Modern Art in Europe and the Americas, 1900 - 1950 Flashcards
Pablo Picasso Les Demoiselles D’Avignon
1907
One of the most radical paintings of the twentieth century
“Demoiselle” was a common euphemism for prostitute at this time, and Avignon was the name of a street in the red light district in Barcelona
While most of Picasso’s friends were shocked by his work, Georges Braque embraced his ideas
Picasso and Braque began a close working relationship that lasted until the latter went to war in 1914
Together they developed Picasso’s formal innovations by flattening pictorial space, multiple perspectives, and fracturing form
Baraque says, “We were like two mountain climbers roped together”
Marcel Duchamp Fountain
1917
Duchamp was an artist known for conceptual art and ready mades
Sculpture made out of porcelain urinal signed by R. Mutt
Questioned at the time, the essence of art
When Fountain was rejected, as Duchamped anticipated it would be, the artist resigned from the Society of Independent Artists (art organization rejecting traditional exhibition standards) in mock horror
