Worringer - Koss Articles

Worringer's Influence I find it interesting that he gives no notion that he was affected by the "primitivism" that was going on in Paris and other places at the time within the art world. Mary Gluck gleams entries of Worringer's to discuss the the origins of his dissertation in her article "Interpreting the Primitive, Mass Culture and Modernism: The Making of Wilhem Worringer's Abstraction and Empathy." Worringer was touring the Trocadero Museum in Paris, he notes in his journal, that as he was amongst the exhibits that were "destitute of all emotional atmosphere." It is unclear whether the instance of George Simmel coming into the museum is literal or figurative but the dichotomy of the "urban" man and the primitive past sparked his interest for his thesis. The Trocadero Museum was were Picasso started to study the art of Africa seriously and in 1889 Paul Gaugin encountered the Tahitian displays that peaked his interest in the primitive. Although Picasso was after Worringer's epiphany, Gaugin was not. There were several artists that began to look to the "primitive" even before Worringer wrote the Modernist 'manifesto' that many people claim to be the birth of Modern Art. I also found it intersting that his dissertation was so shocking to the majority of academics he found it very difficult to find a teaching position, eventhough he frequently toured as a lecturer and was widely popular when doing so. There seems to be a paralell between his avant-guarde theories and the avant-guarde artwork that was being produced, both were shunned from the mainstream academies and unversities because of their power to threaten the traditional cannon of art. Worringer did place the abstract style above naturalism in his work, however it still seemed as if his discussions of the cultures that produced the inital abstractions and continued today were still referred to as inferior to his own culture. I thought that was interesting considering how strongly he felt about the importance of their artwork. Koss Article The "Limits of Empathy" article was fascinating and a good transition from Empathy Theory to Worringer's Abstraction and Empathy Theory. The overview of the theory of empathy and the many different artists and theorist made things come together a little bit better while also giving some insite to the connections between them all. I found it noteable that Schmarsow was choosen for a prominent academic position over Vischer, his mentor, and Wolffin. The downward spiral of the Empathy theory was an important thing to understand, at least for me, because it allowed for the direct comparison of the new and the old, which allowed for a deeper understanding of both. Julliet Koss does an excellent job of breaking down Worringer's theory of self-estrangement and alienation. Although German and the US went through the Industrialization later than the French and Great Britain the social effects of big cities, mass transportation and technology still had a great effect on both countries. Worringer's thesis intuitively picks up on this phenomenon that is also related to "anomonie." Not surprisingly he was a follower of the German sociologist George Simmel. Worringer's theory was not only influential in the arena of modern abstraction and style but also in the psychological aspects of art works that embody the ideas of isolation or alienation.