Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

The Politics of Taste: Does taste exist? Who makes the judgements and on what
basis?

In this essay I will study the reason for taste discrimination and why it can differ
so across the classes. What is bad taste or good taste? And who gets to decide, if
anyone? I will be looking closely at the subject of kitsch, which has caused great
controversy and debate on the subject of taste.

Kitsch was given its name by the Germans for all that is cheap, mass-produced
and typically without artist merit (in the eye’s of a art connoisseur). A reflection
on the over-sentimentalised art and literature of the 19 th century, kitsch now
embodies within it categorization such elements as: tiny ships in bottle’s,
snowstorms, the Royal Family, Tretchikoff’s ‘Green Lady’, pictured X, poodles,
tartan, Michael Jackson, flamingo’s and even religion. It was thought within the
art world that such an influence could be threatening to culture. Such critics as
Clement Greenburg were strongly opposed of such an introduction; kitsch was
the art of the “peasant… insensible to the values of genuine culture”1. He
describes the journey of the illiterate peasant masses moving from the villages to
the cities and becoming urbanised, learning to read and write but still not fully
embracing the cities tradition, and craving for their folk culture. And so within
the free-market economy demand-pull brought Kitsch into existence. A mass
culture critique threatened artistic values. Its popularity became a “vessel for
anxieties about mass culture intrusion into the well cultured world of taste and
social class”2. A mass culture critique threatened artistic values.

Though this might be an insensitive reasoning for Kitsch’s existence, Greenburg

does have a valid point. Kitsch was born out of market demand, not supply, as
such it is “mechanical and operates by formulas”3. It is a business decision and
not an artistic one. The industrial revolution made all this possible because
kitsch takes from the “reservoir of accumulated experience” 4 to meet it’s end.
Kitsch is “academic”5, using the methods of industrialism to mechanize and
displace handicraft, chiefly for the acquisition of greater profits. So is it then
soulless?

Well, Greenburg goes on to talk about Kitsch “spilling from the city and flowing
over the countryside, wiping out folk culture” and “defacing native cultures” 6.
But kitsch has not been forced upon the masses by any means. Customers have
soberly and emotionally bought items of kitsch because it appeals to their taste.
1
Clement Greenburg, Art and Culture (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London,
1973)p.10
2
William Bird, Paint by Number (Princeton Architectural Press, New York,
2001)p.5
3
Clement Greenburg, Art and Culture (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London,
1973)p.10
4
Clement Greenburg, Art and Culture (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London,
1973)p.10
5
Clement Greenburg, Art and Culture (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London,
1973)p.10
6
Clement Greenburg, Art and Culture (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London,
1973)p.12

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

In a similar way to how folk art might appeal. Taste is so highly personal; it
defines “our values, our aspirations, our beliefs and our identities” 7. Humans are
materialistic creatures and we crave objects to define us, to give us soul. So, only
through viewing the world like some ant farm or some History Museum, like
Greenburg does to some respect, insensitive of the individual’s happiness and
determined to keep cultures in a status quo, could you be forgiven for thinking
that Kitsch is soulless.

Taste is subjective, this is known, but it does not stop there being distinction and
discrimination among contrasting tastes. Kitsch is violently despised by millions,
but it is loved by many millions more. Vladimir Tretchikoff was the self-taught
painter, and “King of Kitsch”, who made more money than Picasso ever did.
Picasso, heralded as a genius of the 20th century and one of the greatest artists
ever, made less than Tretchikoff did, who’s most famous print, ‘Green Lady’
(pictured Figure 1), is described by the critic William Feaver as “arguably the
most unpleasant work of art to be published in the 20 th century”8. How so?

The change in tastes can be measured within a culture as a sociological study.

Pierre Bourdieu studied many different aspects of taste from clothing to food,
and music to art, through a range of socially classed individuals. For instance,
farm workers gave their opinions on music against those of the clergy and
scholarly. He reason’s that we are all snobs, and with further lucidity goes on to
explain why kitsch is so loved by the masses. “In a sense, one can say that [our]
capacity to see (voir) is a function of [our] knowledge (savoir)”9, and with
something like high art a required amount of prior knowledge and “cultural
competence”10 is needed to extrapolate some enjoyment from it. Greenburg calls
such a requirement for the appreciation of art as “conditioning”, which the
“peasant” lacks. This is not because of stupidity but merely because of
sociological differences like: age, sex, family, education, and country of origin,
which Bourdieu justly points out. “A beholder who lacks the specific code feels
lost in a chaos of sounds and rhythms, colours and lines without rhyme or
reason……the “eye” is a product of history reproduced by education” 11. High art
requires the “peasant” to look beyond the initial emotive response got from the
art and reach a place that requires the implementation of some “cognitive
acquirement”12. A code which he lacks. It should also be noted somewhat that
that which pleases should be distinguished from that which gratifies, because
what an appreciator of kitsch art (like a Tretchikoff) gets from it is different from

