Ch. 20: 20th and 21st Centuries

Ch. 20: 20th and 21st Centuries

It s not an overstatement to say that no period in human history experienced more changes in ways of living than the 20th century. The amount of change - political, scientific, and intellectual - is often reflected in the art. The art of the 20th century is like no other century we have seen before. In a sense, art becomes an adjunct to philosophy. As a result, the visual becomes less important. The work is often about ideas rather than Beauty or Aesthetics. In order to understand or appreciate the art, it is crucial to understand the philosophy and, also, to be aware of important political and social currents. Modern art is filled with many movements ( isms ) that seek to redefine what art is. Each movement challenges the one that came before it. Most Modern movements challenge and reject the Western Academic tradition rooted in Greco-Roman Classicism.

Cubism was an art movement begun by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Forms are reduced to simple geometric shapes. What is the historical context? Georges Braque, Houses at L Estaque, 1908, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 23 3/4 in.

Cubism Sense of Order/Disorder Collapsing time and space Lack of color. Focus is on forms in space. We get a sense of things breaking up or breaking down. This is the antithesis of Renaissance painting and linear perspective. Modernism is about fragmentation

Pablo Picasso, Guitar, Sheet Music, and Wine Glass, 1912, collage

Georges Braque, Violin and Palette,1909, oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 16 7/8 in.

Inspired by the spiritual aspects of color and music. He made the first non-objective painting in Western art history. What is the meaning of objective? What is the meaning of subjective? Kandinsky wrote a book called Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Wassily Kandinsky. Sketch I for Composition VII. 1913. 30 3/4 x 39 3/8 in.

Franz Marc. Die grossen blauen Pferde (The Large Blue Horses). 1911. 41 5/16 x 71 1/4 in. Marc and Kandinsky believed that color had a spiritual effect on the viewer. Marc only painted animals - mostly horses. It is thought that this his a reaction to industrialized humanity. For Marc, animals had not been corrupted by civilization. He mostly uses primary colors - blue, red, and yellow. His compositions are harmonious rhythms of rounded forms.

Futurism The Futurists were a group of Italian artists who wrote a manifesto which stated their devotion to speed, machines, and war. Mussolini was a fan of theirs and so sometimes they are thought of as Fascists as well After WWI erupted in 1914, their movement fizzled out. Giacomo Balla. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash. 1912. 35 3/8 x 43 1/2 in.

When looking at this work, it is important to consider that the first motion pictures were being developed around this time. Photographic technology had figured out a way to capture movement and time in a way that painting and sculpture cannot. Umberto Boccioni. Unique Forms of Continuity in Space. 1913. 43 7/8 x 34 7/8 x 15 3/4 in.

Map of World War I and the Territorial Reconstruction of Europe.

Dada The Dadaists were reacting against the immense devastation and carnage of WWI. A result of industrialization was new forms of killing machines -machine guns, poison gas, etc. If Reason was the catalyst behind these new forms of technology which resulted in so much devastation, then Reason made no sense, like the term Dada. Dadaists mocked the senselessness and the moral bankruptcy of Western civilization. Marcel Duchamp. Mona Lisa (L.H.O.O.Q.). 1919. 7 3/4 x 4 1/8 in.

Duchamp forever changed the definition of art and what art could be. He began the tradition of the readymade, making art from objects which have been already made-like this urinal which he turned upside down. His stunt caused many artists to question the nature of art and the process of art-making. Why are some things art and others not? Who gets to decide these things? And why? make and think? Marcel Duchamp. The Fountain. 1917.

Surrealism The Surrealists were influenced by Dada and by Sigmund Freud s Interpretation of Dreams and by Carl Jung s writings about the unconscious mind and the creative process. Giorgio de Chirico. Melancholy and Mystery of a Street. 1914. 24 1/4 x 28 1/2 in.

Salvador Dali. The Persistence of Memory. 1931. 9 1/2 x 13 in.

Joan Miró. Painting. 1933. 51 3/8 x 64 1/8 in.

