Modernism isms 1893-1950

Turn of the Century 1900-2000Modernism

Europe 1900

Europe 1919After WWI

Europe Present Day

“Modern-ism: experimental; radical; ready made; primitive; the subconscious; spiritual order; expressive truth; art and industry; internationalism.”

Fauvism- intense colors with thick brush strokes; little mixing or shading. 1898-1908(Little)

Henri Matisse, Joy of Life, 1905-1906, France

André Derain, London Bridge, 1906, France

Primitivism: ethnographic; expressive force; intuitive emotion; vigor; insanity; reproductive nature; wholeness; truth; simplicity.

Primitivism: antithesis of the Academia; inspired by non-Western cultures; idealizing them as a content people, less sophisticated, and corrupt. 1893-1933 (Little)

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d' Avignon, 1907, Paris France

Iberian Mask stolen from the Louvre

Paul Gauguin, The moon and the Earth, 1893, Tahiti

Expressionism: strong color; distortion; abstraction; alienation; community; social critique; masquerade; purification; aggressive brush work.

Expressionism: Northern European phenomenon predominantly in Germany; emotional extremes; art of unrest in search for the truth; exploration of the obliteration of genuine feelings in society that needed cleansing and purifying. (1905-1920) (Little)

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28 (second version), 1912

Ernst ludwig Kirchner, Street, Berlin, 1913, Germany

Cubism: flattened volume; confused perspective; collage; multiple viewpoints; still life; subdued colors;analytic; synthetic.

Cubism: Picasso and Braque; conceptual approach; no distinction between three- dimensional forms with curves and those that ought to curve away; flattened curved objects into shapes and multiplied them across the canvas making it difficult to distinguish objects from the space they inhabit; artists explored movement through time and space; (1901-1914) (Little)

Analytic:• based on observation;• "analyzed" natural forms reduced to basic geometric parts on two-dimensional planes;• monochromatic; •cylinder, sphere, and cone forms representing the natural world to deliver tension between the reality outside the painting and the complicated meditations on visual language within the frame;• declined in 1911. •subject reconstructed in intersecting, sometimes transparent planes

Synthetic: Artistic techniques such as collage; Fragmentation would be somewhat reduced in size; Subject more recognizable and less formal;Contrasting of smooth and rough surfaces; Mixed media of non-painted objects (newspapers or tobacco wrappers);Emphasizes the differences in texture; Asks, what is reality and what is illusion in painting? Began in 1912, right after Analytical declined.

Georges Braque, Violin and Pallet, 1909-1910, France

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles , deemed the term Cubism and wrote “[Braque] despises form, reduces everything to cubes. Let us not make fun of him, since he is honest. And let us wait.” after Braque’s 1908 exhibit.

Pablo, Picasso, “Ma Jolie” (Woman with a Zither or a Guitar), 1911-1912

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Stair Case, No. 2, 1912

J. Amswold, The Rude Descending the Stairs, (Rush Hour at the Subway) New York Evening Sun, March 20th, 1913

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of

Continuity in Space, 1913

“No one can any longer believe that an object ends where another begins…We Therefore…proclaim…the complete abolition of definite lines and closed sculpture. We break open the figure and enclose it in the environment.” Boccioni

Futurism- speed, energy; aggression; force; lines; crowds; urban; new; technology; progress; weaponry; strident colors;

Futurism- Italian movement; characterized by its aggressive celebration of modern technology, speed, city life; vigorous disillusionment with Western Art; wanted to destroy venerated art and emancipate everything new and vital; speed of automobiles more interesting than the automobile; crowds were more politically significant than institutions of Government; adept at promoting their work through lectures and publicity stunts making it highly visible; 1909-1940’s. (Little)

Giacomo Balla, Speeding Automobile, 1913

Dadaism-destruction; liberation; the subconscious; chance; nonsense; ready-mades; anti-bourgeois; nihilistic; witty; nonsensical

Dadaism: emerged during WWI; dada mean hobby horse in French; decreed that all moral, political, and aesthetic beliefs were destroyed by war; promoted a destructive, irreverent ,liberating approach to art; shock was a key tactic; wanted to shape society out of nationalism and materialism; literary movement as well; refused to develop conventions; rejected traditional craftsmanship and categories; believed how art was judged was secondary art and not definitive. (Little)

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

Kurt Schwitters, Merzbild, 1920, Mixed media collage

“The word Merz had no meaning when I formed it. Now it has the meaning which I gave it. … Merz stands for freedom from all fetters, for the sake of artistic creation. Freedom is not lack of restraint but the product of strict artistic discipline. Merz also means tolerance towards any artistically motivated limitation.”Kurt Schwitters, 1920

Surrealism: the subconscious; irrational; d reams; juxtaposition; destruction; eroticism; metaphysical; anxiety; contradiction; random associations.

Surrealism: founded in Par is in 1924; more preoccupied in the spiritual than Dadaism; created art that was automatic, came directly from the subconscious without being shaped by reason, morality, or aesthetic judgments; felt the repressed artistic creativity was stored in the subconscious; influenced by Sigmund Freud; adopted techniques to unlock the subconscious (automatic writing); rendered accepted truths and conventions as uncreative; bio-morphic shapes amoeba, viruses, glimpses into the psyche; uncharted synaptic spaces (between brain cells where most of what we do is accomplished). (Little)

Max Ernst, Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale, 1924

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

Abstract Expressionism: Universal order; physical gesture; dance; psychic energy; unconscious symbols; contemplation; iconic; stillness

Abstract Expressionism: developed in New York right after WWII; it attempts to depict universal emotions which could restore art and society after WWI; first exclusively America movement to gain recognition; concentrated on the physical process of painting ; Carl Gustave Young was a crucial influence on these artists; he believed that archetypal, symbolic generating emotions and behavior can be found in every psych and culture. The artists believed that their painting expressed these universal symbols; physical art capture the energy of dance; color field painting evokes the psychic energy of contemplation. (Little)

Mark Rothco, Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red), 1949

Jackson Pollock, Alchemy, 1947

Pablo Picasso His Life and Art. “Pablo Picasso’s Cubism Period 1909-1912.” 2008. January, 23, 2011’ http://www.pablopicasso.org/cubismperiod.jsp.

Jansen, Marten. Picasso.nom.es. “Pablo Picasso Cubism.” 1997-2010. January 23,2011. http://pablo-picasso.paintings.name/

Moffat, Charles Alexander. The Art History Archive- Art Movements .“Cubism.” 2001-2004. January 23,2011.

http://www.lilithgallery.com/arthistory/cubism/

Little, Stephen. Isms, Understanding Art. Universe Publishing. New York. 2004.

Works Cited

Wilkins, David G. et al. Art Past Art Present. “Introduction to Art from 1900-1949