SUMMARY

*THIS SUMMARY WILL FOCUS ONLY ON SELECTED MAJOR
PAINTING MOVEMENTS IN THIS CENTURY. IT IGNORES DEVELOPMENTS
IN ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE ALTHOUGH MOST PAINTING
MOVEMENTS HAVE THEIR PARALLELS IN OTHER AREAS OF ART AS WELL.
SUMMARY
Early styles were directly affected by Post-Impressionism. Since 1940, artists in
the United States have provided artistic leadership in the western world.
FAUVISM--Liberated color for expressive use.
EXPRESSIONISM--Included various individuals and groups in Europe who emphasized
emotional content over form.
CUBISM--And its offshoots broke natural objects into component geometric shapes and
planes.
FANTASY, DADA, AND SURREALlSM--Demanded the liberation of art from reason,
focusing on the imagination and the subconscious.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM--Was the first major style developed in the United
States. The artists focused on the act of painting.
POP ART--a reaction to the so called "elitist" nature of abstract expressionism. Utilized
common commercial objects/elements as art.
OP ART--whose purpose included exploring the principles of optical illusion producing
effects of changing mass, surface and space. They involved the viewer's sight
processes in a dynamic way. Victor Vasarely is the acknowledged leader of the
movement.
COLOR-FIELD AND HARD EDGE PAINTING--which asserted the importance of the
canvas itself and denied any illusionalism and expression. Barnett Newman, Ellsworth
Kelly, Helen Frankethaler and
Frank Stella and others.
PHOTO-REALlSM--Retained an interest in representational subjects portrayed
naturalistically. The paintings simulate enormous photographs. Came into its own in the
late 60s and early 70's. Don Eddy, Robert Estes, Audrey Flack are noteworthy painters.
OTHER MOVEMENTS OF NOTE DURING THIS CENTURY (NOT ALL INCLUSIVE) ARE
ART NOUVEAU, REALISM (DIFFERENT THAN 19TH CENTURY), SOCIAL REALISM,
MODERNISM, POST-MODERNISM, CONCEPTUALISM, NEO-EXPRESSIONISM AND SO
ON AD NAUSEUM. HEY, IT'S BEEN A PRODUCTIVE CENTURYl
1. FAUVISM (Wild beasts) -- originated in Paris in 1905. Its leading
painter was Heri Matisse. Their purpose; desired expression through the
final liberation of color from all past restrictions. Even faces could be
painted green, red, etc. Clashing colors at full intensity were juxtaposed.
Their subject matter was always cheerful, never depressing. Paint was
applied thickly to canvas with rough brushstrokes. Natural appearance,
drawing and perspective were distorted. Images were flat, decorative.
"The Green Line," 1905 shows influence of African sculpture, particularly
masks "Harmony in Red" was post Fauvism influenced by abstraction:
line, rhythm, pattern, etc.
Matisse, The Green Line, 1905 >
< Matisse, Harmony in Red, 1908
2. EXPRESSIONISM -- movement began about 1905,
fragmented after World War I. Difficult to classify but in
general their purpose was emotional expression and they
frequently moralized through social commentary.
Their
subject matter included both secular subjects, i.e., aging
prostitutes, hardened criminals, judges, sad clowns and
religious subjects, i.e., Crucifixions, Old Testament scenes.
Typically, their work included black outlines around forms,
somber colors, and simplified forms.
Two Schools within Germany:
(1) Die Brucke ("The Bridge" or link between their art and
modern revolutionary ideas.) leading artist was Ernst Kirchner,
"Five Women in the Street," 1913 captures the anixous, frenetic
pace of modern urban life.
(2) Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider") -- they were drawn to
pure abstreaction and nonobjective formalism. Vassily Kandinsky, Russian born among the first to eliminate recongizable
objects from his paintings. Art was a matter of rhythmic lines,
colors, shapes, rather than narrative interpretations. "Painting
Number 201" In France -- George Rouault. Independent
German Expressionists of note include Ochar Kokoschka, Max
Beckmann, George Grosz and Kathe Kollwitz. English Expres. .
Bacon .
.~ worth remembering -- Francis
< Vassily Kandinsky"Painting Number 201"
Ernst Kirchner, "Five Women in the Street"
A
3. CUBISM (on seeing a painting by Braque, Matisse remarked that
it had been painted with "little cubes," thus the reported derivation of
the name, Cubism.) It was developed in Paris by Pablo Picasso and
Georges Braque, begining in 1902. Their purpose was (a.) to liberate form from natural appearances. (b.) to reduce forms to their
essential planes, and (c.) to represent many simultaneous view of
any given form.
2.
Three basic types or developments of Cubistic style
(1) " Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," Pablo Picasso 1907
(2) "Violin and Pitcher," George Braque, 1909
(3)"Three Musicians," Pablo Picasso,1921
(1) Proto-Cubism 1902-08, simplification of form, Pablo Picasso, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,
1907. He begins a spatial revolution, borrowing and inventing new from the old.
(2) Analytic Cubism 1908-11, forms shattered into geometric planes. Multiple viewpoints
conbined into single image. George Braque, "Violin and Pitcher," 1909. Most of the picture
plane, including parts of the objects, is rendered as fragmented cubes and other solid
geometric objects, painted in subdued earthy colors.
