Packing the punch of reality

Muscle strains as the last gasp of hope leaves the weary boxer. The brutal suspension in time of a boxing match drawn by George Bellows in 1917 and entitled A Stag at Sharkey’s, packs the punch of reality experienced first hand.

The print is part of the American Scene exhibition now showing at the British Museum, and is one of many prints which unfalteringly depict society as the artists see it. As John Sloan, another artist wrote in 1939, “Get the healthy point of view that men like Hogarth and Leech and Cruikshank had. Get out of the art school and studio. Go out into the streets and look at life.”

In the same way, the combination of direct social contact and creative language is a healthy and necessary partnership in an age of mass communication.

We are constantly bombarded with different opinions but as they end up using the same language they ultimately, ironically, serve only to simplify ideas and debates rather than allowing us to explore them in all their complexity and natural untidiness. Potent words overused and abused are misappropriated and lose their power to change and influence.

The creative eye can help to change the perspective on an issue. In the Souls of Black Folk WEB DuBois uses vigorous academic research, personal experience with the beauty of spiritual songs to tackle slavery and its consequences. He enables his ideas to soar to dramatic effect.

We should not be afraid to debate complex ideas and indulge in language while connecting this to everyday experience. The reduction of language only leaves us mired in old ideas without any hope of progress.