Steven GrantArt History 2600 – The Modern EraFinal Exam Study Guide

IMPRESSIONISM Mary Cassatt

o From Pittsburgh; went to PA School of Fine Artso Women Impressionists were more highly thought of than male

Impressionists Painting the light was seen as more feminine. It was associated

with being flippant and incapable of painting anything more serious or weighty.

o Initially she painted like Monet; but then she met and became friends with Degas, who inspired her to use bright colors and introduced her to Japanese prints, which influenced her use of dynamic backgrounds.

o Focuses on people/form more figure as the focus.o Painterly brushstroke.o Portrays women seriously.

Not objects of their sexuality… they’re real people.

Five O’Clock Tea (1880) Is emblematic of the subject matter/material painted quite often by Female

Impressionists: their sphere!o Shows that women were confined to their domestic sphere.

Linda Nochlin: Her world was the world of women and their children, a world of cultivated, well-bred, upper-class family members, friends, and acquaintances – a world private and intimate in its relationships rather than public and heroic.

Painting shows Cassatt’s sister and a friend of hers in the interior of their homeo It’s where Cassatt is comfortable!

Formalo Tea Service is quite large.

Meant to evoke the idea that the women were in a claustrophobic space they’re CONFINED.

Meant to refer to the confined lives of women. Griselda Pollack’s idea of space defined by meaning.

Linda Nochlin: Cassatt was “resolutely anti-depth” both literally and metaphorically.

o Women are very close together. Linda Nochlin: “the ceremony of innocence”

o They look modest – not looking at the viewer, not expressing emotion. i.e. idea from Degas that Impressionists paint objectively and don’t

inject any feeling into their work.o Patterns around the figures (i.e. in the background) remind you of the

flatness of the canvas.

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Woman in Black at the Opera (1880) Very feminist painting

o The woman is almost defying the male(s) to stare at her. She’s voyeuristically looking out at something, and doesn’t want

anyone to interrupt her enjoyment. She has the power of the gaze!!!!!

Nochlin: Cassatt’s woman is all active, aggressive lookingo Woman is not gazing at us or trying to get our attention.

She completely hides her body. We don’t think of her as a sexual object.

POST-IMPRESSIONISM Artists include Georges Seurat (Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande

Jatte), Paul Cezanne (Self Portrait), Gauguin and VINCENT VAN GOGH. Not one unified movement.

o All artists are individualistic in their reaction to and transformation of Impressionism.

Common Threadso Disturbed by intense disillusion of formo Want to bring back carefully constructed forms, sense of monumentality

and planning, and balance.

Vincent Van Gogh Dutch! VVG was born into a world of art (three brothers were art dealers). Tried his hand at religion and failed Became increasingly quiet and withdrawn. Eisenman: Van Gogh’s art was dedicated to dialogue, expression, decisiveness,

and action in the world.

Congregation Leaving the Church in Nuenen (1885) Still working in the Dutch genre tradition. Wanted to give form to feelings. Religious spirituality at work.

The Potato Eaters (1885) Inspired by image of de Groot family light struck them. VVG said that he witnessed “daily human tragedy” that needed to be expressed

through art. (Eisenman says it was almost anthropological in its perspective).o Wants to capture the difficulty/harshness of their lives.o Sympathetic image: Eating food with their hands – hand that they dug in

the Earth with. Meant to look crude statement on human condition. Synergy between form (not realistic-looking people) and

occupation (rough work on the Earth). The family is humble and virtuous for having worked the Earth. Moralistic purpose in painting it.

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o Griselda Pollack says that VVG was aware of the association between potatoes and peasants.

Ennobling the lower/working class. Picture of the crucifixion in the upper left corner.

o Shapiro: Table is alter, Food is sacramento VVG wanted to capture the inner human spirituality: this human element

as more important than a Church/organization. Use of color

o Experimented with color in order to be modern. Color not related to subject material Very little white – lots of neutral colors

The “white” isn’t really white… it’s a mix up of reds, blues, and yellows.

