Anarchism has long had an association with
the arts, particularly with visual art, music
and literature.This can be dated back to the
start of anarchism as a named political concept,
and the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
on the French realist painter Gustave Courbet.
In an essay on Courbet of 1857 Proudhon had
set out a principle for art, which he saw
in the work of Courbet, that it should show
the real lives of the working classes and
the injustices working people face at the
hands of the bourgeoisie.However, very quickly
this was refuted by the French novelist Émile
Zola who objected to Proudhon advocating freedom
for all in the name of anarchism, but then
placing stipulations on artists as to what
they should depict in their works.
This opened up a division in thinking on anarchist
art which is still apparent today, with some
anarchist writers and artists advocating a
view that art should be propagandistic and
used to further the anarchist cause, and others
that anarchism should free the artist from
the requirements to serve a patron and master
and be free to pursue their own interests
and agendas.
In recent years the first of these approaches
has been argued by writers such as Patricia
Leighten and the second by Michael Paraskos.Significant
writers on the relationship between art and
anarchism include:
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Peter Kropotkin
Herbert Read
Alex Comfort
George Woodcock
David Goodway
Allan Antliff
Cindy MilsteinDespite this history of a close
relationship between art and anarchism some
anarchist writers, such as Peter Kropotkin
and Herbert Read, have argued that in an anarchist
society the role of the artist would disappear
completely as all human activity would become,
in itself, artistic.
This is a view of art in society that sees
creativity as intrinsic to all human activity,
whereas the effect of bourgeois capitalism
has been to strip human life of its creative
aspects through industrial standardisation,
the atomisation of production processes and
the professionalisation of art through the
education system.However, for some writers
on art and anarchism artists would not disappear
as they would continue to provide an anarchist
society with a space in which to continue
to imagine new ways of understanding and organising
reality, as well as a space in which to face
possible fears similar to Noël Carroll's
theory of the function of horror stories and
films in current society, 'Art-horror is the
price we are willing to pay for the revelation
of that which is impossible and unknown, of
that which violates our conceptual schema.’
== Historical notes ==
According to David Goodway:
Anarchism had a significant influence on French
Symbolism of the late 19th century, such as
that of Stéphane Mallarmé, who was quoted
as saying "Je ne sais pas d'autre bombe, qu'un
livre."
(I know of no bomb other than a book.)
Its ideas infiltrated the cafes and cabarets
of turn-of-the-century Paris (see the Drunken
Boat #2).
Oscar Wilde’s 1891 essay "The Soul of Man
under Socialism" has been seen as advocating
anarchism.
Oscar Wilde "stated in an interview that he
believed he was ‘something of an Anarchist’,
but previously said, ‘In the past I was
a poet and a tyrant.
Now I am an anarchist and artist.’"Many
American artists of the early 20th century
came under the influence of anarchist ideas,
while others embraced anarchism as an ideology.
The Ashcan School of American realism included
anarchist artists, as well as artists such
as Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) and George
Bellows (1882-1925) who were influenced by
anarchist ideas.
Abstract expressionism also included anarchist
artists such as Mark Rothko and painters such
as Jackson Pollock, who had adopted radical
ideas during his experience as a muralist
for the Works Progress Administration.
Pollock's father had also been a Wobbly.
David Weir has argued in Anarchy and Culture
that anarchism only had some success in the
sphere of cultural avant-gardism because of
its failure as a political movement; cognizant
of anarchism's claims to overcome the barrier
between art and political activism, he nevertheless
suggests that this is not achieved in reality.
Weir suggests that for the "ideologue" it
might be possible to adapt "aesthetics to
politics", but that "from the perspective
of the poet" a solution might be to "adapt
the politics to the aesthetics".
He identifies this latter strategy with anarchism,
on account of its individualism.
Weir has also suggested that "the contemporary
critical strategy of aestheticizing politics"
among Marxists such as Fredric Jameson results
from the demise of Marxism as a state ideology.
"The situation whereby ideology attempts to
operate outside of politics has already pointed
Marxism toward postmodernist culture, just
as anarchism moved into the culture of modernism
when it ceased to have political validity".Late
20th century examples of anarchism and the
arts include the collage works by James Koehnline,
Johan Humyn Being, and others whose work was
being published in anarchist magazines such
as Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and
Fifth Estate.
The Living Theatre, a theatrical troupe headed
by Judith Malina and Julian Beck, were outspoken
about their anarchism, often incorporating
anarchistic themes into their performances.
