Notes for a Hypothesos

I often wonder about artist statements and their history. Did Raphael, Titian, Carraagio write artists statements? I think it highly unlikely. I think they came about in the late 1890s-1900s when nonobjecttive and abstraction were born. About the time of Klee, Arps, Kandinskiy as well as the Russian Constructivists. I thnk in particular the publication of De Stihl and the rise of the Bauhaus may have figured prominently in their origins. And it probably became popilar with gallery owners and curators who now felt responsible to explain what the artist meant to a potential buyer or patron. Something which had not been necesary before, even with the Impressionists. Here enter the Fauvists, the Cubists, the Orphists and various manifestos. The Surrealists and Dada were fond of manifestos, which were grand versions of artist statements. When the uninitiated viewer became responsbile for interpreting a painting or sulptur, it became necessary to provide them wih the vocabulary and the cache of symbols if they were available in order for them to do so. Understand these are only musings and notes as I plan further excavations into the origin and history of artist statements.