20th Century art

A revising of what art is.

20th Century art

• Several Influences– Post-Impressionism– Photography– World Events

• Challenging of what art is.• Shift from what is it, to how and why.• Artist role changes.

How did photography change art?

• Photography captures image instantaneously.

• Exact depiction of image.

• Decreases the need for many types of art.

• Changes the reasons people create art.

Post-Impressionism influence on 20th century.

• Abstraction follows post-impressionist focus on elements and principles.

• Composition hugely important for many 20th century movements.

• Other 20th century artists begin to look within to find subject matter.– Personal experiences– Emotionalism

What is art?• Even early 20th

Century art challenged the purpose and the meaning of art.– Fountain

• This challenging of art, also marks a shift in the role of the artist.

• No longer just about technical skill.

Why make art?

• Aesthetics• Personal expression• Social commentary

Artists who work for personal expression.

• Frida Kahlo• Pablo Picasso• Chagall• Pollock• Matisse• Dali?

The artists use art to express inner thoughts feelings or struggles.

Frida Kahlo• Mexican Painter• Created artwork based on personal life.• Influence by Magic-realism.• NOT A SURREALIST.• Darkness of work mimics hardships in

personal life.• Painting for personal reasons.• Diego Y Yo, or Diego and I• Painted shortly after divorce from

Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera.• Interpret this art work.

Pablo Picasso• Prior to the development of

Cubism Picasso worked much like the expressionists of the late 19th Century.

• Picasso’s blue period was brought on by a deep depression.

• The blue pallet represents the sadness in Picasso’s life.

• The subjects of the time represent people low in status.

• Vastly different than Picasso’s later work.

Cubist Picasso• In 1907 Picasso along with friend

George Braque began Cubism.• Influenced by Cezanne• Though Picasso was a master of many

styles Cubism became his legacy.• In cubist works, the relationship

between shapes and colors becomes more important that the subject matter.

• The maids of Avaignon 1907 often recognized as Picasso’s first cubist work.

De Stijl or The Style

• Dutch• Artists were relying

only on design, eliminating all emotion.

• Exact opposite of Expressionism.

Piet Mondrian• Gradually flattening natural forms

and reducing them to linear patterns, such as in Tree.

• Later restricts design to primary colors, and black lines. The “white squares” in diagonal composition are actually varying shades of grey.

• No center of interest, viewer must see whole design all at once.

• Careful calculations and mathematical precision are essential to such a dehumanizing artistic style.

Giacometti• Alberto Giacometti (Swiss)• Beginning in 1934 his series of

figure works will become what he is known for.

• Giacometti says this is a powerful symbol of the loneliness and alienation of humanity in this century.

• What does he mean by that?• What would he say about 21st

century?

Surrealism

• Sur- above or beyond realism- reality.• Dream-like imagery, often comes from

dreams.• Surrealists use several techniques to achieve

these images.– Juxtaposition– Levitation– Repetition– Diminishing Proportion

Salvador Dali• Most famous Surrealist.• Kicked out of Surrealist club

for being a facist.• Persistence of Memory Dali’s

best known painting.• Small painting of soft objects

that usually represent objects metallic and solid.

• Hated anything abstracted• 1931• 9 ½”X13”

Marc Chagall

• Chagall’s style is based somewhat on Cubism, but images are very surreal and personal.

• Main subject is the Russia he remembered, before he left in 1920.

• Often features fun-loving peasants, folk-lore, and fairy tells.

Alexander Calder• American Sculptor• Invented the Mobile• Calder’s Mobiles hung from a

single point• Lobster Trap and Fish Tail is

balanced so carefully a single breath of air can send it moving.

• With this type of work endless possibilities of visual interest. Rarely seen the same by two people.

• Size : 101”X115”

20th Century Architecture

• Breaking from the past• Surge of Construction• New types of construction– Steel and Metal-frame

• Buildings no longer needed traditional arches and columns– Take on a grid-like shape

• Lines of buildings are clean and function becomes a priority.

Frank Lloyd Wright• Primary concern to develop a compatible

relationship between structure an location• Disregarded tradition enclosed rooms with doors,

rooms would be separated only by partial walls• Let exterior space flow through interior space (creek)• Overall horizontal feel (calm)• Kaufmann house• 1936 • Marriage of location and construction