Week 1

Snow goes into detail to explain what he sees as the developing “Two Cultures” in the world.  They are simply described as the intellectuals (those inclined to literary and social studies), and the non-intellectuals (those of scientific practices such as biology, physics, chemistry, etc.).  Over all, Snow feels that over the course of history, especially at the point of the first true industrial revolution, the sciences and art were split and isolated, no longer having anything to do with each other.  Snow further reveals that this isolation of studies is heavily reflected by the education system, for example in the United States.

Coming in as a freshmen in 2011 to UCLA, this divide in the arts and sciences seemed to be very definite, it did not take long for me to learn academic geography with the entire student body choosing to identify as a North Campus (arts) or a South Campus (sciences) major.  However, in my studies as a Central and Eastern European Languages and Cultures Major, and as I near my graduation in this coming June, I have come to see this distinction is actually very misleading.  In reality our student body is encouraged to have diversification in both fields.  In my opinion, as well as the UCLA Curriculum, the studies of the arts and sciences offer interchangeable skills that can only be achieved through crossing the two.  Such a an idea of a person of both worlds was believed lost in men such as Leonardo da Vinci, a man known for both his art and inventiveness.

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci

 

 In response to Snow, my studies have also shown that art and science crossed paths with success during the Weimar Period with the Contructivist movement.  Strecker in The Mad Square  describes Photographers, who embraced new scientific advances in technology and industry, used it as a template and medium for their artistic expressions.

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, The Berlin Tower 1928

 

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Carnival: Composition with two masks 1934

 

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy took these photos, hoping to expose the hidden aesthetic beauty and attraction that is instilled in industry and technology (as well as the fact that newer technology in photography provided the method by which to create art), feeling the two are inexplicably intertwined.  In the end I wholeheartedly believe the greatest minds are those that seek the benefits and knowledge of all fields of study and practice.

 

 

Citation:

 



Strecker, Jacqueline. The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-37. Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011. Print.  

Bunyan, Marcus. "Art Blart." Art Blart. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://artblart.com/tag/laszlo-moholy-nagy-from-the-radio-tower-berlin/>.           

"Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci – Facts & History of the Drawing." Totally History Vitruvian Man Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://totallyhistory.com/vitruvian-man/>.           

 "Anthony Luke's Not-just-another-photoblog Blog." : Photographer Profile ~ László Moholy-Nagy. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. http://anthonylukephotography.blogspot.com/2011/09/photographer-profile-laszlo-moholy-nagy.html. 

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.