Sunflowers (1888) Used color to convey longing for spirituality.

o ESPECIALLY Yellow.o Went to southern France (left Paris), hoping for a more spiritual existence

and hoping that it would be a western version of Japan… which he loved. Eisenman: Japan as VVG’s dream image of utopia. Loved Japanese prints

Liked how Japanese didn’t paint shadows. Intensified colors, like in Japanese prints. Likes large, flat patterns. Emphasis on contours.

Meant to be hung in Gauguin’s room in VG’s house in Arles. Wants to lead the eyes around the canvas through the brushstrokes of the petals.

The Night Café (1888) Showing disappointment with less than ideal and lower than expectations

experience at Arles… wanted it to be a spiritually transcendent experience, and it was a disaster.

Unique in that it used color to CONVEY passions and expressions of humanity (before, it had only been used to draw attention to (and not convey) emotion).

o Intensely contrasting colors.o Expressing powers of darkness in café.

Use of PERSPECTIVEo Juxtaposition of perspective and flatnesso Makes world much longer and deeper. Distortions.o Billiards table doesn’t conform to vanishing point established = disturbing

Bedroom at Arles (1888) More use of color to convey emotion

o Uses lots of BLUES to convey calm, sleep, and rest it’s stabilizing. Reminds you of the flatness of the canvas.

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Influence of Japanese prints – work seems pressed into a flat space: wall is short, bed feels elongated.

o VG felt he could use symbolic color to achieve synthetic effects. Wanted to capture the mood of the image more than he wanted to

faithfully represent the image. “Color is to do everything… suggestive of rest or sleep.”

Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe (1888) ???? Eisenman: VG employed abstraction and objectivity to achieve the great simple

thing: the painting of humanity through portraiture.

Portrait of Dr. Gache (1890) Gache was an amateur psychiatrist; he had VG stay with him in Auver, in

Northern France, as arranged by Theo. VG capable of conveying things semi-naturally. Infuses Gache with some of his own disturbances Wave-like, curvilinear brushstroke

o Very activating.o Uses brushstrokes to create an extraordinarily dynamic force of movement

Church at Auvers-sur-Olse (1890) VG wrote that what he tried to do here was very similar to what he had done

before in other paintings. Used color to convey emotion. Paints his own dilemma

o Neither of the two paths seems to reach the Church.o Paths are dynamic lines full of movement – very disturbing.

Wheatfield with Crows (1890) Frustration in life – VG can’t decide which path to take none seems to reach

the horizon. No fulfillment.

FAUVISM 1905 was the first landmark Exhibition in the 20th century.

o Vauxcelles’ (an even-handed critic) words were taken way out of context… he said that their worlds looked like that of wild beasts – “Fauv” in French.

Fauvist art was the art presented by these artists during 1905 and 1906.o Fauvism was meant to be derogatory.o Lasts 2 years but has a major impact.o Artists were leftist in orientation.

Needed a technique of painting that would be as revolutionary as their politics.

Essentially took Post-Impressionist techniques to their max (according to Vlaminck).

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Techniqueo Paint spontaneouslyo Wanted to return to the purity of means

Of brushstroke – direct expression of feeling thru rapid brushstroke, as opposed to belabored, overly thoughtful strokes.

Book: Gives priority to the artist’s interpretation of reality instead of imitating nature.

Book: Reduction of non-essential detail (Matisse).

Of color – more intense, right out of the tube Book: All Fauvists were committed

to exploring the expressive potential of pure color.

Book: Color used both to capture effects of light and for independent expressive purposes.

Aiming at PURE colors. Not an imitation of light, though, as they rejected imitative colors.

They wanted, thru color, to create light and make it emanate from the canvas

Influenced by Nietzsche Need to emphasize more of the Dionysian element

o Frenzy, extreme emotion, irrationality, and distortions: Giving in to urges!

Artist as Super Mensch = Super Man.

Henri MatisseLuxe, Clame et Volupte (1905)

Painted from the perspective of a child!o Identified himself with the child in the picture – that is, the child who is

looking at the naked woman. Could be Freudian desire to reconcile with mother…

Intensity and saturation of coloro Squeezed paint straight from the bottle.o Uses dots – so there’s a lot of white in and amidst the color.

