Art History
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Post_ART102-Unit8.pdf
ART102 Art History II
Unit 8 LecturePost-War to Contemporary Art 1945-1980
The end of World War II marked the end of a 16 year history of poverty and despair for the world. European painters from the Surrealist and Dadaist camps were emigrating to New York City, where American artists like Jackson Pollock were studying with them. Abstract Expressionism is the result of this collaboration. Working in purely non- objective compositions, these action paintings are meant to evoke rhythm, overwhelming movement and improvisation of material. Pollock used numbers as titles to avoid using any text that could imply a theme.
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Jackson Pollock One: Number 31 Ca. 1950 Enamel on canvas Museum of Modern Art, New York
Willem de Kooning Woman I Ca. 1950-1952 Oil on canvas Museum of Modern Art, New York
De Kooning, another abstract expressionist, returned to paint the figure after a series of purely abstract pieces.
Using a female nude as a subject a subject matter is a direct reference to the traditions of Western art as we have seen throughout the course. The way it is being painted is very different.
De Kooning would attack the canvas, aggressively paint, wipe down, re-paint the surface, upwards of 60 times on one canvas, until it started to fall apart. He was quite literally wrestling out his ideas through the act of painting.
His style appears aggressive, his female appears manipulated through the marks, and the result is overwhelming. It is supposed to be open to personal interpretations, yet de Kooning was surprised that viewers did not see the humor in his parody.
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Artists like Mark Rothko, who is also considered an abstract expressionist, has a completely different approach to painting.
The desire for non-objective art is still important, also the desire to create imagery meant to evoke emotion when viewing.
Rather than achieving that through action and gestures, Rothko uses color-field painting: large, simple planes of color that quietly interact with each other and implies a meditative state.
This tradition of color-field painting can be seen in the past works of Joan Miro.
Abstract Expressionism only lasted around ten years, but it’s impact was profound.
Mark Rothko No. 61 Ca. 1953 Oil on canvas Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
American artists, fueled by the freedom of expression imposed by the Abstract Expressionists sought new ways to create individual styles that represented the artist’s innovation.
Rauschenberg turned away from traditional media and looked to a more radical approach.
Odalisk is a lamp, covered with collaged pages from contemporary magazines and newspapers. It sits on a pillow and has a rooster on the top.
Although many can interpret all sorts of meanings through the materials and imagery, the artist himself left it open to interpretation. He is essentially challenging the definition of art, much like DuChamp from the Dadaist movement.
Robert Rauschenberg Odalisk Ca. 1955-1958 Mixed media Museum Ludwig, Cologne
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Jasper Johns is another artist who took an intellectual approach to his work. He created a series of paintings based on flat images, like flags and targets, to essentially defy the tradition of creating the illusion of space.
His images don’t mean anything other than what it is: a painting.
Jasper Johns Three Flags Ca. 1958 Encaustic on canvas Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Helen Frankenthaler The Bay Ca. 1963 Acrylic on canvas Detroit Institute of Art
The extensive career of Helen Frankenthaler employs all the implications of Abstract Expressionism, Color-Field Painting, non-objective imagery, as well as denying traditional pictorial space, all in one uniquely beautiful style.
The title implies a landscape, as do the color fields. Yet there is no identifying characteristics of a traditional landscape. There is only masses of color. Frankenthaler poured the thin paint onto canvas, and slowly allowed it to mix and morph, drip and evolve into the finished product.
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
In the 1960’s, a movement called Pop Art emerged, where artists turned away from purely abstract images and started to use imagery of popular culture.
The 50’s and 60’s was an age of expansive consumerism, where the market was flooded with mass-produced items and images. Pop artists were using this surge of commercial art as a visual representation of the trends of the modern society.
Lichtenstein’s career focused on the comic strip. What he is doing is taking a common, everyday image and transforming it into a credible piece of art. He is celebrating this often overlooked imagery as well as pop culture itself.
Roy Lichtenstein Drowning Girl Ca. 1963 Oil on canvas Museum of Modern Art, New York
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Andy Warhol took Pop Art and all of its implications to the highest degree. Warhol created images of pop culture without adornment, emotion, or even meaning. He called his art studio a “factory”, and has several assistants create his work at his command. Even the process is a comment on the consumerism that overruns the country.
His infamous paintings of popular figures of society like this Marilyn Monroe, is meant to turn these people into objects of consumerism. This is a protest painting.
