JPG: Stories: Photo Essay: I Love Kitsch :)

I Love Kitsch :) - Part 1

By Maura Wolfson-Foster

5 Nov 2009

Several definitions have been offered to describe kitsch:

1. kitsch kich, n. trash: work in any of the arts that is pretentious and inferior or in bad taste. --adj. kitsch'y. --adv. kitsch'ly. [Ger] Definition from Chambers dictionary

2. kitsch kich noun. trash; art, literature, fashion, etc dismissed as being of merely popular taste or appeal, vulgar, sentimental or sometimes pretentious. Also adjective. kitsch'ily adverb. kitsch'y adjective. [German] Definition from Larousse plc.

3. kitsch In the arts, anything that claims to have an aesthetic purpose but is tawdry and tasteless. It usually applies to cheap sentimental works produced for the mass market, such as those found in souvenir shops and chain stores, but it is also used for any art that is considered in bad taste. Definition from Helicon Publishing Ltd.

4. kitsch Derived from the German verkitschen etwas, kitsch means to 'knock something off'. Today it is synonymous with objects of bad taste that are so bad they're good in an ironic way. In the fifties and sixties kitsch was - and still is - highly collectable. Kitsch can be anything from flying ducks to Tretchikoff paintings and Elvis toilet roll holders. Definition from BBC

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4 responses

Michele Randell said (5 Nov 2009):
Maura, I am so glad you did a photo essay of your images...In your hands kitsch is elevated to a higher art form....!

Voted most definitely!
Maura Wolfson-Foster said (6 Nov 2009):
What a wonderful compliment Michele - thank you very much!!!

Love, ~ M
peter said (10 Nov 2009):
do you that i am a member of the anonym kitschian ?

however: not 'art' is the mirror of societies but kitsch.

so far your essay (documentation) is an exellent (and amazing, and ironic) essay ....
Dawn Duffield (Deleted) gave props (29 Nov 2009):
I have definitely learned something! This is a spectacular essay!!!!! I dig kitsch when used in art (thanks to my dear M) however, not so much in souvenir shops and do I dare say...the malls!