Paul Klee's angel is in a lifestyle magazine as 'having good taste'! What is taste, anyway... [Art] [Self-Introduction]
“What makes someone have good taste?”
I was wandering around a bookstore the other day and found this magazine.
It’s Klee. It’s Klee’s “Forgetful Angel”.
A cute angel standing on a refreshing blue background.
“Forgetful Angel” is a work created by the 20th-century Swiss painter Paul Klee in his later years, using simple lines because his hands were becoming difficult to move.
“What makes someone have good taste?”
Hmm. A huge sense of dissonance. Is Klee a person of taste?
I’m curious, so I take a quick look inside.
What exactly does it mean when we say someone has “good taste”?
It seems to be more than just a high ability to feel, such as having “sharp senses” or “high sensitivity”; it often carries a positive impression from those around them, like “they have a good feel” or “they have good taste.”
Casually beautiful, or cool without trying too hard. A “person with good taste” is someone who isn’t pushy and is naturally wonderful. Perhaps they are the kind of person who serves as a model for a Better Life.
Although it is vague, something is definitely different. Let’s explore what “having good taste” means from various angles, from lifestyle to fashion and culture. We have compiled a collection of readings from the content we have featured so far, focusing on the keywords “taste,” “elegance,” and “standard.”
I would be happy if I became a person with good taste, and I want to improve it. But the feeling I get when looking at Klee’s paintings and the feeling I get when I do something because I think it’s good taste are somehow different... there’s something fuzzy about it. What is taste...
Taste?
Cute?
The explanation on the cover was something like this.
A messenger of God overflowing with human emotions, captured in simple and unrestrained pencil lines. Perhaps these angels, so full of humanity, are bringing us the gift called taste, or the daily experiences to nurture it.
There is no doubt that it is a wonderful painting, but when I think about Klee’s deep knowledge of music, the Bauhaus, or his exile from the Nazis... it’s hard to simply categorize him as the kind of person one admires for having “good taste.”
But still!
It is precisely because of this that it is interesting that Nasunikibi thinks 180 degrees differently from the attitude held so far, wanting to summarize such a person with simple words like taste or cute!
Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook.” Music, philosophy, abstraction... I can tell how incredibly much Klee pursued his creation (I’ve only glanced at it, but I want to try reading it hard next time!). I’m sure he went through a wonderful process, but in the end, Klee’s completed paintings just make me think, “That’s cute.”
Was Klee aiming for cute? Even if he wasn’t, did he have a self-awareness of being cute? It’s cute enough that it would be strange if he didn’t. In the end, Nasunikibi just wants to accept such cuteness or coolness simply and just enjoy it. I think I want to take that kind of attitude toward art as well. I feel like Klee tends to be talked about a bit too deeply.
Miró, who has much in common with Klee
More of a sensory type than Klee?
I feel the same way about Joan Miró, who is currently having a retrospective at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. For now, I just want to shout “cute.” Of course, I also like enjoying Japanese art as “yuru-kawa” (laid-back cute).
Since I’ve digressed, let me get back to it: even if the nuance is slightly different, I think “having good taste” has the same sense of arbitrariness as “cute.” It’s like kicking away the Klee who is muttering difficult things without even looking... it’s terrible, but there’s also a bit of pleasure in it. Not in a sadistic sense, though!
Is Kandinsky taste?
There was a sentence in the magazine that wrote taste = sense, and indeed, it has the same meaning. But I wonder why, “taste” feels more pretentious. For Klee, I feel like I’d rather give him words like “refined sense” than “good taste.”
Even so, they are cute.
Is it just me, or do I feel a strange sense of discomfort with the word 'taste' again? Maybe it's because it's not my native language. In the same way, as a Japanese person, I find the word 'art' a bit more embarrassing than 'fine arts'.
By the way, speaking of painters, the rest of the magazine listed Henri Matisse as 'someone I think has good taste' and Claude Monet for 'adult elegance.' Somehow, Matisse feels more 'tasteful' than Klee. In a good way!
Of course, it's cute. It also feels tasteful.
Of course, it wasn't just painters; various celebrities from different industries were introduced as people with 'taste,' including Jane Birkin, Machiko Hasegawa, Nami Iijima, and collector Peggy Guggenheim. From people I think 'that's definitely taste!' to people I'm not so sure about. Perhaps the difference in discomfort comes from my own level of understanding or love for that person. Personally, Klee is still the biggest source of discomfort.
Representative of cute
There were also introductions to records, fashion, and more, which was interesting. Despite all my grumbling, the truth is I didn't have the money, so I mostly just skimmed it while standing in the store. Sorry about that.
About the word 'taste.' My stance is that while it's a bit frustrating to sum up an artist's work in one cheap word, there's something fun that comes from that kind of intuitive perspective! So, this was a self-introduction where I wanted to say whatever I pleased.
It's all just self-indulgent articles like that, so please take a look if you'd like.
The end
By the way, I want to go to the Klee retrospective!
いいなと思ったら応援しよう！
偏った美術愛ですが、面白いなと思っていただけたら、いいねフォローなどよろしくお願いします。大変はしゃぎます。