Modernism College Essay Example
Modernism College Essay Example

Modernism College Essay Example

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The term modern art encompasses various forms of 20th-century art, such as painting and sculpture. The beginning of the modern era is not precisely defined but generally includes European, American, and Western-influenced art from the 20th century. This period is characterized by significant advancements including the development of abstraction, introduction of innovative artistic techniques and materials, and a redefinition of art's definition. This article examines different theories on interpreting modern art, its roots in the 19th century, and its notable characteristics and expressions.

Modern art is a broad field that encompasses various styles, movements, and techniques. It includes Grant Wood's realistic painting American Gothic and Jackson Pollock's abstract composition Black and White. However, there is diversity even within these categories. For instance, Willem de Kooning's Marilyn Monroe can also be seen as representational despite it

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s loose brushstrokes. Conversely, abstraction can take different forms like the dynamic rhythms in Pollock's Black and White or the geometric precision of Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue. Some artists preferred a more disorderly aesthetic such as Kurt Schwitters who used discarded objects to create Picture with Light Center.

During the 20th century, art showcased not only diverse styles but also a shift towards using unconventional materials alongside traditional ones like oil on canvas. This breakthrough resulted in the emergence of groundbreaking movements such as conceptual art and performance art. These movements expanded the definition of art beyond physical objects to include ideas and actions.

The definition of modern art in the context of 20th-century Western art is challenging due to its diversity. Some critics argue that modern art focuses on painting and sculpture as ends in themselves, distinguishing it from

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earlier art forms representing religious or political ideas. With reduced reliance on funding from such institutions, modern artists gained more freedom to convey personal meanings, often referred to as "art for art's sake," suggesting a lack of political or religious motives. However, many still aimed to communicate spiritual or political messages, even without commissions from these institutions. Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter, believed that color combined with abstraction could express a spiritual reality beyond appearances; meanwhile, Otto Dix, a German painter, openly critiqued the policies of the German government through his politically oriented works.

One perspective suggests that modern art is inherently rebellious, as it strives for individuality and aims to shock. Modern art is often referred to as avant-garde, originating from a French military term meaning "advance guard." This term signifies that what is considered modern is new, innovative, or pioneering. In the 20th century, many artists sought to redefine or expand the definition of art by incorporating unconventional concepts, materials, or techniques. For example, in 1917, French artist Marcel Duchamp exhibited everyday mass-produced objects like a bicycle wheel and a urinal as works of art. Similarly, American artist Allan Kaprow used his body in spontaneous performances during the 1950s and 1960s which he claimed were artworks. Another artist who challenged traditional norms was American earthwork artist Robert Smithson; he utilized unmodified elements from the environment such as earth, rocks, and water as materials for his sculptures in the 1970s. As a result of these provocative practices, modern art has become synonymous with radical and unsettling ideas.

However, one might find difficulties in applying this theory of rebellion when analyzing an artist like Grant Wood

since his painting American Gothic explicitly rejected the influence of cutting-edge art during that time period.

Modern art is defined by its interest in modern technology and its utilization of mechanical reproduction techniques such as photography and printing. In the early 1910s, Umberto Boccioni, an Italian artist, sought to commemorate the precision and swiftness of the industrial era through his paintings and sculptures. Similarly, Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter, introduced a novel method called collage by incorporating newspaper clippings and other printed materials into his artwork. However, certain modern artists drew inspiration from the spontaneous expressions found in children's art or explored the aesthetic traditions of non-Western cultures. Artists like Henri Matisse from France and Paul Klee from Switzerland were significantly influenced by children's drawings, while Picasso derived inspiration from African masks. Furthermore, Jackson Pollock took inspiration from Native American sand painting when developing his technique of pouring paint onto canvas.

Another perspective suggests that modern art is driven by the desire to connect with popular culture. Picasso, for example, incorporated fragments of newspapers into his paintings, while Roy Lichtenstein replicated the style and themes found in comic strips in his artwork. Andy Warhol became renowned for creating images featuring Campbell's soup cans. While the fusion of fine art and popular culture is a common feature among artists such as Picasso, Lichtenstein, and Warhol, it is not a trait shared by Mondrian, Pollock, or other abstract artists.

