Art Final Paper
Presentation 16 Modernism 1900 – 1940
The first decades of the 20th century brought many changes and advances… science, technology, medicine, psychology, philosophy, government, art.
Cities grew, public health got better, education expanded, regulations created public safety, longer life spans…
These advancements meant a more stable life for much of the population.
Wright Brothers in 1903
Telephones to connect
personal travel
All this led to everyone (including artists) to thinking differently about the nature of reality!
Albert Einstein’s theories changed our conception of time, space, and substance…
Sigmund Freud’s work was very popular and explored the power and influence of the subconscious mind on all of us…
At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century is the development of Modernism. These styles of art and philosophy were in reacKon to the rapidly developing world as well as social and cultural changes. Many of the styles we will briefly explore here are generally considered part of Modernism or Modern Art.
Modernism Some key features include: ExperimentaKon in the visual arts, philosophy, literature, music, etc. Breaking with tradiKonal and classical ideas and techniques. APempts to create universal or overarching themes to help understand a changing world.
Fauvism
- 1905-1907 - A small group of painters that were influenced by van Gogh and Gauguin’s use of color. - Vigorous brushwork and bright color. - A critic at their first show called them les fauves (the wild beasts) because of the color and painting technique. It was meant as an insult. - The Fauves freed color from its traditional role of describing the natural appearance of an object. - Color became an independent expressive element.
Maurice de Vlaminck The River Seine at Chatou
Oil on canvas 32”x40”
1906
Andre Derain London Bridge
Oil on canvas 26”x39”
1906
Though it may not seem wild now, a painting like this was seen as quite shocking when it was first exhibited. Derain’s London Bridge painting is a fairly traditional view and composition, but the artist instead radically changes it with his use of color choices. He does not use the colors we typically see when looking at the water, buildings, sky or bridge. Color is now free from its descriptive use. Andre Derain was intentionally using discordant colors to create a sense of vibrating energy. Discordant color combinations seem to clash and appear unharmonious.
Henri Matisse was not as rebellious as the name, les fauves, suggests. He was a thoughtful person who simply tried to express his enthusiasm for life. Matisse may have reduced his subjects to a few simple shapes but instead he focused on expressive colors and bold lines that activate the entire composition.
Henri Matisse Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt
Oil on canvas 22”x18”
1906 Henri Matisse View of Collioure Oil on canvas. 23”x29”. 1905
Henri MaIsse The Joy of Life Oil on canvas
69”x95” 1906
His painting Joy of Life seems to burst with pure color and line providing a sense of rhythm in the composition. The work is intentionally simple and direct in order to heighten the joyful content.
Though the painting is not without precedent, many of the figures are based on previous figures and themes in art history.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. La Grande Odalisque. Oil on canvas. 35”x63”. 1814
Titian. Bacchanal of the Andrians. oil on canvas, 175” x 193”.1523-26
Titian’s painting from 1526 that depicts the mythological celebration of Bacchus and Venus, the gods of wine and love.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. L’Odalisque á l’esclave Oil on canvas. 28”x40”. 1839
Fauvism, as you can see, was very expressive. Expressionism is a general term for art that emphasizes inner feelings and emotions over realistic depiction. The term expressionism is also used to describe works in music and literature. We can trace a growing sense of expression back from Baroque art to Romanticism, and then to figures like Vincent van Gogh. A group of artists in Germany were pushing away from traditional subject matter and academic painting.
German Expressionism
- Starting around 1900 - Similar to the Fauves in France. - German artists that sought emotional intensity in their works. - Their art is often simplified, angular, and crude to create bold and dramatic scenes. - Influenced by Gauguin, van Gogh, and especially Edvard Munch. - Disliked academic painting for its lack of expression. - They felt compelled to use the power of heightened personal experience to address the human condition. - They often explored themes as sorrow, passion, spirituality
Die Brücke
Die Brücke, meaning “The Bridge”, was a group of German Expressionism arKsts living in Dresden in 1905. They took their name from the wriKngs of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who used the bridge as a metaphor for a connecKon between a barbaric past and a modern future. Inspired by PrimiKvism as well, die Brücke looked to the more “natural” past and the future of the modern world. They disbanded in 1913, pursuing their individual styles. Kirchner produced their manifesto which is as follows: – “We call all young people together, and as young people, who carry the future in us, we want to wrest freedom for our acIons and our lives from the older, comfortably established forces.”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Potsdamer Platz Oil on canvas. 78”x59”. 1914
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Street, Berlin oil on canvas
47"x35" 1913
The repeated diagonal lines of the elongated figures crowd the scene to make us feel we are right there on the bustling sidewalk. But the chopped-up shapes and rough crude brushwork separate us from the people too and creates a sense of anxiety.