Marilyn Monroe is mass-produced here, seem small in an overwhelming sea of gold, signifying the riches of her status, but it is also drowning her in this painting, so she is in fact overwhelmed by it. This painting was created by Warhol after Monroe committed suicide.
Andy Warhol Gold Marilyn Monroe Ca. 1962 Polymer paint, silkscreen, and oil on canvas The Museum of Modern Art, New York
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Another group of artists in the 60’s were making art that was a direct reaction to the popularity of Abstract Expressionism. This art also plays into the concept of commercialism because the materials used to create the sculptures are not hand-made, the are manufactured.
These sculptures are meant to have no meaning whatsoever, which is a reaction against Abstract Expressionism’s reliance on emotional content.
Donald Judd relies on mathematical accuracy and geometric clarity to create over-simplified sculptures devoid of emotional reaction. This style is called Minimalism, and is predominately represented by sculpture.
Donald Judd Untitled Ca. 1969 Copper Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Meanwhile, there are still painters who reject the severity an coldness of Minimalism, and favored created artwork following the traditions started by Abstract Expressionism. Francis Bacon creates disturbing images of twisting, agonizing human figures. Through the distortions and eerie color palette, the viewer has a sense of dread and isolation. These figures are images of Bacon’s lover, and was an emotional reaction to his lover’s suicide.
Francis Bacon Triptych Ca. 1972 Oil on canvas Tate Museum, London
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Out of the Minimalist aesthetic, more artists went beyond the gallery and created site-specific installations.
The artist duo Christo and Jean-Claude used nylon fabric to install massive, minimalistic work throughout the country.
It reveals the stark contrast between the minimal aesthetic and the chaotic raw beauty of the natural world, and its’ done on such a large scale, the effect is powerful.
Christo and Jean Claude Running Fence Ca. 1972-1976 Woven nylon installation Sonoma and Marin counties, California
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Many artists were creating work that had a social agenda.
Romare Bearden created artwork that was a direct response to the civil rights movement, and his inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His signature style is collaged elements from newspapers and magazines, arranging compositions in a Cubist appearance, and references the traditional African art of face masks.
Romare Bearden The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism Ca. 1964 Collage, polymer, pencil on paperboard Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Judy Chicago created work that reflected the issues coming from the feminist movement.
The Dinner Party is an installation piece that recognizes what Chicago felt was under-recognized women from the past. Each place setting represents one woman, and each place setting is an image of the female anatomy done with visual references to the period of history in which they came. It has a sense of community and ritual, and has historical reference to the Last Supper paintings from the Renaissance.
Judy Chicago The Dinner Party Ca. 1979 Mixed media Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
Maya Lin uses a Minimalist design to create a piece of public art commemorating the veterans who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. The impact of walking past all the names carved out of the reflective, cold granite, as it sinks into the ground, has a profound effect on those who experience it. It takes on the presence of an oversized tombstone, and its simple coldness creates an emotional reaction to what this wall really represents: the catastrophic loss of so many lives.
Maya Lin Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Ca. 1982 The Mall, Washington, D.C.
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
By 1980, more artists were moving away from the heavy handed art meant to question our instincts, and returned to painting for the ability of expression. This return to painting has been called Neo-Expressionism.
Anselm Kiefer created enormous paintings, thick with texture and rich with depth. His images evoke the landscape, and has an energetic painterly quality. His subjects are inspired by myths and the history of his native country Germany.
Anselm Kiefer To the Unknown Painter Ca. 1983 Oil, emulsions, woodcut, shellac, latex, straw on canvas The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
One of the most prolific artists to emerge out of this return to painting was Jean-Michel Basquiat
Dropped out of school at 17, taught himself art history with books, became internationally famous by 22, then died of a drug overdose by 27, Basquiat has become the epitomy of “the suffering artist.”
Basquiat employed many characteristics in his work from the past as well as his recent history. References to jazz musicians John Coltraine and Charlie Parker, Basquiat identifies himself as an improvisational artist.
Combining text with imagery in a rapidly painted pattern, Basquiat is revealing the inner workings of his thought-process. The resulting work is raw and unfiltered.
Jean-Michel Basquiat Horn Players Ca. 1983 Oil and paint stick on canvas The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, California
One: Number 31
Woman I
No. 61
Odalisk
Three Flags
The Bay
Drowning Girl
Gold Marilyn Monroe
Untitled
Triptych
Running Fence
The Prevalence of Ritual: Baptism
The Dinner Party
Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
To the Unknown Painter
Horn Players
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