experimetental art
Walter Gropius 1883-1969
- The Bauhaus in Dessau a school of architecture
- closed and abolished by the Nazi dictatorship
- it was built to prove that art and engineering need not remaind estranged from each other as they had been in the nineteenth century; that on the contrary each could benefit the other
it was at this school that tubular steel chairs and similar furnishings of our daily use were first invented
the theories for which the Bauhaus stood condensed in the slogan:
- functionalism the belief that if something is only designed to fit its purpose we can let beauty look after itself
The groping for a new style in building and ornament led to experiments of Art Nouveau in which the new technical possibilites of iron construction were still combined with playful ornaments
Frank Lloyd Wright 1869-1959
- He saw that what mattered in a house was the rooms and not the facade
If it was commodious and well planned inside and suited to the requirements of the owners, it was sure also to present an acceptable view from the
outside
frank lloyd wright 540 fairoaks avenue oak park, illinois 1902
why was this revolutionary?
- for it led wright to discard all the old shibboleths of building, especially the traditional demand for strict symmetry
- wright believed in what he called Organic Architecture by which he meant that a house must grow out of the needs of the people and the character of the country like a living organism
expressionism
Kathe Kallowithz 1867-1945
her work inspired many artists and propagandists in thecommuist east where it became mubh better known than in te west
Among the painters who shocked the public by refusing to see only the bright side of things was the Austrian Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980),
henri Matisse 1869-1954
lyonel feininger sailing boats 1929
Piet Mondriaan 1872-1944
*straight lines and pure colours
Piet Mondrian, Tableau I, 1921.
Paul Klee 1879-1940
In a smilar frame of mind Ben Nicholson 1894-1982*
- absorbed himself in the problems of his choice
but where Mondriaan was: - exploring relationships of elementary colours
Nicholas concentrated on:
- that of simple shapes such as the circle and the rectangle which he often carved into white boards, giving each a slightly differnt depth
ben nicholson 1934 relief
Alexander Calder 1898-1976
- sculptor
- he longed for an art that reflected the mathematical laws of the universe, but for him such an art could not be rigid and static
- the universe is in constant motion but helped together by mysterious balancing forces and it was this idea that inspired calder to construct mobiles
Alexander Calder, A universe, 1934
- Motor-driven mobile;
painted iron pipe, wire and wood with string, height
102.9 cm, 4o54 in
Henri Rousseau 1844-1910
Rene Margritte 1898-1967
surrealists
Modernism main themes
- rebellion against tradition
- distre to break free from established norms
- critique of rigid academic art standards
- critique of rigid academic art standards
- distre to break free from established norms
- quest for orginiality and authenticity
- artists aim to express their unique visions/ inner experiences/perspectives
- emphasis on personal expression and creativity
- exploration of new forms and techniques
- adoption of new materials and techniques -- photography, collage
- experimentation with composition, perspective and abstraction
pushing the boundareis of representation
- departure from naturalistic representation
- focus on symbolism, distortion and abstraction
positive - belief in human progress
What is Modern art?
art that responds to the conditions of modernity
aims t o break from traditional artistic conventions
- embracing innovation, experimentation and a desire to reflect the modern world
Historical and cultural context
- period of rapid change, upheaval and innovation
- world war I, industrialisation, urbanisation and social shifts
- time frame 1910-1939 start of world war II origins can be seen as far as 1870
infulence of philosophy and literature
- connection to philosophical movements like extenialism
- influence of key literary works: e.g. Kafka, Proust, Joyce
Select modern art movements
- Italian futurism
- dada
- De Stijl
- Cubisim
- Surrealism
De Stijl NeoPlasticism 1917-1931
- Developed during after WWI when the Netherlands was neutral and so remained culturally isolated
- Founded in Leiden, but flourished in Utrecht
Surrealism
- Started in Paris by André Breton officially 1924
- influenced by Freud and his concepts of free association dream analysis and the unconsioucs
- influenced by dada and reacting to horros of world war 2
* Characteristics:
- love of the absurd -- dream logic
- focus on the subconscious
- element of suprise**
Dada 1915-1924
- does not have stereotypical characteries
- experimentalist
- world war I
Marchel Duchamp, Fountain 1917
- plays and challenges what art is
Italian Futerism
1909-1014
- Emerged in Italy in the early 20th century
- founded by Championed by FIllip Tommaso Marinetti
- reacted to social and cultural changes of the modern industrial era
Giacoma Balla dog on a leash, leash in motion 1912..
