MODERN PERIOD

The modern period in painting spans roughly from the late 19th century to the mid-20th
century. It was characterized by a shift away from traditional styles to a more abstract,
experimental approach to creating works of art. It’s a time of profound change, both socially
and artistically. Artist began to break away from the rigid academic traditions and embraced
new forms of expression. During this era, we witnessed the emergence of numerous art
movements, each with its unique style and philosophy.

Modern Art Movements:

IMPRESSIONISM

Was an art movement that began in France in the late 19th century. It is characterized
by its focus on capturing the effects of light and atmosphere and emphasizes accurate
depictions of specific times of day and season. Artist employed brilliant colors, tick brush
strokes, high chroma, and vivid ligh-dark contrast to their work. The focus was on conveying the
mood and feeling of a moment rather than precise details.

Characteristics: Brush strikes, lighting, outdoor pai ting, bright painting, broken color, clearer
picture from further away, view angles and nonlocal color.

Techniques: the impressionist painters used layers of colors, leaving gaps in the top layer to
reveal the colors underneath. The technique is achieved through hatching, cross-hatching,
stippling, dry brushing, and sgraffiti (scratching into the paint).

Subject: social interaction, everyday life, identity and collaboration, spatial context.

Mediums: traditional painting such as acrylic, watercolors, oils, Non-traditional surfaces, digital
elements, found objects and mixed media.

Notable artist and their artworks:

 Claude Monet- impression sunrise, women with a parasol, the water lily pond.

 Pierre-Auguste Renoir- Luncheon of the boating party, Two sisters (on the Terrace),
Girls at the piano.

 Edgar Degas- The Ballet class, the dancing class, ballet rehearsal.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Was predominately French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and
1905. Post impressionism concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and color. Its broad
emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content means post-impressionism encompasses
neo-expressionism, symbolism, and synthetism, along with some later impressionist work.
Characteristics: extended the use of vivid colors, thick application of paint, distinctive brush
strokes, and real-life subject matter, and were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms,
distort forms foe expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary colors in their
composition.

Techniques: Built upon impressionism but incorporated more personal and expressive style.
They often used bold colors, heavy brush work, and unique techniques to convey their
emotions and ideas.

Subject: modern life especially bourgeois leisure and recreation.

Mediums: oil painting, watercolor, pastels, graphite and ink, printmaking, techniques, mixed
media.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Vincent Van Gogh- starry night, van Gogh self-portrait, sunflower

 Pablo Picasso- la vie, Guernica, the old guitarist, Le Rêve.

 Paul Gauguin- when will you marry? arearea, vision after the sermon.

ART NOUVEAU

Also known as Jugendstil or modern style, was an international art movement that
emerged in the late 19th century and reached its peak around 18890 to 1910. It is characterized
by a focus on organic forms, a harmonious and ornamental aesthetic, and a desire to integrate
art into everyday life. Art Nouveau influenced various art forms, including architecture,
decorative arts, and visual arts.

Characteristics: the designs movement is characterized by organic lines, intricate patterns,

devise use of materials, and earthy colors.

Techniques: artist often use featured sinuous, curving lines inspired by natural forms such as
plants and flowers. It has a significant impact on graphic design, with artists creating posters
and prints using innovative techniques like lithography.

Subject: nature, mythology, feminine form, stylized depictions of plants and animals.

Mediums: oil painting, watercolors, decorative arts, like stained glass and posters

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Alphonse Mucha- the season, daydream, job, Gismonda

 Charles Rennie Mackintosh- armchair, peonies, black bean, walberswick

 Aubrey Beardsley- the climax, the peacock skirt, the dancers reward, madame rejane.
CUBISM

it is approximately begun in 1907. Cubism is an early 20th century avant-garde art

movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, an inspired related artistic
movement in music, literature, and architecture. In cubist work of art.

Characteristics: in cubist painting, objects and figures are broken down into distinct planes and
reassemble into abstract forms.

Techniques: cubist deconstructed objects into geometric shapes and multiple perspective,
creating fragmented and abstracted views. They used techniques like faceting and analytical
cubism.

Subjects: geometric abstraction, fragmentation of forms, often depicted still life, portraits, and
landscape in a fragmented and abstract manner

Mediums: newspaper, wallpaper, and other commercially printed and found objects.

Notable artist and their artworks:

 Salvador Dali- the great maturbator, dream caused by the flight of a bee around a
pomegranate a second before awakening, the temptation of St. Antônio

 Paul Cezanne- the large bathers, the basket of apples, pyramid of skulls

 Juan gris- Juan legua, the musician table, portrait of Pablo Picasso.

