Movements in Twentieth-Century Art Before World
War II (Art 100)
Fauvism
Name: Group named by Parisian art critic Louis Vauxcelles in his review of the
1905 Salon d'Automne: "Donatello au milieu des fauves!" ("Donatello among the
wild beasts!"). The remark was made in reference to a room in the salon in which
a classical-looking statue by Albert Marquet was surrounded by paintings by
Matisse and others.
Who: Henri Matisse, Georges Roualt, André Derain, and Maurice de Vlaminck.
When: c. 1905-1908.
Where: France.
What: First modern movement of the 20th century in style and attitude.
Movement composed of a number of individual styles. Bold color was a unifying
element among the Fauves.
Subject Matter: Images of contemporary life (influence of Impressionism).
Style: Violently contrasting, non descriptive colors, and flat patterns.
Janson Example: MATISSE, The Joy of Life, 1905-1906.
Kissick Example: MATISSE, Harmony in Red, 1909.
Influenced by: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
Will influence: German Expressionism.
Cubism
(Analytic and Synthetic)
Name: Term coined in 1908 by Louis Vauxcelles after hearing Matisse refer to a
painting by Braque as nothing but "little cubes." Like Impressionism and
Fauvism, the term was originally derogatory.
Who: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon.
When: c. 1907-1918.
Where: France.
What: Analytic Cubism (earlier phase of Cubism): subject shown as if seen from
several angles simultaneously (traditional perspective is abandoned); fragmented
space. Synthetic Cubism (later phase of Cubism): separate elements are brought
together in a layered collage look. Lettering sometimes added, as well as real
materials (newspapers, labels, etc.).
Subject Matter: Portraits, figure studies, still lifes, landscapes.
Style: Analytic Cubism: dull, muddy, facets of color. Objects and background
treated with similar concern. Synthetic Cubism: collage look, stencils, actual
materials, usually vibrant color.
Janson Examples: PICASSO, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910 (Analytic
Cubism) and PICASSO, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912 (Synthetic Cubism).
Kissick Examples: PICASSO, Girl with a Mandolin, 1910 (Analytic Cubism) and
PICASSO, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912 (Synthetic Cubism).
Influenced by: Cézanne's later work; African, Oceanic and Iberian sculpture;
Rousseau's "primitivism."
Will influence: Orphism, Futurism, Cubo-Futurism, Constructivism, and Art
Deco.
Futurism
Name: Group's name derived from the artists belief that society's redemption lay
in the future.
Who: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo
Carrà, and Gino Severini.
When: 1909-1929.
Where: Italy.
What: Marinetti's Futurist manifesto of 1909 (the first of many by the group)
outlined the group's aims: the destruction of museums and libraries, and the
glorification of speed, machinery and violence. The group hoped for a new world
order to emerge from the destruction of the status quo.
Subject Matter: Figures and objects in motion. Said Marinetti: "A roaring
motorcar...is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace."
Style: Visual embodiment of dynamism. Speed represented by the merging of
objects or figures with their backgrounds. Vivid colors.
Janson Example: BOCCIONI, Dynamism of a Cyclist, 1913; BOCCIONI,
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913.
Kissick Example: BOCCIONI, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1913.
Influenced by: Cubism.
Will influence: Cubo-Futurism and Dada.
Dada
Name: Rumanian poet Tristan Tzara, along with a group of poets and painters,
stuck a penknife in a French dictionary at random and it landed on "dada," which
means "hobbyhorse." Nonsensical term appealed to the "Dadaists."
Who: Marcel Duchamp, Jean (Hans) Arp, Max Ernst, John Heartfield, Francis
Picabia, Man Ray, and Kurt Schwitters.
When: 1915-1923.
Where: New York and Western Europe (Zurich, Barcelona, Berlin, Cologne, and
Paris).
What: Having seen the horrors of "modern" society in bringing about World War
I, the Dadaists embraced irrational, intuitive, nihilistic, absurd and playful
qualities; anything anti-modern and anti-rational. Dada has even been referred to
as "anti-art." Dada isn't a style, but a world view.
