Kitsch é um termo de origem alemã (verkitschen) que é usado para categorizar objetos de valor estético distorcidos e/ou exagerados, que são considerados inferiores à sua cópia existente. São freqüentemente associados à predileção do gosto mediano e pela pretensão de, fazendo uso de estereótipos e chavões que não são autênticos, tomar para si valores de uma tradição cultural
privilegiada. Eventualmente objetos considerados kitsch são também apelidados de cansados no Brasil, ou "pirosos" em Portugal.
Características do Kitsch
Princípio de Inadequação: Ao deslocamento, junta-se a inadequação da forma, do estilo, do contexto, da função, de uso. Desvio em relação à finalidade, tamanho (abridores de garrafa gigantes), falsificação de materiais (flores de plástico), estilos contextos (anjos barrocos de gesso, para estantes) figurações em objetos utilitários (pêra de cristal, como baleiro). Funções secundárias que acabam suplantando a função principal, funções múltiplas em um único objeto. A inexistência de uma relação do tema com a estrutura geral da obra.
Principio de Acumulação (ou Empilhamento): Objetos diversos sem um sentido, que possuem valor emocional e de baixo custo, que vão sendo acumulados sem uma unidade de adequação.(enfeites de geladeiras, cerâmicas, bibelôs). Além de tornar ambientes kitsch,
também pode tornar pessoas em kitsch, quando ocorre o demasiado uso de enfeites ou adornos corporais. (brincos, colares, pulseiras, echarpes, etc).
Percepção Sinestésica: O maior uso dos sentidos para impressionar o espectador, imagem, som, aromas (cartões de namorados perfumados). Repetição exaustiva de mesmos signos com significados semelhantes.
Principio de Mediocridade: com tantos artifícios, inadequação,
acumulação, percepção sinestésica, o kitsch chega próximo do vulgar, mas essa mediocridade facilita a absorção do consumidor. Nem feiúra nem beleza extremas: esses são valores absolutos, que fogem do intuito do kistch.
Principio de Conforto: o que não cria problemas agrada; enche a vida da sociedade de consumo de sensações, emoções e pequenos prazeres (objetos cotidianos).
O kitsch está em todas classes sociais; é um elemento de nivelação social e histórico consumido indiscriminadamente por todos. Independente das
diferentes possibilidades de status que o objeto kitsch possa suscitar, agrupa-se o kitsch em categorias: religioso (terços saturados de imagens), sexual (canetas com mulheres nuas), exótico (paisagens havaianas, indianas de fundo), doce (anões de jardim), amargo (cobras, esqueletos de plástico
O kitsch se propõe a valores sublimes. A literatura de mau gosto feita com intenções comerciais e que usam o "efeitismo" - o efeito, a emoção sentidos pelo leitor são esperados e iguais. Músicas, novelas e até a arquitetura: um edifício ou uma casa no estilo neoclássico, típico do século XIX, com falsa colunas gregas de concreto e falsos frontões é Kitsch porque deslocado no tempo, feito de materiais contemporâneos e inadequado ao uso. Uma
construção neoclássica não responde às necessidades de vida do século XXI, precisando, para isso, ser adaptada, deformada, tornando-se, assim,
simplesmente um cenário. Podemos citar o Castelo de Brennand, no Recife, ou a forma com que se autodenomina a cidade de Garanhuns em Pernambuco ("Suíça Brasileira").
