Chapter Twenty-Two
The Contemporary Contour
Culture and Values, 6th Ed.
Cunningham and Reich
Toward a Global Culture

Artistic satire of modern warfare


Global economy, New World Order


Economic, social inequities
Search for individual, social meaning


Heller, Pynchon, Kubrick
Social, political oppression
Artist as voice of protest, hope
Existentialism

Kierkegaard (1813-1855)



Autonomous individual, self-examination
Who am I? What am I doing here? Where
am I going?
Sartre (1905-1980)


Implications of atheism
Individual place, freedom, ethics
Existentialism






Thought + Action
Multi-media expression
Emphasis on anxiety, alienation
Existentialist theater, fiction
Beat poets as existentialists
Camus’ absurdity of the world
Painting Since 1945

International dilution of American art


Peggy Guggenheim


Refugee teachers, artists
Americanization of modern art
Artists of tradition


Hopper’s Nighthawks (1942)
O’Keeffe’s Poppy (1927)
Painting Since 1945:
Abstract Expressionism


Devoid of recognizable content
Subjective aesthetic experience



Line, color, shape
Action Painting, New York School
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)


Radical break from tradition
“overall” painting
Painting Since 1945:
Abstract Expressionism

Color field paintings


Color detached from imagery
Artistic goals


Break with other conventions of art
Feeling, not seeing
Painting Since 1945:
The Return to Representation



Consideration of the object
Jasper Johns (b. 1930)
Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925)



John Cage’s “Happenings”
Combine paintings
Andy Warhol

Pop Art, popular culture, consumerism
Painting Since 1945:
The Return to Representation

“Hard edges”


Minimalists


Geometrically precise
Ascetic use of line, color
Photorealists

Classical draftsmanship
Painting Since 1945:
The Return to Representation

Distinctively personal art




Racial, religious heritage
Bearden, Lacy
Smith’s Indian, Indio, Indigenous (1992)
Technical concerns

Rothenberg’s texture, Cabin Fever (1976)
Contemporary Sculpture


Continuity + Experimentation
New materials, technical skills



David Smith (1906 – 1965)
Alexander Calder (1898 – 1976)
Assemblage


Disparate materialsOrganic wholes
Nevelson, Cornell, Segal, Kienholz
Contemporary Sculpture

Claes Oldenburg (b.1929)


Humorous, mocking, Surreal
Henry Moore (1898-1986)


Primordial realities of art
Life, death, sexuality
Contemporary Sculpture

The modern patron, accessible art


Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Social statements made through media



Christo, Abakanowicz
Bartlett, Hanson, Frank
Paik, Whiteread
Architecture

Louis Sullivan (1856-1924)


“Form follows function”
Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)




Function is accomplished through form
Organic architecture
Flow of space vs. obstruction of space
Guggenheim Museum (1957-1959)
Architecture

Buildings as sculpture




New materials, flexibility and creativity
Saarinen, TWA Flight Center, New York
Utzon’s Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Counterpoint to nature

Le Corbusier’s large housing units
Architecture

Bauhaus design




“Less is more”
Crisp design, imaginative use of material
Seagram Building, National Gallery of Art
The Pompidou Center


Industrial design
Garishness, nervous energy
Architecture

Postmodernism

Classical motifs, Bauhaus severity






1201 Third Avenue, Seattle
Seattle Art Museum
American Center in Paris
The New Tate
Getty Center
Millennium Park
Trends in Contemporary Literature





Human search for meaning
Experiences of the war
The American Experience
Literature of social, political protest
Postmodernist writing

Mastery of and extension beyond tradition
New Music Since 1945
Avant-Garde Developments


Greater complexity, new sound
Structuralists




Precise organization, control
Devoid of subjective emotional expression
Electronic music, synthesizers
Aleatoric Music, “sound events”

John Cage (1912-1992)
New Music Since 1945
The New Minimalists

Reich’s The Desert Music (1983)



Repetitions of simple chords, rhythms
State of heightened concentration
Philip Glass (b. 1937)



Influenced by non-Western music
Repeating modules
Operas as “happenings”
New Music Since 1945:
Traditional Approaches to Modern Music


Innovative approach to symphony
Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)



Political commentary, nature of death
Traditional symphony orchestra
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)



Violence of contemporary life
Opera genre
Inspired by earlier masterpieces
New Music Since 1945
Popular Music






Rooted in Western musical traditions
Tangled interrelationship of genres
Medium reflects social change, turmoil
Concerts as multi-media “happenings”
Social document, record of past
Communication revolution
Chapter Twenty-Two: Discussion Questions



With contemporary art in its various forms, to what extent is the
medium the message? What does the composition of the art
itself contribute to the artist’s theme, message, or primary
emotion? Explain, citing specific examples.
The evolution of Western artistic traditions reveals subtle
changes in the ways in which the role of the artist is perceived.
What is the role of twenty-first-century artists? How is this role
different than/similar to artists from other historical epochs?
Explain.
As an individual living in the twenty-first century, what artistic
form or genre most appeals to you? Why? Do you prefer to view
art as a reflection of your personal values (subjectively), or is
your attraction to art one of an objective nature? Explain, citing
specific examples when appropriate.