FAUVISM

Was the first of the avant-garde movements that flourished in France in the early years
of the 20th century. The fauve painters were the first to break with impressionism as well as
with older, traditional methods of perception. Their spontaneous, often subjective response to
nature was expressed in bold, undisguised brushstrokes and high keyed, vibrant colors directly
from the tube.

Characteristics: object and figured are broken down into distinct planes and resemble into
abstracted form.

Techniques: fauvist artist used bold, non-naturalistic colors and simplified forms to convey
emotion and energy in their works. The colors were often applied in a non-representational
manner, creating vibrant and emotionally charged images.

Subject: musical instruments, bottles, pitchers, glasses, newspapers, and human face and
figures
Medium: oil painting on canvas

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Henri Matisse: women with a hat, le bonheur de vivre, blue nudes.

 Andre Derain- charling cross bridge, the painter and his family, boats at collioure.


EXPRESSIONISM

An artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the
subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arose within a person. The artist
accomplishes this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through
the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements.

Characteristics: they used jagged, distorted lines; rough, rapid brushwork; and jarring colors.

Techniques: expressionist distorted and exaggerated forms to convey strong emotions and the
inner psyche. The used bold colors and dynamic, gestural brushwork to create raw and visceral
work.

Subject: portraits, nature, city life, dance and leisure, fantasy.

Mediums: oil, charcoal, gouache.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Edward munch- vampire, anxiety, puberty.

 Wassily Kandinsky- composition 8, yellow-red-blue, several circles.

 Franz marc- blue horses, the foxes, the yellow cow

FUTURISM

Emerged in Italy in the early 20th century, around 1909, and was primarily associated
with manifesto written by Filipino Tommaso Marinetti. Futurists celebrated the technological
advancements of the industrial age, glorifying speed, dynamism, and the energy of modern life.

Characteristics: focus on the technical progress of the modern machine age, dynamism, speed,
energy, vitality, and change.

Techniques: foams were often fragmented or abstracted, reflecting the influence of cubism and
emphasizing the movement energy of the subject. Brushstrokes were often energetic and
dynamic, reflecting the movement and speed celebrated by the futurist.

Subject: car, airplane, and industrial city.

Medium: oil on canvas, collagen, printmaking

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Umberto Boccioni- the city rises, carica di lancieri, dynamism of a cyclist.

 Giacomo Balla- street light, landscape, dynamism of a dog

 Gino Severini- sea=dancer, dancer of Pigalle, red cross train passing.

SURREALISM

It is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of world war I in

which artist depicted unnerving, illogical scene and developed techniques to allow unconscious
mind to express itself. Its aim according to leader Andre Breton is to resolve super reality or
surrealistic.

Characteristics: Bizarre, dream like images that defined logical interpretation, symbolic images,
unconventional.

Techniques: surrealist employed techniques like automatic drawing and the juxtaposition of
unlikely elements to explore the world of drams and the subconscious. They created enigmatic
and thought-provoking artworks.

Subject: dreams, the unconscious, and the irrational.

Medium: oil on canvas, collage

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Joan Miro- the harlequin’s carnival, the farm, the tilled field

 Frida Kahlo- The two Frida’s, Diego and I, herby ford hospital

 Rene Magritte- the son of man, the treachery of images, the lovers.

ABSTRACT ART

Abstract art is art that does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual
reality but instead uses shapes, colors, forms, and gestural marks to achieve its effect. It is also
applied to art that uses forms, such as geometric shapes or gestural marks, which have no
source at all in an external visual reality. Some artists of this pure abstraction have preferred
term such as concrete art on non-objective art, but in practice the word abstract is used across
the board and the distinction between the two is not always obvious. Abstracts are often seen
as carrying a moral dimension, in that it can be seen to stand for virtues such as order, purity,
simplicity, and spirituality. Since the early 1900s, abstract art has formed a central stream of
modern art.
Characteristics: non-representational, expressive, non-objective, gesture, simplification,
experimentation, conclusion.

Techniques: abstract artist focused on non-representational art, emphasizing shapes, colors,

and lines. Artist often uses expressive brushworks and texture to add depth and dynamism to
their abstract composition. Artist may used geometric shapes for a more structured approach
or organic, free-flowing shapes for a more fluid and spontaneous feel.

Subject: non-representational shape, emotion and expression, geometry, and abstraction.