While each theory is persuasive and can explain various strategies employed by contemporary artists, a brief analysis reveals that the 20th-century art's diversity is too vast to be completely encompassed by any single definition. Although every theory offers valuable insights, none

can assert to possess the ultimate solution to this overarching mystery.

The art of the late 19th century foreshadowed several aspects of modern art such as emphasizing art for its own sake, prioritizing originality, celebrating modern technology, being fascinated with "primitive" art, and interacting with popular culture.

French artists associated with impressionism, such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Berthe Morisot, initiated modern art's celebration of art for art's sake. These artists broke away from the French art establishment in the 1870s and exhibited their paintings independently, foreshadowing the modern desire for independence from established institutions. They depicted scenes of everyday life, particularly in local bars and theaters, aligning with modern art's interest in popular culture. Additionally, they portrayed railroads, bridges, and examples of new cast-iron architecture, aligning with modern art's fascination with technology. Through their pioneering of new artistic techniques, such as applying paint in small, broken brush strokes, and intensifying their colors, they anticipated the modern fascination with originality. By exhibiting quickly executed works as finished paintings, they compelled the public to reconsider sketches not just as preliminary exercises but as an end in themselves, anticipating modern artists' tendency to redefine and expand the definition of art.

In the late 19th century, a group of artists known as postimpressionists emerged as a response to the impressionists. These artists, including Paul Gauguin, developed different approaches to painting that would heavily influence 20th-century art. Gauguin, for example, rejected the impressionist technique of using small brushstrokes and instead used large areas of a single color with bold contour lines. This innovation influenced artists like Matisse who used color for expressive purposes rather than simply copying nature. In

1891, Gauguin chose to live on the Pacific island of Tahiti, seeking a simpler existence away from Western civilization. His time there also inspired a fascination with non-Western art in the modern art world.

Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch painter and a friend of Gauguin, utilized color and brushwork to express his emotions visually. Alongside this, he incorporated religious or allegorical signification in his paintings – for instance, portraying black crows as symbols of death. This approach contrasted with the emphasis on direct observation seen in the impressionist movement.

The Norwegian painter Edvard Munch's work was founded upon the belief that painting could prioritize expressive purposes over representing truth to nature. Munch employed intense color combinations, distorted forms, and exaggerated perspectives to visually convey the isolation of the individual in the modern, industrialized society. The works of Gauguin, van Gogh, and Munch established the foundation for the subsequent evolution of expressionism in art during the 20th century.

Other postimpressionist artists responded to impressionism differently. Georges Seurat, a French artist, aimed to elevate art to a scientific level by incorporating the latest theories on light and color into his work. He broke down color into its components (such as dividing purple into blue and red, or green into blue and yellow) and applied these colors to his canvas through individually placed dots. His technique, known as pointillism, aimed to remove any intuition or impulsive elements from the act of painting.

Paul Czanne, another postimpressionist artist, aimed to bring structure to impressionism by emphasizing the solidity and tangibility of objects in his paintings. However, he also challenged the integrity of form through subtle distortions and apparent inaccuracies in his still-life works.

For instance, objects do not always sit securely on their bases, vases viewed from the front display rims viewed from above, and the horizontal edges of tables sometimes fail to align when projecting from either side of a tablecloth. It is as though Czanne deliberately deconstructed the very solidity he sought to reintroduce to the representation of objects.

Cezanne's Mont Sainte Victoire (1902-1906, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City) challenged traditional art conventions by blurring the distinction between earth and sky. The painting's innovative technique allowed the sky to infiltrate the mountain's solid edge, defying the notion that these elements were separate entities. This groundbreaking approach revolutionized art history as it prioritized the principles of picture making over realistic representation. Consequently, it paved the way for Picasso's exploration of form and his development of cubism, ultimately leading to a divergence between artistic expression and reality.

