Quarter I: MODERN ART
IMPRESSIONISM
The term precisely captured what this group of artists
sought to represent in their works: the viewer’s momentary
“impression” of an image. It was not intended to be clear or
precise, but more like a fleeting fragment of reality caught on
canvas, sometimes in mid-motion, at other times awkwardly
positioned—just as it would be in real life. They used short
brisk strokes that were intentionally made visible to the viewer.
They also often placed pure unmixed colors side by side,
rather than blended smoothly or shaded. The result was a
feeling of energy and intensity, as the colors appeared to shift
and move—again, just as they do in reality. They presented
ordinary people seemingly caught off-guard doing everyday
tasks, at work or at leisure, or doing nothing at all.
Impressionists and their Works
1. Edouard Manet
 Rue Mosnier Decked With Flags
 Café Concert
 The Bar at the Folies-Bergere
2. Claude Monet
 La Promenade
 The Red Boats, Argenteuil
 Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies
 Irises in Monet’s Garden
3. Auguste Renoir
 Dancer
 A Girl with a Watering Can
 Luncheon of the Boating Party
Post Impressionism
The European artists who were at the forefront of this
movement continued using the basic qualities of the
impressionists before them—the vivid colors, heavy brush
strokes, and true-to-life subjects. However, they expanded
and experimented with these in bold new ways, like using a
geometric approach, fragmenting objects and distorting
people’s faces and body parts, and applying colors that were
not necessarily realistic or natural.
Post Impressionists and their Works
1. Paul Cezanne
 Hortense Fiquet in a Striped Skirt
 Still Life with Compotier
 Harlequin
 Boy in a Red Vest
2. Vincent Van Gogh
 Sheaves of Wheat in a Field
 The Sower
 Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers
 Bedroom at Arles
 Starry Night
 Wheat Field with Cypresses
EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionist artists created works with more
emotional force, rather than with realistic or natural images.
To achieve this, they distorted outlines, applied strong colors,
and exaggerated forms. They worked more with their
imagination and feelings, rather than with what their eyes saw
in the physical world.
Neoprimitivism
It was an art style that incorporated elements from the
native arts of the South Sea Islanders and the wood carvings
of African tribes which suddenly became popular at that time.
Among the Western artists who adapted these elements was
Amedeo Modigliani, who used the oval faces and elongated
shapes of African art in both his sculptures and paintings.
Fauvism
It was a style that used bold, vibrant colors and visual
distortions. Its name was derived from les fauves (“wild
beasts”), referring to the group of French expressionist
painters who painted in this style. Perhaps the most known
among them was Henri Matisse.
Dadaism
It was a style characterized by dream fantasies,
memory images, and visual tricks and surprises—as in the
paintings of Marc Chagall and Giorgio de Chirico. Although
the works appeared playful, the movement arose from the
pain that a group of European artists felt after the suffering
brought by WWI. They chose the child’s term for hobbyhorse,
dada, to refer to their new “non-style.”
Surrealism
It was a style that depicted an illogical, subconscious
dream world beyond the logical, conscious, physical one. Its
name came from the term “super realism,” with its artworks
clearly expressing a departure from reality—as though the
artists were dreaming, seeing illusions, or experiencing an
altered mental state. Many surrealists’ works depicted morbid
or gloomy subjects, as in those by Salvador Dali. Others were
quite playful and even humorous, such as those by Paul Klee
and Joan Miro.
Social Realism
Here, artists used their works to protest against the
injustices, inequalities, immorality, and ugliness of the human
condition. Ben Shahn’s Miners’ Wives, for example, spoke out
against the hazardous conditions faced by coal miners, after a
tragic accident killed 111 workers in Illinois in 1947, leaving
their wives and children in mourning. Pablo Picasso’s
Guernica has been recognized as the most monumental and
comprehensive statement of social realism against the
brutality of war.
ABSTRACTIONISM
While expressionism was emotional, abstractionism
was logical and rational. It involved analyzing, detaching,
selecting, and simplifying. In 20th century abstractionism,
natural appearances became unimportant. Artists reduced a
scene into geometrical shapes, patterns, lines, angles,
textures and swirls of color. The resulting works ranged from
representational abstractionism, depicting still recognizable
subjects to pure abstractionism, where no recognizable
subject could be discerned.
Cubism
The cubist style derived its name from the cube, a
three dimensional geometric figure composed of strictly
measured lines, planes, and angles. Cubist artworks were,
therefore, a play of planes and angles on a flat surface.
Foremost among the cubists was Spanish painter/sculptor
Pablo Picasso. The cubists analyzed their subjects’ basic
geometrical forms, and broke them up into a series of planes.
Then they re-assembled these planes, tilting and interlocking
them in different ways. Cubism took the contemporary view
that things are actually seen hastily in fragments and from
different points of view at the same time.
Futurism
As the name implies, the futurists created art for a
fast-paced, machine-propelled age. They admired the motion,
force, speed, and strength of mechanical forms. Thus, their
works depicted the dynamic sensation of all these—as can be
seen in the works of Italian painter Gino Severini.
Mechanical Style
In this style, basic forms such as planes, cones,
spheres, and cylinders all fit together precisely and neatly in
their appointed places. This can be seen in the works of
Fernand Léger. Mechanical parts such as crankshafts,
cylinder blocks, and pistons are brightened only by the use of
primary colors. Otherwise, they are lifeless. Even human
figures are mere outlines, rendered purposely without
expression.

Nonobjectivism
From the very term “non-object,” works in this style
did not make use of figures or even representations of figures.