Book: by showing so much of the white, the colors are given added radiance.

o Very deliberate, carefully arranged juxtaposition of color (like Seurat) Produced “vibrato” effect.

Interior at Collioure (1905)

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Uses drawing a lot for his style. And represents it a lot in his images, too (i.e. on the wall here).

o Flowing style. Uses brush like a pen/pencil Color

o Uses a lot of flat areas of coloro Pure color = spontaneous

Decadent, pure daylight in color. Color is not diluted – all of the same intensity.

o Intuitively scatters the same colors around the composition.

Open Window, Collioure (1905) Communications love for and importance of color

o Delight in linear play and coloristic rhythms. Decorative image is fascinating! He went to the School of

Decorative Arts (not Fine Arts). Combination of architecture and nature

o Creates a distinct harmony/dialogue between the two.o Opens up French windows and allows the light to shine in.o Domesticating nature – ivy coming in.

Greens of nature seen inside, too reflection and well.

Madame Matisse, Woman with a Hat (1905) Takes lots of liberties with color

o Warm colors where cool colors would normally be used and vice-versa. VERY severely criticized.

o “A pot of paint has been flung in the face of the public.”

Woman with a Green Stripe (1905) Very much influenced by VG’s self-portrait.

o An example of art for art’s sake: Whereas VG was trying to communicate with people and come to

terms with the world and himself, Matisse was just concerned with the FORMAL EFFECTS.

Arbitrary use of large and flat color areas. VIOLENT brushstroke.

Joy of Living (1905-06) Based on Landscape at Collioure. Formal

o Combines a lot of sketchy areas into large, flat areas of color. Simplifying colors – gets one large flat area of color (i.e. yellow

and red). Parallels the simplicity of life.

o Curvilinear, flowing lines lead your eye around the painting. Rhythmical and peaceful

Continued association of women with nature.

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o Women in a state of primitiveness. Matisse said he was aiming for an overall feeling of peace and tranquility

o Wants HARMONY.o Expresses a delight in ALL THREE: subject matter, color, and technique

Delight in color and tactility of paint. Painting subject matter that is sexual and sensual. ART for ART’S SAKE: Painted only to achieve hedonistic delight.

Baudelaire: evocative of a fetus. Ha. Influenced by Northern African Art.

o Wanted paintings to be quiet and respectful.

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM Context of increasing German Nationalism

o The German national government tried to downplay religion in favor of allegiance to the government.

o Artists rebel against this idea interested in creating individualistic and spiritual art.

o RELIGIOSITY distinguished German Expressionism. Found a lot to like in Nietzsche

o Nietzsche advocated “irrationalism” – expression of creative drives. Dionysian!

o Nietzsche wasn’t opposed to reason; he was just opposed to the use and exploitation of science and reason for the good of the German state.

o Artists see Nietzsche as a means of personal expression. Aren’t stifled by the gov’t, but express themselves freely in art.

Die Brucke Means “The Bridge:” as in, “a bridge to a better state” – Nietzsche. Form in Dresden in 1905 (first truly organized group of the 20th century)

o Wanted to achieve sympathetic, brotherly feeling thru art and architecture.Ernst Ludwig KirchnerStreet, Dresden (1907) and Berlin Street Scene

Street, Dresden = has pink in it; Berlin Street Scene = no pink Very angular artwork: breaking away traditional canons of depicting the figure.

o Wants to get away from the all-conquering materialism and decadence of Bismarck’s Germany.

Rejection of industrialization and materialism. Thought people living in cities were “puppets of mechanized

society” – i.e. they’re just rapidly moving displays evoking the rhythms of the large city. The people are all dressing and looking alike (conformity); they’re devoid of/have lost their humanity.

o Expressed anger with and angst for society through distortions of the figures in the works.

o Work evokes primitive/essential qualities of central Africa. Used to express the desire for simplification in life.