Essas características conjugadas do Kitsch agem sobre nosso sentido nos causando um "curto-circuito" da sensibilidade
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A palavra é de origem alemã e significa, literalmente, ‘reutilização de móveis velhos como novos’, ou também, ‘traste’;
O termo surgiu em Munique, Alemanha, em 1860, sendo empregado primeiramente na área de decoração;
Em linhas gerais é uma negação do autêntico, uma deturpação dos estilos tradicionais e instituídos;
Designa corruptelas artísticas em geral, não apenas no campo da arquitetura;
Enquanto que o ecletismo mescla de forma dosada e coerente os elementos de dois ou mais estilos, o kitsch mescla aleatoreamente muitos estilos de uma só vez;
É bastante encontrado na arte tumular dos cemitérios de periferia, fachadas de igrejas evangélicas, boates, motéis, residências de novos ricos, casas de subúrbio, cassinos, bingos;
Por essa razão não é específico de uma ou outra classe: encontra-se entre pobres e ricos;
É um fenômeno derivado do consumismo desenfreado, o que levou a uma vulgarização das artes;
Rompe fronteiras entre o belo e o feio, entre o ‘bom’ e o ‘mau’ gosto;
Essa arte convence ao consumidor leigo de que realizou um ‘encontro’ com a alta cultura;
Nega-se a originalidade pela exacerbação e produção em série, como os santinhos de novenas e orações, cópias de imagens\pinturas consagradas;
Exemplo: catedrais da rede Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus
De origem incerta, mas provavelmente derivado do inglês “sketch” (esboço) ou do alemão “kitschen” (coloq.: fazer móveis novos à partir de móveis antigos), o termo kitsch surgiu por volta de 1870 no comércio artístico em Munique para designar objectos de arte, feitos de propósito para satisfazer a procura de uma nova clientela endinheirada. A partir deste contexto, a palavra evoluiu
pejorativamente no sentido genérico de arte de imitação e de mau gosto. Kitsch é um termo internacional e aplica-se em todos os domínios da produção artística, desde as artes plásticas até à literatura, música e artes decorativas. Enquanto termo contrastivo de “arte autêntica e verdadeira”, kitsch começa por ser um fenómeno histórico-social, ligado à ascenção da burguesia e ao seu alargamento, no século XX, para uma sociedade de massas que pede aos produtos de cultura uma disponibilidade comercial idêntica à de outras
comodidades. Anti-elitista por excelência, o kitsch é um produto da sociedade de consumo e mais de que uma qualificação estética, significa uma atitude perante a vida que valoriza o prazer fugaz da não-permanência.
De um ponto de vista estético, kitsch é uma arte eclética cujo princípio estrutural é mais acumulativo de que arquitectónico. Kitsch favorece a
abundância, o elemento decorativo, a não-funcionalidade e a trivialidade. Produzido para ser vendido, kitsch adapta-se ao gosto do público, estimulando uma emocionalidade cómoda, perto do sentimentalismo. Em termos de
recepção, kitsch é de assimiliação fácil: gratifica as expectativas do consumidor e assenta numa medianidade de gosto que os media e a publicidade
simultaneamente produzem e satisfazem.
Na medida em que o kitsch é conscientemente aproveitado por correntes artísticos (arte Pop) ou grupos específicos (camp), o termo vai perdendo o seu poder contrastivo de “arte”. Ao promover o kitsch à arte e a equacionar arte com kitsch, tais correntes colocam em questão as tradicionais distinções entre “arte elevada” e “arte popular”. Em último análise, kitsch pergunta pelo valor ético do objecto estético e repõe a questão romântica da transcendência da arte em termos imanentes e relativos.
Os usos metacomunicativos e elitistas de kitsch (ironicamente os primeiros objectos de kitsch tornaram-se hoje itens de colecção -edelkitsch - acessível apenas a um grupo económico de élite) distanciam-se do usooriginal de kitsch, que continua operante no uso comum, como testemunham os termos
portugueses equivalentes: “pires”, “piroso”, “pimba”.
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Kitsch (English pronunciation: as in German) is a German word denoting art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons [1] while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal. Kitsch also refers to the types of art that are aesthetically deficient (whether or not being
sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) and that make creative gestures which merely imitate the superficial appearances of art through repeated
conventions and formulae. Excessive sentimentality often is associated with the term.
The term is considered derogatory, denoting works executed to pander to popular demand alone and purely for commercial purposes rather than works created as self-expression by an artist.[2] The term is generally reserved for unsubstantial and gaudy works that are calculated to have popular appeal and are considered pretentious and shallow rather than genuine artistic efforts.[3]
Kitsch was applied to artwork that was a response to the nineteenth century art whose aesthetics convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art.
The etymology is uncertain, but, as a descriptive term, kitsch originated in the art markets of Munich in the 1860s and the 1870s, describing cheap, popular, and marketable pictures and sketches [4] In Das Buch vom Kitsch (The Book of
Kitsch), Hans Reimann defines it as a professional expression “born in a painter's studio”. Analogously, the writer Edward Koelwel rejects that kitsch derives from the English word sketch, noting how the sketch was not then in vogue, and argues that kitsch art pictures were well-executed, finished paintings rather than sketchy drawings.
Another highly possibly theory is that it comes from the Hungarian word kicsi Hungarian pronunciation: meaning little or small. Most likely through Austrian German
Early uses of the term
Kitsch appealed to the crass tastes of the newly moneyed Munich bourgeoisie, who allegedly thought they could achieve the status they envied in the
traditional class of cultural elites by aping, however clumsily, the most apparent features of their cultural habits.