Historians in cultural studies assert that the breakdown of artistic form in the late 1800s and early 1900s mirrored the societal fragmentation during that time. The advancement of technology through the industrial revolution created a divide between the middle and working classes. Women fought for voting rights and gender equality. Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud revealed that the human psyche was not unified, but rather comprised of emotional conflicts and contradictions. Scientific discoveries such as X-rays and Albert Einstein's theory of relativity challenged our comprehension of reality.

Various forms of artistic creativity reflected tensions and developments in different disciplines. For instance, in literature, writers like James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, and Virginia Woolf carried out experiments with narrative structure, grammar, syntax, and spelling. Similarly, in the realm of dance, Sergei Diaghilev, Isadora Duncan,

and Loie Fuller explored unconventional choreography and costume. Lastly, in music, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky composed pieces that disregarded traditional tonal structure.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, music served as both a form of experimentation and inspiration for visual artists. Art critics who were influenced by German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, believed that music had the ability to directly evoke emotions without imitation. The symbolist movement, led by painters like Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau in the late 19th century, aimed to capture the evocative power of music. These artists integrated abstract elements into their artwork, creating an imaginary realm rather than focusing on concrete representation. This paved the way for the emergence of abstract art.

The title of Henri Matisse's Red Room (Harmony in Red) (1909, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia) reflects the notion that art can imitate music. Matisse borrowed elements from Gauguin, such as vast areas of unvarying color, simplified shapes, and strong contour lines. The simplicity in Matisse's drawing style is akin to Gauguin's fascination with non-Western artistic traditions. Additionally, Matisse incorporated abstract patterns inspired by carpets and textiles, emphasizing the flatness of the painting rather than aiming for a sense of depth. His interest in these designs showcases his appreciation for unconventional forms of creativity often not associated with traditional fine art.

Although Red Room was intended as a pleasing image of middle-class domesticity, Matisse's way of depiction was seen as highly revolutionary. This was due to his assignment of intense colors to objects arbitrarily, rather than basing it on their appearance in nature. A scandalized contemporary critic described Matisse and his fellow artists - Andr

Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Braque (of France), and Kees van Dongen (of the Netherlands) - as fauves (French for "wild beasts"). This derogatory term eventually became the name of their movement. Fauvism had a short lifespan from approximately 1898 to 1908, but it had a lasting impact on art in the 20th century.

Pablo Picasso, a friend and rival of Matisse, introduced a new painting style that emphasized line over color. Picasso's art underwent a significant transformation in 1907, when he incorporated elements from African sculpture into his work. Contrary to Matisse's depiction of a comfortable middle-class interior, Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'Avignon (1907, Museum of Modern Art, New York City) portrays the human form with aggressive simplifications, bold and unusual color combinations, and extreme distortions of anatomy and proportions. The painting's space does not adhere to the traditional rules of perspective for creating depth and is fragmented to the point of being challenging to interpret clearly.

Picasso's Demoiselles, known for its inherent violence, transitioned around 1912 to his more contemplative works like Ma Jolie (1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York City). Analytical cubism was evident in these paintings, where the subject, often a portrait or still life, was fragmented into intersecting geometric planes. This fragmentation reflected Czanne's influence, as well as Picasso's penchant for ambiguity and blending opposites. The painting Ma Jolie, with its muted gray and brown tones, exemplifies analytical cubism's preference for limited color palette. It also incorporates lettering, with the words MA JOLIE (meaning "my pretty one" in French) appearing at the bottom of the artwork. This references a popular song of that era and strengthens the connection between modern art and

popular culture.

These links were strengthened in Picasso's Still Life with Chair Caning (1912, Muse Picasso, Paris), where the artist attached a piece of oilcloth printed with the pattern of caning. This was one of the initial examples of collage, breaking traditional painting techniques by incorporating external material. Following the cubist trials of Picasso and his French counterpart Georges Braque, no material would be deemed foreign to art, enabling art to continuously redefine itself throughout the century.