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Blue Riders Organized their first exhibition in 1909. Not as closely organized a movement as Die Brucke.

o More individuals, no manifesto/central studio. Associated with Munich (Village of Murnau) Gabrielle Munter

o Approach was ESCAPISM (i.e. into idyllic, romantic landscapes), not distortion (so he was different from the Die Brucke artists).

o Art as expression of naïveté, beauty, and innocence. Book: The movement was dedicated to displaying the manifold ways in which

artists could manifest their inner desires, not to propagating one precise and particular pictorial style.

Book: The Expressionist emphasis on the subject’s inner life constituted a valid form of resistance to/protest of society.

Wassily Kandinsky Very spiritualistic. Background: raised by an aunt who loved the arts. Taught law but had a

synensthetic experience with a Monet and decided to study art. Early on, interested in/aware of Impressionist/Fauv techniques… but went in an

entirely different direction once he moved back to Munich. In 1912, wrote “On the Spiritual in Art”

o Talks about color, and how it’s key to understanding his art LOVES BLUE: “Celestial… creates atmosphere of calmness…

solemn, super natural debt.”o Like in music, Kandinsky wants to help the viewer attain a “spiritual

communion” – wanted to convey a spiritual message through his art with psychophysical vibrations.

o Movement from representational to abstract art mirrors the desired move from materialism to spirituality.

Book: Abstracting from nature involved simplifying forms and intensifying colors to produce a heightened visual (and, resultingly, emotional) effect on the viewer.

Book: Search for universal, essential forms was a fundamental idea DISSOLVED the subject.

Impressions are directly evocative of nature.

Church at Murnau (1909) Speaks to how he was influenced by VVG and the Fauvs. Uses non-representational shapes very abstract. Adopts a pseudo-primitive, almost childlike form.

o Bright Colors.

Improvisation V (Park) (1911) Move toward complete non-representation.

o Listening to Wagner, Kandinsky had the same synesthetic experience he had looking at Monet. Music made him think of COLORS.

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Concluded that objects in a painting are superfluous and that the story of a painting is irrelevant.

Subject matter detracted from the painting, he thought, and precluded spiritual expression.

SOUNDS convey emotion/expression. Impression V is almost a hieroglyph – signs of reality.

o You can make out a figure on a horse and two hat-clad people walking together… and the rest is just impressions – impressions of nature.

Improvisation 30 (Cannons) (1913) Really distorted and changed. Cannon is shooting out not bullets but abstract shapes of colors and lines.

o Expresses his inner mind/emotions.o Referencing war.o Lots of movement intersecting diagonals.

Study for Composition II (1910) Based on Matisse’s “Joy of Living,” but much more disturbing. “Opera in Three Acts”

o Starting in the upper left and working across: Stormy sky, towers toppling over Figures marching toward a strange shape Warm reds and yellow, evocative of happiness and gaiety.

Compares his compositions to symphonieso Complex interplay of music and instruments as analogous to the complex

interactions of lines, colors, and shapes.

St. George (Cover for Blue Rider Almanac) (1912) Horseman = a motif in Kandinsky’s work.

o Book: could connote the idea of a messenger or herald moving between the material and spiritual realms

This is an image of St. George on horseback on the cover of the Blue Rider Almanac.

Image is simplified. Lots of blues, whites, blacks. Curvilinear lines.

Composition VII (1913) More art for art’s sake, although Kandinsky never really engaged in art for art’s

sake. Essentially, this is as close as he would get. Move into abstraction = break from the recognized subject matter associated with

materialism.o Sees art as a model for how society should break from materialism.o Artistic Revolution as Spiritual Revolution

Man should turn his concern away from spirituality and instead toward inner aspirations (like music and art).

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o Madame Blavatsky and THEOSOPHY Idea of religion as true inner teaching Kandinsky thinks her ideas are very much aligned with his own –

as in, she influenced him greatly – and he applied these ideas by making forms in paintings that express inner meaning.

Colors and Shapes given symbolic valueo Blue = Spiritualityo Yellow = Intellecto Red = Passion

CUBISMPablo Picasso

CONSTANTLY CHANGING. Breaking down forms into geometric shapes.