(3) Synthetic Cubism 1912-30, unbroken color areas became larger and recongnizable objects
reappeared. From 1910 -12 still life compositions called Collage were emphasized. Pablo
Picasso, "Three Musicians," 1921, arranged flat shapes, in bright colors, to form objects.
Pablo Picasso, "Guernica", 1937, A combination of Analytic and Synthetic Cubism plus a
political message. A protest against the brutality of war and tyranny, i.e., the Nazis.
Several styles, many of them regional, developed out of Cubism.
1. Orph ism - - France
2. Futurism - - Italy
3. Supermatism - - Constructivism - - Russia
4. De Stijl " The Style" - - Holland
4. DADA (implication was to "start life over") began in
Zurich in 1915 and became an international movement.
Their purpose was to protest against WWI and the society
that produced it. To make meaningless art to reflect the
lack of meaning in modern society. To be against
everything. There was no specific subject matter -anything and nothing, it was in essence, an "anti-art", i.e.,
no formal qualities. The leading artist Marchel Duchamp,
"Nude Descending a Staircase, No 2", 1912. Art Critic's
quote describing "an explosion in a shingle factory," when
actually the artist aim was " ... a static representation of
movement ... "Fountain,"
< "Fountain", Marchel Duchamp 1917
"Nude Descending a Staircase, No 2",
Marchel Duchamp, 1912.
3.
>
<
Chirico, Place d'lta/ie, 1912
V
<
Magritte, Time Transfixed, 1938
...,...,...--~----.
Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931
5. SURREALlSM--begins around 1914 and extends into the 40s. Their purposes
included the exploration of the unconscious. To liberate art from reason and lastly to
depict the imagery of dreams visa a via Freudian psychology. Which, of course, was the
basis of their subject matter, Le., dream images, the absurd, the incongruous. Leaders
included Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali and Rene Magrittee. Chirico's "Place
d'ltalie, n 1912 evokes a sense of isolation and foreboding, as if the viewer perceives a
mystery that can never be solved. Dali filled barren landscapes with absurd objects,
such as limp watches or ghastly human fragments, rendered with virtuoso precision as in
the 1931 painting, "The Persistence of Memory." Magritte rendered his witty images
of the absurd realistically. "Time Transfixed, n 1938 juxtaposed two immediately familiar
objects in order top evoke a mysterious unfamiliar.
6. ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM-Began in the 1940s and set out to express the
artist's pent-up emotions through the free application of paint. It further intended to
assert individual nonconformist personalities that our mechanized culture tends to stifle.
The act of painting is the subject matter. Most of these paintings are nonrepresentational, except for some barely recognizable, distorted human figures or other
images.
Important Artists:
1. Jackson Pollack
2. Willem de Kooning
3. Franz Kline
4. Mark Rothko
Here, for the first time in centuries, we have truly innovative breaks with
tradition which include:
4.
5.
1. PrQliferatiQn Qf media--away from usual types of artists
paint. Le., enamel, spray paint, etc.
2. LiberatiQn Qf the canvas--tacked to the wall without being
stretched (Franz Kline) or rolled out onto the floor (Jackson Pollack).
3. SpQntaneQus applicatiQn--thick paint applied vigorously,
without modification of strokes or splashes. Willem de KQQning,
"WQman and Bicycle, "1952
4. ActiQn painting--paint was spilled, dripped, poured or thrown instead
of being brushed .. JacksQn PQllack, "Black and White," 1948.
5. Cumulative repainting--paint was built up and scraped off until the
surface acquired a sculptural quality.(de Kooning)
Willem de Kooning, 'Woman and Bicycle, "1952
< Jackson Pollock, Number 1A, 1948
7. POP ART - Began in England in the mid-50s and quickly
spread to the United States. Initially, a reaction to the "elitist",
intellectual quality of the Abstract Expressionists. Its
purpose was to reflect our indifference to the familiar objects of
everyday life and popular culture. Further, it tended to depict
these objects with cool acceptance, not satire, although some
Pop sculpture does often possess satirical reference. Subject
matter includes objects and images from the advertising media,
i.e .. , soup cans; public figures movie stars, cultural heroes, an
incongruous or absurd combination of familiar objects.
ImpQrtant Artists:
1. Jasper JQhns, "Three Flags," depicts a popular image that is also a
national emblem. It is an abstract image insofar as it consists of pure geometric shapes.
2. RQbert Rausenberg, "RetrQactive," 1964, an arrangement of cutouts
resembling a collage representing multiple images emphasizing current events.
3. Andy WarhQI "200 Campbell's SQUP Cans," 1962, characteristic of his
work, utilizing an advertising image, illustrates the repeatedness of commercial images
and his obsession with mass production. He became an work of Pop Art himself and an
icon figure of the movement.
4. RQY Lichtenstein "TQrpedQ...LQs!," 1963, Monumentalization of the flat,
clear comic-book drawing with their "balloon" containing dialogues replicates the popular
reading material from the 40s and 50s.
< Jasper Johns, "Three Flags", 1958
Robert Rausenberg, "Retroactive" 1964 >
< Andy Warhol, "200 Campbell's Soup
Cans, 1962
Roy Lichtenstein,
"Torpedo ... Loss!, 1963 >