DER BLAUE REITER
Der Blaue Reiter, or “The Blue Rider”, was formed in Munich in 1911. Lead primarily by Wasilly Kandinsky and Franz Marc. They rejected representational art forms and moved toward abstraction and focused on the expression of color. Artists of Der Blaue Reiter focused on highly intellectual compositions and formed theories of artistic expression beyond representation.
The painter Franz Marc even suggested that specific colors were representative of specific emotional properties; blue is severe and spiritual, yellow is gentle and happy, red is brutal and heavy.
Franz Marc. Blue Horse I Oil on canvas. 44”x33”.1911
Wassily Kandinsky lived in Germany from about 1908 to 1914. He was heavily influenced by the Fauves and wanted to take color to even higher levels. He hoped to lead viewers toward spiritual rejuvenation. Subject matter is definitely secondary compared to his expressive color, shape and line.
Wassily Kandinsky. Blue Mountain oil on canvas. 41"x38”. 1909
Wassily Kandinsky. Landscape with Factory Chimney Oil on canvas. 26”x32”. 1910.
Wassily Kandinsky. Composition IV. Oil on canvas. 62”x98”. 1911
Kandinsky used the language and experience of music to create his art. The rhythms, melodies, and harmonies of music affect us strongly and he hoped to connect these feelings. Kandinsky said the content of his paintings was "what the spectator lives or feels while under the effect of the form and color combinations of the picture."
Wassily Kandinsky. Composition VII. Oil on canvas. 118”x78”. 1913
He is considered one of the first artists to make totally nonrepresentational works. He hoped to create art for the emotional needs of the soul, rather than in response to what he saw in the world. His revolutionary nonrepresentational works played a key role in the development of later styles.
Cubism
- Developed initially by Picasso and Braque around 1908. - Influenced by Paul Cézanne and African masks. - Showing objects from different points of view. - Overlapping shapes and collapsing of figure ground relationship.
If you’ll remember, by the end of the last century Impressionism had given rise to roughly two groups of Post-Impressionists. Those that felt the Impressionists did not include enough emotion and those who felt the Impressionists painting lacked structure. We’ve seen how Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin both wanted to include more personal expression into their art. Artists like Henri Matisse and Le Fauves took that further. Around the same time though was Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque as they looked to the Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne for inspiration.
Picasso started things off when he painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Even his friends and fellow arKsts were concerned when they first saw it. In the painKng, the fractured, angular figures of five females intermingle with sharp triangular shapes of the background, thereby acKvaKng the enKre picture surface. This reconstrucKon of image, merging figure and ground, and flaPening of space was a turning point. Discarding vanishing points, uniform lighKng, and anatomy, he overturned important tradiKons of Western art.
Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Oil on canvas. 96”x92”. 1907
While Picasso made the first breakthrough with the previous painting, Braque did more to develop the visual vocabulary of Cubism.
Georges Braque. Houses at l’Estaque oil on canvas. 28”x23”. 1908
Paul Cézanne. Gardanne Oil on canvas. 31”x25”. 1886
Here we can see a Cézanne painting that shows the progression from his Post-Impressionist style to a new Cubist approach. Cézanne concentrates on the shape of the buildings and how they overlap. Braque takes this further and reduces his buildings and hills to large blocks.
During 1910-1911, Picasso and Braque and others, developed Analytical Cubism. They analyzed their subjects from various angles and attempted to combine these views. This is similar to how we build an image of an object in our mind. Looking carefully you may notice small parts of what Braque was looking at for this painting, a man strumming a guitar at a café. But for the most part the many views and parts are overlapped into a completely new composition.
