Early 20th Century Art

Modernism

The Evolution of Modernism and The Avant-Garde

Modernism rejected and challenged anything traditional Searched for new ways to communicate about the modern world Avant-garde means before the group Avant-garde art is radical and is critical of political and social institutions (Revolutionary)

Making Art in Times of War

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937, Oil on Canvas

People and artists greatly affected by war World War I (1914 1919) World War II (1939 1945) Russian Revolution (1917 1923) Spanish Civil War (1937)

Color and Form

Continuing from the 19th Century (influence of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and artists such as Van Gogh and Gaugin) Symbolism of Color Emotion / Feeling

Color and Form

Henri Matisse, The Dance, 1909, Oil on Canvas Expressive color / symbolic color Circular composition (rhythm) Celebration of Life (optimism)

Abstraction
Abstraction involves simplifying and changing shape and form to be less realistic / less naturalistic Expressive Affects of Photography (Move away from Realism the camera can already take real images) Multiple Views (element of time and movement)

Abstraction
Distorted image shattered glass Experimented with color and color symbolism

Founder of The Blue Rider Group Der Blaue Reiter

Franz Marc, Fate of the Animals, 1913, Oil on Canvas

He believed animals were more beautiful, more pure than humans

Effects of Psychology
Developments in the study of Psychology New understanding of Psychology influenced artists Sigmund Freud
developed psychoanalysis in early 20th century wrote The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900

Carl Jung
Further studies of dreams and the subconscious / unconscious mind

Frida Kahlo
Paintings based on dreams and personal emotions

Two sides / parts of her personality and background

Inability to have children and many operations due to accident

Frieda Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939, Oil on Canvas

Relationship with Diego Rivera, Mexican artist

Major Early 20th Century Art Movements

Fauvism Expressionism Cubism Futurism De Stijl Suprematism / Constructivism Dadaism Surrealism

Fauvism
Used pure hues (unmixed colors from the color wheel) Rejected imitative colors (colors that imitate real life) to create stronger reactions to their work Color as a conveyer of meaning / symbolism

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse, Red Room, 1908 1909, Oil on Canvas

Henri Matisse
Matisse was one of the main artists in the Fauvist group

Feeling of warmth and comfort in the room

Used color to express emotions

Henri Matisse, Red Room, 1908 1909, Oil on Canvas

Expressionism
Raw human emotion Expressiveness of form distorted color, line, shape, etc. Movement started in Germany in 1905 Die Brucke (The Bridge) Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider)

Egon Schiele

Egon Shiele, Self-Portrait, 1911, Drawing (Gouache and pencil on paper)

Egon Schiele
Physical and psychological torment

Use of line and textures to convey feeling

Egon Shiele, Self-Portrait, 1911, Drawing (Gouache and pencil on paper)

Max Beckmann

Max Beckmann, Night, 1918 1919, Oil on Canvas

Max Beckmann
Violence and brutality in society

Rape, torture, theft Work is powerful and honest

Max Beckmann, Night, 1918 1919, Oil on Canvas

Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28, 1912, Oil on Canvas

Wassily Kandinsky
Non-representational based on formal elements (line, color, shape) Avant-Garde Expressive style

Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) Group

Expression of inner feelings / spirituality Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28, 1912, Oil on Canvas

Kathe Kollwitz

Kathe Kollwitz, Memorial to Karl Liebknecht, 1919, Woodcut (graphic arts)

Kathe Kollwitz
Liebknecht (leader of Socialist revolution in Germany in 1919) was assassinated

Surrounded by poor people

Kathe Kollwitz, Memorial to Karl Liebknecht, 1919, Woodcut (graphic arts)

Bold black and white of woodcut adds to the powerful feeling

Cubism
Cubists rejected naturalistic / realistic art Preferred using abstract shapes and forms Viewing the subject from many different angles using geometric forms Neutral Colors Interested in connecting music to visual art

Analytic Cubism first phase of cubism started by

Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso

Synthetic Cubism Collage (mixed media)

materials from different sources

Georges Braque

Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911, Oil on Canvas

Georges Braque
Analytic Cubism

Based on an image of a Portuguese musician (connection between visual art and music)

Perception of 2-D and 3-D space

Contains numbers and letters 2-D Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911, Oil on Canvas Neutral colors pure color eliminated in early cubism

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair-Caning, 1911-1912, Oil and Collage on Canvas

Pablo Picasso
Synthetic Cubism

New Medium of collage (from French word to stick)

Illusion of seat of a chair

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair-Caning, 1911-1912, Oil and Collage on Canvas

