Degrees of Kitsch and Laiki Techni (Folk Art)

"Kitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value; art which is unoriginal or aesthetically deficient; which uses repeated conventions and formulae; which exhibits excessive sentimentality... calculated to have popular appeal".

(This is a brief summary, or abbreviation, of the Wikipedia definition of Kitsch).

Recently I had a small aesthetic dispute with a German artist friend of immaculate taste, who is fond of dismissing decorative art in the traditional local folk-style as kitsch.

At first I defended the painting of floral designs on walls, trunks and (new) wooden objects, because I am fond of  naive folk art (Laiki Techni), the paintings of Theophilos and the traditional Hionadites artists who travelled widely in Epirus to decorate houses in the nineteenth century.

 Wooden Trunk, 1832

 Wooden Trunk, 1851

I once bought two antique Central European wooden trunks (dating from the beginning of the nineteenth century, above) with such designs; I also saved and preserved the painted sides of an old Greek cart.

Maybe my artist friend is sick of the brand-new replica painted village furniture, cupboards, wardrobes, wooden spoons and kitchen dressers that can be bought in Germany, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Europe, which often feature such 'traditional' floral folk designs.

One person's garden gnomes or Disney dwarfs are another person's kitsch. But I don't really buy the "De gustibus non est disputandum" argument.

I don't think she would have any objection to the restoration of old pieces of village furniture. The question is, where does restoration end and kitsch begin?

Is it wrong to use such traditional designs on or in a modern xenonas (guest house), or in a taverna or coffee shop built in the traditional style? I think not. If the establishment has commercial purposes, it is surely a matter for the owner's personal taste, although I am not enthusiastic about new paintings on old objects which could well be museum pieces, such as this kneading-trough or skafi:.

But what about the case of an important historical monastery? Surely there should be some rules and regulations to prevent someone from daubing paint and artistic motifs of dubious merit all over the old stone walls and woodwork?

We are all in absolute agreement that this type of unauthorized, if well-intentioned kitsch is not in the spirit of a monastic building. It's trying to turn spiritual places into tourist traps. Who wants to visit a beautiful historic monastery full of plastic flowerpots and gratuitous decoration which disturbs the atmosphere, enjoyment and identity of the building and environment?

What would a Byzantine art expert like Professor Vokotopoulos have to say about this?

It is one thing to keep a place clean and tidy, and to earn some income to help with essential restoration work, it is another thing to daub kitsch paintings and designs on the stonework and woodwork of a national and religious monument.

I now have to admit that I did have in mind to paint a traditional Zagori floral design on an attractively-shaped wooden pastry board (πλαστήρι) used for rolling dough or filo pastry in these parts. It was a new plastiri, but I'm still not popular. Kitsch!!!

Some of the alternatives, maybe even worse, about which I've posted before:
Palaiokastritsa, Corfu
Prophet Elias, Central Zagori