Georges Braque The Portuguese
Oil on canvas 46”x32”
1911
The subject is broken down and recombined into raKonal and formal shapes. AnalyKcal Cubism was a counterpart to the colorful Fauves. Less about feeling and more about intense observaKon.
Pablo Picasso Girl with a Mandolin
Oil on canvas 39”x29”
1910
By 1912, the artists began to modify the style by adding color, pattern and cutout shapes. This more imaginative style is referred to as Synthetic Cubism. Instead of breaking down the subject they were building it up.
Juan Gris Le Petit Déjeuner (Breakfast)
Gouache, oil, crayon on cut-and-pasted printed paper on canvas
32”x23” 1914
Synthetic cubism is especially important for using collage, gluing cut-out paper and other materials to the surface.
Here Picasso uses actual newspapers for his still-life of a violin, fruit and wineglass sitting on a table. In the top left corner he uses cutouts of fruit from a book.
Pablo Picasso Violin, Fruit and Wineglass
Charcoal, colored papers, gouache, and painted paper
collage 25”x19”
1913
Picasso also created Cubist sculpture. Cut-up sheet metal is turned into multiple views of a guitar. Previously, sculpture had been carved (from materials like stone or wood) or modeled in clay (or wax for pouring metal). Picasso will continue to quickly develop, discard, and change his style throughout the rest of his life.
Pablo Picasso Guitar
Sheet metal and wire 30”x13”x8”
1914
At the beginning of the 1900’s, the most influenKal sculptor was Rodin, who had brought a new expressiveness to the medium. He had studied the works of the Renaissance. He was parKcularly influenced by Michelangelo’s unfinished pieces. Rodin brought new expressive qualiKes to sculpture. His figures seem to possess inner emoKons and personal struggles. Rodin primarily modeled his forms from plaster and clay first and then had them cast in metal. This working method gave him a high degree of control and it shows. His figures seem to be in the process of being created.
Rodin The Shade
Bronze 1881-1886
Rodin. The Burghers of Calais. Bronze. 80”x77”80”. 1884-1889
Constantin Brancusi is considered the next important sculptor. He started sculpting under Rodin’s influence, but soon began moving toward more abstraction. Here are examples of his work in which we see him move from Romanticism inspired naturalism to very simplified forms.
Constantin Brancusi. Sleep. Marble. 10”x17”x11”. 1908
Constantin Brancusi. Sleeping Muse. marble. 7”x10”x8”. 1909-1911
Constantin Brancusi. Newborn. marble. 6”x8”x6” 1915
But it is his later works that shifted the medium of sculpture significantly. For his work Bird in Space, Brancusi used cast bronze with a highly polished finish. The artist creates an elegant, uplifting form that implies the soaring motion of a bird. Instead of portraying a bird his slender form embodies the idea of flight.
ConstanIn Brancusi Bird in Space
Bronze 54”x8 ½”x6 ½”
1928
Futurism
- In Italy around 1909 then spread to other countries like Russia.
- Initially inspired by Cubism. - These artists sought to express the
sense of speed and motion. - Their art is like a celebration of the
machine and modernity. - Jagged and overlapping shapes that
imply rapid movement and dynamic energy.
Umberto Boccioni Unique Forms of Continuity in
Space 47”x35”x15”
Bronze 1913
Gino Severini Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the
Bal Tabarin Oil on canvas with sequins,
63”x 61” 1912
Marcel Duchamp was in France at the time and unconnected to Futurism. But we can see the incredible influence of it and Cubism in one of his early works. The figure of a nude person is broken down, examined and then recombined into forms that resemble more of a machine. Duchamp was also influence by new photography techniques by Eadweard Muybridge. Like this series from 1887.
Marcel Duchamp Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2
Oil on canvas 58”x35”
1912
During the late 19th century and early part of the 20th century it is in Europe where so many artistic styles and changes are being developed. But in America the art is still mostly moving in a representational way.
Ashcan School
- Genre scenes portraying scenes of daily life in cities.
- 1880’s - 1915 - Often their themes related to
poor neighborhoods and their activities.