Old Guitarist (1903) Subject of painting is gaunt and poverty-stricken.

o Picasso identifies with him.o Devoid of flesh and fat (things normally associated with greed and wealth)

Part of Picasso’s Blue Period (1901-1904)o Picasso associated blue with sadness, loneliness, and isolation.o Soulful individual – emaciated and spiritual. He’s sad and suffering.o Picasso was rebelling against wealth during his Blue Period – he was a bit

socialist – his friends were political radicals Anarchists!

Family of Saltimbanques (1905) Part of Picasso’s Rose Period (1905-1906)

o Brings in more colors Especially pink! More prevalent coloration and warmer hues.

Image depicts a bunch of circus figures/performers. They’re wandering entertainers, people on the margins of society.

Picasso establishes himself as the clown, Apollinaire as jester.

Portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906) Demonstrative another one of Picasso’s radical breaks.

o Picasso loved the body he painted, but hated the face. So he wiped it out, and repainted it… without Stein there!

o Face is modeled on Iberian sculptures Picasso had seen These sculptures influenced how he painted faces.

o Makes the leap to CONCEPTUAL PAINTING. Painting from one’s mind “Art creates reality” – as in, ‘this is what she should look like.’

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) INCIPIENT OF CUBISM.

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Shows his distinctive depiction of womeno Ambivalence to women

In the middle are two ‘bathing beauties’ (depicted as docile objects of sexuality) while on the outside the women are active, aggressive, and offensive (esp seen thru masks and distorted faces)

o Fear and hatred… and attraction to them! Morphological expressionism women as corresponding to the

Western European vision of Sub-Saharan Africans. “Superiority and Repulision” Women are strongly contrasted light and dark Very angular. No voluptuous curves.

o Focuses on the threat they pose through their seductiveness. Formal

o Figures appear to be cut out, almost collage-like flattening effect.o Explicit confusion between figures and background.o Faces

Emulating the motifs of facial features of Iberian sculptures and African masks.

Almond-shaped eyes; eyebrows running directly into nose. Book: Picasso is using a generalized idea of Africa (in

keeping with his conceptual (i.e. from his mind) painting. Book: Could be mocking European classicism. Book: Jarring disconnect/break between the three Iberian

figures on the left and the two African figures on the right. Picasso representing his own primitiveness.

Association of primitive past with people currently living in those cultures. Idea of “noble savage” and “sensuous paradise.”

Artistic technique as a way of escaping the conventional ways of painting. Getting away from modernized, industrial society in order to return to a slower, more ‘authentic’ and natural world.

Picasso thought Africans knew what it was all about! He saw them as magical, powerful people able to exorcise evil.

o “Money had Japanese prints; we had Africa.” Faces on the left seem tranquil; on the right, when masked, they

seem more violent and ferocious. Breaking away from more traditional depictions of the

body – very angular and awkward.

Woman With Pears (1909) Picasso inspired by Braque to convert natural forms into cubes. Breaks woman’s head down in this work into 3D rectilinear shapes. Very solid At the same time Picasso was experimenting with sculpture and ceramics as a

way of working out his ideas on three dimensionality and cubist thought.

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Girl With a Mandolin (1910) Start of Analytical Cubism Paintings from here up until Ma Jolie are transitional there’s still an

impression of a solid geometric form. Different planes/perspectives coming together and overlaying. Distortions.

o Transparency greater; constricted palette; chiaroscuroo Ambiguity of space the farther up you go, the flatter she gets!

Ma Jolie (1912) Totally Analytical Cubism at this point.

o Breaks the image down into interweaving web of shape, line, plane, etc. You’re not really sure what’s going on. Writing establishes a visual plane. No more quasi-geometric shapes.

o Playing with traditional techniques of illusionism Two radical, and radically different (from other art) new devices

Passage (pronounced PASS-age)o Passing from one plane into another

Depth and surface very muddled. Can’t really tell what’s in front of what!

o Transparency Being able to see one level underneath

another level. Interesting connection between Picasso and Einstein

o Just around the time that Einstein made his discovery of the theory of relativity, Picasso was painting this kind of art with relative planes and spaces… seems too coincidental to be mere chance!

o Concept that art parallels society in some ways: Picasso, just like others, was thinking about new ways in which to see time and space.

