Tate Modern: Artist and Society

One exhibition in Tate Modern Art Gallery in London is the theme Artist and Society: Can Art Change the World? It is concerned with the ways artists engage with social and historical ideas and how art provides a mirror to contemporary society.

The artists in the exhibition express their views of society by raising awareness of political or social issues, sometimes reflecting change and sometimes arguing for change.

For example, the section on Civil War, shows protest art of the 20th century, notably the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), born in Spain and living in Paris, depicted the Spanish Civil War in his work Weeping Woman (1937) – shown above.

In another section Karel Appel (1921-2006) from the Netherlands shows artistic freedom in his work Hip, Hip, Hoorah ! (1949) in an effort to reinvigorate post-war art culture. This piece combines human and bird features as ‘people of the night’ (the dark background). His inspiration for the bright colours and child-like imagery came from children’s drawings.

Tate Modern includes French artist Claude Monet (1940-1926) and his Water-Lilies after 1916 from his garden in Normandy. In 1916, in the middle of World War I, Monet donated a series of waterlily paintings to the government.

Antony Gormley’s (1950-) figure Untitled [for Francis] (1986) is moulded from his own body and encased in lead. Gormley sees his sculpture as a tool to link ‘inner and outer worlds’ in our society.

Artists include Pablo Picasso, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Iwao Yamawaki, Salvador Dali, Rachel Whiteread, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Richard Hamilton, Andrea Bowers, Theaster Gates, Teresa Margolles, Andre Fougeron, Marwan Rechmaoui, Karel Appel, Claud Monet, Kazimir Malevich, Naum Gabo, Agnes Martin, Antony Gormley, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko, Lorna Simpson, Harun Farocki, Joseph Beuys, Gulsun Karamustafa, Jane Alexander, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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