Maclean's, March 3, 1997 v110 n9 p14(1).
You scream, I scream....
(Edvard Munch's 19th-century painting 'The Scream' is one of the most
recognized and reproduced art works in the world)
Just what was Edvard Munch thinking
when he painted The Scream?
Critics howled when the Norwegian artist first exhibited the lurid canvas in
Berlin in 1893. "It caused a huge scandal," says Michael Parke-Taylor,
curator of a major Munch exhibit opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto
this week. But the bleak, agonizing figure depicted in Munch’s canvas -
and so alien to the naturalistic imagery of the 19th century - resonates with
meaning in the wired world of the 1990s. In recent years, The Scream
has joined The Mona Lisa as one of art history’s most reproduced
icons. "The image has been used for every social and political agenda you
can possibly think of, from feminism to the environment to politics," notes
Parke-Taylor. Just how deeply the image has penetrated popular culture is clear
in the art gallery’s companion exhibit, which features editorial and humorous
cartoons, posters, advertising material and an array of mugs, T-shirts, mouse-pads,
inflatable dolls and even a beer bottle and night-light emblazoned with The
Scream. Says Parke-Taylor: "It has become this image of modern man—totally
stressed out and angst-ridden."