In the 1990s, anarchists became involved in
the mail art movement – "art which uses
the postal service in some way".
This relates to the involvement of many anarchists
in the zine movement.
Some contemporary anarchists make art in the
form of flyposters, stencils, and radical
puppets.
== Visual art ==
=== Nineteenth century realism ===
Visual art was considered one of the most
important aspects of anarchist activity from
the birth of anarchism, with Pierre-Joseph
Proudhon writing on his friend and contemporary
Gustav Courbet in the essay "Du Principe de
l'art", published 1865, that 'The task of
art is to warn us, to praise us, to teach
us, to make us blush by confronting us with
the mirror of our own conscience.'
Courbet also went on to paint Proudhon on
several occasions.
Similarly Courbet wrote in 1850:
In our so very civilized society it is necessary
for me to live the life of a savage.
I must be free even of governments.
The people have my sympathies, I must address
myself to them directly.
=== Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism ===
Among the Impressionists the artist Camille
Pissarro is known to have had strong anarchist
sympathies which led him to recommend to his
children that they change their surnames to
avoid being associated with his political
beliefs.
Pissarro's anarchism brought him into contact
with the younger artists who formed the Neo-Impressionist
group, particularly Paul Signac, Henri-Edmond
Cross, Charles Angrand, Theo van Rysselberghe
and Maximillien Luce, who were active in anarchist
circles, particularly those of the political
activist Jean Grave, who encouraged other
anarchist activists to embrace the potential
of art to further their cause.
In their collaborations they established a
tripartite relationship between art and anarchism,
still debated to this day, in which the artist
could be employed for direct propagandistic
purposes, or could show images of the true
condition of the proletariat, or, more controversially,
envision future realities towards which an
anarchist revolution might aspire.
It is in this latter context that the bucolic
images of the south of France by artists such
as Cross and Signac should be viewed as anarchist
paintings.
=== Cubism and Futurism ===
Patricia Leighten has shown that Spanish cubist
painter Juan Gris was an artist with strong
anarchist sympathies, although she argues
this is only evident in his overtly political
cartoons.
She suggests his cubist still lives, deliberately
eschewed anarchist subject matter so that
he 'self-consciously drained his paintings
of political import, avoiding such anarchist
subjects as prostitutes and neutralised his
radical style'.
However, drawing on the principle established
by Neo-Impressionist artists such as Cross
and Signac, that anarchist art can also involve
visualising alternative realities for an anarchist
society, Michael Paraskos has criticised this
reading of Gris's paintings, saying that this
form of anarchism seems to demand that 'artists
conform to a pre- determined template to define
their work as radical.
Cartoons of prostitutes are anarchist; paintings
of bottles, playing cards and fruit are not.'Though
typically not associated with futurism, anarchism
had some minor influence on Futurism.
Carlo Carrà's best known work was The Funeral
of the Anarchist Galli, painted in 1911.
In the 1912 catalogue for the Futurists' first
Parisian exhibition Umberto Boccioni remarked
"the sheaves of lines corresponding to all
the conflicting forces, following the general
law of violence" which he labeled force lines
encapsulating the Futurist idea of physical
transcendentalism.
Mark Antliff has suggested that this futurist
aesthetic was "designed to involve the spectator
in the very politics that led to Italy's intervention
in World War I and, ultimately, to the rise
of Fascism in Italy".
The art historian Giovanni Lista has identified
this aesthetic as first appearing in the anarcho-syndicalist
current, where Marinetti encountered the Sorelian
"myths of action and violence".
The individualist anarchist philosopher and
poet Renzo Novatore belonged to the leftist
section of futurism alongside other individualist
anarcho-futurists such as Dante Carnesecchi,
Leda Rafanelli, Auro d'Arcola, and Giovanni
Governato.
=== Surrealism ===
Surrealism was both an artistic and political
movement aims at the liberation of the human
being from the constraints of capitalism,
the state, and the cultural forces that limit
the reign of the imagination.
From its origins individualist anarchists
like Florent Fels opposed it with his magazine
Action: Cahiers individualistes de philosophie
et d'art.
However faced with the popularity of surrealism
Fels' magazine closed in 1922.
The movement developed in France in the wake
of World War I with André Breton (1896–1966)
as its main theorist and poet.
Originally it was tied closely to the Communist
Party.
Later, Breton, a close friend of Leon Trotsky,
broke with the Communist Party and embraced
anarchism, even writing in the publication
of the French Anarchist Federation.
By the end of World War II the surrealist
group led by Breton had decided to explicitly
embrace anarchism.