Medium: oil and acrylic on canvas, mixed media

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Wassily Kandinsky- composition VII, on white II, yellow-red-blue

 Piet Mondrian- composition with red, blue, and yellow, Broadway boogie woogie,
composition II in red, blue and yellow

 Kaimir Malevich- black square, supremacist, composition: white on white

DADAISM

Dadaism was an avant-garde art movement in the early 20th century that emerged in
reaction to the horrors of world war I. Dada artists, including painters, embraced absurdity,
irrationality, and anti-establishment sentiments. Dadaist paintings often featured
unconventional materials, collage techniques, and a rejection of a traditional artistic norms. The
movement sought to defy logic and challenge the conventional understanding of art.

Characteristics: anti-art, absurdity and nonsense, collage, and assemblage, ready-mades,

political and social critique, performance art, chance and indeterminacy, manifestos.

Techniques: Dadaist rejected conventional art and culture. They used techniques like ready-
mades, found objects and collages to create nonsensical and absurdist works as a response to
the chaos of the post-world war I.

Subject: absurdity and Nihilism, anti-art and anti-bourgeois, political critique.

Medium: collage, assemblage, ready-mades, automatism, photomontage, performance art,

found poetry, chance operation.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Marcel Duchamp- Fountain, Bicycle Wheel, L.H.O.O.Q

  Hannah Hoch- The Bride (Pandora), The Puppet Balsa Mine, Die Journalisten.

 Man Ray- rayograph (the kiss), object to be destroyed.

SOCIAL REALISM

is a term used for work produce by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers, and
film makers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working
class to critique the power structures behind these conditions.

Characteristics: adhere to reality, avoid romantic establishment, and create candid portraits
that expose human flaws.

Techniques: artist often created narrative scenes to tell a story or convey a message related to
social issues. Symbolic elements were employed to represent broader societal themes and
struggles.

Subject: social concerns, hardship of everyday life that the working class had to put up with,
images of the humans.

Medium: oil in canvas, mural painting

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Ben Shahn- the passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, after titian, miner’s wives

 Jose Clemente Orozco- man of fire, Prometheus, dive bomber and tank

 Reginal marsh- twenty cent movie- the bowery, smoke hounds.

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
The art during the contemporary period is the art of today, produced in the second half of
the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in globally influence, culturally
diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials
method, concepts and subjects that continue the challenging of boundaries that was already
well underway in the 20th century.

Contemporary Art Movements:

ABSTRACT IMPRESSIONISM

Abstract Impressionism is an art movement that originated in New York City, in the
1940s. It involves the painting of a subject such as real-life scenes, objects, or people (portraits)
in an Impressionist-style, but with an emphasis on varying measures of abstraction. The
paintings are often painted end plein air, an artistic style involving painting outside with the
landscape directly in front of the artist. The movement works delicately between the lines of
pure abstraction (the extent of which varies greatly) and the allowance of an impression of
reality in the painting.

Characteristics: gestural brush work, large scale, emotional expression.

Techniques: artist allow paint o drip or be poured onto the canvas, creating intricate and
random patterns. Artist used palette knives to apply paint in thick, textured layers, adding
depth and dimension to the canvas. Color field painting involves large expanses of color to
evoke emotional responses without distinct or shapes.

Subject: emotions, expression of the self, gestural abstraction, color, and form exploration.

Mediums: oil on canvas, acrylic paint, palette knife and brushes, drip painting, action painting.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Bertman Brooker- Kneeling Figure, ascending forms, the St. Lawrence

 Paul Signac- Les Andelys, port en bessin, the beach, lezardrieux.

 Edgar Degas- seated woman drying her left hip.

POP ART

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the United Kingdom and the United States
during the mid- to late-1950s. The movement presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by
including imagery from popular and mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and
mundane mass-produced objects. One of its aims is to use images of popular culture in art,
emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any culture, most often using irony. It is also
associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques.
In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, or
combined with unrelated material.

Characteristics: vibrant, bright colors, irony, and satire.

Techniques: pop artists incorporated imagery from popular culture, mass media, and consumer
products into their work. they often used techniques like silk-screen printing and comic book-
style imagery to create visually striking and iconic works.

Subjects: skepticism of modern consumerism.

Mediums: acrylic paint, screen painting, collage, assemblage, oil paint, photography.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Andy Warhol- shot Marilyns, Campbell’s soup cans, Marilyn diptych.

  Roy Lichtenstein- crying girl, in the car, look mickey.

 Jasper Johns- map, flag, three flag.

