Redemption through Art 97the order of a religious event In this endeavor, he became an exponent
of the very art industry that he despised. As his contemporaries were
already beginning to remark, his art was turning into a comprehensive
assault on all of the senses. Although his work was intended as a protest
against capitalist modernity, it took a peculiarly modern approach. The
primacy of its impact and intended effect is characteristic of modernity.
The general public is organized as a market, and artists are put into the
position of competing against one another. The result is a mania for
originality and sensationalism. Baudelaire, one of the first Wagneriane,
recommended that artists in this situation learn from the spirit of adver-
tising: "Step up the level of interest with new methods ... double, triple,
and quadruple the dose" (Oehler 48). The market has brought the pub-
lic to a position of power. It demands heroes in both politics and art.
The public wants to be wooed, seduced, and even overpowered.
Everything that comes onto the market has to have a captivating the-
atrical aspect. The great era of commodification has commenced.
Of course, art has always been tailored to the public, but in the mod-
ern era the accent has clearly shifted to the goal of creating a splash. It
goes without saying that a countermovement sprang up, a deliberate
esotericism, in 'l'art pour l'art" and symbolism. A tendency toward the
obscure rendered understanding more difficult and impeded accessibil-
ity to the public However, the prevailing tendency of the Wagner era
was an ongoing endeavor to win over the public by means of accom-
modation, provocation, or mystification. The sensuous paintings of
Nietzsche's contemporaries Hans Makart and Franz Stuck, the desire for
provocation by the naturalists, and the pleasantry of the realists are
examples of this tendency. Art was directed outward and defined by its
public impact Anything that lacked effect did not exist. This was the
epoch in which Richard Wagner became the hero of art. In this era,
Descartes's axiom might well have run along the following lines: 1 have
an impact, therefore 1 am.
Richard Wagner was quite shrewd in establishing his own person as a
public myth. There appears to have been a compelling connection