Art Movements of
the Post WWI Years
1919-1939
Raphaella W.
DEF
HGHS Chappaqua, NY
Essential Question:
How were the emotions and
actions of the aftermath of
WWI expressed in the
following art movements?
modernism
1916 - 1940
Principles of Modernism
The expression of the
Artist’s right to
freedom of choice in
subject and style.
Departure from literal
representation – no
longer needed with
birth of photography.
“Art for Art’s sake”
Reject tradition and
society.
“Modernism” by the Critics
“ For the younger artists of France have
completely thrown overboard the ideals of
perfection and form, of grace and
measure and tranquility, which we are
accustomed to think as their most
valuable possession.”
“…their (Dadaist’s) manifestos and
tracts – with which it is proposed to
‘purge’ French art of its slavish
subservience to rules.”
from “The Aesthetic Upheaval in France” by Edmund
Wilson Jr., Vanity Fair February 1922
“Modernism” by the Artists
“ Seven years ago, I tried to make a painting
that would live by its own resources…At the
present time I am doing research in art. My
conclusions? I cannot explain my present
researches until I myself have evolved out
of them, that is to say, until I have gone
further in my artistic evolution.”
Francis Picabia, quoted from “Francis Picabia and
his Puzzling Art (an extremely modernized
academician)”, from Vanity Fair November 1915
Art movements as part of
Modernism
Dadaism (1916 – 1924)
Bauhaus (1919 – 1933)
Art Deco (1920 – 1935)
Surrealism [early] (1920 - 1935)
dadaism
1916 - 1924
Tristan Tzara – founder of Dadaism
“ Freedom : Dada Dada Dada, a
roaring of tense colors, and
interlacing of opposites and all
contradictions, grotesques,
inconsistencies: LIFE”
“Dada Manifesto” [1919]
Dadaism
Began in neutral
Switzerland in WWI
Also big in Paris.
Reached its peak
between 1916 – 1924
“Anti – Art”
A movement against
rigidity of society and
art, and the barbarity
of war – the public
didn’t deserve art
after the war.
Tristan Tzara
Born in Romania in 1896.
Lived most of his life in
Paris.
Wrote the first Dada text,
La Premiere Aventure
celeste de Monsieur
Antipyrine in 1916.
Penned the movements
manifestos, Sept
manifestes Dada, in 1924.
Became an active member
of the French Communist
Party in later life.
Characteristics of Dada Art
Nonsensical drawings
Pastel and faded colors
Used collages and layers – to confuse
the “unworthy beholder.”
“The beginnings of surrealism” –
many Dada artists went on to become
members of the Surrealist movement.
Subjects sometimes mundane, called
art as irony. (e.g.– bicycle wheel, flyer.)
Important Artists
of the Dada Movement
Tristan Tzara (1896 – 1953)
Francis Picabia (1879 – 1953)
Kurt Schwitters (1887 – 1948)
Max Ernst (1891 – 1976)
Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1958)
Francis Picabia
Machine Turn
Quickly
1916-1918
Francis Picabia
Feathers
1921
Francis
Picabia
Chapeau de
Paille
1921
Kurt
Schwitters
The Cherry
Picture
1921
Kurt
Schwitters
Merz 448
(Moscow)
1922
Kurt
Schwitters
Kleine
Dada
Soiree
1922
Marcel Duchamp
Monte Carlo
Bond
1924
Marcel Duchamp
You Me (Tu-M)
1918
Publications of the
Dada movement
Many publications within Dada Movement
Was not only an art movement, but
included poetry and theatre.
First publication - Cabaret Voltaire
Followed by Dada in July 1917 - an art and
literature review organized by Tristan
Tzara.
Other publications included Le courre a
Barbe, Der Dada, De Stijl, Proverbe, &
Freie Straße
Example covers of
Dada Magazine
(1917 & 1920)
Example articles from De Stijl and Dada
bauhaus
1919 - 1933
Walter Gropius:
Founder of Bauhaus
“The School will gradually turn
into a workshop…
Art and Technology - a
new unity.”
Bauhaus
Began in 1919 with
Bauhaus School in
Weimar, Germany.
Lead by Walter
Gropius, Hannes Meyer,
& Ludwig Mies Van Der
Rohe.
Wanted to create new
art to reflect the new
times they were living
in after WWI.
Artist should be trained
to work in the industry.
Walter Gropius
Born in Berlin in 1883
Served as Sgt. Major
in WWI.
In 1919 was employed
as the new master of the
Grand-Ducal Saxon
School of Arts and Crafts
in Weimar – became the
Bauhaus School.
Fled Germany and the
Nazi Party in 1934.
Died in Boston, MA in 1969.
Characteristics of Bauhaus
A lack of recognizable objects – wanted
to find the true meaning of art through
disassembling it.
Clean lines, geometric shapes layered.
In architecture: clean, functional.
Like Dadaism, was a step toward
surrealism for artists such as Wassily
Kandinsky.
Stylistic patterns altered as leaders of the
school changed – earlier Bauhaus is
different to later Bauhaus.
Important members of
the Bauhaus school
Walter Gropius (1883-1969)
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Herbert Bayer (1900 - 1985)
Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany
Wassily
Kandinsky
Contrasting
Sounds
1924
Wassily
Kandinsky
On White II
1923
Wassily Kandinsky
Yellow Red Blue
1925
Josef Albers
Figure (Glass,
Colour and
Light)
1921
Herbert Bayer
Profil en Face
1929
Herbert Bayer
Birthday Greetings to Xonti
1930
Like Dada,
Bauhaus also
published
periodicals and
magazines.
Head of printing
and design for
Bauhaus Magazine
was Herbert Bayer.
The Bauhaus
school also
published books
called
Bauhausbücher
art deco
1920 - 1935
Art Deco
Center: Paris.
Gained the title “Art Deco”
from Exposition
Internationale des Arts
Decoratifs et Industriels
Modernes in 1925
A new kind of decorative
and elegant art.
Reached its high point in
the mid ’20s – mid 30’s.
Reaction to the forced
austerity caused by WWI.
Characteristics of Art Deco
Geometric shapes
Although not the flowing swirls of Art
Nouveau, had bolder curves and less
“fussy” designs.
Bold colors, and new ways of shading
pictures.
Idealistic images of the “flaming
youth” of the “roaring twenties”.
Carried a theme through pieces,
especially in interiors and architecture.
Exposition Internationale des arts
Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes
April – November 1925
Held in Paris
To show the world that
France once again led
the way in a new
evolving international
style – “Art Deco”.
Changed the perception
of Bauhaus, Colonial Art
and, predominantly, the
Art Deco style as
legitimate movements.
Important Art Deco Artists
Tamara de Lempicka
(1898 – 1980)
“Erte” - Romain De Tirtoff
(1892 – 1990)
William Van Allen (1883 – 1954)
“Cassandre” - Adolphe
Mouron
(1901 – 1968)
Tamara de Lempicka
Sleeping Girl
1935
Tamara de
Lempicka
Portrait of a
Young Girl in a
Green Dress
1929
Tamara de
Lempicka
Self Portrait in
the Green
Bugatti
1925
Erte
Costume Design
for “Les Pierres
Precieuses”
1923
Erte
Design for
Lanternbearer in
“Venise XVII”
1919
Erte
L’Arc En Ciel
(Cover for
“Harpers
Bazaar”)
1929
Cassandre
Cigarettes
Celtique
1935
Cassandre
L’Atlantique
1932
Cassandre
L’Intransigeant
1925
early surrealism
1920 - 1935
Surrealism
Inspired by new psychology of two men:
Sigmund Freud
&
Carl Gustav Jung
Basic Principles
Freud
Human development
is best understood as
changing objects of
sexual desire
Wishes are repressed
and emerge from the
subconscious in
“accidental” bursts –
Freudian slips.
Neuroses are caused
by repressed
memories and
unconscious
conflicts.
ID, Ego and Super
Ego.
Jung
Neuroses are caused
by conflicts between
individuals
subconscious and
greater world.
Sexual desire does
not play as huge a
role.
Must make a healthy
relationship between
the conscious and
unconscious –
shouldn’t be cut off
from it, but shouldn’t
be swamped by it.
Surrealism
Divided into two groups
based on different
interpretations of Freud and
Jung – the Automatists and
the Veristic Surrealists.
Automatists - suppress
conscious in order to free
the subconscious, inspired
by more “Dadaist” ideals,
shouldn’t be overly
analyzed.
Veristic Surrealists - follow
the images of the
subconscious so they can
be interpreted; art is a way
to freeze ideas of the
subconscious.
Surrealism
Lead by Andre Brenton, a
French doctor who had
served in the trenches
during WWI.
Subject matter was varied:
– some pieces show a
complete dislocation
from any sort of literal
“reality” (for example,
Max Ernst’s works)
-- other pieces show
“normal” situations
with a spark of absurdity
(for example, Rene
Magritte's works.)
Bright colors among sometimes dull
backgrounds.
Max Ernst
Hydrometric
Demonstration
Of How To Kill
By Temperature
1920
Max Ernst
Kupferblech
1919
Max Ernst
The Elephant
Celebs
1921
Max Ernst
The Couple in Lace
1925
Rene Magritte
The Menaced Assassin
1927
Rene Magritte
Voice of Space
1931
Rene Magritte
The False Mirror
1928
Rene Magritte
The Lovers
1928
To summarize Post WWI art, a
quote from its true founder…
Tristan Tzara - leader of Dada
movement
“The beautiful and the true in art do not
exist; what interests me is the intensity
of a personality transposed directly,
clearly into the work…and in what
manner he knows how to gather
sensation, emotion, into a lacework of
words and sentiments.”
“Lecture on Dada” [1922]