Jou from Journal (French newspaper) also word refers to play and to game

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians, 1921, Oil on Canvas

Pablo Picasso
Later Cubism

Music and Visual Art / Rhythm

Reintroduced color into his compositions

Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians, 1921, Oil on Canvas

Futurism
Began as a literary movement in Italy in 1909, but later included visual arts, film, theater, music, and architecture Inspired by the Cubists Artists had a socio-political agenda Published several manifestos a written document that explains the overall intentions of the group in this case, advocating a revolution in society and art

Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913, Bronze

Umberto Boccioni
Feeling of Motion

Symbolic of Dynamic modern life

Figure moving ahead in a brave, new world

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913, Bronze sculpture

Giacomo Balla

Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912, Oil on Canvas

Giacomo Balla

The effect of motion by repeating shapes

Several different views at the same time

Giacomo Balla, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912, Oil on Canvas

Suprematism
Russian movement Pure language of shape and color Non-objective (no recognizable image) Based on Inner Feelings

Kazimir Malevich

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying, 1915, oil on canvas

Kazimir Malevich
Feeling unattached to objects

The Suprematist artist does not observe and does not touch they feel

Dynamic movement of shapes

Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying, 1915, oil on canvas

Constructivism
Art movement that began in Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution Experimented with new materials Moving toward the future

Vladimir Tatlin

Vladimir Tatlin, Monument to the Third International, 1919-1920, model (wood, iron, glass)

Vladimir Tatlin
Tatlins Tower Design for a monument to honor the Russian Revolution

Tower never built (only model)

Vladimir Tatlin, Monument to the Third International, 1919-1920, model (wood, iron, glass)

Would have been twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower

De Stijl
De Stijl means the style Movement formed by a group of young artists in Holland in 1917 Believed in birth of a new age Integration of Art and Life Focus on Universal, rather than the individual

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian, Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930, Oil on Canvas

Piet Mondrian
One of the founders of the de Stijl movement

Believed the primary colors and values are the purest colors to create harmony in a composition

Piet Mondrian, Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930, Oil on Canvas

Influenced by Cubism (Mondrian saw Analytic Cubism in Paris in 1917)

Comparison

Dadaism
Random word chosen from a French-German Dictionary Irrational and Intuitive Reaction to insane spectacle of war Anti-tradition Artistic and Literary Movement Dada is a state of mind

Man Ray

Man Ray, Gift, 1921, Painted flatiron with row of tacks

Man Ray
Man Ray was a Graphic Designer and Portrait Photographer

Manipulated Found Object

Interest in mass-produced objects and technology

Man Ray, Gift, 1921, Painted flatiron with row of tacks

Marcel Duchamp

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, Ready-made sculpture

Marcel Duchamp
Ready-made sculpture

Challenged the idea of What is art?

Radical, avantgarde

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917, Readymade sculpture

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife, 1919-1920, Photomontage (collage)

Hannah Hoch
Chaotic and contradictory Images of German Military leaders, Dada artists, dancers, animals, etc.

Self-portrait in the lower corner

Hannah Hoch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife, 1919-1920, Photomontage (collage)

Found text The Great dada World

Kurt Schwitters

Kurt Schwitters, Merz 19, 1920, Paper Collage

Kurt Schwitters
Inspired by cubist collage Paper found in the trash (trash elevated to art)

Non-objective (no recognizable images of objects)

Merz refers to commerce bank because the word appears in the found paper text

Kurt Schwitters, Merz 19, 1920, Paper Collage

Surrealism
Dada artists joined the Surrealist movement Dreams and the Unconscious Mind (Psychology) Bring together outer and inner reality

Max Ernst

Max Ernst, Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale, 1924, Oil on Wood with Wood construction

Max Ernst
Ernsts dream

Follows the rules of aerial and linear perspective, but the proportions are not true to life

Max Ernst, Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale, 1924, Oil on Wood with Wood construction

Title is mysterious and unclear

Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1928 1929, Oil on Canvas

Rene Magritte

Ceci nest pas une pipe (This is not a pipe)

Discrepancy between the image of the pipe and the text (relationship of text and image)

The illusion of art

Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1928 1929, Oil on Canvas

Treachery = dishonesty (from an old French word meaning to trick)

Rene Magritte

Rene Magritte, The Son of Man, 1964, Oil on Canvas

Rene Magritte

Modern man

Symbolism of the Apple, clouds, water, etc.

Rene Magritte, The Son of Man, 1964, Oil on Canvas

Comparison

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, Oil on Canvas

Salvador Dali
Time and Memory

Landscape from Dalis childhood in Spain

Dreamlike
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, Oil on Canvas