Modern Art of the early 20th Century 19001945

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Modern Art of the early 20th Century (1900-1945)

• Chapter 19

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Important Terms and Concepts

• influences from world
• Modernism (definition, dates, and
  characteristics)
• Abstract art / abstraction

• Nonrepresentational art
• Readymades
• Dada
• Surrealism

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WWI
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Great Depression
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WWII
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Modernism (1900-1945) Modernism rejection of
conventions and a commitment to radical innovation

• Characterized by
• Diverse movements called isms
• Tendency toward abstraction and
  nonrepresentational art

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3. Tendency to emphasize physical process 4.
Adopted new techniques and materials in effort to
explore the true nature of art
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• Gustave Klimt. The Kiss. 1907-1908
• Oil on canvas, 510 x 6
• Inspired by Expressionism
• tension in couples embrace
• element of escape to a drab and ordinary world

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• Vasily Kandinsky. Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons).
  1913
• oil on canvas, 43 x 43
• Inspired by Expressionism and Monets use of
  color
• created just prior to WWI, features apocalyptic
  imagery that was popular at the time as tensions
  were rising in Europe

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Leaning buildings
Darkened sky
canons
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• Henri Matisse. The Joy of Life. 1905-1906
• Oil on canvas, 58 x 79"
• Inspired by Expressionism, particularly by van
  Goghs brushwork
• example of Fauvism

art devoid of troubling or depressing subject
matter
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• Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles dAvignon. 1907
• Oil on canvas, 8 x 78
• Early Cubism
• Influenced by medieval art and African sculpture
• Picassos response to Matisses Joy of Life.
• Flattened with sharp curves and angles create
  tension in the space

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Cubism The breaking down of nature into its most
basic geometric shapes, created jointly by
Picasso and Braque.
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• George Braque. Violin and Palette. 1909-1910
• Oil on canvas, 36 x 16
• Braque took Picassos ideas one step further
• Matisse remarked that Braque had a way of
  painting with little cubes thus the name Cubism

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• Pablo Picasso. Ma Jolie. 1911-1912
• Oil on canvas, 39 x 25
• Images so abstracted it borders on
  nonrepresentational art, art that doesnt
  represent any specific object or form
• pure painting
• musical references encourage viewer to approach
  work like a musical composition
• Tension between order and disorder

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• Kazimir Malevich. Suprematist Painting (Eight Red
  Rectangles) 1915
• Oil on canvas, 22 x 18
• First truly nonrepresentational work of art
• attempt to free art from the burden of the
  object - by eliminating traditional subject
  matter, one could focus entirely on formal issues

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• Piet Mondrian. Composition with Red, Blue, and
  Yellow. 1930.
• Oil on canvas, 18 x 18
• De Stijl The Style was a movement led by
  Mondrian
• By eliminating anything that could represent
  something else, an artist depict universal beauty
• sense of harmony and balance.

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• Marcel Duchamp. Fountain (second version). 1950.
• Porcelain urinal, 12x15x18
• Dada
• Urinal turned 90 degrees and signed with a
  pseudonym R. Mutt a play on the manufacturer
• readymades ordinary manufactured objects that
  were transformed into artworks simply through the
  selection of the artist - it was art because he
  chose it to be art
• Idea that art should appeal to the mind, not the
  eye

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dada can be interpreted in several ways and in
several languages, all of which generally refer
to a nonsensical idea, art that appeals to the
mind rather than just the eye
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• Marcel Duchamp. The Bride Stripped Bare by Her
  Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass). 1915-1923
• oil, varnish, lead foil, lead wire and dust on
  two glass panels, 91x59
• Duchamp believed that art was whatever the
  artist said it was and that the viewer was just
  as important as the artist

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Surrealism was a reaction to Dadaism. Surrealism
was based on Sigmund Freuds theory that the
human psyche was a battleground where rational
forces of the conscious mind could fight with the
irrational and instinctual urges of the
unconscious mind
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• Salvadore Dali. The Persistence of Memory. 1931.
• Oil on canvas, 9 x 12
• irrational objects in very realistic setting
  seem more convincing and more unsettling
• head is a self portrait, limp time pieces were
  symbols of Dalis anxiety over his sexuality

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• Meret Oppenheim. Luncheon in Fur. 1936
• Fur covered cup, saucer, and spoon
• Simultaneously attracts and repels the viewer
• Surrealism in sculpture

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• Henry Moore. Recumbent Figure. 1938
• Stone, length 55
• Direct carving of stone, let the stone he worked
  with form itself
• body as an undulating landscape

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• Alexander Calder. Lobster Trap and Fish Tail.
  1939.
• Hanging mobile of painted steel wire and
  aluminum, height 86
• Influenced by Piet Mondrian
• Individual parts move freely
• Called a mobile because in French the word
  means both a moving body and also a driving force

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(Image on pg 3, information on pg 3 and 548)

• Georgia OKeeffe. Red Canna. 1924.
• Oil on canvas, 36 x 29
• Giant distorted details of flowers that are
  almost surreal but recalls realism at the same
  time
• suggestive of female sexual organs

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• Grant Wood. American Gothic. 1930
• Oil on board, 29 x 24
• father and daughter
• supposed to be a sincere portrayal of the small
  town Iowans
• Rural farmers faced poverty and bankruptcy
  during the Great Depression

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• Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother, Nipomo
  California, 1936
• Photograph
• Langes photos were very Influential in creation
  of migrant farming camps to help farmers
• Florence Thompson, a 32 year old mother of 10,
  reflects the essence of the plight of the Great
  Depression

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• Aaron Douglas. Aspects of Negro Life From
  Slavery through Reconstruction. 1934.
• Oil on canvas, 5 x 105
• influenced by African art as well as
  contemporary art.
• Intended to awaken in African Americans a sense
  of their place in history
• positive images as opposed to stereotypes

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trumpeter heralds freedom, encouraging viewers to
continue their struggle for equality.
KKK
Leader calling for men to cast ballots, pointing
toward capitol
Man holding Emancipation Proclamation
capitol
Workers picking cotton
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• Frida Kahlo. The Two Fridas. 1939.
• Oil on canvas, 58 x 58
• she said she didnt paint her dreams but her
  reality
• Depicts her two ethnic selves, the European one
  and the Mexican one
• Reflects relationship with her husband Diego
  Rivera

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Kahlo said that the work depicted the Frida that
Diego loved (the European one) and the one he
didnt (the Mexican one)
The two Fridas join hands and there is an artery
running between them from the infant Diego that
is held in the Mexican Fridas lap to the
bleeding artery the European one tries to clamp
shut
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• Frank Lloyd Wright. Edgar Kaufmann House/
  Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1935-1937.
• home built into the cliff over the pool so that
  the water would flow around the house
• terraces echo the large slabs of rock so that it
  is integrated into the landscape

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Finis