th 20

Century Art

Why is it so weird?
Think of how much and how quickly the world has changed in the last 113 years. Modern art is a reflection of that turbulence. Cameras make realistic art obsolete.

Mass production makes art marketable

 Like the mannerists who followed Michelangelo & co., the artists of the 20th century valued originality and innovation over just beauty.

If you cant please the public, shock it.

So, realistic art doesnt necessarily equal good art.

Instead, go back to the 4 questions:
What do I see? What do I know about what I see? What was the artist trying to do/say? How successful was he/she?

The Moderns
1900-1914
Matisse Not realistic
Simple lines & figures Bright colors Not concerned about distance /threedimensionality
La Danse, 1910

Fauves
Wild Beasts
French artists Inspired by African and Oceanic art = Modern art that looks primitive

Derain, Landscape at Cassis, 1907

Pablo Picasso
1881-1973

 The most famous and the greatest artist of the 20th century The master of many styles and mediums Early paintings are very realistic

Science and Charity, 1897

 Painted the outcasts of society; lived in total poverty. Went through periods of color dominance:
The Blue Period The Rose Period

With his friend, Georges Braque, Picasso developed Cubism

Life, 1903

Cubism
Shatter a glass sculpture, pick up the pieces, glue them on a canvas = Cubism! Shows several different perspectives of the same subject at the same time Like a round world sliced up to show all the parts. (Remember, this is the same time that Einsteins coming up with the theory of relativity/the 4th dimension!) Background and foreground overlap, the subject dissolves into pattern.

Les Demoiselles dAvignon

1907

Carafe, Jug, and Fruit Bowl 1909

LAccordeoniste,

1911

Guernica
1937
On April 27, 1937, Franco (Spains dictator) gave Hitler permission to test their new air bombs on a village in northern Spain, Guernica. When Picasso read accounts of it in the newspapers, he immediately began the plans for the 286 square-foot mural, Guernica.

Guernica

Abstract Art
Simplifies things a man = a stick figure, a squiggle = a wave, red = anger Its about symbolism, capturing the essence of reality in a few lines and colors Think visual music (this is when jazz was developed in America)

Wassily Kandinsky
(1866-1944)
Patterns that are just beautiful, even if they dont mean anything
Composition VII, 1913

Piet Mondrain (1872-1944)

Painting at its most basic elements: black lines + white canvas + primary colors

Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red, 1937-1942

Mark Rothko
(1903-1970)

The Seagram Murals, 1958

Henry Moore
1898-1986

Carved the human body with the epic scale and restless poses of Michelangelo but with the crude rocks and simple lines of the Primitives.

Expressionism
WWI left 10 million dead and killed the optimism and faith in mankind that lead Europe since the Renaissance. Postwar Europe = Cynicism and decadence Artists expressed their disgust by showing a distorted reality that emphasized the ugly. - Lurid colors and simplified figures of the Fauves, but with a haunted, harsh tone.

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893

(during the Post-Impressionist period, but still a model of Expressionism)

Compare the two versions of terror, less than 75 years apart.

Dada
Artistic grief became twisted humor + resentment of the bourgeoisie/pompous intellectuals = Art that is outrageous, offensive, and meant to give traditional culture the finger.

Fountain, Marcel Duchamp, 1917

Duchamp Nude Descending a Stair No. 2 1912

Surrealism
Beyond realism a mixed bag of reality A juxtaposition of images that you have to try to connect. If it doesnt connect, then the artist has still forced you to think in new ways = success! Sigmund Freud also came along, introducing the idea of the subconscious and the importance of dreams.

Salvador Dali
(1904-1989)

Most famous surrealist Painted, with amazing realism, random objects to create an emotional punch.

Dali, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944

Dali,

Madonna of Port Lligat,

1940

Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

Rene Magritte 1898-1967

The Son of Man, 1964

The Treachery of Images, 1929

M.C. Escher
(1898-1972)

Drawing Hands,

1948

Relativity,

1953

Hand with Reflecting Sphere, 1935

A Blending
Keep in mind that most artists worked in a variety of styles. For example

Guernica = A blend of Surrealism and Cubism

Marc Chagall
(1887-1985)

I and the Village, 1911

Cubism + Fauvism +

Expressionism

And then

World War II Art = Propaganda

Abstract Expressionism
Expressing emotions using only color and form The act of creation becomes more important than the final product

Jackson Pollock,
The She Wolf, 1943

Pollock, Silver over Black, White, Yellow, and Red, 1948

Pop Art
The consumer = king! Art created from pop-ular objects, mocking pop culture by embracing it.

Andy Warhol
(1928-1987)

Campbells Soup Cans, 1962

Marilyn Monroe, 1962

Ray Lichtenstein (1923-1997)

Drowning Girl, 1963

Post-Modernism
1970-present

Art = big business Every object can be artistic, it just depends on context

Installations:

An artist takes over an entire room Assemblages: Recycle trash into larger sculptures Natural Objects: Art from natures objects
Conceptual Art: The idea/concept is the key Deconstruction: Changing the familiar/Put a familiar object in a new setting Interaction: Viewer participation Performance Art: Mixed-media live performance

Installation Art
Rachel Whiteread,
Embankment, 2005

Assemblages
Raoul Hausmann,

Mechanical Head,
1920

Natural Art

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty (The Great Salt Lake), 1970

Conceptual Art

Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965

Deconstruction
Christo and Jean-Claude, The Umbrellas, 1991

Christo and Jean-Claude, The Gates, 2005

Christo and Jean-Claude, Wrapped Reichstag, 1995

Christos Proposed

Over the River

Colorado Project (2013?)

Interactive Art

Marina Abramovic

Performance Art
Video Clips:

Over the Moon, from the play Rent, Jonathan Larsen

Paintjam, Dan Dunn

Frozen Grand Central, ImprovEverywhere