7
Penny Sparke, As Long As It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste (Harper Collins
Publishers, London, 1995) p.5
8
William Feaver, The Green Lady (BBC Documentary, directed by Alan Yentob,
1974)
9
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste
(Routledge Publishers, London, 1984)p.2
10
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste
(Routledge Publishers, London, 1984)p.2
11
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste
(Routledge Publishers, London, 1984)p.2-3
12
Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste
(Routledge Publishers, London, 1984)p.3

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

what an appreciator of high art (like a J W Turner) will get from that. Much like
an intellectual conundrum high art can be presented, and with the say-so of
respected and elitist critics that it is “good” art, but it can be very stressful for the
“peasant” onlooker. What’s going on here? Why has he done that? Why would
anybody want to that? Is it ok for me not to like this even if it’s hung in such a
grand museum? Maybe I don’t know best. It is only for the onlooker that
possesses this “key” that he can unravel this mystery and ascertain gratification
from it.

Whereas kitsch art presents the “peasant” with something far more easily
digestible, here is presented with something that he can have an immediate
emotive response to, it reflects his world, and pleases his imagination. Nothing is
hidden. There is no elitism. He is the one with the code here. On a BBC show
about Tretchikoff’s ‘Green Lady’, admirers sang such praises of the painting, such
as it’s “soothing and calming qualities”, it’s “meaningful beauty” and her
“spiritual meaning”13. Tretchikoff tuned into peoples artistic sense not unlike the
Beatles, and this infuriated critics, who couldn’t understand his universal appeal.

Recently, the Chateau de Versailles ran an exhibition of the work of artist Jeff
Koons within the Palace and gardens. The Chateau de Versailles is a powerful
symbol of elitism and superior classes, not only because the Royal Family resided
there for more than a hundred years but also because Louis XIV brought together
all his advisor and provincial rulers to establish the Court of Versailles in 1682.
The Court of Versailles was then the source of ultimate power within France.
Louis XIV wanted to distance himself from Paris and the rest of France, and
guard himself sufficiently from it, whilst maintaining absolute power. Today, it is
still used some for political functions but it is more recognised for being one of
France’s leading tourist attractions. It’s main function now to satisfy paying
tourists it’s supreme elitism has gone in reality, yet, for many staunch admirers
of history, the Chateau of Versailles will eternally remain a symbol of high
nobility and monarchy. Should a building and its values not evolve? It is only
because of such an evolution in times that Jeff Koons, a controversial artist of pop
culture, could exhibit at Versailles.

The exhibition ran from September 10th, 2008 to January 4th, 2009 and it was
held throughout the Royal Apartments (running across the entire top floor of the
Chateau), as well a couple of the larger pieces, Balloon Flower and Split-Rocker,
situated in the gardens. Koons’ selected his works and positioned them within
the rooms with the aim to juxtapose and highlight the artwork and it’s
relationship with the surrounding art and decoration. Probably one of Jeff Koons’
most well recognized artworks is Rabbit (pictured Figure 2), which looks like an
inflatable toy is in fact fashioned from stainless steel. This gives it a strange
transience, as if just a breeze could knock the piece from its plinth. It’s highly
reflective surface mimics and distorts the surrounding environment. The Palace
is lavishly adorned with extraordinary Baroque furniture, exquisite marble
statues, amazing ceiling and wall murals and all that was necessary in pleasing
the Roi Soleil. All this becomes reflected and so Versailles becomes part of the
artwork. Koons’ work does have a garishness and an opulence that seems at
13
William Feaver, The Green Lady (BBC Documentary, directed by Alan Yentob,
1974)

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

home within such surroundings, although obviously out of place. Rabbit is

probably more expensive than it’s surrounding furniture, but its playfulness and
synthetic cheapness deceive the eye.

