La Sordidez (Social Studies)

Discussion through works of art encourage how to approach ambiguous and complex ideas, thoughts, and feelings. The MFAH offers a democratic space where students and teachers can develop, practice and articulate these habits of mind. Remember that the quality of the conversation is what is important, not finding the artist’s “answer.” Slow down and take the time to make careful observations. Talk about what you notice, and try to avoid jumping to conclusions and interpretations. Be sure to give enough time for silent looking and thinking.

Work of Art

Born in Rosario, Argentina, Antonio Berni is a central figure in 20th-century Argentinean art. Berni studied drawing in Rosario in 1916 while apprenticing in a stained-glass workshop. In 1925, he earned a scholarship to study painting in Europe. Settling in Paris for five years, he was deeply influenced by the Surrealist movement. Returning to Argentina in 1930, Berni exhibited his own Surrealist paintings, which were poorly received by critics. Soon after, his paintings, including murals, shifted to a more realist style and focused on social reform. In the 1950s, Berni abandoned his social realist style, although he continued to create art with social and political themes. In 1958, he began a series of prints, collages, and assemblages incorporating garbage and found objects, based on two characters he invented, Juanito Laguna, a street urchin, and Ramona Montiel, a prostitute. Berni created the prints using an innovative technique that used impressions left on paper by trash arranged as pictures. These won him the Grand Prize for Printmaking at the 1962 Venice Biennale. In subsequent work, Berni began to collage found materials onto canvas, enhancing them with paint to create large format works. Later, he transformed his work with scrap metal and waste into sculptural assemblages that featured two themes: La sordidez(Sordidness, 1964) and Voracidad (Voracity, 1965), in a series called Monstruos cósmicos (Cosmic Monsters). Berni returned to a more conventional style of painting in the 1970s but throughout his life continued to make works addressing poverty.

Reaching just over five feet in length this urban creature was created from the refuse of modern society. Bent and rusty nails fill out its bristling head and neck, ragged shards of wood stand up from its crawling spine, while decayed and rotten plant roots encrust its back. Its wide open mouth reveals jagged, uneven teeth, created from pieces of plastic ice cube trays, and a thrusting reptilian tongue made from a splintered piece of wood. Like a rat scouring through alley trash bins, this “sordid,” wretched monster appears too intent on finding its next meal to notice the shock and disgust with which it is received. To Berni, La Sordidezis a universal allegory for the degradation and corruption of modern society caused by endemic poverty.

The theme of this assemblage sculpture is conveyed by both the materials used and the subject matter itself. Berni chose man-made materials and natural refuse marked by age and deterioration. He assembled and arranged these waste products of society into the shape of a monster that exists only because of such waste.

From the mid-1950s into the early 1960s, Argentina underwent rapid economic development, accelerated after the downfall of President Juan Domingo Perón in 1955 and financed by infusions of foreign capital. These were “boom” years in Argentina; an expansive and optimistic mood prevailed throughout the country, especially in Buenos Aires. With expanded access to consumer goods, many people, including Argentinean Pop artists, celebrated consumer culture much in the same way artists like Andy Warhol did in the United States. However, there were others, including Berni, who were more concerned that the infusions of capital were not reaching those with the greatest needs. They spoke out against the negative aspects of rapid economic development, the emptiness of a materialistic society, and the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor.

Conversation

• As you observe the sculpture, what materials can you identify? What types of objects or structures do you associate with these materials?
• Observe the scale of the sculpture. How would the work be impacted it the work were smaller or larger?

• Why might the artists have chosen to use this collection of materials to form this particular shape? How would your interpretation of the work change if the artists used different materials?
• Consider the form of the sculpture. What might this work be depicting?

This object allows students to observe details which is an important skill in analyzing information, especially from a geographic perspective where students have to analyze maps, charts, graphs, and visual images such as satellite photos to understand more about the world around them. The many details on this object give students the practice of looking for clues that might show the artists intention and synthesizing these clues to make educated guesses. Students get more opportunities to muddle around in the “gray area” where information and ideas are not always clear. This piece helps students to be more comfortable with challenges while giving them the opportunity to synthesize information into big ideas in understanding the message of the artist.

Subject Matter

• Divide students into cooperative learning groups. Each group receives a different close- up section of La Sordidez (prior to lesson, teacher downloads image and takes screenshots of different sections to distribute to groups). Observe details and list observations.
• Each group shares close-up section with observations.
• Reveal entire work and discuss how observations have evolved into expanded perceptions. Use ‘Conversation Starters/Connecting to the Work of Art’ in discussion.

 

• Writing Activity
  • Connect to sustainability, commentary on rapid economic growth, and uneven development. 

 

• Warm-up during Economic Unit
  • Break students into groups. 
  • Each group gets a different close up of the piece. 
  • Students observe details and make guesses as to what they are looking at. 
  • Each group share ideas and show their pieces before revealing entire work of art (if there was a way to get close up images)

Assessment

The numerous tiny details on this piece make it a great object for observation and looking for details. There are many individual parts to make note of and discuss which allows more students to be a part of the conversation and include their voice, even if it’s a simple “This is what I saw”. This piece allows students to make connections to patterns in material and think about why the artist made the choices that he did. It also helps students develop grit as the meaning or message behind the piece is not immediately obvious. Group discussions and the collective group mind will be necessary, especially for the freshmen in my class, to be able to make the connections between material choice and the message of the artist. Questioning strategies and pre-planned questions would be necessary to help my students develop these habits. Ultimately, these habits are important because students need to be ok with not “getting it” right away. Many of GT students in particular are very used to immediately understanding information when presented to them and struggle when they finally meet a term or concept that they do not understand. The students do not know what to do to help them find answers and understand confusing information.

Resources

Resources Available to Order

Check our online collection module for further information.