Political Art Diego Rivera. Man, Controller of the Universe. 1934. main panel 15 ft. 11 in. x 37 ft. 6 in. Rivera was inspired by the Mexican Revolution. He was a nationalist who believed that his country s land and resources belonged to the people, not foreign investors.

Pablo Picasso. Guernica. 1937. 11 ft. 5 1/2 in. x 25 ft. 5 1/4 in. Line, Value, Color, Texture, Shape, Rhythm, Repetition, Unity, Variety, Balance, Scale, Proportion, Focal Point

Pablo Picasso. Guernica. 1937. 11 ft. 5 1/2 in. x 25 ft. 5 1/4 in. Represents the first time that bombs were dropped from a plane. 3,000 pounds of bombs were dropped. 1,000 people - mostly civilians - were killed. Picasso was asked to make a painting for the Spanish display at the World s Fair. He used this opportunity to make a painting which expressed his outrage. He is following the model of Gericault.

Lee Krasner. Untitled. c. 1940. 30 x 25 in. Remember, Modernism is about fragmentation and reduction.

Continuing the tradition of Cubism in reducing things to the their simplest form and only using Primary Color. Piet Mondrian. Composition II with Red, Blue, and Yellow. 1930. 28 1/2 x 21 1/4 in.

Line, Value, Color, Texture, Shape, Rhythm, Repetition, Unity, Variety, Balance, Scale, Proportion, Focal Point

Edward Hopper. Nighthawks. 1942. 30 x 60 in. This painting is about the loneliness and alienation of modern, urban life.

Abstract Expressionism Influenced by Surrealist automatism, which is the direct and unmediated expression of the self. (Sayre, p. 525) Abstract Expressionism also known as Action Painting because of the physical energy and movement used to make it. Willem de Kooning. Woman and Bicycle. 1952 53. 76 1/2 x 49 in.

Color Field Painting The artist stained the canvas by pouring water based acrylic paint onto it. This artist wanted to create a meditative effect with color. The fields appear to hover and quietly vibrate. Mark Rothko. No. 12. 1954. 102 x 116 in.

What is this about? Robert Rauschenberg. Odalisk. 1955 58. 83 x 25 1/2 x 25 1/8 in. Robert Rauschenberg, Odalisk, 1955-58

Roy Lichtenstein. Whaam!. 1963. 5 ft. 8 in. x 13 ft. 4 in. Pop Art is about collapsing the boundary between Fine Art and Popular Culture. These artists brought the visuals of popular culture like advertising and cartoons into the realm of Fine Art. Why was this an American movement?

Minimalism - painting becomes an object. (Yawn.) Frank Stella. Empress of India. 1965. 6 ft. 5 in. x 18 ft. 8 in.

Identity

Why is this work Post-Modern? Jimmie Durham. Headlights. 1983.

Why is this work Post-Modern? Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Petroglyph Park. 1986. 30 x 22 in.

A critique of 20th century consumerism and Capitalism. David P. Bradley. White Earth Oijbwe and Mdewakaton Dakota, Indian Country Today. 1996 97. 72 x 60 in.

Mollie Wilson. Kwakwaka wakw pictograph recording a 1927 potlatch showing coppers and cows. 1927. 6 x 30 ft. Multiculturalism and Identity Politics become popular at the end of the 20th century.

Marianne Nicholson. Kwakwaka wakw pictograph of a copper on a cliff. 1998. 28 x 38 ft.

Chéri Samba. Problème d eau. Où trouver l eau? (The Water Problem. Where to find water?). 2004. 53 1/8 x 78 3/4 in.

Shahzia Sikander. Pleasure Pillars. 2001. 12 x 10 in.

Alison Saar. Inheritance. 2003. 72 x 29 x 29 in. This artist simply puts two things together to create meaning.

Kerry James Marshall. Many Mansions. 1994. 114 x 135 in.

Enrique Chagoya, Crossing I, 1994, acrylic and oil on paper, 4 x 6 ft.

Troy Brauntuch. Untitled (Shirts 2). 2005. 63 x 51 in.

Olafur Eliasson. The Weather Project, installation view. 16 October 2003 21 March 2004.