Reconstructivism: A Manifesto for the Return of Meaning in Art

Author- Brian Hawkeswood. Rekonstruktivismus: Ein Manifest für die Rückkehr der Bedeutung in der Kunst We have lived through the ruins long enough. Modern art, once the vanguard of feeling and form, has collapsed into a fog of obfuscation, self-reference, and cultivated alienation. We are told to admire the “idea,” not the execution; to look for the text beside the canvas, not the image itself. We are expected to revere the artist’s biography, identity, or trauma, but not their touch. In this cathedral of hollow gestures, beauty has been exiled, the figure banned, drawing forgotten, and sincerity rendered naïve. John William Waterhouse - "The Lady of Shalott" 1888. The group Waterhouse belonged to "The Preraphaelites " were the "Reconstructivists" of their day, wanting to return to the art produced before the time of ...