ART IN A STATE OF SIEGE

Art as dissent.

In this lavishly illustrated, wide-ranging book, Koerner, an esteemed art historian, turns his attention to three artists and three works organized as a triptych: the premodern Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Delights (1500), Max Beckmann’s Self-Portrait in Tuxedo (1927), and William Kentridge’s Art in a State of Siege (1986). Koerner explores them in light of Kentridge’s title, all in “states of temporal exception.” In a siege, Koerner writes, “life becomes bare survival.” He discusses in great depth others who have delved into what Bosch’s well-traveled painting means—a “spectacle of lawless, godless, rebellious carnality punished without trial”—and the history surrounding it, including starting a war. “Siege is the occasion, theme, and aesthetic ground of Bosch’s art.” Beckman’s work is an “iconic” Expressionist piece, emblematic of the Weimer Republic, when Germany “stumbled from crisis to crisis in a perpetual state of exception.” Beckman’s self-portrait, Koerner feels, reveals “Beckman as the artist of the state.” In 1986-88, the South African artist Kentridge produced three silkscreen prints titled Art in State of Grace, Hope, Siege, when his country was in turmoil, its laws suspended. Inspired by Costa-Gavras’ film State of Siege, he had coined the term “Art in a State of Siege” for a public talk. Under siege conditions, art offers in numerous ways a form of dissent. Throughout, Koerner discusses many of these artists’ other works. It takes a while to settle into Koerner’s prose and dense detours into ancillary topics, but once acclimated, it’s an engrossing ride.

A challenging but rewarding read.