CHARLOTTE, N.C. (February 29, 2008) —
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Dr. Whalen discusses the relationship between music and painting
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Dr. Robert Whalen presented "Langues of God: Modern Art" to the Charlotte community in Queens' Sykes auditorium. Dr. Whalen considered how artists such as Paul Klee and Arnold Shoenberg responded to the horrors of World War Two. The question posed by the war, Whalen suggested, concerns how one is to pursue a meaningful life in the wake of the Holocaust and the widespread destruction of historical European cities. Whalen used slides of paintings to illustrate the despair felt by many Europeans of the time and went on to consider how painters such as Wassily Kandinsky expressed hope in a positive future.
With regard to religion, Dr. Whalen pointed out that traditionally western art focused on religious themes. However, the war and philosophical thinking called this tradition into question as artists and philosophers began to wonder how God could allow the atrocities of war to occur. The question became, "How could an artist paint lovely religious scenes in the wake of such widespread destruction?" Whalen suggested that even though modern art often does not contain religious content, it too can be religious in the sense that it can convey hope and a sense of the transcendent. As Kandinsky wrote in his Concerning the Spiritual in Art:
"Literature, music and art are the first and most sensitive spheres in which [the] spiritual revolution makes itself felt. They reflect the dark picture of the present time and show the importance of what at first was only a little point of light noticed by a few ... Perhaps they even grow dark in their turn but on the other hand they turn away from the soulless life of the present towards those substances and ideas which give free scope to the non-material strivings of the soul."
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Dr. Whalen discusses religion and the horrors of war
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Whalen's presentation intrigued the audience and sparked a discussion about the relationship between modernity, art, and religion.
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