- repeated depictions of the same object
Carlo Carrà patriotic celebration free word painting 1914
Marchel Duchamp Nude descending a staircase no2. 1912
- representing
Giacoma Balla, streetlight lampada studio di luce 1909
Cubism
Cubism
- cubism did not set out to abolish representation, only to reform it
- there is one drawback in this method of building up the image of an object: of which the orginiators of cubism were very well aware. It can be done but only with more or less familiar forms
that is the reason why
- the Cubist painters usually chose familiar motifs guitars, bottles, fruit-
bowls, or occasionally a human figure - where we can easily pick our way through the paintings and understand the relationship of the various parts.
We know that artists of all periods have tried to put forward their solution of the essential paradox of painting, which is that it represents depth of a surface.
- Cubism was an attempt to not gloss over this paradox but rather exploit it for new effects
Pablo Picasso 1881-1973
he learned how it is possible to build an image of a face or an object out of a few very simple elements
Picasso turned to Cézanne. In one of his letters to the a young painter, Cézanne had avised him to look at nature in terms of spheres, cones and cylinders he presumably meant that he should always keep the basic solid shapes in mind when organizing his pictures but picasso and his friends decided to take this advice literally
picasso denied that he was making experiments. he said he did not search, he found
Pablo Picasso, Woman with a Violin, 1911.
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon, 1907
George Baroque
Differences Cubism vs futurism
SUbject:
Cubists favoured still life and portraiture
Futurista preferred subjects such as speeding automobiles, trains, racing cyclists, animals and urban crowds
- Futerism paintings have brighter and more vibrant colours than cubists works and dynamic agiated compositions
Futurism
cubism
We know that
artists of all periods have tried to put forward their solution of the essential paradox of painting, which is that it represents depth on a surface. Cubism was an attempt not to gloss over this paradox but rather to exploit it for
new effects.
**Futurist artists use fragmented and intersecting plane sufraces and outlines to show several simultanous views of an object
Umberto Boccioni, States of MInd I: the farewells 1911
Umberto boccioni, the city rises 1910
- quick brushstrokes
Characteristics:
- Straight lines: horizontal and vertical
- simplicity
- primary colours black and grey
- asymmetrical balance
- answering the first world war
Piet Mondriaan
wanted to build up his pictures out of the simplest elements
:
PP
- Composition in Colour A
- Piet Mondriaan Tableau I 1921
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Salvador Dali 1904-1989
- tried to imitae this weird confusion of our dream-life
- in some of his pictures he mixed surprsing and incoherent fragments of the real world, painted with the same detaield accuracy with which grant wood painted his landscapes and gives us the haunting feeling that there must be some sense in this apparent madness
- work focusses on ambiguity and optical illusion
Salvador Dalí, Apparition of Face and Fruitdish on a Beach, 1938
as in a dream some things like the rope and the cloth stand out with unexpected clarity while other shapes remain vague and elusive
Salvador Dali, persistence of memory 1931
Rene Margritte 1898-1967
- Belgian artist
provoked questions about nature and boundareis of rea*
Treachery of images 1928-29
The pilgrim 1966
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In a smilar frame of mind Ben Nicholson 1894-1982*
- absorbed himself in the problems of his choice
but where Mondriaan was: - exploring relationships of elementary colours
Nicholas concentrated on:
- that of simple shapes such as the circle and the rectangle which he often carved into white boards, giving each a slightly differnt depth
ben nicholson 1934 relief
Gerrit Rietveld 1888-1964
- aimed for simplicity of design even in mass production
- furniture designer
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Structure of object
- abstraction of objects