Estudios Interculturales en Lengua Inglesa I

2021

Art and Philosophical Movements of the 20th and 21st

Centuries
CUBISM
It is a highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century that was
created principally by the artists Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and
Paul Cézanne in Paris between 1907 and 1914. The Cubist style
emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane,
rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening,
modeling, and chiaroscuro and refuting time-honoured theories that art
should imitate nature. Cubist painters were not bound to copying form,
texture, colour, and space. Instead, they presented a new reality in
paintings that depicted radically fragmented objects.
Cubism derived its name from remarks that were made by the critic
Louis Vauxcelles, who derisively described Braque’s 1908 work Houses
at L’Estaque as being composed of cubes.
The movement’s development from 1910 to 1912 is often referred to
as Analytical Cubism. During this period, the work of Picasso and
Braque became so similar that their paintings are almost
indistinguishable. Picasso and Braque favoured right-angle and
straight-line construction. They simplified their colour schemes to a
nearly monochromatic scale (hues of tan, brown, grey,
cream, green, or blue were preferred).
Interest in this subject matter continued after 1912,
during the phase generally identified as Synthetic
Cubism. Works of this phase emphasize the
combination, or synthesis, of forms in the picture.
Colour assumes a strong role in these works; shapes,
while remaining fragmented and flat, are larger and
more decorative.

Girl with a Mandolin

by Pablo Picasso
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2021

SURREALISM

Surrealism is more than an artistic style—it’s a 20th - century

artistic movement.
Unlike other creative movements, which can be characterized by
themes of imagery, colour choices, or techniques, defining Surrealist art
is slightly harder to do.
Surrealist artists—like Salvador Dalí, Andre Breton and Frida
Kahlo among many others—seek to explore the unconscious mind
as a way of creating art, resulting in
dreamlike, sometimes bizarre
imagery across endless mediums.
The core of Surrealism is a focus on
illustrating the mind’s deepest
thoughts automatically when they
surface. This thought process for
creating art known as “automatism.”

The Persistence of Memory

by Salvador Dali

EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism is a modernist movement that emerged in early

20th-century Germany. Artists working in this style distort the
reality of their subjects in order to “express” their own emotions,
feelings, and ideas.

With an aesthetic and approach heavily inspired by the paintings of

Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch and Paul Klee—three artists
viewed as predominant precursors of the movement—Expressionists
employed artificial colour palettes, energetic brushstrokes, and
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exaggerated textures in their works. Together, these characteristics

culminate in avant-garde paintings that favour the subjective over the
true-to-life in order to reveal a glimpse into the psyche of artists.

The Scream
By Edvard Munch

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Abstract Expressionism is a term applied to a movement in

American painting that flourished in New York City after World War
II, sometimes referred to as the New York School or, more narrowly, as
action painting. The varied work produced by the Abstract Expressionists
resists definition as a cohesive style; instead, these artists shared an
interest in using abstraction to convey strong emotional or
expressive content.

Abstract Expressionism is best known for large-scale paintings that

break away from traditional processes, often taking the canvas off
of the easel and using unconventional materials such as house paint.
While Abstract Expressionism is often considered for its advancements in
painting, its ideas had deep resonance in many mediums, including
drawing and sculpture.
Jackson Pollock, Wilen de Kooning and Joan Mitchell are
leading exponents of Abstract Impressionism.
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Convergence by Jackson Pollock

POP ART

Pop Art makes reference to art in which commonplace objects

(such as comic strips, soup cans, road signs, and hamburgers) were used
as subject matter and were often physically incorporated into the work.
The Pop art movement was largely a British and American
cultural phenomenon of the late 1950s and the ’60s and was named
by the art critic Lawrence Alloway in reference to the prosaic iconography
of its painting and sculpture. Works by such Pop artists as the Americans
Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake (British) among
others, were characterized by their portrayal of any and all aspects of
popular culture that had a powerful impact on contemporary life.
Pop art became a cultural event because of its close reflection of a
particular social situation and because its easily comprehensible images.
Some of the more striking forms that Pop art took were Roy
Lichtenstein’s stylized reproductions of comic strips using the colour
dots and flat tones of commercial printing; Andy Warhol’s meticulously
literal paintings and silk-screen prints of soup-can labels, soap
cartons, and rows of soft-drink bottles were immediately exploited by the
mass media.
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2021

Frightened Girl
by Roy Lichtenstein

SITE SPECIFIC ART

Site-Specific Art is a term used particularly since the 1960s for art
made with a specific location in mind, whether inside or outside. The
work may be made at that location or made for it. Site-Specific Art may be
an intervention in a specific place, environment or landscape.
Many artists, particularly in the United States, reacted against pure
Minimalism, which they felt had become increasingly commercialised. In
producing works of art on site they exclusively belonged to the place they
were made for and could not be reduced to decorative fodder for wealthy
patrons and buyers.
Andy Goldsworthy was a British sculptor, land artist, and
photographer known for ephemeral works created outdoors from natural
materials found on-site.

Christo Javacheff, Jeanne Claude and Andy Goldworthy

were environmental sculptors noted for their controversial outdoor
sculptures that often involved monumental displays of fabrics and
plastics.
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2021

The Gates
by Christo and Jeanne Claude
(Central Park, NY)

MINIMALISM

The Minimalism art movement is one of the most influential of the

1960s, emerging in New York City among a number of young artists
who were moving away from Abstract Expressionism and favoured a
sleek, geometric aesthetic instead, which would manifest itself in
minimalist art.
These artists wanted to create art that referred only to itself, allowing
the viewer an immediate, purely visual response. The personal,
gestural elements were stripped away with the aim to reveal the objective,
visual elements of art.
Earlier European abstract movements greatly influenced American
minimalist art creators. In that period, works by the Dutch De Stijl artists,
Russian Constructivists, and members of the German Bauhaus were being
shown in New York. Each of these groups had pioneered radical
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abstraction, and inspired artists like Donald Judd, Yayoi Kusama

and Agnes Martin to explore new directions in their art.

Block 2-L
by Donald Judd

POSTMINIMALISM

Postminimalism is an art term coined (as post-minimalism) by

Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971 used in various artistic fields for work
which is influenced by, or attempts to develop and go beyond, the
aesthetic of minimalism. The expression is used specifically in
relation to music and the visual arts, but can refer to any field using
minimalism as a critical reference point. In music, postminimalism refers
to music following minimal music.
Postminimalist artworks are usually everyday objects, use
simple materials, and sometimes take on a "pure", formalist
aesthetic.
Three representatives of this movement include Richard Serra,
Sol LeWit and Jacqueline Winsor
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2021

Tilted Arc
by Richard Serra

NEO EXPRESSIONISM

Neo-Expressionism describes an international revival of

Expressionist tendencies emerging among painters of the 1970s and
1980s. Reacting against the detached intellectualism and ideological
purity of Minimalism and Conceptualism. Neo-Expressionists
returned to figural representation, producing violently emotive,
textural works.
Key artists: Julian Schnabel, Georg Baselitz and Enzo Cucchi
.

Untitled
by Julian Schnabel
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SOURCES:

● https://www.hisour.com
● https://www.uwp.edu/learn/departments/art/upload/Grove-
Art-Online-articles.pdf
● https://mymodernmet.com
● https://www.parkwestgallery.com
● https://magazine.artland.com
● https://www.sothebys.com
● https://www.britannica.com