art between the world wars

WH ~ Ms. Justice & Mr. Demianiw

ART BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS

DADA•Dada artists believed that reason and logic had been responsible for the Great War• Therefore, they sought to express absurdity, spontaneity, and free-will in their art•Dada had only one rule: Never follow any known rules.• The name “Dada” was chosen at random from a French dictionary – it means “rocking horse” and seemed to go along with their desire for something irrational and nonsensical

CUBISM• Cubist artists were absorbed in the problem of finding a new way to represent figures• Pablo Picasso was the most famous of the Cubists•He typically fractured the shapes of figures and interwove them with equally jagged planes•He was also inspired by ancient Iberian and African sculptures

SURREALISM• Surrealism focused on the unconscious mind• Surrealist artists wanted to capture inner visions, fantasies, and nightmares• Key characteristics:• Juxtaposing familiar objects with unfamiliar objects•Depicting irrational and bizarre scenes that defy common sense

FUTURISM• Began over outrage about the political and cultural decline of Italy• Futurists called for a radical innovation in the arts• Interested in the speed and dynamism of modern technology• Art focused on motion in time and space

AMERICAN ART• American artists often reflected the Depression-era mindset of loneliness and isolation•Others felt that paintings should embody the American qualities of strength, dignity, fortitude, and integrity• Focused on strictly American subjects and rejected the avant-garde modernism of Europe and New York