Kitsch and Chapter Seventeen schniblets

Kitsch art is basically a knock off of the real art form. Over used objects thrown into overly cute and busy art works. A lot of the Kitsch objects I found online consisted of garden gnomes and easter images (lots of eggs). Probably the best definition comes from Wikipedia:

"Kitsch is the German and Yiddish word denoting art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art. The term kitsch was a response to the 19th century art whose aesthetics convey exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama, hence, kitsch art is closely associated with sentimental art. Moreover, kitsch (art) also denotes the types of art that are like-wise æsthetically deficient (whether or not it is sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) making it a creative gesture that merely imitates the superficial appearances of art (via repeated conventions and formulae), thus, it is uncreative and unoriginal; it is not Art."

The second part of our reading was from the book and talked about World War II poster designs. The goal of the poster when dealing with sensitive subjects like war, and other political issues is to move the viewer by playing with their emotions. Using simple images with only a short message was the theme. The kitsch style of the Saturday Evening Post images, is probably one of my favorites. I love that they went back to a traditional style of art, with overly dramatic poses and images, the lighting just fits it perfectly.

I really want to know why this style is so disliked, I can understand that some of these are 'overused' images, but I think that this step back to a more 'traditional' form of advertising is the best, a lot better than other art forms like cubism.