Commentaire méthodologique

L'analyse du sujet : vous devez vous intéresser à la manière dont

chaque artiste représente les relations amoureuses et les difficultés à
les mettre en œuvre tout en prenant en compte la spécificité de chaque
document.
Une première lecture / observation de chaque document
identifier sa spécificité et le comprendre à un premier niveau pour
vous familiariser avec le contenu, tout en opérant un début de repérage
des éléments portant sur la représentation des difficultés amoureuses.
Une analyse approfondie de chaque document crayon à la main.
Surligner les phrases ou éléments graphiques qui vous semblent
particulièrement pertinents. Mettre en évidence les répétitions ou
redondance de champs lexicaux. Noter tout ce qui vous vient à l'esprit
par rapport à la relation amoureuse. NB : Faire cette étape directement
en anglais pour gagner du temps et faciliter la rédaction du
commentaire.
Document A = extract from novel by Jane Austen 1818 => romantic
+ Regency era GB
Sweethearts: Captain Wentworth a remarkable fine young man
Anne Elliot an extremely pretty girl => fall in love
CW = intelligence, spirit and brilliancy; AE = "gentleness, modesty,
taste and feeling"=> perfect match
Opposition: A's father (Sir Walter) says / does nothing but
a very degrading alliance… A's godmother (Lady Russell) =
unfortunate one
§3: reasons for opposition
AE = claims of birth, beauty and mind; young = 19
CW = had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hope of
attaining affluence … a stranger without alliance or fortune
§4 CW extremely confident will make his fortune (repetitions) =>
positive effect on AE
=> Negative effect on LR: He was brilliant, he was headstrong. Lady
Russell had little taste for wit, and of anything approaching to
imprudence a horror. = excessive hostility
Can art play a political role? The set of documents is composed of an article by
Grace Amandes who wonders about the relationship between art and politics.
Then, it is composed of a song protest by American singer Joan Baez released in
1963 who intended to criticize the Vietnam War and of Norman Rockwell's
“Freedom of Speech” painted during the Second World War in 1942. The recent
article casts light upon these articles as Grace Amandes stresses how a work of
art is influenced by its social context. Indeed, we cannot separate documents B
and C from their historical contexts. Therefo-re, we shall examine whether art
should always be a political manifesto or not. First, we will study how the artists feed
on what they live and go through to create. Then, we will see how artists are not
politicians but focus on aesthetic dimensions.

In a first stage, Grace Amandes prompts us to analyze every work of art may it be “films,
TV, art and music” (l.3) – in the light of history. She states that Hollywood has
changed since the 1950s and 1960s as artists are not afraid to voice their
political opinions. Indeed, she evokes “McCarthy’s blacklist” (l.9) which aimed at
blacklisting artists who did not criticize communism publicly as the Cold War
gained momentum. Now those times are over and “violent unrest, sexual freedom”
(l.4) have forced artists to react. We can think about the Oscars which promote more
diversity and denounced the tendency to whitewash cinema. Documents B and C
seem to epitomise Grace Amandes's tenets. Indeed, the documents illustrate the
tensions at stake. Norman Rockwell entitled his painting “Freedom of
Speech” which recalls Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech “the Four Freedoms” delivered
in 1941 during the war. For Rockwell, a man from the lower class – his clothes tend to
prove that – is the embodiment of this freedom. Document B also defend the
poorest or the victims as the singer criticises the Vietnam War arguing that they
“shall overcome” the war.
However, Grace Amandes declares that artists can denounce our society implicitly. For
example, the TV series Nashville (l.16) – a somewhat conservative show – address
the issue of racial profiling indirectly. The producers included this bit without
analysing it further. They do not dwell on it; it is up to the spectator to understand the
issues at stake. Norman Rockwell also is not a political manifesto per se, it is a work of
art. Indeed, the pyramidal construction highlights the importance of the
working-class man who sharply contrasts with the people from the middle class
around him. Joan Baez also resorts to a song without directly addressing the Vietnam
War. It is merely suggested through the chorus: “We shall live in peace”.

To conclude, the documents seem to be quite complementary as they crystallise what is at

stake in Grace Amandes's article. That is to say that they illustrate to what extent a work of
art can be shaped by its historical and social contexts. Yet, artists do not voice their political
opinions blatantly. Indeed, the beholder or the spectator needs to analyse the
symbols hidden in these works.
« Les rapports entre l'art et la politique ont longtemps fait l'objet de débats. Ces
tensions ont certainement commencé dans les années 60 lorsque la révolution
culturelle donna naissance à des posters aux couleurs flashy, aux chansons engagées, à
des paroles de chansons qui nous offraient davantage que des ''oooh chéri chéri'' pour
peupler nos conversations. (…) Les producteurs de cinéma, de la télévision et de
musique trouvaient le climat d'insurrections violentes, la liberté sexuelle, les
polémiques controversées et les attentes de la société excitants. Ils étaient prêts à
explorer ces aspects. Toutes les règles avaient changé et, pour les artistes, ce fut une époque
glorieuse »