Still Life with Chair Caning (1912) Picasso reverts to more typical (and thus patriotic) (French) images… critics had

associated his radical art with radical politics, and people in France had criticized Picasso for being pro-German and anti-patriotic.

Pays lip service to tradition.o Brings actual, real objects (rope) into it.o Playing with notion of still life.o Creating the illusion of wooden frame around the painting (i.e. like there

were in the Renaissance/Baroque artwork.o “JOU” = “Journal” = Newspaper reference to popular culture.

Three Musicians (1921) Synthetic Cubism (first seen in 1913): Picasso putting angles and shapes back

together again so that they’re recognizable.o Legible subject matter.

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o Signs put together in a system to produce a whole shape!o This style is what Picasso stays with for the rest of his life.

Emphasizes stability and Frenchnesso Emphasizes clear construction of the shapes.o Shallow, square room

Puts the characters in an interior = stability. Apollinaire on left, Picasso in middle, Jacob on right

o Picasso makes this a dark, morose image due to the loss of his friends (A died, J became a monk).

Girl Before a Mirror (1932) Still using Synthetic Cubism… but emphasizes lines (strong, black, and heavy).

o Even more so, he is emphasizing curvilinear shapes and lines references nature and the organic here.

o Erogenous zones (breasts and womb) are circular, made to look like fruit. Lots of simultaneous POVs/perspectives.

o Face in profile, also frontal/three-quarters view. Color: Yellow = knowledge, i.e. becoming aware of her sexuality. Woman looking into a “psyche” mirror… supposed to show her unconscious.

Guernica (1937) It’s HUGE – the length of a wall, nearly 26 ft wide x 11.5 ft high. Perfect example of Synthetic Cubism

o Many flat areas of quasi-geometric and simplified shapes. Inspired by bombing of town of Guernica in the Spanish Pyrenees during the

Spanish Civil War.o Bull (rampaging) = darkness and Franco.o Showing people as victims of oppressive powers.o Universal subject material and message message against destruction.

Amidst the destruction, chaos, and violence, there is a stabilizing pyramidal shape

Tried to emulate the effect of newsprint in the look and color of the painting This is how everyone would have heard of the tragedy.

Georges Braque Takes certain devices from Picasso, despite his hatred of Demoiselles

o Simultaneous incorporation of two separate POVs/perspectives.Houses at L’Estaque (1908)

Creates an array of different planes in space.o Through lots of light, shadow, and perpendicular lines, Braque breaks

down traditional space i.e. spatial distinctions between roof and ground blend

Leads the eye around. Focuses on quasi-geometric shapes (i.e. cubes and pyramids)

o Features made stronger with shading.

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The Portuguese (1911) Not as strong/drastic a contrast between dark and light as Picasso…. But he’s

basically doing the same thing that Picasso did in Ma Jolie. BUT! Braque incorporated letters and numbers into his work: recognizable!

Draws the eye. This is the closest either artist comes to painting abstractly.

NEO-PLASTICISMPiet Mondrian

Moves into abstractism; uses Picasso’s cubism as impetus. Went to Amsterdam in 1908 and was influenced by Theosophy.

o Thought that through color you could transcend subject matter. Uses curves… and then goes to straight lines

o Emphasis on perpendicular lines (verticals and horizontals) i.e. birth, death, life cycle…. Sense of spirituality. Oval as universe.

1914: Mondrian stayed in the Netherlands b/c of WWI… and ended up staying there for many years.

o Had reduced his paintings to shapes (which had evolved from the perpendicular lines and intersections).

Book: Crucial idea in the shift from representation to abstract came when the new abstractions were not analyzed down from more complex shapes and motifs in nature, but were instead built up from combinations of simple pictorial units.