Picasso's cubism had a significant impact and influenced other French artists such as Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Lger, and Juan Gris. These artists utilized the style to celebrate the relationship between modern life and technology, distinguishing their work from Picasso's and Braque's. In Lger's artwork The City (1919, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania), he simplified forms into flat areas of color or suggested three-dimensional cubes or cylinders. This departure from Picasso's unique and personal interpretation of cubism reflects Lger's more mechanical and impersonal approach. The underlying political belief at the time was that individual personality should be subordinate to societal demands. The City envisions Lger's idea of an ideal community or utopia where humanity merges with machines.

The futurists, a collective of Italian artists active from 1909 to 1916, shared Leger's excitement for technology, but took it to greater extents. Embracing all things that praised advancements and mechanization, the futurists rejected anything associated with tradition. They stated that a fast-moving car held more beauty than an ancient Greek sculpture.

Umberto Boccioni's Dynamism of a Soccer Player (1913, Museum of Modern Art, New York City) combines Picasso's fragmentation of form and Seurat's pointillist painting technique, representing a typical example of

futurism. Boccioni's depiction of motion is the most prominent aspect of his soccer player with multiple legs. To capture this sense of motion, the futurists drew inspiration from sequential photographs of human movement by Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey. The futurists proclaimed that a galloping horse has not four legs but twenty. Like Lger, the futurists believed that constructing a new society necessitated individuals sacrificing their individuality for the greater good. Boccioni's painting portrays an ideal human being that is more machine-like than human - resilient, dynamic, impersonal, and even violent. Other renowned futurist painters include Giacomo Balla, Carlo Carr, and Gino Severini.

While the Italian futurist movement embraced the new and technological, a group of German artists known as Die Brucke (The Bridge) focused on celebrating human instinct rather than technology. Founded in Dresden in 1905, Die Brucke included artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. For these artists, the modern city represented a sense of alienation.

Kirchner's work, such as Berlin Street Scene (1913, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany), highlights how city life is artificial and causes people to lose their individuality in a crowd. The human figures in his paintings have distorted proportions and generic facial features. Kirchner intensifies the feeling of anxiety with clashing colors and angular shapes, influenced by African sculpture and German woodcuts. These artistic styles attract expressionists not only for their simplified depiction of human anatomy but also for their roughness, which exposes the artist's touch and the challenges of working with wood. Taking inspiration from Gauguin, expressionists often portray the human body in nature, giving the impression of freedom from society's strict moral codes.

In Germany,

a second expressionist group called Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) was established in Munich in 1911. This group consisted of Russians Wassily Kandinsky and Alexei von Jawlensky, Germans Franz Marc, August Macke, and Gabriele Mnter, and Swiss artist Paul Klee. Similar to Die Brcke, the members of Der Blaue Reiter valued non-Western art, children's drawings, folk art, and handicrafts. However, they were more interested in exploring the spiritual aspects of humanity rather than its primal instincts. Kandinsky wrote the treatise Concerning the Spiritual in Art in 1912, connecting representational art with materialism and abstract art with spirituality. Like symbolist painters of the late 19th century, Kandinsky saw parallels between painting and music and believed that colors could evoke emotions similar to melodies and sounds. In his abstract works such as Improvisation 28, the shapes' contours are intentionally left incomplete, creating an open composition where line and color function independently. While some consider these works to be the first examples of abstract art, others have found that Kandinsky's preliminary sketches reflect scenes from biblical events such as the deluge and Last Judgment.The implication of this finding is that Kandinsky attributed essential significance to spirituality in abstract art rather than viewing it as a mere concept.

In the early 20th century, two Russian groups emerged with a focus on abstraction. Kasimir Malevich and El Lissitzky led the suprematism movement, while Vladimir Tatlin and Aleksandr Rodchenko founded constructivism. Similar to Kandinsky, the suprematists believed that abstraction could convey a religious meaning. In 1915, Malevich showcased a black square on a white background, reminiscent of a Russian icon, and referred to it as suprematism. The square represented sensation, while

the background symbolized nothingness. Malevich aimed to depict the pure essence of sensation itself, devoid of specific experiences like hunger, sadness, or happiness. The constructivists aimed for an easily understood yet abstract art form. They celebrated the material properties of objects such as texture and shape in their sculptures. Inspired by Picasso's collage and construction techniques, Tatlin created sculptures without traditional carving or modeling methods. Unlike carving, which involves removing materials to reveal the form, construction involves adding ordinary materials like metal and wood to build a sculpture.Tatlin, unlike Picasso, did not paint or alter his materials. He believed in showcasing the true nature of the untouched surfaces. His proposal for a Monument to the Third International exemplified his love for new materials and techniques and blurred the lines between fine art and engineering. The monument, which was never built, was intended to be taller than the Eiffel Tower and would have rotating elements for government offices.

