Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl's talent is undeniable. Her films have proven to be not only fair material for historians, but some sublime black and white works of art. Certainly, she had a terrific visual skill that allowed her make beautiful photographic compositions in her films (one can easily notice that in the angles of the camera used and in the edition work). However, we can't ignore that her films, even Olympia, are basically propaganda for a mass killer... It's depressing that this talented woman that made such beautiful films was one of Hitler's close friends.

The Architecture of Force

The architecture of force is something I would never like to design. It can range from Fascist, Communist or Brutalist architecture, but in any case, those buildings are overwhelming in a negative way; even though some buildings are actually beautiful and impressive (like the Stalinist Architecture examples), I can't really enjoy them as knowing from which period they're from... they can turn a sort of guilty pleasure. We can't ignore these buildings as if they never existed and as if they weren't actually art (well, apparently in North Korea they can do it), but it is still hard to find them as delightful as an innocent Monet painting on a museum's wall. 

It is somehow amazing that important universities all over the world keep using the force architectural style of brutalism because it is not exactly lovable or cute or inviting... at all; brutalist buildings are actually way too intimidating to be a college's library.

This Stalinist piece, for example is as beautiful as the photograph composition we're seeing,
but who can completely enjoy it while knowing it is a discrete monument for Stalin?

Socialist Realism

Socialist Realism art is itself a tricky term: Socialist? Sure it is!.. Realist? Not really (It's hard to believe that propaganda is actually realistic).. Art? Well, that's questionable...

Aesthetically, Socialist Realism paintings are not so great, they are poorly remarkable to my eye, and no one can ignore the fact that they are highly propaganda mediums of portraying a perfect, happy and fairy tale-like Socialist life that it's just not true. It is sad how skillful artists had to commit their work to this pseudo style of art that doesn't allow them to actually express themselves nor the REAL reality they and the rest of the world was living in those days.

War Symphonies

One can easily get why Bohuslav Martinu's, Sergei Prokofiev's, Dmitri Shostakovich's, and Ralph Vaughan Williams' and Carl Nielsen's pieces are considered 'war symphonies'. These melodies are extremely powerful and energetic, and, actually, terrifying; even if some of them start as calm and innocent pieces of music, they suddenly get violent... suddenly something unexpected and damaging occurs and sounds just start to interrupt each other creating an alarming chaos of music (just as in war). In my opinion, all of these 'war symphonies' express not only the obvious violence and inhumanity of war but the despair, the madness and the intensity of those war times. I've always thought that music is the most abstract form of art, but I can say that these symphonies indeed give a war feeling.