- Not an organized group of artists.
Robert Henri Snow in New York
Oil on canvas 32”x26”
1902
John Sloan. McSorley’s Bar. Oil on canvas. 26”x32”. 1912
George Bellows Cliff Dwellers Oil on canvas
40”x42” 1913
The American public had its first extensive look at leading developments in European art during the Armory Show. The large exhibition opened in New York in 1913 and traveled to Boston and Chicago. With over 1,300 works of art, the exhibition attempted to demonstrate that modern art was not dangerously revolutionary, but rather it had evolved from previous artistic movements in the 1800’s. Most of the public missed this point and instead focused on how shocking Cubism and Expressionism initially looked. The show was controversial and popular. American artists were immediately influenced. Exhibitions like this were changing the general idea that good art did not have to be representational or inherently nice-looking.
But sadly it wasn’t long before most countries were pulled into World War I. The war lasted from 1914 to 1918 and turned out to be far more devastating than the people of the time expected. More than ten million were killed and twice that number wounded.
New technologies and advancements that had seemed so positive had been used for destruction.
Artists everywhere were practically split between those that hoped their works could inspire change and those overcome with grief for humankind. Some linked their art to hopes for a better world. Others denounced the horrors or war and hoped to show people how much the world needed to change.
Dada
- Artists and writers that were reacting to the horrors of World War I.
- Dada begun independently in both New York and Zurich in 1916.
- Dada artists embraced political anarchy, the hand of chance, the irrational, and ultimately prized the concept over the execution in their art.
- Cynical of conventional art forms and disillusioned with representation and naturalism.
- Though their work was distrustful of establishment, whimsy and use of humor lightened their pessimism and allowed for new creative avenues.
- The name Dada is random and nonsense.
Raoul Hausman. The Art Critic. Collaged paper. 12”x10”. 1919
Hannah Höch Cut with a Kitchen knife through the Beer-
Belly of the Weimar Republic Collaged paper
45”x35” 1919
Dada was criKcal of all forms of oppression and prevailing tradiKonal standards. Collages like this by Hannah Höch were iniKally deemed uncreaKve since she was using images that already existed.
Raoul Hausmann Mechanical Head (The Spirit of Our Time)
Assemblage including wooden mannequin head, measuring devices, ruler, pocket
watch, typewriter parts, etc. Height 15”
1920
Many of these artists felt that people were losing their way and were turning into automated machines. They hoped to shock the public back into paying attention and thinking for themselves.
In 1917, Marcel Duchamp, who had moved from France to America created one of his first readymades. He purchased a restroom urinal, turned it on its back, signed it with a fake name and gave it a title. He did this partly in an effort to show how art was not as radical as people thought. The sculpture was ridiculed and rejected; further proving Duchamp’s point.
Duchamp sought to position the mind of the artist as more important than producing pretty things that were to be bought and hung on walls. The readymades that Duchamp created were revolutionary in the idea that; art is whatever an artist decides is art.
Marcel Duchamp Fountain
store-bought porcelain urnial 1917
Surrealism
- Developed by artists in mid 1920’s. Officially launched in Paris 1924. - Influenced by Dada’s use of irrationality. - They thought that the modern emphasis on science, rationality, and progress was
throwing the consciousness of mankind out to balance. - They proclaimed the importance of the unconscious mind, of dreams, fantasies,
and hallucinations.
Salvador Dalí The Persistence of Memory
Oil on canvas 9 ½”x13”
1931
Joan Míro The Family charcoal, chalk, and conté crayon on paper. 29”x40”. 1924
René Magritte Le Faux Miroir (The False Mirror) Oil on Canvas 21”x31” 1929
Meret Oppenheim Object Fur-covered cup, saucer, spoon 1936
Joan Miró. Object stuffed parrot, wood, silk stocking, hat, map, etc. 1936
Many Surrealists hoped that irrational juxtapositions would jolt viewers out of their normal modes of thinking and open them to new possibilities.
Expanding on Cubism
Around the same time as artists were exploring Dada and Surrealism there were other artists that were pushing elements and styles based on Cubism. These artists were more concerned with form and composition.