Subject Matter: Everyday objects placed in absurd combinations; found objects;
abstract compositions.
Style: Photomontages; collage; realism; abstraction; importance of chance.
Janson Example: DUCHAMP, In Advance of the Broken Arm, 1945, from the
original of 1915.
Kissick Example: DUCHAMP, Bicycle Wheel, 1913.
Influenced by: Futurism.
Will influence: Surrealism, Conceptual Art, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art,
and Post-Modernism.
De Stijl
Name: Literally, "the style" (as opposed to a style) in Dutch. Also sometimes
known as "Neo-Plasticism," after a 1920 pamphlet by Mondrian.
Who: Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, Georges
Vantongerloo, and Gerrit Rietveld.
When: 1917-1931.
Where: The Netherlands.
What: Members believed in absolute artistic purity and rejected the subjectivity
of the individual artist in an effort to create a more universal, spiritual art.
Subject Matter: Non-objective.
Style: Minimal abstract designs, straight lines, right angles, and primary colors
(augmented by white, black and gray).
Janson Example: MONDRIAN, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930.
Kissick Example: MONDRIAN, Composition in a Square, 1929.
Influenced by: Frank Lloyd Wright, Dutch mathematician and theosophist M.H.J.
Schoenmaekers, and Constructivism.
Will influence: The Bauhaus and Art Deco.
Surrealism
(Automatism, Veristic, and Assemblage)
Name: Term coined by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917 in reference to
his own writings, as well as the work of certain painters, such as Picasso and
Marc Chagall. In 1924, one of the founders, André Breton, revived the term in his
Manifesto of Surrealism, where he describes a "super-reality" connecting the
dream world and reality.
Who: André Breton, Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Alberto
Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte, André Masson, Man
Ray, Yves Tanguy, Paul Klee, Giorgio de Chirico, Herbert Beyer, and Méret
Oppenheim.
When: 1924-1945.
Where: Originated in France, spread to rest of Europe, the United States and
Latin America.
What: Although similar to Dada in irrationality, Surrealism is more positive in
spirit. The movement is mostly concerned with different aspects of the
unconscious mind and representations of the dream state.
Subject Matter: Everyday objects in absurd situations, often mixed with
psychoanalytic thinking. Other works are non-objective.
Style: Three main stylistic divisions of Surrealism are evident: Automatism,
wherein the artist attempts to disengage conscious control in the creative act;
Veristic, in which the style is very realistic and detailed although the subject
matter appears irrational; and Assemblage, in which unrelated objects are
juxtaposed in suggestion of an alternate reality.
Janson Example: DALI, The Persistence of Memory, 1931.
Kissick Example: DALI, Premonition of Civil War, 1936.
Influenced by: Hallucinatory writings of 19th century poets, Symbolism, Dada,
and Freud's theories of the unconscious.
Will influence: Abstract Expressionism and Post-Modernism.
Harlem Renaissance
Name: Refers to a renaissance, or rebirth, of artistic activity by AfricanAmericans in the Harlem area of New York.
Who: Jacob Lawrence, James van der Zee, Aaron Douglas, and Richard Bruce
Nugent.
When: 1924-1930.
Where: New York.
What: New-York based cultural revival among African-American artists. The
movement was primarily a literary movement that spread to the visual arts.
Subject Matter: Historical themes, social injustices, celebration of AfricanAmerican cultural traditions.
Style: Style varied from the realistic, documentary photographs of van der Zee, to
the simplified forms and flat colors of Lawrence.
Janson Example: LAWRENCE, The Migration of the Negro, panel 3 of "From
Every Southern Town Migrants Left by the Hundreds to Travel North," 19401941.
Kissick Example: LAWRENCE, One of the Largest Race Riots Occurred in East
St. Louis, panel 52 from The Migration Series, 1940-1941.
Influenced by: Trends toward abstraction at the beginning of the century.
Will influence: 1930s African-American painters such as Romare Bearden.