Kitsch was considered aesthetically impoverished and morally dubious and to have sacrificed aesthetic life to a pantomime of aesthetic life, usually, but not always, in the interest of signaling one's class status
Relationship to aesthetics debated
There is a philosophical background to kitsch criticism, however, which is largely ignored. A notable exception to the lack of such debate is Gabrielle Thuller, who points to how kitsch criticism is based on Immanuel Kant's philosophy of aesthetics.
Kant describes the direct appeal to the senses as "barbaric". Thuller's point is supported by Mark A. Cheetham, who points out that kitsch "is his Clement Greenberg's barbarism". A source book on texts critical of kitsch underlines this by including excerpts from the writings of Kant and Schiller.
One, thus, has to keep in mind two things: a) Kant's enormous influence on the concept of "fine art" (the focus of Cheetham's book), as it came into being in the mid to late 18th century, and b) how "sentimentality" or "pathos", which are the defining traits of kitsch, do not find room within Kant's "aesthetical indifference".
Kant also identified genius with originality. One could say he implicitly was rejecting kitsch, the presence of sentimentality and the lack of originality being the main accusations against it.
When originality alone is used to determine artistic genius, using it as a single focus may become problematic when the art of some periods is examined. In the Baroque period, for example, a painter was hailed for his ability to imitate other masters, one such imitator being Luca Giordano.
Another influential philosopher writing on fine art was Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who emphasized the idea of the artist belonging to the spirit of his time, or zeitgeist.
As an effect of these aesthetics, working with emotional and "unmodern" or "archetypical" motifs was referred to as kitsch from the second half of the 19th century on. Kitsch is thus seen as "false".
As Thomas Kulka writes, "the term kitsch was originally applied exclusively to paintings", but it soon spread to other disciplines, such as music. The term has been applied to painters, such as Ilya Repin,[5] and composers, such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whom Hermann Broch refers to as "genialischer kitsch", or "kitsch of genius".[
Art and kitsch defined as opposites
three theorists relied on an implicit definition of kitsch as a type of false
consciousness, a Marxist term meaning a mindset present within the structures of capitalism that is misguided as to its own desires and wants. Marxists believe there to be a disjunction between the real state of affairs and the way that they phenomenally appear.
Adorno perceived this in terms of what he called the "culture industry," where the art is controlled and formulated by the needs of the market and given to a passive population which accepts it—what is marketed is art that is
non-challenging and formally incoherent, but which serves its purpose of giving the audience leisure and something to watch or observe. It helps serve the
oppression of the population by capitalism by distracting them from their social alienation. Contrarily for Adorno, art is supposed to be subjective, challenging, and oriented against the oppressiveness of the power structure. He claimed that kitsch is parody of catharsis and a parody of aesthetic experience.
Broch called kitsch "the evil within the value-system of art"—that is, if true art is "good", kitsch is "evil". While art was creative, Broch held that kitsch depended solely on plundering creative art by adopting formulas that seek to imitate it, limiting itself to conventions and demanding a totalitarianism of those
recognizable conventions. Broch accuses kitsch of not participating in the development of art, having its focus directed at the past, as Greenberg speaks of its concern with previous cultures. To Broch, kitsch was not the same as bad art; it formed a system of its own. He argued that kitsch involved trying to achieve "beauty" instead of "truth" and that any attempt to make something beautiful would lead to kitsch. Consequently, he opposed the Renaissance to Protestantism.
Greenberg held similar views to Broch concerning the beauty and truth dichotomy, believing that the avant-garde style arose in order to defend
aesthetic standards from the decline of taste involved in consumer society and that kitsch and art were opposites, which he outlined in his essay "Avant-Garde and Kitsch
Relationship to totalitarianism
Other theorists over time also have linked kitsch to totalitarianism and its propaganda. The Czech writer Milan Kundera, in his book The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), defined it as "the absolute denial of shit". He wrote that kitsch functions by excluding from view everything that humans find difficult with which to come to terms, offering instead a sanitized view of the world, in which "all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions".
In its desire to paper over the complexities and contradictions of real life, kitsch, Kundera suggested, is intimately linked with totalitarianism. In a healthy
democracy, diverse interest groups compete and negotiate with one another to produce a generally acceptable consensus; by contrast, "everything that
single political movement corners power we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch."
For Kundera, "Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass! It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch."
Relationship to academic art
One of Greenberg's more controversial claims was that kitsch was equivalent to academic art: "All kitsch is academic, and conversely, all that is academic is kitsch." He argued this based on the fact that academic art, such as that in the 19th century, was heavily centered in rules and formulations that were taught and tried to make art into something that could be taught and easily expressible. He later came to withdraw from his position of equating the two, as it became heavily criticized.
