27 Experimental Art: the first half of the twentieth century Flashcards
The incongruity of covering a ________ in Chicago with decorations from European __________ _______ was obvious.
The incongruity of covering a skyscraper in Chicago with decorations from European pattern books was obvious.
What was Lloyd Wright’s idea of Organic Architecture?
That a house must grow out of the needs of the people and the character of the country like a living organism.
Identify, date, describe
540 Fairoaks Ave, Oak Park, Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1902
Focus on rooms inside, rather than facade. If commodious and well-planned for use, it was sure to be acceptable from outside.
No ornament –moulding and cornices. No symmetry.
Looked intolerably bare and naked to first observers.
Identify, date, describe
Rockefeller Center, New York, 1931-39
Identify, date, describe
Bauhaus, Dessau, Walter Gropius, 1926
Built to prove that art and engineering could be united (rather than estranged as in 19th century).
Closed and abolished by Nazi dictatorship.
Walter Gropius dates?
1883-1969
Frank Lloyd-Wright dates?
1869-1959
What was Bauhaus idea of functionalism, and problem with it?
Belief that if something is designed to fit its purpose, beauty can look after itself.
Many things that are functionally correct are ugly, and the best works of this style are actually beautiful because designed by men of taste.
What was the appeal of African art to young artists before WWI? 3 things
Represented what European art had lost in pursuits of truth to nature and ideal beauty:
1intense expressiveness
2 clarity of structure
3 simplicity of technique.
Artists of the 20th century had to become _________, rather than craftsmen, and create a new form of _____________.
Artists of the 20th century had to become inventors, rather than craftsmen, and create a new form of expression.
What do expressionism and caricature have in common?
Take the most salient elements of subject and distorts them to express feeling towards him.
Edvard Munch dates?
1863-1944
Identify, date, describe
The scream, Edvard Munch, 1895
Depicts how sudden emotion transforms sense perceptions.
All lines in scenery lead towards focus on head –as if shares in anguish.
Disquieting as not know what scream means, hence universalising it.
Expressionism recognises that our ________ about an object colours the way we _____ it.
Expressionism recognises that our feelings about an object colours the way we see it.
What upset public about Expressionism is not so much _________ of reality, but that the result led away from ______.
What upset public about Expressionism is not so much distortion of reality, but that the result led away from beauty.
What was the Expressionist view on the art of the classical masters?
Their insistence on harmony and beauty in art was dishonest. They ignore the harsh realities of existence. Became a point of honour with them to avoid anything pretty, as it was seen as hypocritical bourgeois complacency.
Identify, date, describe
Need, Käthe Kollwitz, 1901
Inspired by plight of working people, but Kollwitz was originally attracted to proletarian life because she found it beautiful.
Unlike Millet, here is horror, rather than dignity, of poverty.
Kollwitz became associated with Expressionists after war, and her work became better known in Communist East than in Germany.
When was Die Brücke founded, who were its members, and what was its aims?
“Die Brücke” was a pioneering Expressionist movement founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1905.
Led by artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde and Erich Heckel, it rejected traditional art in favor of emotional intensity, bold colors, and distorted forms.
Urban life and portraits were key themes.
The artists shared studios, collaborated, and published the “Die Brücke” journal.
By 1913, internal conflicts and World War I led to its decline.
Identify, date, describe
The prophet, Emil Nolde, 1912
Strong, poster-like effects typical of Die Brücke.
Simplification aimed entirely in service of enhanced expression –everything concentrated in ecstatic gaze of man of god.
Expressionism pursues _________ and __________ in the service of enhanced __________.
Expressionism pursues simplification and distortion in the service of enhanced expression.
Fate of expressionism when Nazis came to power in 1933?
Banned and/or exiled.
Identify, date, describe
Have pity!, Ernst Barlach, 1919
Expressionist aesthetic. Focus on intensity of expression – in simple gesture of old and bony hands.
Nothing distracts from dominating theme.
