Existentialism and Art

With the philosophy of Existentialism, mankind defines itself through the act of living. A man or a woman exists, and then spends a lifetime changing his or her “essence”. Essence is basically what we make of ourselves. Without life there can be no meaning; the search for meaning in existentialism is the search for self. In other words, we define ourselves by living; any choices we have must be authentic, then. With existentialism, there is no divine being, no higher power to which we answer and who creates guidelines of “good” and “bad”. There is only Ethos, defined as “the way things should be”. Some things are irrational or absurd, without explanation. The existentialist view is somewhat bleak as man creates his own path without guidance and with all the responsibility of his actions on his own shoulders. The ar

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A later artist, Alberto Giacometti, used a clay medium cast in bronze to conjure eerie, spindly silhouettes of five figures on one plane, who seem to have no direction, no interaction, no life, in his acclaimed City Square. The concept of a creator that every individual answers to is passé¢.

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**Bibliography**

. The sculpture represents the existentialist view as each of the burnt-looking characters look as though they are all moving in different directions as they have their own choices to make and own perceptions of self. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot demonstrates the release of expectation of eventfulness as the characters sit and do almost nothing but talk about nothing at all while waiting for the end of the world.

Focusing in on the visual arts of this questioning time, standards are thrown out of the proverbial window.

In this day and age of the new Twentieth-Century, mankind has taken upon himself to become a sort of demi-god whose actions are not guided by ethics or right and wrong. ts of the post World War II era reflects this stance, seeming to be absurd in itself, creating an air of isolation at times; at other times the mood of the !

works are not defined, or have no specific goal. As a general statement about the condition of the United States, a comparison can be made between George Segal’s Bus Riders and the U. The theme of isolation remains consistent throughout many works.

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