“When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself”, Oscar

Wilde claims. The set of documents is composed of an article written by
Charlie Fox for The New York Times which pays a tribute to “ugly art”.
Then, it is composed of the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, a
famous novel by Oscar Wilde and finally of a painting by Willem de
Kooning. According to the three documents, artists separate beauty from
morality which goes against Plato's doctrine. In Plato opinion's, if a work of
art is perceived as being beautiful, then it is necessary moral; if a work
of art is perceived as being ugly, then it is necessary immoral. The
three documents question these common clichés. Therefore, we shall
wonder to what extent they redefine what art should look like. In a
first stage, we shall examine how the concepts of morality, beauty or
ugliness have been associated in art. In a second stage, we shall
analyse how and why they question the sense of beauty in our world.

First, Charlie Fox mentions “Ugly art” (l.8) as an artistic genre in itself. Laura
Owens is one of its key painters. She resorts to images drawn from our
daily lives such as Garfield, Kate Moss and dogs (l.1) and to “zany”,
“lurid” elements (l.3) to transform them into “something
ravishing” (l.4), into something beautiful. As a result, the artist seems to be a
magician exactly like “Caliban” (l.10) mentioned in the preface. Caliban
is the son of Sycorax, an evil witch. In Oscar Wilde's preface, ugliness
is clearly associated to immorality. Similarly, Willem de Kooning's
Woman seems to be horrendous at first. It depicts a naked and
shapeless woman who surprises the beholders. Willem de Kooning
and Laura Owens see eye to eye when it comes art: art is meant to
shock us, to unsettle us “when critics disagree the artist is in accord
with himself.” (l.22, doc B). Then, we can safely assume that these
artists question what is deemed to be moral. According to Oscar
Wilde, a work of art is neither moral nor immoral
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.” (l.8). The world
of art seems to be beyond the social world and thus does not obey the
same rules. Woman IV also illustrates these tensions as the painter
refused to embrace social norms by painting such a body. Therefore, Charlie
Fox states that “ugliness is also a way of responding to the difficulty of
being a painter now” (l.19-20). Modern art accounts for our world
which can unsettling, appalling, disgusting, poorly shaped and hardly
ever beautiful. “Ugly art” is then a way to criticize today's society, hence art
imitating life in Wilde's preface

To conclude, “ugly art” is not an oxymoron. This new genre reflects on the
differences between normality, morality and art. Art does not obey any
law defined by society. Oscar Wilde embraced its uselessness, while
Kooning and Fox embraced their unique ugliness.

« C'est le spectateur, et non la vie, que l'art reflète. Les opinions diverses suscitées par une
œuvre d'art démontrent que cette œuvre est nouvelle, complexe et vitale. C'est lorsque les
critiques n'ont pas le même avis que l'artiste est en accord avec lui-même. Nous
pouvons pardonner à un homme d'avoir fait une chose utile aussi longtemps qu'il
ne l'admire. La seule excuse pour faire une chose inutile est de l'admirer avec
intensité. Toutes les œuvres d'art sont totalement inutiles. »

2 Resort to (v) : avoir recours

3 Horrendous (adj) : horrible
4 See eye to eye : être d'accord
Aisle : bas coté, latérale, couloir
Per se : à proprement parler
1 Cast a light on / upon (v) : mettre l'accent sur, éclairer
2 Prompt (v) : inciter qqn à qqch
3 Gain momentum (v) : gagner de l'ampleur
4 A tenet (n) : un principe, une idée
5 At stake (adv) : les enjeux
To voice : exprimer, formuler

Voici quelques exemples de connecteurs logiques à utiliser en anglais :

 First, firstly, first of all : premièrement, tout d'abord,

 To begin with, to start with : pour commencer,
 At the beginning, in the beginning : au début,
 In the first place : en premier lieu,
 Then, next : ensuite, puis,
 As a matter of fact, in fact, in any case : en fait,
 Actually : en fait, en effet,
 In addition to : en plus,
 Besides : d'ailleurs,
 Moreover, futhermore, on top of that : de plus,
 In other words : en d'autres termes,
 That is to say : c'est-à-dire,
 For example, for instance : par exemple,
 Such as : tel que,
 Above all : surtout,
 Instead of : au lieu de,
 Nevertheless : néanmoins,
 Otherwise : sinon,
 Whereas : alors que,
 Yet, however : cependant, pourtant,
 On the contrary : au contraire,
 Unless : à moins que,
 Then : alors,
 If : si,
 Because of : en raison de,
 On account of : étant donné que,
 Therefore, so, thus : par conséquent, donc,
 That is why : c'est pourquoi,
 Finally, at last : finalement,
 At the end, in the end : à la fin,
 To conclude, in conclusion : pour conclure, en conclusion,
 Overall : dans l'ensemble, en général,
 To sum up : pour résumer