Ugliness or beauty of work not relevant.
Identify, date, describe
Children playing, Oscar Kokoschka, 1909
Caused storm of indignation when first exhibited.
Awkwardness of movement and disharmonies of bodies could not be conveyed by correct draughtsmanship.
Captures elements of childhood, dreaminess, wistfulness, that could not be expressed with conventional realism.
How did abstract art grow out of expressionism?
If expression of feeling through lines and colours was foremost in art, perhaps art could be made more effective by doing away with subject matter, like a visual music.
Oscar Kokoschka dates?
1886-1980
Wassily Kandinsky dates?
1866-1944
Main idea of Kandinsky’s book “Concerning the Spiritual in Art” (1912)?
Colours and forms can have emotional impact beyond representation.
Art should express inner emotions and spiritual connections, not just replicate the external world.
Art serves as a conduit for profound spiritual and emotional resonance between artist and audience.
Identify, date, describe
Cossacks, Wassily Kandinsky, 1911
Marks a transitional phase in his art, combining elements of representation with early hints of abstraction.
Exploration of color, composition, and emotion.
What condition might have underpinned Kandinsky’s interest in the emotional power of colour?
Synesthesia
Who were the Fauves and what was their program (4 things)?
Group of avant-garde artists –Matisse, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Georges Braques, among others.
Short-lived movement, from 1905-7, but influenced Cubism and abstract art.
Work characterised by four things:
1 Emotional power of colour: bold and vivid, often applied directly from paint tube, and non-naturalistic
2 Simplification: simplified, flattened forms, often leading to sense of abstraction
3 Spontaneity and intuition: emphasised personal emotional responses to subject
4 Liberty: rejected established norms.
Henri Matisse dates?
1869-1954
Two years older than Aubrey Beardsley
Identify, date, describe
La desserte rouge, Henri Matisse, 1908.
Influence of Bonnard, but taken further as no interest in conveying impression of light.
Pattern is paramount, and human figure and landscape are distorted and simplified to fit the requirements of the flowers of the wallpaper.
Studied colour schemes of Oriental carpets.
What was the effect of the large Cézanne retrospective organised in Paris in 1906 after the artist’s death?
1 Influence on Modern Art Movements: use of geometric forms, fragmented brushwork, and exploration of color relationships, influenced Picasso and Braque, who founded Cubism.
2 Breaking Away from Impressionism: highlighted Cézanne’s departure from pure optical representation and his focus on underlying geometric structures. Cézanne wanted to create a harmonious relationship between color, form, and space. He used constructive brushwork to differentiate between forms, without using outlines.
3 Recognition and Appreciation: The retrospective brought Cézanne’s work to a wider audience and contributed to the broader understanding of his significance.
Pablo Picasso dates?
1881-1973
What’s the rationale for Cubism? 4 things
1 Multiple Perspectives: believed that a single perspective could not fully represent an object’s multifaceted nature. Cubism aimed to offer a more complete representation.
2 Influence of Primitive Art: simplified, abstracted forms and non-naturalistic representations.
3 Rejection of Illusionistic Space: challenged conventional use of linear perspective.
4 Analytical Perspective: Examined the underlying structure of objects, breaking them down into basic geometric shapes (cubes, spheres, cones) and then reassembling them.
What do Cubism and Pointillism have in common?
Both explore the idea that scenes are created in the mind. Either from dots of colour (pointillism) or from pieces of objects (cubism).
Identify, date, describe
Violin and grapes, Pablo Picasso, 1912
Object drawn from multiple angles to best represent its form.
Objects highly modelled to contribute to play of perspective.
Cubist paintings can work onlywith familiar forms, otherwise not recognisable.
Identify, date, describe
Head of a young boy, Picasso, 1945, lithograph
Head, Picasso, 1928, collage
Picasso constantly changing methods, returning to traditional representation
In collage, exploring the limits of what the mind could construct as a head.
