FORMS AND STYLES IN MODERN AND

CONTEMPORARY ARTS (PART 1)

LESSON 2 ARTS
Forms and styles in modern and
contemporary arts require a new
ways of analysis from the viewer.
NON-FIGURATIVE ART

OPTICAL ILLUSION or Op Art – explores optical

responses by the rhythmic patterns formed by repetition
of line or color which are exact in measurements.
The patterns stimulate the eye to see images and
movement which are real in the mind of the viewer but
not in the artwork itself.
 VICTOR VASARELY’S HUNGARY SPECS

• Here, are the squares painted in

different colors to create an
illusion of depth and a series of
boxes placed on top of each
other.
• Repetition of form and color was
used skillfully to create three-
dimensional view of boxes that
are actual flat on a surface
CUBISM
The most influential art style in the early 20th century.
The artist tries to show all sides of an object, reduces recognizable images to geometric
forms, show objects from several positions at one time, and often make opaque forms
transparent.
In Cubism, artists paint or sculpt what they know, not what they see.
They reduce their figures to basic geometric patterns such as circles, squares, triangles,
and rectangles.
They also make three-dimensional forms such as cubes, cylinders, cones, and spheres.
GEORGES BRAQUE'S PAINTINGS

The name 'cubism' seems to have derived from a

comment made by the critic Louis Vauxcelles
who,
on seeing some of Georges Braque's paintings
exhibited in Paris in 1908,
described them as reducing everything to
'geometric outlines, to cubes.
PABLO PICASSO’S LES DEMOISELLES D’AVIGNON

• Here, he painted the figures to

distinguished them from background.
• The figures of the five ladies are reduced
into geometric patterns, the spaces between
them, varied.
• Picasso did not follow the rule of
perspective.
• Instead, he showed different points of view
on one canvas.
• He used geometric forms to express his
idea of women.
 PIET MONDRIAN’S COMPOSITION 10

• Although this painting shows cubism in

abstraction, proving that painting can appeal
to the viewer through a combination of lines,
color, and organization.
• The painting seems to look simple, it is
complex in the sense that each line varies in
thickness and each white shape varies in size,
all organized and balanced in the
mathematical exactness.
ABSTRACTION

Abstraction changes the form of the subject

matter, sometimes reducing it into its basic
shapes, or at times rendering it in lines or
combination of colors.
HENRY MOORE’S
RECLINING FIGURE NO. 4

• The female figure shown reclining.

• The artist took the liberty of
reducing the head and enlarging
the legs, making it look distorted.
• He also made everything smooth,
neglecting the different textures
that the human figure would
naturally have.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

It was introduced in the 1950s.

Also known as ‘action painting,’ it
was best shown in the works of
Jackson Pollo, Willem de
Kooning, and the artwork of Mark
Rothko.
JACKSONS POLLOCK WORK

Jackson put his canvas

on the floor, splashes
different colors of paint
on it in his desired
direction, dances over it
with a stick or materials
other than the usual
brush.
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI
His works are another example of abstract
expressionism.
In his sculpture, Man Walking, he reduced the
human form to an elongated shape with only
the essential parts: torso, head, legs, and arms,
His figures are unpolished and have a rich
texture.