Cross as “construction of nature’s reality.” Emphasizing that to attain spiritual state you need to meditate on

certain forms and colors.o “Plastic” = creative, formative (from Greek for ‘to mold’)

Methodology shows a new way to make/mold painting/art.o Uses Theosophy in a utopian way reduces EVERYTHING to

essentials, both in terms of color (primary/B&W colors only) and shapes. Wanted to promote internal harmony common to all that would

have a universal, peaceful focus WWI he felt was caused by individualism and selfishness. WWI led Mondrian and co. to desire to create a better

world.

Trees by the Gein at Moonrise (1907-08) Initially painted in the traditional Dutch manner (i.e. landscape) and experimented

more with color blues and greens. Made composition much more rigid Gets rid of diagonals, just verticals and

horizontals. Warmer palette. Naturalistic… but concerned with linear patterns

o Curvilinear blobs that make up the tops of the trees, too, form lines.

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Red Tree (1908) Combined reds and blues (influenced by Theosophy).

o Steiner wrote and spoke about it. Pictorially influenced by VVG.

Oval Study of a Tree (1913) Still some naturalistic representation. Oval as universe.

Composition No. III (1921-25), Composition No. II with Red and Blue (1925-1929) NOTE: Composition III has yellow in it, the other one doesn’t. “Equilibrium required large space and little color”

o the proportions of the shapes and colors and lines etc. and the way in which they are placed and interact with each other creates a living rhythm.

Symmetry Excluded Balance thru equivalence of nature and mind. Model for a better world. Eliminated reference to external or

superficial appearances (i.e. it’s a homogenous society), and doesn’t title his works anything but “Composition” b/c he doesn’t want to refer to anything in the world.

Broadway Boogie Woogie (1942-43) Fled Holland at the start of WWII and relocated to London and then to New York.

o Canvas becomes more decorative.o Begins to use tape (a la commercial artists)o LOVED New York. Inspired by it – jazz, neon lights, etc.

Art work matches the dynamism.

DADA Emerged at the same time as Neo-Plasticism. Artists were anarchists, leftists, who moved to neutral Switzerland (Zurich) where

they felt they would be safe. Didn’t want to create a model for a better world…. They protested negatively the

irrationality and stupidity of the world.o Expressed anger at the materialism, greed, and selfishness of individuals

and countries that allowed the world to go to shit and devolve into the destruction of WWI.

o They expressed these emotions by creating a NON-ART that would reject everything in western culture. Destroying convention.

Rejection of logic and reason acceptance of the illogical and anarchy (the political analog for these thoughts)

Reject planning and rationality in art acceptance of chance.o Art meant to SHOCK.o Anything could be art as long as it had the stamp of the artist.

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SURREALISM Put a more positive spin on Dada Desire to express the real functioning of the mind.

o Dictation by thought.o Based on belief of superior reality.o Focus on DREAMS and undirected thought.

Rejection of conscious control of creativity. LOVE FREUD.

o Goal was to RELEASE the unconscious. Allow desires and inhibitions to be expressed. Accessing the subconscious in order to live a harmonious life. “Pure psychic automatism.”

Techniqueo “Accidents” seen as work of the unconscious.o No conscious restraints inhibitions…. They just did it.

Dali’s Persistence of Memoryo Strange, impossible juxtapositions… things out of scale, transformations

of people into animals, watches into amoebas, etc. Only in dreams!o Impossible world referencing real objects.

Preoccupation with mythology.o Mythology (from Jung) was seen as representative of the universal

subconscious.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM In America! Regional painting was considered emblematic of US conservatism in terms of

isolationism.o Gave a positive view of the idyllic American scene: agrarianism, the

plains, boomtowns, etc. very optimistic image of America. Social Realism was the other group

o Signified a focus on the social reality: reality of injustice in society.o These artists were radicals/liberals… but quickly got fed up with

communism and its awfulness. “Manifesto Toward a Free Revolutionary Art”

Idea that artists should realize that they could be liberal in their politics and NOT be beholden to any political party or government.