Often nineteenth century academic art still is seen as kitsch, although this view is coming under attack from modern art critics. Broch argued that the genesis of kitsch was in Romanticism, which wasn't kitsch itself, but which opened the door for kitsch taste by emphasizing the need for expressive and evocative art work. Academic art, which continued this tradition of Romanticism, has a twofold reason for its association with kitsch
It is not that academic art was found to be accessible. In fact, it was under its reign that the difference between high art and low art first was defined by intellectuals. Academic art strove toward remaining in a tradition rooted in the aesthetic and intellectual experience. Intellectual and aesthetic qualities of the work were certainly there—good examples of academic art even were admired by the avant-garde artists who would rebel against it. There was some critique, however, that in being "too beautiful" and democratic it made art look easy, non-involving, and superficial. According to Tomas Kulka, any academic painting made after the time of academism, is kitsch by nature.
Many academic artists tried to use subjects from low art and ennoble them as high art by subjecting them to interest in the inherent qualities of form and beauty, trying to democratize the art world. In England, certain academics even advocated that the artist should work for the marketplace. In some sense the goals of democratization succeeded and the society was flooded with academic art, with the public lining up to see art exhibitions as they do to see movies today
Furthermore, although original in their first expression, the subjects and images presented in academic art were disseminated to the public in the form of prints and postcards, which often actively was encouraged by the artists. These images were copied endlessly in kitschified form until they became well-known clichés.
The avant-garde reacted to these developments by separating itself from aspects of art that were appreciated by the public, such as pictorial
representation and harmony, in order to make a stand for the importance of the aesthetic. Many modern critics try not to pigeonhole academic art into the kitsch side of the art-or-kitsch dichotomy, recognizing its historical role in the genesis of both the avant-garde and kitsch.
Postmodernist interpretations
With the emergence of postmodernism in the 1980s, the borders between kitsch and high art again became blurred. One development was the approval of what is called "camp taste" - which may be related to, but is not the same as camp when used as a "gay sensibility".[8] Camp, in some circles, refers to an ironic appreciation of that which might otherwise be considered corny, such as singer and dancer Carmen Miranda with her tutti-frutti hats, or otherwise kitsch, such as popular culture events that are particularly dated or inappropriately serious, such as the low-budget science fiction movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
A hypothetical example from the world of painting would be a kitsch image of a deer by a lake. In order to make this camp, one could paint a sign beside it, saying "No Swimming". The majestic or romantic impression of a stately animal would be punctured by humor; the notion of an animal receiving a punishment for the breach of the rule is patently ludicrous. The original, serious
sentimentality of the motif is neutralized, and thus, it becomes camp.
"Camp" is derived from the French slang term camper, which means "to pose in an exaggerated fashion". Susan Sontag argued in her 1964 Notes on "Camp" that camp was an attraction to the human qualities which expressed themselves in "failed attempts at seriousness", the qualities of having a particular and unique style, and of reflecting the sensibilities of the era. It involved an aesthetic of artifice rather than of nature. Indeed, hard-line supporters of camp culture have long insisted that "camp is a lie that dares to tell the truth
Much of pop art attempted to incorporate images from popular culture and kitsch. These artists strove to maintain legitimacy by saying they were "quoting" imagery to make conceptual points, usually with the appropriation being ironic.
In Italy, a movement arose called the Nuovi Nuovi ("new new"), which took a different route: instead of "quoting" kitsch in an ironic stance, it founded itself in a primitivism which embraced ugliness and garishness, emulating kitsch as a sort of anti-aesthetic.
figurative, non-ironic, and narrative painting. In 2000, together with several other authors, he composed a book entitled On Kitsch, where he advocated the concept of "kitsch" as a more correct name than "art" for this type of painting. As a result of this redefinition proposed by Nerdrum, an increasing number of figurative painters are referring to themselves as "kitsch painters".[citation needed]
Conceptual art and deconstruction posed as interesting challenges, because, as with kitsch, they downplayed the formal structure of the artwork in favor of elements that enter it by relating to other spheres of life.
Despite this, many in the art world continue to adhere to some sense of the dichotomy between art and kitsch, excluding all sentimental and realistic art from being considered seriously. This has come under attack by critics, who argue for a renewed appreciation of academic art and traditional figurative painting, without the concern for it appearing innovative or new. As in the surreal and figurative paintings of Lawrence Hollien.
