later a state. This was the default until the 17th century when artists began to seek buyers themselves, using themes that they felt were marketable. With the Impressionists artists began to consider more openly the problems of their craft. They were interested in the effect of light in the open, not scenes with literary appeal or market value. As early as 1871 Whistler named a portrait of his mother “Arraignment in grey and black”. It was a study of colour and design more than a portrait. Cezanne at the same time produced works which were clearly no longer content based or representational. His problem was achieving depth without sacrificing the brightness of colours, achieving depth without sacrificing an orderly arrangement. He was prepared to sacrifice the conventional correctness of outline to achieve his own personal artistic aim. (Still Life 1879, Mountains in Provence 1886). Thus Impressionism began to turn the table away from the audience to the artist. Painting what they saw was no longer a desired objective, in any case cameras could do it faster and more accurately! From 1900 onwards form not content was where the artist invested his time & effort. And since the form was determined by the artists own problem or study, it made increasingly little sense to an audience. As Paul Gauguin said:
"The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art's audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public."
​
​
<B>
“complete inversion…of pictorial elements”: *
“The problem is purely a Western one, and reveals' most strikingly the complete inversion in the significance of pictorial elements that took place when the Renaissance closed down…” Spengler is arguing that Faustian pictorial art became focused on space, with greater & greater concentration on perspective, atmospheric perspective and the illusions of 3D. This focus meant that form became the dominant element, dominant over content. The artist worked to solve problems of form using content as his medium. During the earlier Gothic Cultural period (Spring), the aim of the artist was the expression of content, and form was simply the medium.
<C>
“instrumental music of the grand style came to the front”: *
The shift from Renaissance to Baroque was indeed a sea change and more than just a shift for the human voice towards instruments.
Renaissance composers did not write for a specific instrument; any instrument able to play the range was acceptable. Baroque composers wrote for specific instruments, to fully accommodate its unique characteristics. We also see a change in texture. Medieval & Renaissance music used contrapuntal polyphony, all voices are equal. With the Baroque the melody & bass line accompaniment are the 2 key voices. Along with this came change in musical aesthetics, towards instruments able to impress the audience. An instrument might now play the solo melody; as such it needed to be the best choice for that specific part. Baroque composers wrote for instruments capable of carrying a melodic line alone: louder, higher, and able to achieve a variety of dynamics. Finally, in the 16th century the orchestration was based on “consorts” of mixed-instrument or instrument-& voice ensembles. A heterogeneous texture prevailed. The Baroque develops the concertato style, featuring a larger overarching ensemble, from which sub-groups of the same instrument were selected to play successive musical phrases in different styles, or to perform simultaneously in different manners.