The document discusses the concept of "sweet kitsch" and debates its definition and value. It addresses 1) descriptions of sweet kitsch and how it makes observers feel, 2) criticisms of kitsch as socially or politically harmful, and 3) questions around what defines kitsch objects. The document examines various perspectives on sweet kitsch and whether it enhances or detracts from human experience.

1. Aesthetic Problem: What constitutes the
aesthetic of a sweet kitsch?
References: Kathleen Higgins, “Sweet Kitsch” Anthony Savile,
“Sentimentality
Robert Solomon “On Kitsch and Sentimentality”

2.  Characterization of a sweet kitsch and
consideration of some suggested accounts of
the effects sweet kitsch has on the observer
who appreciates it
 Discuss the charges that have been raised
against sweet kitsch as a social and political
evil
 Question of what makes kitsch-objects kitsch
 Conclude what constitutes the aesthetic of a
sweet kitsch

3. (English
pronunciation: /ˈ kɪtʃ/, loanword from German)
-characterized as a form of “really bad taste”, “an
incarnation of evil”... (Higgins)
-art, objects, or design considered to be in poor
taste because of excessive garishness or
sentimentality, but appreciated in an ironic way
(Webster dictionary)
-purely for commercial purposes rather than
works created as self-expression by an artist
(Wikipedia)
- unacceptable in human experience/ existence
- it resists precise definition (Calinescu)

4.  Kitsch
became defined as an aesthetically
impoverished object of shoddy production,
meant more to identify the consumer with a
newly acquired class status than to invoke a
genuine aesthetic response. In this sense, the
word eventually came to mean "a slapping
together" (of a work of art)

5. kitsch example of late 19th century
popular lithograph of a humorous
painting by Frederick Dielman.

6. Sacriligious kitsch arts

7. -art that appeals unsubstly and
unapologetically to the softer “sweeter”
sentiments (Solomon, 1991)
-evokes emotions of the “touching” or
“stirring” sorts (Kathleen Higgins)
-suitably described as “touching” or
“inspirational” by an appreciative observer

12. Question:

13. Question:

14.  1.
Sweet kitsch makes the world sweeter and
excludes what is intolerable
 2.
Sweet kitsch provides easy, effortless
catharsis
 3.
Sweet kitsch serves as an aphrodisiac, a
means of self-enjoyment
 4. Sweet kitsch reassures its audience

16. If the greeting card is effective, we identify
with the couple wandering in nature. What
we enjoy is certainly not some other people
having a lovely time in love, but our own
potential lovely times in love. 

18. At the time we see the ad. We are in
love, and are immediately stimulated
to think beyond the ad to
practicality: “I’ll buy some
champagne before my date with Paul
tomorrow night”

19. Issue:

20.  Important social concerns
 Presence of popularity of kitsch in modern
life
 They are often mentioned as paradigm
instances of “bad art”
 Its sentimentality and its virtues
 For some artists, the best emotions seem to
be the worst emotions “better shocking or
sour than sweet?”
 The art world of the time perceived the
immense popularity of kitsch as a threat
to culture

21.  kitsch criticism is based on Immanuel Kant’s
philosophy of aesthetics.
 Kant describes the direct appeal to the senses as
"barbaric“
 As an effect of these aesthetics, working with
emotional and "unmodern" or "archetypical" motifs
was referred to as kitsch from the second half of the
19th century on. Kitsch is thus seen as "false
 As Thomas Kulka writes, "the term kitsch was
originally applied exclusively to paintings", but it
soon spread to other disciplines, such as music. The
term has been applied to painters, such as Ilya
Repin, composers, such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
whom Herman Broch refers to as "genialischer kitsch",
or "kitsch of genius

22.  “Kitsch is mechanical and operated by
formulas”
 “Kitsch pretends to demand nothing of its
customers except their money—not even
their time”

23.  “True art is good. Kitsch is evil”
 Accuses kitsch of not participating in the
development of art
 Kitsch involved trying to achieve “beauty”
instead of “truth”
 Any attempt to make something beautiful
would lead to kitsch
 Ex: Avant-Garde and Kitsch (arose in order to
defend aesthetic standards from the decline
of taste involved in consumer society)

24.  Concludes that kitsch is thus more reflective
than simple enjoyment in that it detaches
itself from the original emotion in order to
enjoy it

25. Question:

26.  Sweet kitsch can be used for propagandistic
purposes
-it exploits the human capacity to respond to
an image as an “icon”
- “categorial agreement” with the being
- It can provide a sugar-coated for virtually
any kind of ideology
 The art is controlled and formulated by the
needs of the market and given to a passive
population which accepts it

27.  “Artis supposed to be subjective,
challenging and oriented against the
oppressiveness of the power structure

28. Question:

29.  Withthe emergence of postmodernism in the
1980s, the borders between kitsch and high
art again became blurred

30. Question:

31.  Kitsch is rather light hearted enterprise that
tends to make our world somewhat more
charming if we are not put off by its
ridiculousness (Lyell Henry)
 Sweetening of life is the fundamental aim of
sweet kitsch
 Evil attitudes toward kitsch take it to be socially
harmful
 The problem lies in our poor opinion of the
emotions in general and in particular, the
“softer” sentiments
 It should be guarded more against the superficial
understanding of sweet kitsch than against it

32. For us, for young artists:

33. Question:

34.  As a result of this redefinition proposed by
Nerdrum, an increasing number of figurative painters
are referring to themselves as "kitsch painters" and
members of The Kitsch Movement
 they downplayed the formal structure of the artwork
in favor of elements that enter it by relating to other
spheres of life.
 Despite this, many in the art world continue to
adhere to some sense of the dichotomy between art
and kitsch, excluding all sentimental and ”realistic”
art from being considered seriously. This has come
under attack by critics, who argue for a renewed
appreciation of academic art and traditional
figurative painting, without the concern for it
appearing innovative or new.

35. Reality: