Modern Art (Impressionism To Modernism) Notes:
) Paul Cezanne was an impressionist, he was in what he called
a "primitive" movement during the 1870s, he also quoted, "I
shall always be the primitive of the path I discovered". One
of his hypothesises from between the 19th and 20th century was
that there was an analogous process including primitives, and
he said that this drifted from the tradition of Renaissance.
) Six years after Paul Cezanne died, a group of artists got
together and called themselves "The Futurists", they also
called themselves "the primitives of a completely renovated
sensibility".
) The impressionists in the 19th century gave great offence by
showing what could be perceived, rather than what should know
in the first place. Some of these included the "Seurat and his
successors", "Fauves and the futurists" and the "cubists
gleizes".
) Modernism seems to appear to be a buried thing, or it being
described as a late phase, impressionists tended to enjoy the
ghost of a paradox, leading onto post modernism.
) A way of solving post modernism can be done by turning to
pluralism, because from a modern day perspective, there is
more of a variety of possibilities, also the fact that
minimalism and conceptual art is still n exist able thing in
the present day.
) Impressionism has to be the most important thing to happen
within European art since the renaissance, this is because
there was new developments in paintings and sculptures, rather
than working in a studio creating artwork pieces,
impressionists often went outside into the open, so they could
have what they called emotional content with what they were
creating, in turn capturing the Impression of a specific
subject, whether it be of a building or a person doing a
certain activity.
) Impression was able to create personalities that were
different in the impressionists and the art. It was
responsible for forming and transforming the ideology of
socialism and cultural context. The majority of them were
committed and had different levels of intensity.
) The emotion of the artist at a certain time of creating a
piece changes the impression that is perceived and received
from it. For example the "Ambroise Vollard" piece by Auguste
Renoir suggests he was in a sad mood. Because the main object
of the image is a person looking depressed.
) If Auguste Renoir hadn't created "Ambroise Vollard" there
probably wouldn't be an avant Garde, but in the mid 19th
century was when there was the invention of lithography, which
meant chromo-lithographic prints could be produced and for
cheaper. This meant line blocks could be made.
) Even before the first impressionists began to paint for the
first time, Eugene Chevreul, who was a polymath chemist was
making colour theories between 1786-1889, he was able to prove
that scientists and artists were able to move forward in the
same direction, to be able to work together and collaborate.
) Linking towards science, if light and time changed
Impressionism and affected it's nature, then the areas of
space, the combination of space and time was another.
) Impressionists seemed to be more advanced than realists,
this was because of their determination to be visually sincere
and to paint something as it actually was, but one of their
main achievements was to put coherence and form to tendencies
in European art.
) In the 19th century, there was the introduction of
influences to Impressionism from countries outside the
European continent. For example, Japanese art began to
introduce itself in Paris in the year of 1856, influences
overseas gave new inspirations and aspirations to some artists
during the time. Such as Van Gogh and Whistler.
) Edourd Manet was influenced by Eastern art and changed his
perspective of art and Impressionism, creating pieces such as
"Boating" (1874) and "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere" (1882).
) Edourd Manet gained some aspects of inspiration from the
work of Claude Monet, an artist that was also around when
Manet was making work. They produce similar work, however
Claude Monets work has smoother detail in his pianists, rather
than having sharper detail, also the people in Edourd Manets
work seem to give off a negative feel. Whereas that doesn't
seem to be the case in Claude Monets pieces of art, pieces
such as "Women in the Garden" (1866-1867), "Wild Poppies"
(1873).
) Camille Pissarro is an impressionist, he is not the greatest
impressionist that ever lived, but still created some good
pieces of work, pieces such as "Place de la Republique, Rouen"
(1886), "Portrait of Felix" (1883). Camille Pissarro was born
in the Virgin Islands, he gained some inspiration from
Delacroix and Corot.
) Edgar Degas created multiple pieces involving females as the
main objects of the paintings, for example "Head of a Young
Woman" (1867) gives off an element of identity, like who is
this female, what is her back story and why is it that this
female had a painting of her, for a good reason or even for a
bad reason, another piece is "The Dance Foyer at the Opera"
(1872) featuring females performing ballet. Overall from his
images, they do portray portraiture, they also show interest
and significance, the idea of using the themes of ballet and
opera gives the pieces a classical and feminist feel.
) Some of Paul Cezannes less detailed but more abstract pieces
include "Quarry and Mont Sainte Victoire" (1898-1900), from
the image itself, it's hard to distinguish that is showing a
quarry, from the colour range used, it is possible to tell
that a rock formation is being shown, but whether it's natural
or not creates some levels of mystery. The idea of mystery
also applies to "The Card Players" (1885-1890). It involves
two smart dressed men playing cards, one question that can be
asked is, who are they are, and also what is the story behind,
is there even one at all.
) Minimalist art is popular at the end of the 1960s, this type
of art was described as being "funky" and was able to revive
symbolism.
) Between 1970-1980, there was a rise in drug taking, which
had an affect on the artwork at the time, making it trippy and
psycheldic, it affected strip cartoons, music posters and even
magazines
) The origins of Art Nouveau and Symbolism originated from the
painters, Ingres and Delacroix
) Paul Gauguin was one of the first artists around to try to
live like his artwork, he was an impressionist and a
Frenchman, but to be a successful member of the higher
societies, but this was Gauguin before he did art. Some of his
pieces included "Les Miserables" (1888) and "Vision after the
Sermon" (1888).
) When Gauguin departed from Brittany, France, his artwork
inspired others to create new pieces but still could be looked
at and reminded of the work that Gauguin had produced in his
lifetime, some of these pieces included "April" (1892) by
Maurice Denis, "Landscape: the Bois d,Amour (1888) by Paul
Serusier
) Some of the first poets, such as Verlaine and Mallarme were
pioneers at combining poetry with music, because the use of
words could be made symbolic of a state of mind.
) The artist Pierre Puvis De Chavannes created work that
linked well to symbolism, but also give off of emotions and
feelings, for example in "The Poor Fisherman" (1881), there
are three people in the painting, a man, a woman, and a child.
They are wearing scruffy clothing and have unhappy expressions
on their faces. Another symbolic piece is "St Genevieve
Watching over Paris" (1886), the "St Genevieve references to
the old woman looking down to Paris from the balcony she is
stood on, there are links to suffering and loneliness in the
picture
) Artist Gustave Moreau uses rich and vibrant colours in order
to create symbolic pieces, some of this work bases around
"Orthodox Fashion", he concentrated on using oil sketches and
watercolour pieces, "Hercules and the Hydra of Lerna" (1870),
"Salome Dancing before Herod" (1876)
) Odilon Redon was a symbolic painter, who created "The Marsh
Flower, a Sad and Human Head" (1885) consists of a plant but
with a males head where a leaf would be, but the face is a sad
face
) Arnold Bocklin created the engraving "Isle Of The Dead"
(1886), it looks rather strange, the image shows an island
that looks like a graveyard that has been taken over by
forestry
) Jean Delville has created demonic and satan like artwork,
the artist uses elements from his Rose+Croix background, the
pieces such as "The Idol of Peversity" (1891), "Satans
Treasures" (1895) are rather erotic
) In the late 19th century, the French were good at making
their pieces of art symbolic, the pieces "The Lake-Sleeping
Water" (1897-1898) by Leon Frederic, then "The Siren" (1897)
by Armand Point are symbolic, however it's not just France
that were symbolic, there was also Belgian painter James Ensor
and Norwegian painter Edvard Munch
) British Artists, William De Morgan, Arthur Mackmurdo,
Charles Voysey, William Morris have created floral artwork,
some on wallpaper and some on textiles
) Expressionism is described to being Nordic and Teutonic,
however Fauvism developed from this field of art.
) An important Fauvism painter is Maurice De Vlaminck, but
famously quoted, "painting was an abscess which drained off
all the evil in me. Without a gift for painting I would have
gone to the bad. What I could have achieved in a social
context only by throwing a bomb, which would have led me to
the guillotine, I have tried to express in art, in painting,
by using pure colours straight from the tube. Thus I have been
able to use my destructive instincts in order to recreate a
sensitive, living and free world"
) Edvard Munch focused on feminism in his work, it can be seen
in "Madonna" and "Death and the Maiden" and also "The Scream",
which has to be one of the most famous of Munchs paintings,
it's description is "I was walking along the road with two
friends, the sun was setting, and I began to be afflicted with
a sense of melancholy, suddenly the sky became blood red. I
stopped and leaned against a fence, feeling dead tired, and
starred at the flaming clouds that hung, like blood and a
sword, over the blue black fjord and the city. My friends
walked on. I stood riveted, trembling with fright. And I heard
a loud, unending scream pierce nature"
) During World War II, there was a number of artists that
focused in the expressionism area, Eric Heckel being one
example, but there was the Die Brucke movement in Germany,
including people such as Karl Schmidt Rottluff and Ernst
Kirchner
) Other than Die Brucke, there was a group in Germany called
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), it was much bigger and also
included famous artist Wassily Kandinsky. The Blue Rider group
investigated colour theories, became interested with physical
sciences, however they focused on the problems of perception
) Franz Marc became interested in animal anatomy, he was
amongst The Blue Rider group, pieces like "Deer in Wood II"
and "Tiger" are geometric, the use of colour is rather
vibrant, the colours range in the colour spectrum
) Lyonel Feininger created an interested piece, that involves
geometry and a limited colour scheme, it includes from blue to
black, but using different shades, the piece in mind is
"Zirchow V"
) In the 20th century, the three most important areas of art
were constructivism, futurism and cubism, developing in
different places. Cubism (Paris, 1907-1914), Futurism (Milan,
1909), Constructivism (Moscow, 1917)
) Cubism was the start of modern art, taking place in the
renaissance period, but cubism is a movement of art, Pablo
Picasso and Georges Braque were artists in the cubism area
) George's Braque was an artist in the cubism area, he doesn't
use strong diagonals, but shows signs of depth in this work
and makes sure it would be traditional of western painting,
this can be seen in "Still life with Violin and Pitcher"
(1909-1910) and "Still life with Herrings" (1909-1911), Pablo
Picasso created similar pieces to these, both using people and
masking them in a background, this can be seen in "Girl with
Mandolin" (1910) and "Daniel Henry Kahnweiler" (1910)
) One of the first few artists to conceive futurism were
Tommasso Marinetti and Umberto Boccioni, but futurism was born
when the "Founding and First Manifesto of Futurism" was
created in 1909
) EJ Marey created an interesting piece basing on pointillism,
the image in mind is "Chronophotograph" created in 1887, it's
a black and white image of the motion of someone running, but
in simplified stick form
) Umberto Boccioni's work is vibrant and is filled with
numerous colour to them, but in some ways it's hard to work
out what they are showing, in "City Rises" (1910), there seems
to be no composition, the colour is also rather overpowering
too
) Another futurism based piece comes from Carlo Carra, who
created "Interventionist Demonstration" (1914), which looks to
be posters and flyers layered over each other, but the piece
is a painting, but from an aerial view, it can be seen as a
photography rather than a painting
) De Stijl was around when constructivism had begun, the works
of Piet Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg were key pieces, they
were minimalistic and simplistic, but they just seemed to
work, Piet Mondrian created compositions with squares of the
colours, red, blue and yellow
) Kasimir Malevich was able to create simplistic work, it is
just so effective, his use of composition of shapes works well
) Jean Arp created "Illustration from Onze peintres vus par
Arp" (1949), it shows a simple illustration drawing what looks
to be outlines of two ears combined with a short line strand,
the piece "Head" (1926) is illustrated, but looks simple and
something a child could create, but at the same time, it shows
minimalism
) Dadaism was something important in Paris, France because it
eventually led to the development of surrealism, meaning
artists like Max Ernst and Kurt Schwitters were starting to be
recognised as artists and for their work
) Giorgio De Chirico was a surreal artist that created some
strange work, but making strange work meant it stood out from
other pieces, "The Song of Love" (1914) involves three main
objects that have no relevance to each other, there is a
sculpture of Julius Caesars head, then a green ball
underneath, and then a brown red leather glove
) However Rene Magritte created some surreal work too,
although it had to be more surreal than Giorgio De Chiricos
work, "Personal Values" (1952) shows a bedroom landscape,
however there is a wine glass in front of a wardrobe, it is
much bigger, also there is a tiger covered comb leaning on the
wall from on a bed
) But if surrealism is to be mentioned, then Salvador Dali has
to be too, probably one of the most famous surrealist painters
known, creating pieces such as "The Dismal Sport" (1929) and
"Giraffe in Flames" (1935)
) Willem De Kooning created some abstract and expressionist
work, this includes "Excavation" (1950) and "Pink Angel"
(1947). Also Barnett Newman has done some simplistic pieces,
"Onement I" consists of an orange line going vertically on a
brown background, "Achilles" consists of a red block on a
black background
) A similar artist to Piet Mondrian is Ad Reinhardt, who
created geometric images, simple because they included square
and rectangle blocks, he did "Painting" (1950) and "Red
Painting" (1952). Morris Louis used the same layout, but with
the use of more colour, it can be seen in "Sky Gamut" (1961)
) There are other artists that follow the formula of
simplistic and abstract working, Hans Hartung created "T"
(1958), Pierre Soulages created "Painting" (1959), Georges
Mathieu created "Mathieu from Alsace goes to Ramsey Abbey"
(NA), Jean Bazaine created "Child and the Night" (1949),
Alfred Manessier created "Night in Gethsemane" (1952)
) Pop art generated between 1956 and 1966 in the United States
and in United Kingdom, leading onto artists such as Andy
Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, Lichtenstein quoted "Once I am
involved with the painting, I think of it as an abstraction.
Half the time they are upside down anyway when I work"
) Pop artist Jasper Johns created such a simple piece called
"US Flag" (1958), but the way it's layed out, it works, it is
just the US flag overlayed on top, but getting smaller towards
the centre
) Roy Lichtenstein began as an artist in 1951, putting hidden
images into illustrations of characters such as Donald Duck,
Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, his work has bold lining, it can
be seen in "Chop" (1962), "Sweet Dreams Baby" (1964) and "As I
Opened Fire" (1964)
) Andy Warhol is famous for his use of simplicity and colour,
with a pop based look, "Pink Cow" (1966), "Self Portrait"
(1967), "Four Mona Lisa's" (1963), "Green Disaster" (1963) are
some good examples of his work
) Robert Indiana created "The Demuth Five" (1963) and "Love"
(1967), they are pop based, also the "Love" piece is similar
to Rage Against The Machines fourth album, Renegades
) Richard Hamilton is a pop artist creating "Just What Is It
That Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing" (1956),
collaging images with images into a background to create an
interesting effect, some of the cultures he described for
adding qualities to pop art are "Witty", "Mass Produced" and
"Glamorous"
) Christo Jaracheff uses existing objects and wraps them up to
create some mystery of to what has been wrapped. The most
common piece he is known for is "Wrapped Bottle" (1958)
) Kenneth Noland, Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella use acrylic
paint to create patterns that are simplistic, Kenneth Noland
created the "First" piece (1958) which is a circle pattern,
Ellsworth Kelly created "Red Blue" (1964), and Frank Stella
created "Untitled" (1962) which consists of squares in one
another
) Bridget Riley created a piece called "Sea Cloud" (1981), it
is basically multiple small lines in a row, simplistic but
effective, some other minimalist art includes Robert Ryman's
"Courier" (1982) and Peter Joseph's "Dark Ochre Colour with
Red Border" (1977).
) Korean artist Nam Jun Paik takes images of people, whether
it's them singing or talking to somebody and places them on
tiles to make a series of individual tiles to make one image,
Name Jun Paik created "Bueys Voice" (1987)