Christina Leary - Grotesque Art

October 13th, 2017
Christina Leary - Grotesque Art
Outside Source: Steig, M. (1970). Defining the grotesque: an attempt at synthesis. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 29(2), 253-260.
The subjective of the Grotesque has been confusing to me so far this semester. So I looked up a definition to try and make sense of it all. Steig worked mostly with one definition and then combined it with his own thinking to make a synthesis definition/final definition of the grotesque.
The first definition he worked from was one which assert that there are “two main kinds of grotesque, ‘sportive’ and ‘terrible,’ which are composed, respectively, of ‘ludicrous’ and ‘fearful’ elements; but neither of these two kinds is often found in isolation-they are usually combined in some way.” I liked this definition in theory but when I looked at grotesque art we saw in class I never really saw the sportive aspect. However when I looked up images they were generally more emphasized or dramatic. Also, the tended not to be solely of nature, whereas in class they tended to be realistic paintings or nature. The terrible was also hard to find for me but when they equate sportive with ludicrous and terrible with fearful it makes a lot more sense to me. However, are those actually equatable? I’m not sure but ludicrous and fearful make a lot more sense to me.
The final definition that Steig came up with was that the “grotesque involves the managing of the uncanny by the comic,” the uncanny and comic he broke down in more detail. Basically when the uncanny is the primary factor in grotesque image comic is used to relieve it, however it does not completely do away with the fear and anxiety. The same goes vice versa. I like the final definition because of it’s use of the word uncanny because uncanny implies that something is unsettling. That is how I feel when I look at grotesque art, even with the comic relief. Still, it seems are to define. Also using the word uncanny makes me think of surreal art and then it confuses me as to how they are distinct. Are they distinct? What makes them different?

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