20th Century Review

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20th Century Review
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SUMMARY Modernism

• emphasis on materials or expression instead of
  illusion
• a notion of progress evolution poet Ezra
  Pound Make it new." ? results in lots of
  isms

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TRENDS
ABSTRACTION FLATTENING OF PICTORIAL
SPACE PRIMITIVISM EXPRESSIONISM CUBISM SURREALISM
KANDINSKY
PICASSO
NOLDE
PICASSO
DUCHAMP
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definition
Abstract art art which is either completely
non-representational, or which converts forms
observed in reality into patterns which are read
by the spectator primarily as independent
relationships, rather than with reference to the
original source. Thames Hudson Dictionary of
Art Terms
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KANDINSKY textbook example p. 396
ABSTRACTION
Improvisation 28 (second version) 1912 Oil on
canvas, 43 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches
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PicassoLes Demoiselle dAvignon1907
p. 389
REMEMBER THE TITLE IN FRENCH
CUBISM PRIMITIVISM
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Nolde, Dance Around the Golden Calf, 1910
EXPRESSIONISM
PRIMITIVISM
p. 396
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Duchamp,La Boite en Valide (L.H.O.O.Q.),1919
DADA appropriation
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Gropius Bauhaus1926
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Mies van der Rohe Seagram Building 1957
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listening example - DEBUSSY
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (Prelude a
l'apres-midi d'un faune) (1894) -- exoticism,
mythical pastoral -- ambiguous (vague?)
harmony -- very little, if any, recognizable
conventional or traditional form -- very well
received at its premiere by the public it
baffled the musical establishment -- emphasis on
sonority (timbre colorful harmony) -- called
Impressionist, although Debussy hated the term
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Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) (1913
for very large orchestra) -- a ballet with a
story line written in part by an
anthropologist -- interested in primitive or
exotic materials what is behind the mask of
civilization?
TEXTBOOK CD
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Stravinsky
The Rite of Spring -- radically new non-tonal,
harsh unresolved dissonance, percussive,
brilliant orchestral effects, extreme ranges,
rhythmically and metrically very irregular and
quite innovative -- a riot (somewhat staged) at
its premiere much publicity ensues
TEXTBOOK CD
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Schoenberg
Listening example Etwas Rasch (somewhat fast)
from Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19
(1911) TEXTBOOK CD
Blue self-portrait, 1910
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TRENDS

• DISSONANCE LIBERATED
• PRIMITIVISM MORE GENERALLY FOLK MUSIC, AN
  ALTERNATIVE TO STANDARD PATTERNS FORMULAS
• CHAOTIC SURFACES, CONSISTENT INNER WORKINGS
• EXPRESSIONISM

CHAOS v. ORDER
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SUMMARY after WW2
MODERNISM CONTINUES PROGRESS MATERIALS EACH
WORK OF ART DICTATES ITS OWN TERMS POLLOCK,
abstract expressionism CONCEPTUAL ART ULTIMATE
CHALLENGE TO THE VERY IDEA OF ART, THE ULTIMATE
CONCLUSION OF MODERNISM? SMITHSON Spiral
Jetty POST-MODERNISM QUESTION NARRATIVE!
CHICAGO The Dinner Party
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Jackson Pollock, Lavendar Mist No. 1, 1950
compare p. 420
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Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty, 1970
textbook p. 436
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Frank Gehry
p. 444
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POMO

• CHARACTERISTICS OF POST-MODERNISM
• QUOTATION, PASTISHE, COLLAGE
• CHALLENGES AUTHORITY OF MASTER NARRATIVE
• FOCUSES ON THE CONSTRUCTED-NESS OF NARRATIVE,
  AUTHORITY, REALITY (deconstruction is not
  just analysis)

see p. 431
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Judy Chicago
p. 440
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Gentileschi,Judith Slaying Holofernes,1620
FAMOUS FEMALE ARTIST A CARAVAGGISTI
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Hildegard of Bingen1098-1179
Abbess, scholar, visionary, poet, musician,
healer, spiritual leader
One of the earliest named composers in the
European tradition
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Listening example

• by Hildegard of Bingen, c.1150
• large intervals
• large or wide range (large ambitus)
• this is chant, but NOT Gregorian chant

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music summary

• ORDER CHAOS
• SURFACE CHAOS/INNER ORDER Rite of Spring
  serialism
• SURFACE ORDER/INNER ORDER minimalism (Reich,
  Music for 18)
• SURFACE CHAOS/INNER CHAOS chance methods (John
  Cage)

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CAGE listening example
John Cage (1912-1992), Sonata II from Sonatas and
Interludes for Prepared Piano (19 pieces composed
1946-1948)
-- influenced by gamelan and other non-Western
music
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STEVE REICH
Preferred the term process music
Formed his own ensemble to play pieces like
Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians
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definition
Abstract considered apart from concrete
existence the genre of painting whose
intellectual and affective content depends solely
on intrinsic form (Amer Heritage Dict.)   Roots
of the term removed from (concrete reality) to
pull away from
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Mondrian 1940s
BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE, 1942-43 50 X 50 in.
ABSTRACTION
p. 394
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JOHN ADAMS
LISTENING EXAMPLE NIXON IN CHINA an opera about
. . . Nixon in China CD EXAMPLE The Chairman
Dances