There is an immense seriousness within the Chateau de Versailles. All is sacred,

and incredibly valuable (and not just in monetary terms). Even the walls are
treasured and as such one is only allowed to touch his feet to the ground. On first
impression of Koons’ giant Balloon Dog (pictured Figure 3), which greets the
tourist at the entrance of the exhibition, the viewer is likely to have spent more
than an hour on the Ground floor before slowly spiralling up through the
chateau, and it’s childlike innocence can be such a mental relief from the
pressures of austerity. One no longer has to be an academic, an appreciator, an
historian, or a person of taste, but just be. Its childishness is freely open to either
attack or praise. It stands tall within the high ceilinged room, twice the height of
a normal person, but its size doesn’t make it imposing or serious. We can all
remember as a child being handed a balloon dog, after watching a magician or
clown render it from a tube balloon like magic. Balloon Dog brings us back to a
time of childlike wonder. Kitsch can do this to us; it is only through taste or adult
austerity that people reject it. If somebody does not like such art as Balloon Dog
it is because ‘they have been told they were not supposed to like it” 14. It is Koons’
dream that art can help “stimulate social mobility” to create “a society where
every citizen will be of blue blood”15

Koon’s himself believes “that taste is really unimportant”16. His comment could
be more about the importance that is placed upon individual taste, as well as
collective taste, just like the Chateau of Versailles is so shrouded in, than
denouncing taste altogether. It’s an audacious comment which could of been said
to further his own artistic image, one of controversy, because Koons is a
salesman and knows how to self-promote. In the late 80’s he took out
advertisements in art magazines showing himself surrounded by success,
educating children, and sitting in thrones. He understands that “salespeople are
at the front line of culture”17 because that is where the real morality is played out
in society today. “To a great extent, consumer products have replaced art in
reflecting and shaping people’s desires”18 because they can “externalise and
objectify the soul’s inner stirrings”19. Art has lost the potency of general
appreciation that brought it into existence, and where art has fallen short,

14
Jeff Koons, ‘The Jeff Koons Handbook’ (Thames and Hudson Ltd., Anthony
D’Offay Gallery, 1992)p.112
15
Jeff Koons, ‘The Jeff Koons Handbook’ (Thames and Hudson Ltd., Anthony
D’Offay Gallery, 1992)p.31
16
Jeff Koons, ‘The Jeff Koons Handbook’ (Thames and Hudson Ltd., Anthony
D’Offay Gallery, 1992)p.101
17
Jeff Koons, ‘Easyfun-ethereal' (Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, New York,
2001)p.40
18
Daniela Salvioni, ‘Jeff Koons: Jeff Koons’ Poetics of Class’ (San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1992)p.19
19
Daniela Salvioni, Jeff Koons: Jeff Koons’ Poetics of Class (San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1992)p.19

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

consumer products and Kitsch items such as model ship’s in glass bottles and
prints of Tretchikoff’s paintings, have provided for the people.

Bibliography

Bourdieu ,Pierre ‘Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste’

(Routledge Publishers, London, 1984)

Brown, Curtis F. ‘ Star-Spangled Kitsch: an astounding and tastelessly illustrated

exploration of the bawdy, gaudy, shoddy mass-art culture in this grand land of
ours’ (Universe Books, New York, 1975)

Greenburg, Clement ‘Art and Culture’ (Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1973)

Hemingway, Wayne ‘Just above the mantel piece’ (Booth-Clibborn, London, 2000)

Hemingway, Wayne ‘KITSCH: 20th century icons’ (Absolute Press, London, 1999)

Koons, Jeff ‘Easyfun-ethereal’ (Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, New York, 2001)

Koons, Jeff ‘Jeff Koons’ (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco,
1992)

Koons, Jeff ‘The Jeff Koons Handbook’ (Thames and Hudson Ltd., Anthony D’Offay
Gallery, 1992)

Sparke, Penny ‘As Long As It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste’ (Harper Collins
Publishers, London, 1995)

Van Der Kemp, Gerald ‘Strolling Through the Estate’ (Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
for Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, 1978)

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

Figure 1 'Chinese Girl' aka 'The Green Lady' by Vladimir Tretchikoff, 1952

Written by Sam Newton

Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

Figure 2 'Bunny' by Jeff Koons, Jeff Koons Versailles, 2008

Written by Sam Newton

 Spring Term Essay - Tutor Cat Rossi

Figure 3 'Balloon Dog' by Jeff Koons, Jeff Koons Versailles, 2008

Written by Sam Newton