NEO-EXPRESSIONISM

Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early postmodern painting and

sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called
Transavantgarde, Junge Wilde or Neue Wilden ('The new wild ones'; 'New Fauves' would better
meet the meaning of the term). It is characterized by intense subjectivity and rough handling of
materials. Neo-expressionism developed as a reaction against conceptual art and minimal art of
the 1970s. Neo-expressionists returned to portraying recognizable objects, such as the human
body (although sometimes in an abstract manner), in a rough and violently emotional way,
often using vivid colors.

Characteristics: emotional intensity, figurative imagery, narrative content.

Techniques: artist uses expressive and gestural brushworks to convey energy and emotion in
their paintings. Bold and vibrant colors are common feature, contributing to the emotional
impact of the works. neo-expression artists often apply thickly to the canvas, creating textured
surfaces.

Subjects: narrative, mythology, memory, and psychology.

Mediums: oil paint, acrylic paint, collage, pastels and drawing materials, mixed media.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Jean-Michel Basquiat- untitled, riding with death, Hollywood Africans.

 Anselm Kiefer- Margarethe, Lilith, sulamith

 Julian Schnabel- fakirs, the student of prague, untitled

POST MODERNISM

postmodernism, in Western philosophy, a late 20th-century movement characterized by

broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute
sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political and economic power.
Jacques Derrida.

Characteristics: fragmentation and collage, irony and parody, eclecticism.

Techniques: artist often quote or appropriate imagery and styles from previous movements,
recontextualizing them within contemporary works.

Subjects: deconstruction of traditional norms, intersexuality, and playfulness.

Mediums: photography, collage, and assemblage, found objects.

Notable artist and their artworks:

 Ricky Swallow- killing time, history of holding, salad days.

 Robert Rauschenberg- monogram, canyon, collection

 Aydin Aghdashloo- years of fire and snow, enigma x, falling angels

NEO-POP ART

Neo-pop (also known as new pop) is a postmodern art movement that surged in the
1980s and 1990s. It is a resurgent, evolved, and modern version of the ideas of pop art artists
from the 50s, capturing some of its commercial ideas and kitsch aspects. However, unlike in
pop art, Neo-pop takes inspiration from a wider number of sources and techniques.

Characteristics: popular cultural references, bold colors, and forms, mix of high and low art.

Techniques: artist often appropriate images and icons from popular culture, recontextualizing
them within their artworks. Techniques like collage and layering contribute to the multi-
dimensional and visually dynamic nature of neo-pop artworks. Neo-pop artist may employ
satire and humor to comment on contemporary society, consumerism, and the intersection of
art and popular culture.

Subjects: comic strips, soup cans, road signs and hamburgers, popular culture, and mass media.

Mediums: acrylic on canvas, screen painting and other techniques, incorporation of everyday
objects and materials into artworks.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Takashi Murakami- super flat flower, miss ko2, and then (blue)

 Yayol Kusama- infinity mirrored room, pumpkin, all the eternal love I have for the
pumpkins.

 Alex Katz- ada in spain, the black dress (1960), coca-cola girls (1962)

MINIMALISM

In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in
post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and
early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin,
Dan Flavin, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. The movement is often
interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated
contemporary post minimal art practices, which extend or reflect on minimalism's original
objectives.

Characteristics: geometric shapes, neutral colors, emphasis on form and shapes, reduction to
essentials.
Techniques: hard-edge paintings, repetition, grid system, simplified composition.

Subjects: spatial relationship, materiality, perception, timelessness.

Mediums: acrylic or oil on canvas.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Donald Judd- untitled(stack), untitled(progression), drawing 1956-76

 Frank Stella- nine-sided figure, niche drawing, red circle on black

 Jiro Yoshihara- red circle on black, work, circle

CONCEPTUAL ART

Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or

idea(s) involved in the work are prioritized equally to or more than traditional aesthetic,
technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art may be constructed by anyone
simply by following a set of written instructions. In conceptual art the idea or concept is the
most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that
all the planning and decisions are made beforehand, and the execution is a perfunctory affair.
The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

Characteristics: idea-centric, diverse media, dearterialization of art, language as art, viewer

engagement.

Techniques: language-based art, documentation, performance.

Subjects: philosophical inquiry, social and political commentary, identity, and perception.

