Yes, sentiment is different from sentimentality, as modern is from modernistic. And sentimentality is a very complicated idea with many facets. One is the replacement of reality with myth. Much of art history relies on myth and its corruption as sentimentality. One sentimental idea in modern art rests on the myth of artistic and individual freedom. But in fact the reality is that most art is in bondage to some prevailing concepts and their implementation in the art discourse and markets.
here's a related analogy: At one time in America, before 1865, a huge percentage of Americans were in fact in bondage. That's not only the slaves but also the native Indians who were being pushed into separate reserves. And this doesn't even touch on the bondage created by group prejudice against those whose ideas, political and religious, marked them as misfits, disloyal, dangerous, etc. Yet most of our notions of freedom and indiviualism were honed during that period and remain glowing today. So it is with art as well. That's why we need to continually confront and attack the myths that are erected against reality. For me, sentimentality in its various iterations is the signal of misleading myth. Sentimentality is the pair of rose colored glasses. Once you put them on, everything is sentimentalized and myth becomes the new reality. WC --- On Thu, 1/29/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: History of 'Sentimentality' > To: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009, 1:28 PM > In a message dated 1/29/09 12:14:01 PM, > [email protected] writes: > > > > (and we might notice that neither Aristotle nor > Shakespeare offer any > > social > > or institutional or educational qualifications for > their preferred > audience > > of aesthetes) > > > > it is probable that neither Donald Trump nor Maya Angelou > would be among > their preferred audience. > Kate Sullivan > > > ************** > From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in > between, stay up-to-date with the latest news. > (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023)
