Overview

“WHAT’S NEEDED—IS NO REST,” Aleksandr Rodchenko declared in the “Manifesto of the Constructivist Group.” We must “go out into all kinds of production anywhere where there is an artistic need.” This book is a synthesis of Rodchenko, Brecht and Eisenstein. Amongst the most influential artists of the interwar period, and among the most influential political artists of the century, between them they tried to develop a socialist theory of art, and a red aesthetic centered around removing barriers to ‘production’. The book is an urgently needed intervention into mainstream interpretations of political art in the twentieth century — and therefore, into the understanding of the relationship between aesthetics and politics. Working in different media—sculpture, posters, photography (Rodchenko), theater (Brecht) and film (Eisenstein)—and in different but often overlapping geographical contexts—Russia, Germany and in Hollywood—they shared a vision of artistic will as the defining quality of leftist art in an age defined by political extremism. This is a deeply controversial and deeply convincing set of arguments, that go right to the heart of contemporary philosophical debates about the relation between aesthetics and politics.

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9781538147092

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Reviews

"[E]ngages in a rigorous Marxist analysis of artistic expression and its relation to society.... Acknowledging in the preface a debt to conferences, symposia, and critical engagement among colleagues, the book reads like an extended seminar. The discussions on Rodchenko and Eisenstein are accompanied by a selection of photographs. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. Red Aesthetics brilliantly understands the relation between art and politics in terms of the relation between meaning and intention, thus offering both a powerful new account of its artists and a subtle and clarifying model for how to think about the ambitions of political art. Extended to a stunning reading of Adorno's anti-fascist pivot ""from class to race,"" this analysis will be a landmark for future work. Red Aesthetics is a tour de force, and Todd Cronan is a uniquely significant voice writing in contemporary cultural and art theory. He displays a distinctive ability to drive analytically to the heart of the contradictions that undergird, and are easily obscured within, aesthetics and critical theory. This book, as does all of Cronan's work, delivers brilliantly on his objective to refashion art as a practice that helps us to understand 'the real social forces of capitalism. Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein: three giants from a world that no longer exists. Avoiding the temptation to smooth their philosophical, political, and aesthetic commitments to conform to contemporary sensibilities, Todd Cronan's brilliant and gripping account reaches into the inner logic of their work, giving it, paradoxically, at the same time renewed vitality and renewed strangeness. We can't selectively highlight the aesthetic aims of Rodchenko, Brecht, and Eisenstein while disregarding their political intent. Red Aesthetics asks us to acknowledge the inseparability of political intentions and formal choices. Developing a capacious, Marxian understanding of realism that encompasses the processual and systematic, abstract and concrete, consciously shaped and contingent, Cronan shows how these artists broke ""the hold of inaccurate pictures of the world."""

"[E]ngages in a rigorous Marxist analysis of artistic expression and its relation to society.... Acknowledging in the preface a debt to conferences, symposia, and critical engagement among colleagues, the book reads like an extended seminar. The discussions on Rodchenko and Eisenstein are accompanied by a selection of photographs. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. -- ""Choice Reviews"" Red Aesthetics brilliantly understands the relation between art and politics in terms of the relation between meaning and intention, thus offering both a powerful new account of its artists and a subtle and clarifying model for how to think about the ambitions of political art. Extended to a stunning reading of Adorno's anti-fascist pivot ""from class to race,"" this analysis will be a landmark for future work. --Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois Red Aesthetics is a tour de force, and Todd Cronan is a uniquely significant voice writing in contemporary cultural and art theory. He displays a distinctive ability to drive analytically to the heart of the contradictions that undergird, and are easily obscured within, aesthetics and critical theory. This book, as does all of Cronan's work, delivers brilliantly on his objective to refashion art as a practice that helps us to understand 'the real social forces of capitalism. --Adolph Reed Jr Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein: three giants from a world that no longer exists. Avoiding the temptation to smooth their philosophical, political, and aesthetic commitments to conform to contemporary sensibilities, Todd Cronan's brilliant and gripping account reaches into the inner logic of their work, giving it, paradoxically, at the same time renewed vitality and renewed strangeness. --Nicholas Brown, associate professor, University of Illinois At Chicago We can't selectively highlight the aesthetic aims of Rodchenko, Brecht, and Eisenstein while disregarding their political intent. Red Aesthetics asks us to acknowledge the inseparability of political intentions and formal choices. Developing a capacious, Marxian understanding of realism that encompasses the processual and systematic, abstract and concrete, consciously shaped and contingent, Cronan shows how these artists broke ""the hold of inaccurate pictures of the world."" --Karla Oeler, associate professor of Film and Media Studies, Stanford University [E]ngages in a rigorous Marxist analysis of artistic expression and its relation to society.... Acknowledging in the preface a debt to conferences, symposia, and critical engagement among colleagues, the book reads like an extended seminar. The discussions on Rodchenko and Eisenstein are accompanied by a selection of photographs. Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. Red Aesthetics brilliantly understands the relation between art and politics in terms of the relation between meaning and intention, thus offering both a powerful new account of its artists and a subtle and clarifying model for how to think about the ambitions of political art. Extended to a stunning reading of Adorno's anti-fascist pivot ""from class to race,"" this analysis will be a landmark for future work. Red Aesthetics is a tour de force, and Todd Cronan is a uniquely significant voice writing in contemporary cultural and art theory. He displays a distinctive ability to drive analytically to the heart of the contradictions that undergird, and are easily obscured within, aesthetics and critical theory. This book, as does all of Cronan's work, delivers brilliantly on his objective to refashion art as a practice that helps us to understand 'the real social forces of capitalism. Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein: three giants from a world that no longer exists. Avoiding the temptation to smooth their philosophical, political, and aesthetic commitments to conform to contemporary sensibilities, Todd Cronan's brilliant and gripping account reaches into the inner logic of their work, giving it, paradoxically, at the same time renewed vitality and renewed strangeness. We can't selectively highlight the aesthetic aims of Rodchenko, Brecht, and Eisenstein while disregarding their political intent. Red Aesthetics asks us to acknowledge the inseparability of political intentions and formal choices. Developing a capacious, Marxian understanding of realism that encompasses the processual and systematic, abstract and concrete, consciously shaped and contingent, Cronan shows how these artists broke ""the hold of inaccurate pictures of the world."""

Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein: three giants from a world that no longer exists. Avoiding the temptation to smooth their philosophical, political, and aesthetic commitments to conform to contemporary sensibilities, Todd Cronan's brilliant and gripping account reaches into the inner logic of their work, giving it, paradoxically, at the same time renewed vitality and renewed strangeness.--Nicholas Mainey Brown Red Aesthetics brilliantly understands the relation between art and politics in terms of the relation between meaning and intention, thus offering both a powerful new account of its artists and a subtle and clarifying model for how to think about the ambitions of political art. Extended to a stunning reading of Adorno's anti-fascist pivot from class to race, this analysis will be a landmark for future work.--Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois

Red Aesthetics brilliantly understands the relation between art and politics in terms of the relation between meaning and intention, thus offering both a powerful new account of its artists and a subtle and clarifying model for how to think about the ambitions of political art. Extended to a stunning reading of Adorno's anti-fascist pivot from class to race, this analysis will be a landmark for future work.--Walter Benn Michaels, University of Illinois

Author Information

Todd Cronan is associate professor of Art History at Emory University.

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