Medium: many conceptual artists explore a wide range of media beyond traditional painting
materials.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Joseph Kosuth- one and three chairs

 Sol LeWitt- wall drawing N.804, splotch #3, wall drawing #1136

 Piero Manzoni- artist’s shit, A chrome, Line 1000 Meters

FIGURATIVE PAINTING

Is a style of art that represents the human figure or other recognizable objects in a
recognizable manner. Unlike abstract art, which may depart significantly from realistic
depictions, figurative painting maintains a connection to the visible world. It has a rich history
and has been a prominent form of artistic expression throughout various art movements.

Characteristics: representation of the figure, realism or expression, narrative content,

emotional impact.

Techniques: range from realistic portrayals to more expressive or abstract interpretation of the
human form.

Subject/themes; portraiture, narrative scenes, social commentary, identity and representation,

emotional expression, everyday life.

Mediums: oil painting, acrylic painting, watercolor, pastels, charcoal and pencils, mixed media.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Peter Doig- white canoe, swamped, blotter.

 Alex Katz- the black dress, black brook, the red smile

 Lotte Laserstien- Russian girl, Sir Ernst chain, boy with Kasper puppet

DIGITAL PAINTING

with the advancement of technology, artist began using digital tools to create paintings,
opening new possibilities in terms of style and technique. An artist will operate their stylus like
a brush or pencil to execute illustration and painting techniques within a software program
using a computer screen or tablet as their digital canvas.

Characteristics: digital tools, versatility, undo and editing capabilities, color manipulation,
accessibility, efficiency.

Techniques: graphic tablets, digital brushes, layers, blending modes, texture, and filters.

Subjects: fantasy and sci-fi worlds, character design, portraiture, concept art, landscapes and
environments, abstract and experimental art, nature and wildlife, cultural and social
commentary, narrative scene, digital illustration, digital still life.

Mediums: gadgets

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Craig Mullins- The salton sea, harvest, drake’s fortune

 Android Jones- samskara, microdose VR, eternal return

 Loish (Lois van Baarle)- oracle, forest girl, the bridge

RELATIONAL PAINTING
 Relation art or relational aesthetics is a mode or tendency in fine art practice originally
observed and highlighted by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. Bourriaud defined the
approach as a set of artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of
departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent
and private space. The artist can be more accurately viewed as the catalyst in relational art,
rather than being at the Centre.

Characteristics: Interactive experience, collaboration and participation, temporal aspects,

material experimentation, social context

Techniques: interactive approaches, collaborative and creation, temporal elements,

performance-based paintings.

Subjects: social interaction, everyday life, identity and collaboration, spatial context.

Mediums: traditional painting materials such as acrylic, watercolors, and oils, on-traditional
surfaces, digital elements, found objects and mixed media.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Rirkrit Tiravanija- untitled (free), pad thai, tomorrow is another day.

 Carolee Schneemann- interior scroll, up to and including her limits, eye body:36,
transformative actions.

 Yoko Ono- cut piece, touch me , painting to shake hands

CONTEMPORARY REALISM

The contemporary realism movement is a worldwide style of painting which came into
existence c. 1960s and early 1970s. featuring a straightforward approach to representation
practiced by artist such as Philip Pearlstein, Alex Katz, Jack Beal, and Neil Welliver. The
movement refers to figurative artworks created in natural yet highly objective style. Today the
term contemporary realism encompasses all post-1970 sculptors and painters whose discipline
is representational art, where the objects is to portray the real and not the ideal.

Characteristics: detail representation, naturalism, diverse subjects.

Technique: traditional painting, photorealism, hyperrealism.

Subject: identity, the body, technology, globalization, migration, society, culture, memory, the
passage of time, and artistic critique of sociopolitical institutions.

Medium: oil, acrylic, or watercolor.

Notable artists and their artwork:

 Chuck Close- big self-portrait, fanny/finger painting, alex/ fingerprint

  Audrey Flack- wheel of fortune, joilie madame, queen

 Robert Bechtle- alameda gran torino, potrero hill, thanksgiving, sunset nels

POST-INTERNET ART

Post-internet art is a 21st century art movement involving works that are derived from
the internet or its effects on aesthetic, culture, and society. Post-internet art is a contemporary
art movement influenced by internet culture.

Characteristics: digital aesthetics, multimedia approach, critical engagement with technology.

Techniques: digital collage, interactive installation, net art.

Subjects: internet culture, digital age, the impact of technology on society.

Mediums: digital tools, screen capture, digital manipulation.

Notable artist and their artwork:

 Amalia Ulman- excellence & perfection, stock images of war, privilege.

 Cory Arcangel- super Mario clouds, data diaries, various self-playing bowl games

 Ryder Ripps- art whore, moments, Ho.