Identify, date, describe
Bird, Picasso, 1948
Picasso experimented with multiple media.
Technical virtuosity made him long for the simple and uncomplicated.
“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the _______ of a _____?” Picasso
“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird?” Picasso
Paul Klee dates?
1879-1940
What was Paul Klee’s claim that his art is true to nature?
Nature herself creates through the artist, and the same mysterious power that formed the shapes of animals is active in the artist’s mind.
Identify, date, describe
A tiny tale of a tiny dwarf, Paul Klee, 1925, watercolour on board, varnished
Klee worked by gradually building up lines, shades and colours ‚ like a doodle ‚ until he reached feeling of ‘rightness’. Dream-like freedom of his approach ‚ trusting the luck of the moment ‚ and allowing work to grow according to its own laws.
Identify, date, describe
Sailing boats, Lyonel Feininger, 1929
Like Klee, had been in Paris in 1912 and seen craze of Cubism.
Found own solution to problem of flatness vs depth ‚ building pictures out of overlapping triangles that look transparent, suggesting succession of layers. These convey depth, allowing to simplify outlines without flatness.
Simple geometric forms show influence of Bauhaus.
Identify, date, describe
The kiss, Constantin Brancusi, 1907
Considered first modern sculpture of 20th century.
Brancusi was of peasant origin, and originally a wood carver. Worked by carving from stone rather than sculpting, in opposition to his (briefly) mentor Rodin.
Striving for extremes of simplification, preserving form of cube. Distills the emotional essence of a kiss while stripping away unnecessary details.
Influence of tribal art and carved folk art of Romania.
Opposite of Michelangelo’s approach. Brancusi wants to conserve the stone in the human figures.
Identify, date, describe
Composition with red, black, blue, yellow and grey, Piet Mondrian, 1920
Interest in structure from Cubism prompted question whether painting could be turned into construction like architecture.
Mondrian tries to build picture of simplest elements: straight lines and pure colours.
Longed for art of clarity and discipline that reflected objective laws of universe.
How did Piet Mondrian justify his non-representative art?
The value of art lies in its spirituality –ability to access deep, universal truth.
Reality is opposed to the spiritual.
Thus art that is spiritual must not be realistic.
Identify, date, describe
1934 (relief), Ben Nicholson, 1934
Like Mondrian, was seeking Reality, and for him art and religious experience were one.
Trying to strip down to most basic forms of composition.
Identify, date, describe
A universe, Alexander Calder, 1934, motor-driven mobile
Introduced motion as element of artistic composition.
Trained as engineer and impressed by art of Mondrian, whose studio visited in 1930.
Wanted art to reflect mathematical laws of universe –constant motion but guided by balancing forces.
When A Universe was first exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Albert Einstein reportedly stood transfixed in front of its slowly moving orbs for its entire forty–minute cycle.
Alexander Calder: “Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose ______”
Alexander Calder: “Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions”
Alexander Calder dates?
1898-1976
Henry Moore dates?
1898-1986
Identify, date, describe
Recumbent figure, Henry Moore, 1938
Made from three blocks of limestone, carved by hand over a period of 5 weeks. One block forms head, two other blocks are used for the body and legs.
Moore’s process was to look at stone and working out what it “wanted”.
Made not woman of stone, but stone which suggests a woman.
In a letter from Tahiti, Gauguin justified his need to return to the expressive power of the primitive –what example does he use?
That he felt he had to go back beyond the horses of the Parthenon, back to the rocking-horse of his childhood.
What is the rationale for Primitivism?
Every trick of the artistic trade can be learnt (and galleries are full of works embodying facility and skill).
Directness and simplicity is the one thing that cannot be learnt, and is the essence of art.
Art reduces to craft unless the artist is able to become as a child and free expression from technique.
What was the revolution in taste that occurred around 1905 and what were its key aspects?
Dawn of Primitivism
Tahiti paintings of Gauguin
First exhibition of the Fauves 1905
Rediscovery of art of early middle ages
Artists begin to study work of native tribesmen with same zeal as Greek sculpture
Discovery of Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau dates?
