The Grotesque in Art and Literature

Kayser, Wolfgang. The Grotesque in Art and Literature. Gloucester, Mass: P. Smith,         1968. Print.

For my research I acquired various books on the grotesque.  In Wilhelm Kayser's book, I acquired information on the origins of the grotesque.  On page 19, he explains that the word is derived from the Italian La grottesca and grottesco.  These "refer to grotta (cave) and were coined to designate a certain ornamental style which came to light during late fifteenth-century excavations, first in Rome and then in other parts of Italy as well.."

"...[the]word grottesco...was used to designate a specific ornamental style suggested by antiquity...[it was] playfully gay and carefully fantastic [and it was] ominous and sinister in the face of a world totally different from the familiar one-a world in which the realm of inanimate things is no longer separated from those of plants, animals, and human beings and where the laws of statics, symmetry, and proportion are no longer valid..."

At this time, the ornamental style was strange because it conflicted with NeoClassicism and the realism which appeared in the art at the time.  Kayser explains that the grotesque has always been considered strange.

I included this source because it helped me understand the origins and reaction to this genre.  It also helped me understand how the grotesque and its meaning have been changing over the course of centuries.