- Suprematism developed by Kazimir Malevich in Russia.
- Constructivism, inspired by Suprematism.
- De Stilj developed by Piet Mondrian in the Netherlands.
Russian artist Kazimir Malevich kept reducing shapes in his art until it was precise arrangements of flat shapes. He created the term Suprematism to describe how shapes and colors in a painting always communicate, no matter what the subject of the work. He eventually decided that art should not need subject matter just the arrangement of shape and color.
Kazimir Malevich Suprematist Composition
Oil on canvas 35”x28”
1916
Fernand Léger The City Oil on canvas. 91”x177”. 1919
Constructivism was inspired initially by Picasso’s cubist constructions. Started in Russia the Constructivists believed art should directly reflect the modern industrial world. They believed their art should be like an industrial produced product like a car or airplane. They wanted art-making to be seen as a professional form or labor. These artists produced sculptures, paintings, furniture and graphic design posters.
Naum Gabo. Column. Perspex, wood, metal, glass. Height 41”. 1923.
De Stilj
- Started in 1917 in the Netherlands. - The group was led by Piet Mondrian. - Their goal was the creation of a world of universal harmony. - They created painting, architecture, furniture and graphic design. - Simplified use of the elements of line, color, and shape.
Gerrit Reitveld Red Blue Chair
1918
Mondrian was a painter that kept reducing the forms in his paintings. He based these initial ideas on the simplicity he found in nature.
He was working towards a style that he hoped would supply a poetic harmony to the new technological age.
Piet Mondrian. Evening Red Tree. 1908
Piet Mondrian. The Gray Tree. 1911 Piet Mondrian. Apple Tree Blossoming. Oil on 1912
He eventually settled on three universal elements for his art: straight lines, the three primary colors, and rectangular shapes.
Piet Mondrian Tableau 2 with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray
Oil on canvas 22”
1922
Piet Mondrian. Broadway Boogie Woogie Oil on canvas. 50”x50”. 1942.
Grant Wood American Gothic
Oil on board 30”x25”
1930
As art was changing across Europe through styles like Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism; America was going through the Great Depression. In the 1930’s, the spread of the Depression, along with political upheaval, helped to motivate artists in the U.S. to search for both a national and personal identity.
American Regionalism
- Began around 1930 due to the Depression.
- Artists focused their attention on subject matter that was local and American.
- Somewhat anti-modernist ideas.
Edward Hopper Nighthawks 33”x60” 1942
Thomas Hart Benton The Hail Storm Tempera on canvas. 33”x40”. 1940
In Mexico the painter Diego Rivera was creating large wall murals. These frescos document the life and importance of working–class people and Mexican history.
Diego Rivera. The History of Mexico. Fresco. Located in the National Palace in Mexico City.1929-1935
Frida Kahlo The Two Fridas
Oil on canvas 68”x68”
1939
Frida Kahlo was connected to Surrealism. Like other Surrealists she used her dreams to create imagery for her paintings, but she was also influenced by native arts of Mexico.
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were married. Here we see a small portrait of him on her self-portrait. She often incorporated many parts of her intense personal life.
Frida Kahlo Diego on my Mind
Oil on masonite 1943
Sargent Johnson Forever Free
Wood and paint 36” height
1933
Somewhat connected to American Regionalism was the Harlem Renaissance. Black and African-Americans had experiences that were unique to them and created new art to reflect them.
Harlem Renaissance
- Harlem in New York City from the 1920s to the 1930s.
- Art, poetry, music, literature. - Philosopher Alain Locke’s writing starts
this cultural movement. - Based on the experiences and cultural
heritages of black and African- Americans.
Jacob Lawrence Brownstones Egg tempera
on board 31”x37”
1958
“This is my genre…the happiness, tragedies, and the sorrows of mankind as realized in the teeming black ghetto.” – Jacob Lawrence
Archibald J. Motley Jr. Tongues (Holy Rollers) Oil on canvas. 29”x36”. 1929.
As we’ve seen, the Visual Arts have been changing quickly throughout the first half of the 20th century. Styles develop and overlap across countries as artists challenge norms and seek to understand the modern world. The next major event will be WWII.