1844-1910
Identify, date, describe
Portrait of Joseph Brummer, Henri Rousseau, 1909
Naïve art -Rousseau had no artistic training.
Painted with simple, pure colours and clear outlines –every single leaf and blade of grass.
Applied thick brushstrokes resulting in uneven textures – made the piece more vibrant.
Marc Chagall dates?
1887-1985
Identify, date, describe
The cellist, Marc Chagall, 1939
Contains the simplicity and wonder of naive folk expression
Integrates elements of modern art (Cubism and Expressionism).
Identify, date, describe
Spring turning, Grant Wood, 1936
School of American Regionalism
Part of return to simplicity and directness after theoretical experiments of Expressionism and Cubism. Echoed tendencies in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia to make art for common man.
Made clay model of landscape which allowed him to study scenery from unexpected angle.
Has charm of toy landscape.
What is the problem of artists who try to become deliberately naive and unsophisticated?
You cannot become ‘primitive’ at will.
Giorgio de Chirico dates?
1888-1978
Identify, date, describe
Chant d’amour, Giorgio di Chirico, 1914
Aims to invoke new feeling for art –that of the strangeness when we encounter the unexpected and enigmatic.
Part of metaphysical art movement – created by Chirico and Carlo Carrà (previously a futurist). Aim to create dreamlike reality beyond physical world.
Anticipates surrealism.
Who said this, about which painting?
“it represented a complete break with the mental habits of artists who are prisoners of talent, virtuosity and all the little aesthetic specialities: it was a new vision…”
René Magritte about Di Chirico’s Chant d’Amour
Identify, date, describe
Attempting the impossible, René Magritte, 1928
Painting about the problem of realism – that in attempting to capture reality, we in fact create a new reality.
René Magritte dates?
1898-1967
Ten years younger than Di Chirico
Grant Wood dates?
1891-1942
Who coined the term Surrealist?
Apollinaire – used the term in his program notes for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Parade, in 1917
Then was adopted by André Breton for the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924.
Identify, date, describe
Head, 1927, Alberto Giacometti
Achievement of expression by minimal means.
Reminiscent of tribal art.
Alberto Giacometti dates?
1901-1966
What was the influence of Sigmund Freud on Surrealism?
Idea that beyond rational, conscious thought there is realm of unconscious – childlike and savage.
Surrealists posited that art is realm of unreason and imagination.
Echoes ancient idea of poetry as ‘divine madness’ and Romantic efforts of Coleridge and Dequincy to use opium to let imagination take sway.
Salvador Dali dates?
1904-1989
Identify, date, describe
Apparition of face and fruit bowl on a beach, 1938, Salvador Dali
Objects merge into each other as in dreams, some emerging with clarity, others remaining vague.
Freudian idea of components of dream symbolising deeper unconscious elements –e.g., fruit bowl is also face, etc.
Presents problem of representation –each form represents multiple objects.
What are the four key aspects of Surrealism?
1 Exploration of the Unconscious: Believed that the unconscious held a rich source of creativity that could be tapped into through art.
2 Against Bourgeois Convention: Surrealism was a reaction against rationalism, logicand convention. Aimed to shock through eroticism, bizarreness, etc.
3 Automatism: Surrealists often used techniques like automatic writing and drawing to bypass conscious thought.
4 Collage and Montage: Used collage and montage to combine disparate elements and create new, unexpected associations.
What are the problems hidden in the demand to paint what you see?
Paintings are constructed from colours and forms according to certain ideas about how this should be done. So it begs the question of how to paint what you see.
How does the purpose of an artwork determine its creation?
It tells artist how the artwork should grow –like the grain of sand around which a pearl grows.
The purpose can be any –telling religious message, showing power and wealth, representing reality more truly, solving problem of form.
Without a purpose, if one just tries to create art, it becomes aimless and obscure.
