modern art of the 20 th century modernism – “radical experimentation to challenge traditional...

Modern Art of the 20th Century

Modernism – “radical experimentation to challenge traditional forms”

Lesson 6

Abstract Art (1907 - onwards)• a generic term• a blend of Realism and Symbolism • Something has been withdrawn to

consider it separately• Plays with visual elements: line, shape,

tone, pattern, texture, or form

GEORGES BRAQUE Violin and Pitcher, 1910 (oil on canvas)

Art Nouveau

August Klimt

The Kiss, 1908

• “New Art”• decorative • 1890 until World

War I• intricate linear

designs and flowing curves based on natural forms.

Expressionism (1905-1925)• German off shoot from Fauvism• Charged with emotional vision of the world

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER The Red Tower at Halle, 1915 (oil on canvas)

Marc Chagallpioneer of modernism and a major Jewish artist. synthesized cubism and fauvism

The Birthday, Marc Chagall, 1915

Cubism (1907-1915)• Pablo Picasso and George Braque• Paris• Ignores traditions of perspective• Show many views of subject at one time• Often drew inspiration from art from other

cultures, like Africa• Breaks subject into geometric

shapes, then overlaps

Pablo PicassoAmbroise Vollard, 1915 (oil on canvas)

Les Demoiselle d’Avignon

Pablo Picasso, 1907

Guernica – Pablo Picasso, 1937

Goal: show horrors of German carpet bombing

- Evoke sympathy for Republican cause

Dadaism (1916-1922)

• not a style of art • was a form of artistic anarchy • born out of disgust for the

establishment responsible WWI• intent on destroying the artistic values of the past • intentionally confrontational and provocative to the

artistic establishment with the irrationality of their collages

• Purposefully provoked conservative complacency with outrageous actions at their exhibitions and meetings.

Surrealism (1924-1939)

• The positive response to Dada’s negativity• Goal: liberate artists imagination • Tap into “superior reality”• Drew on images of dreams• Often combined disassociated images• Purposefully lacked conscious mind control

RENÉ MAGRITTE Time Transfixed, 1938 (oil on canvas)

Salvador Dali

Persistence of MemorySalvador Dali, 1931

Modernism Architecture

Functionalism

• Buildings should have a purpose• Do not decorate with fancy ornamentation

“a house is a machine for living in”• Characterized by clean, straight lines• Symmetrical

Bauhaus

• A school to teach all new styles of functionalism