Protecting Traditional Painting in the 1940s

Concerned about deviant art that was emerging, a group of post-World War II painters wrote a manifesto to promote and protect traditional art.

Italian artist Pietro Annigoni freely gave his time and talent to church commissions, accepting no payment. He painted many new frescoes in Montecassino Abbey (80 miles southeast of Rome), including “The Glory of Saint Benedict.”  Paolo Bona/Shutterstock

Modern art dominates our country’s galleries, museums, exhibitions, and auction houses. Since the advent of photography and the birth of impressionism in the late 19th century, orthodox art has largely been relegated to the irrelevant.

In the name of progress, many late-19th- and 20th-century artists embraced the new, the individual, and the radical, often leaving centuries of art traditions behind.