In 1952 Breton wrote "It was in the black
mirror of anarchism that surrealism first
recognised itself."
"Breton was consistent in his support for
the francophone Anarchist Federation and he
continued to offer his solidarity after the
Platformists around Fontenis transformed the
FA into the Federation Communiste Libertaire.
He was one of the few intellectuals who continued
to offer his support to the FCL during the
Algerian War (1954–1962) when the FCL suffered
severe repression and was forced underground.
He sheltered Fontenis whilst he was in hiding.
He refused to take sides on the splits in
the French anarchist movement and both he
and Peret expressed solidarity as well with
the new FA set up by the synthesist anarchists,
and worked in the Antifascist Committees of
the 1960s alongside the FA."
=== Post-Second World War modernism ===
In the period after World War II the relationship
between art and anarchism was articulated
by a number of theorists including Alex Comfort,
Herbert Read and George Woodcock.
Although each wrote from perspectives supportive
of modernist art they refused to accept the
position put forward by Clement Greenberg
that modernist art had no political, social
or narrative meaning, a view that would have
curtailed an anarchist reading of modern art.
In his study on the relationship between modern
art and radical politics, Social Radicalism
and the Arts, Donald Drew Egbert argued that
in fact modern artists were often most at
home with an anarchist understanding of the
position of the place of the artist in society
than either a de-politicised Greenbergian
or a Marxist understanding of the role of
art.
=== Contemporary art ===
In contemporary art anarchism can take diverse
forms, from carnivalesque street art, to graffiti
art and graphic novels, to various traditional
forms of art, including painting, sculpture,
video and photography.
== Music ==
A number of performers and artists have either
been inspired by anarchist concepts, or have
used the medium of music and sound in order
to promote anarchist ideas and politics.
French singers-songwriters Léo Ferré and
Georges Brassens are maybe the first to do
so, in the fifties and beyond.
Punk rock is one movement that has taken much
inspiration from the often potent imagery
and symbolism associated with anarchism and
Situationist rhetoric, if not always the political
theory.
In the past few decades, anarchism has been
closely associated with the punk rock movement,
and has grown because of that association
(whatever other effects that has had on the
movement and the prejudiced pictures of it).
Indeed, many anarchists were introduced to
the ideas of Anarchism through that symbolism
and the anti-authoritarian sentiment which
many punk songs expressed.
Anarcho-punk, on the other hand, is a current
that has been more explicitly engaged with
anarchist politics, particularly in the case
of bands such as Crass, Poison Girls, (early)
Chumbawamba, The Ex, Flux of Pink Indians,
Rudimentary Peni, The Apostles, Riot/Clone,
Conflict, Oi Polloi, Sin Dios, Propagandhi,
Citizen Fish, Bus Station Loonies etc.
Many other bands, especially at the local
level of unsigned groups, have taken on what
is known as a "punk" or "DIY" ethic: that
is, Doing It Yourself, indeed a popular Anarcho-punk
slogan reads "DIY not EMI", a reference to
a conscious rejection of the major record
company.
Some groups who began as 'anarcho-punk' have
attempted to move their ideas into a more
mainstream musical arena, for instance, Chumbawamba,
who continue to support and promote anarchist
politics despite now playing more dance music
and pop influenced styles.
Techno music is also connected strongly to
anarchists and eco-anarchists, as many of
the events playing these types of music are
self-organised and put on in contravention
of national laws.
Sometimes doors are pulled off empty warehouses
and the insides transformed into illegal clubs
with cheap (or free) entrance, types of music
not heard elsewhere and quite often an abundance
of different drugs.
Other raves may be held outside, and are viewed
negatively by the authorities.
In the UK, the Criminal Justice Bill (1994)
outlawed these events (raves) and brought
together a coalition of socialists, ravers
and direct actionists who opposed the introduction
of this 'draconian' Act of Parliament by having
a huge 'party&protest' in the Centre of London
that descended into one of the largest riots
of the 1990s in Britain.
Digital hardcore, an electronic music genre,
is also overtly anarchist; Atari Teenage Riot
is the most widely recognized digital hardcore
band.
It should be noted that both Digital Hardcore,
Techno and related genres are not the sole
preserve of anarchists; people of many musical,
political or recreational persuasions are
involved in these musical scenes.
Heavy Metal bands such as Sweden's Arch Enemy
and Germany's Kreator have also embraced anarchistic
themes in their lyrics and imagery.
The genre of folk punk or "radical folk" has
become increasingly prevalent in protest culture,
with artists like David Rovics openly asserting
anarchist beliefs.