They did not refer to recognizable objects or forms in the
outside world. Lines, shapes, and colors were used in a cool,
impersonal approach that aimed for balance, unity, and
stability. Colors were mainly black, white, and the primaries
(red, yellow, and blue). Foremost among the nonobjectivists
was Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
In the 1920s and 1930s, aspiring young American
painters, sculptors, and writers sailed to Europe to expand
their horizons. But during the dark days of World War II, a
reverse migration brought European scientists, architects, and
artists to American shores. New York, in particular, became a
haven for the newly-arrived artists and their American
counterparts. The result was the establishment of what came
to be known as “The New York School”—as opposed to “The
School of Paris” that had been very influential in Europe. The
daring young artists in this movement succeeded in creating
their own synthesis of Europe’s cubist and surrealist styles.
Their style came to be known as abstract expressionism.
Action Painting
One form of abstract expressionism was seen in the
works of Jackson Pollock. These were created through what
came to be known as “action painting.” Pollock worked on
huge canvases spread on the floor, splattering, squirting, and
dribbling paint with (seemingly) no pre-planned pattern or
design in mind. The total effect is one of vitality, creativity,
“energy made visible.”
Color Field Painting
In contrast to the vigorous gestures of the action
painters, another group of artists who came to be known as
“color field painters” used different color saturations (purity,
vividness, intensity) to create their desired effects. Some of
their works were huge fields of vibrant color—as in the
paintings of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman. Others took
the more intimate “pictograph” approach, filling the canvas
with repeating picture fragments or symbols—as in the works
of Adolph Gottlieb and Lee Krasner.
Pop Art
It made use of common place, trivial, even
nonsensical objects. They seemed to enjoy nonsense for its
own sake and simply wanted to laugh at the world. Their
works ranged from paintings, to posters, to collages, to three-
dimensional “assemblages” and installations. These made use
of easily recognizable objects and images from the emerging
consumer society—as in the prints of Andy Warhol. Their
inspirations were the celebrities, advertisements, billboards,
and comic strips that were becoming commonplace at that
time. Hence the term pop (from “popular”) art emerged. Roy
Lichtenstein was an American pop artist. During the 1960s,
along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James
Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in this
new art movement.
Conceptual Art
As the term implies, conceptual art was that which
arose in the mind of the artist, took concrete form for a time,
and then disappeared (unless it was captured in photo or film
documentation). Conceptualists questioned the idea of art as
objects to be bought and sold. Instead, they brought their
artistic ideas to life temporarily, using such unusual materials
as grease, blocks of ice, food, even just plain dirt. A key
difference between a conceptual artwork and a traditional
painting or sculpture is that the conceptualist’s work often
requires little or no physical craftsmanship.
Much of the artist’s time and effort goes into the
concept or idea behind the work, with the actual execution
then being relatively quick and simple. An example is One
and Three Chairs by Joseph Kosuth.
Op Art
Another movement that emerged in the 1960s was
optical art or “op art.” This was yet another experiment in
visual experience—a form of “action painting,” with the action
taking place in the viewer’s eye. In op art, lines, spaces, and
colors were precisely planned and positioned to give the
illusion of movement. As the eye moved over different
segments of the image, perfectly stable components appeared
to shift back and forth, sometimes faster, sometimes slower as
the brain responded to the optical data. Viewers experienced
sensations varying from discomfort to disorientation to
giddiness.
CONTEMPORARY ART FORMS
The 20th century also saw the rise of new art forms
aside from the traditional ones of painting and sculpture.
Among these were installation art and performance art.
Installation Art
It is a contemporary art form that uses sculptural
materials and other media to modify the way the viewer
experiences a particular space. Usually life-size or sometimes
even larger, installation art is not necessarily confined to
gallery spaces. It can be constructed or positioned in everyday
public or private spaces, both indoor and outdoor. Materials
used in today’s installation art range from everyday items and
natural materials to new media such as video, sound,
performance, and computers. It may be said that primitive
forms of this art have existed since prehistoric times.
However, this genre was not regarded as a distinct category
until the mid-20th century and only came to prominence in the
1970s. The installation artist’s manipulation of space and
materials has also been called “environmental art,” “project
art,” and “temporary art.” Essentially, installation art creates an
entire sensory experience for the viewer. Many installations
are of a size and structure that the viewer can actually walk
through them, and experience varying facets of the work in
stages. Some works allow the viewer to touch or feel, hear,
and smell elements that the artist has incorporated in the
installation.
Performance Art
It is a form of modern art in which the actions of an
individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular
time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time,
or for any length of time. It can be any situation that involves
four basic elements:
 time
 space
 the performer’s body
 a relationship between performer and audience.
In performance art, the performer himself or herself is the
artist. Performance art does include such activities as theater,
dance, music, mime, juggling, and gymnastics. However, the
term is usually reserved for more unexpected, avantgarde,
and unorthodox activities intended to capture the audience’s
attention. The performer himself or herself is the artist, rather
than an actor playing a character as in a stage play. The
performance venue may range from an art gallery or museum
to a theater, café, bar, or street corner. The performance itself
rarely follows a traditional story line or plot. It might be a series
of intimate gestures, a grand theatrical act, or the performer
remaining totally still. It may last for just a few minutes or
extend for several hours. It may be based on a written script
or spontaneously improvised as the performance unfolds.
Source: HORIZONS, Grade 10 Learner’s Materials: Music and Arts
Appreciation for Young Filipinos; Raul M. Sunico, Ph.D., Evelyn F.
Cabanban, Melissa Y. Moran
PREPARED BY: SMNHS MAPEH Dept. Grade 10 Teachers