Artists should be free to create revolutionary art… and that this kind of true art is best when it is abstract! For realistic art was associated with totalitarian regimes.

Greenberg: If you’re a liberal thinker, you shouldn’t paint real stuff… you should be free to paint from within.

o Artists saw a connection between Kandinsky’s abstract work and the Surrealists’ emphasis on the subconscious.

This gave Americans an escape from the Realism that had dominated the traditional art scene.

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These artists wanted to create something new, liberal, and not kitsch (i.e. not representative of an image).

Jackson PollockGoing West (1934-38)

Pollck was mentored by Thomas Hart Benton… and this work represents THB’s influence on Pollock.

o Represents idealist view of American agrarian farm life.o Project was undertaken was a part of FDR’s WPA program for artists

Strongly encouraged artists to paint pro-American works. Technique evolving, though

o Rhythmic pattern of curvilinear lines and strong dark and light contrasts create a pattern.

Pasiphae (1943) Jackson had serious psychological problems, due in part to alcoholism.

o Had a Jungian psychoanalyst in 1937 who encouraged Pollock to release images from his subconscious.

o Doodled a lot… and then, like Masson, went back and filled in the images wit conscious things to complete the work.

In Pasiphae, Pollock was looking to Surrealism for a way out of the painting style of American artists.

o Emphasis on story of Pasiphae from mythology.o You can decipher parts of the body.

Started to veil the figures I the painting with patterns – series of colored, jagged, curvy lines.

No. 1 1948 (1948) Pollock’s classic work of pouring, dripping, and throwing paint.

o Used various tools to drip/pour paint on the canvas. Brushes as sticks

Painted on the floor of his studio.o Feels more a part of the paintings

“Literally be in the painting” Hand Prints on the canvas represent the fact that Pollock was

literally IN the painting. Representative of TOTAL PHYSICAL AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL INVOLVEMENT.o Able to move around.

Marrying the conscious and unconsciouso When painting he has the general idea… but he’s spontaneous. He doesn’t

plan it out in advance. He knows what he’s doing because as he is doing it he is deciding.

o Life of the painting is dependent on contact with and immersion in his psyche.

o Paintings become an expression of where he is mentally. Concept of Universality.

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o Very Jungiano Pollock is trying to bridge the gap between the two parts of the

subconscious: the universal subconscious and the repressed personal expressions and fears.

o Universal message of anti-war, anti-suffering (like Guernica).

POP ART Pop Artists didn’t really give a reason for their art in interviews. Critics initially saw Pop artwork as very affirmative (of popular culture and

expressions of mass media and society in America), but later (1970s) came to see it as very ironic.

o Don’t express artist’s personality or views, really.o Derivative – from ads, comic books, etc.

Andy WarholPlane Crash (1963)

A reproduction of the cover of the New York Mirror depicting the crash of Air France Flight 007.

o Inspired by Duchamp to take an already-made object and sign it. Elevates the role of the artist elaboration/glorification.

His first disaster paintingo Idea that we’re immune to the horrors of life and to the horrors depicted

by the media. “If you see gruesome images over and over again it really doesn’t have an effect.”

o Mechanization has brought to the world gruesome disasters.

Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962) Studied advertising at Carnegie Tech, was very good at it. Moved to “low culture” in his art. Explicitly tried to confuse his viewers.

o Projection of America: “practical but impermanent” statements of pop culture. Critiquing mass consumerism, mass media advertising.

“The Artificial fascinates me” Loves America ironically. Reflecting in his art the very things he is critiquing he reflects

the media’s images, not the real images. Idea that people only care about LABELS and exteriors

the superficial appearances and signs.

Marilyn Monroe (1964) Focus on the tragic. Shows Monroe as a Norma Jean kind of person – wholesome, normal girl. But

she’s been transformed into a mask: an artificial image of bleached hair and red lipstick. She’s been turned into a commodity to be marketed and sold to the public by her managers.

o Tragic loss of individuality.

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Warhol represents the end of the modern era of art: through his mass production/duplication of his work Warhol is moving away from the goal of creating something by hand that is unique and original.

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