Negativland's The ABCs of Anarchism includes
a reading of material from Alexander Berkman's
Now and After and other anarchist-related
material in a sound collage.
Paul Gailiunas and his late wife Helen Hill
co-wrote the anarchist song "Emma Goldman",
which was performed by the band Piggy: The
Calypso Orchestra of the Maritimes and released
on their 1999 album Don't Stop the Calypso:
Songs of Love and Liberation.
After Helen and Paul moved to New Orleans,
Paul started a new band called The Troublemakers
and re-released the song "Emma Goldman" on
their 2004 album Here Come The Troublemakers.
Proclaiming the motto "It's your duty as a
citizen to troublemake," other songs on the
album include "International Flag Burning
Day."
== Artists and artworks inspired by anarchism
==
=== Visual arts ===
=== Comics/sequential art ===
=== Music ===
Georges Brassens
Léo Ferré
Amour Anarchie
Il n'y a plus rien
La Violence et l'Ennui
Étienne Roda-Gil
La Makhnovtchina
=== Prose ===
=== Poetry ===
=== Television/film ===
Peter Watkins
Julian Beck
Actor, director and painter who founded "The
Living Theatre" with Judith Malina.
Luis Buñuel
In particular, his documentary Las Hurdes:
Tierra Sin Pan.
Peter Coyote
Martin B. Duberman
Mother Earth: An Epic Drama of Emma Goldman's
Life
Jon Jost
Nelly Kaplan
Adonis Kyrou
Judith Malina
Actress who was an integral part of the "Living
Theater" with her husband
Godfrey Reggio
Jean Vigo
Yoshishige Yoshida
Directed Eros Plus Massacre, about anarchists
Sakae Ōsugi and Noe Itō.
Yu Yong-Sik
Directed Anarchists, about an underground
cell of insurrectionary anarchists.
=== Theatre/drama ===
Martin B. Duberman
Mother Earth: An Epic Drama of Emma Goldman's
Life (1991)
Tom Stoppard
The Coast of Utopia (A Trilogy) (2002)
Howard Zinn
Emma: A Play in Two Acts about Emma Goldman,
American Anarchist (2002)
Fredy Perlman
Illyria Street Commune
== See also ==
Anarchist symbolism
Anti-art
Artivist
List of fictional anarchists
== Footnotes and citations ==
== Further reading ==
Klaus, H. Gustav; Knight, Stephen Thomas (2005).
‘To Hell with Culture’: Anarchism and
Twentieth-Century British Literature.
Lincoln: University of Wales Press.
ISBN 0-7083-1898-3.
Sonn, Richard (1989).
Anarchism and Cultural Politics in Fin-De-Siècle
France.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
ISBN 0-8032-4175-5.
Shantz, Jeff (2010).
A Creative Passion: Anarchism and Culture.
London: Cambridge Scholars Press.
ISBN 978-1-4438-2334-0.
Antliff, Allan (2001).
Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the
First American Avant-Garde.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN 0-226-02103-3.
Macphee, Josh; Reuland, Erik (2007).
Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority.
Stirling: AK Press.
ISBN 1-904859-32-1.
Antliff, Allan (2007).
Anarchy and Art: From the Paris Commune to
the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Arsenal Pulp Press.
ISBN 1-55152-218-7.
Bruns, Gerald (2006).
On the Anarchy of Poetry and Philosophy: A
Guide for the Unruly.
Fordham University Press.
ISBN 0-8232-2633-6.
Blechman, Max (1994).
Drunken Boat: Art, Rebellion, Anarchy.
Left Bank Books and Autonomedia.
ISBN 978-1-57027-002-4.
Shantz, Jeff (2011).
Against All Authority: Anarchism and the Literary
Imagination.
Imprint Academic.
ISBN 978-1-84540-237-2.
== External links ==
"Anarchism and the arts".
Spunk Library.
Anarchism, Art, & Critical Mass
Anarchism & Science Fiction, a bibliography
of works of science fiction which feature
or were inspired by a theme of anarchism.
When Gendarme Sleeps – Anarchist Zine of
Poetry
Libertarian Communist Library Arts and Culture
Archive
Notes on the history of anarchism in literature:
a chronology
Parser: New Poetry and Poetics, a journal
of anarchist poetry and poetics
People's history of Culture, a working class
and anarchist cultural history page
Anarchism and Film, a database of anarchist
films created by Santiago Juan-Navarro and
hosted by ChristieBooks