In any case, whatever difficulty there is in defining boundaries between kitsch and fine art since the beginning of postmodernism, the word "kitsch" still remains in common use to label anything seen as being in poor taste
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Definição
cena da vanguarda, um outro fenômeno cultural apareceu no Ocidente
industrial: aquilo a que os alemães dão o maravilhoso nome de Kitsch: a arte e a literatura popular e comercial com seus cromotipos, capas de revista,
ilustrações, anúncios, subliteratura, histórias em quadrinhos, a música de Tin Pan Alley, sapateado, filmes de Hollywood etc. etc.".
Ainda que, muitas vezes, se fale no kitsch como um conceito universal - reconhecível portanto em qualquer época e estilo artístico -, a maior parte dos estudiosos localizam-no no seio da sociedade industrial, de feitio burguês, o que faz do estilo kitsch um dos produtos típicos da modernidade. A pujança do kitsch, indica Abraham Moles, coincide com a expansão do mercado e com a emergência da sociedade de massas que impõem normas à produção artística ditadas pela difusão e possibilidades de aquisição de produtos artísticos - de
modo geral, reproduções e cópias - em função dos baixos preços. Os grands
magasins, que abrem suas portas a partir da segunda metade do século XIX, dão vazão aos novos produtos que visam agradar às classes médias: porcelanas, bibelôs,
estatuetas, cromos com reproduções de estampas e/ou figuras célebres etc. O kitsch
apresenta-se desse modo como a arte que está ao alcance do homem, disponível nas vitrines e casas comerciais.
Os artifícios do mundo burguês revelam-se nos produtos kitsch, confeccionados em
geral a partir de novos materiais que nunca se apresentam como são: a madeira é pintada imitando o mármore; os objetos de zinco, bronzeados; as estátuas de bronze, por sua vez, douradas. A norma consiste em utilizar matéria-prima considerada inferior - por exemplo, gesso, estuque, ferro e zinco - dissimulando-as para que pareça nobre.
A técnica da simulação combina-se nas produções kitsch com a ornamentação
rebuscada, com a associação de ampla gama de cores e com a distorção das
dimensões da figura em relação ao objeto representado (por exemplo, o Arco do
Triunfo em miniatura ou um rato gigante estilizado em bronze). Nota-se ainda a tendência ao exagero e à acumulação de elementos numa só composição. Nesse
sentido, a arte kistch é essencialmente sincrética, alimentando-se de elementos
retirados de diferentes escolas e artistas. Localiza-se, assim, nas antípodas da funcionalidade e do despojamento que caracterizam, por exemplo, as obras da
Bauhaus. Longe da funcionalidade, as produções kitsch caracterizam-se pela
gratuidade e por seu caráter eminentemente decorativo.
A despeito das considerações críticas sobre a existência de uma oposição entre o
kitsch e as vanguardas, nota-se uma estreita relação entre os termos: tanto as
produções kitsch incorporam procedimentos das vanguardas quanto, ao contrário,
diferentes movimentos de vanguarda se interessam pelo kitsch em função do modo
como ele subverte os padrões estéticos, de modo muitas vezes irônico. Um bom exemplo disso são os bigodes colocados por Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) numa
reprodução da Gioconda de Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), que fazem dela um
ready-made retificado, o L.H.O.O.Q. (1919). O ato e a obra de Duchamp empreendem
uma leitura da tradição a partir do caráter falsificado e postiço que ela assumiria no mundo moderno. Mais tarde, no período posterior à 2ª Guerra Mundial (1939-1945), a
arte pop retira o sentidos pejorativos que cercam o kitsch. A arte pop se apresenta
como um dos movimentos que recusa a separação arte/vida, e o faz - eis um de seus traços característicos - pela incorporação das histórias em quadrinhos, da publicidade, das imagens televisivas e do cinema. Ao aproximar arte e design comercial, os artistas superam, propositadamente, as fronteiras entre arte erudita e arte popular, ou entre
arte elevada e cultura de massas, flertando sistematicamente com o kitsch.
torna os lares de hoje tão diferentes, tão atraentes? (1956), as naturezas-mortas de Tom Wesselmann (1931), compostas com produtos comerciais, os quadrinhos de Roy
Lichtenstein (1923), as esculturas de Claes Oldenburg (1929) - Duplo Hamburguer
(1962) - e as diversas obras de Andy Warhol (1928-1987): 32 Latas de Sopas
Campbell (1961-1962), Caixa de Sabão Brilho (1964) etc. No Brasil as obras de Nelson Leirner (1932) e Wesley Duke Lee (1931) são pioneiras na incorporação dessas discussões. O pós-modernismo da década de 1980 rompe mais uma vez, e
com resultados diversos, as fronteiras entre o kitsch e a chamada arte erudita.
