POLITICS TRANSLATED INTO ART IN EARLY MODERN ART

Text topic: Esthetization of Politics and Politization of Art

Text author: Ангелина Милосављевић Аулт

Walter Benjamin coined the notion of aesthetization of politics/politization of art in his analysis of historic avant-garde movements. In this paper, this notion is applied to Early Modern art, i.e. to those moments in history in which forced breakings occurred from the established political and ideological institutions, namely to Florence in which Cosimo I de’ Medici ascended the ducal throne in 1537, and to the French Revolution. In both cases, breaking with tradition implied new iconography that represented the immediate result of newly established political needs. In the analyses of these phenomena, we deduced several characteristics shared with historic avant-garde, such as terminus post quem as breaking point in historical time, new iconography as reflection of new political and social circumstances, necessity for directing public conduct and promoting new ideas, as well as ephemeral and spectacular character of events in which public took active part in adherence to new ideals.