In 1917, Dutch painters Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg formed an artistic group called De Stijl. Other members included Bart van der Leck, Georges van Tongerloo, and Gerrit Rietveld. Similar to the suprematists and constructivists, De Stijl artists believed in abstract art with a purpose beyond decoration. They aimed to create a new human environment and change society through art. Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue showcases De Stijl's tendency to simplify paintings to their essential elements.The white canvas is divided by black lines, both horizontally and vertically, creating rectangles that are painted red, yellow, or blue. The artist's intention was for the painting to appear impersonal and machinelike, similar to the styles of the cubists

and futurists. They believed that by rejecting individuality and embracing a collective will, a new society could be formed. Despite the contrasting styles, both Mondrian and Kandinsky were devoted to abstract art and believed in its ability to convey philosophical meaning. Kandinsky viewed his abstractions as spiritual, while Mondrian saw his asymmetrical grids as representations of opposing forces such as man and nature, or individual and society. In fact, Mondrian envisioned his compositions as the basis for architecture and interior design. However, after the devastation of World War I, some artists began losing faith in abstraction.During the aftermath of World War I, the perception of abstract art as trivial and superficial became prevalent. This was due to the stark contrast between the millions of lives lost, cities struggling with food shortages and political corruption, and the sight of war-stricken soldiers occupying these cities. In Germany, a group of artists called the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) sought to address these issues by rejecting abstract philosophical ideals and delving into the everyday experiences and pressing social and political matters of the time. Prominent artists like George Grosz and Otto Dix advocated for a return to traditional modes of representation in their artworks. Dix's painting, "Matchseller" (1920, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), exemplifies this shift, as it abandons cubism, expressionism, and abstraction in favor of a more easily interpretable style. The artwork portrays a disabled soldier who sells matches on the street, while passersby purposely overlook his presence, shedding light on the insensitivity towards those who risked their lives for their country. Dix's depiction not only critiqued war but also highlighted the social divisions that were prevalent in Germany at that

time, showing that the treatment of veterans varied based on their social class. Thus, the devastation caused by World War I affected artists in various ways.Some individuals, following the perspective of Mondrian, believed that societal improvement could be achieved by creating an impersonal, mechanistic way of life. Conversely, others, like Dix, believed that drawing attention to political problems would lead to human betterment. Yet another group concluded that the notion of human betterment was futile, as the war had proven the bankruptcy of reason, politics, technology, and even art itself. It was upon this premise that several artists and poets established a movement known as dada, deliberately devoid of meaning, and its members openly ridiculed anything related to culture, politics, or aesthetics. Initially based in Zurich, Switzerland, dada eventually spread to Berlin, Paris, and New York City. Prominent figures within this movement included Hugo Ball, Kurt Schwitters, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Man Ray, Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, and Francis Picabia. The dadaists subverted the idea of art and poetry by crafting collage constructions from discarded junk (e.g., Kurt Schwitters's Painting with Light Center), while also composing satirical poems by randomly selecting words from a hat. Chance and accident served as prevalent creative techniques amongst the dadaists.Marcel Duchamp's Fountain (1917, Museum of Modern Art, New York City), a widely recognized and influential dada artwork, is a prime example of his desire to mock traditional notions of art, creativity, and beauty. By exhibiting a commonplace, factory-produced urinal in a gallery and assigning it a new title, Duchamp transformed it into an artwork. He rejected the idea of creating aesthetically pleasing pieces based on inspiration or talent and

instead chose everyday objects, which he referred to as ready-mades. Despite these objects' initial functional purpose, Duchamp stripped them of their utility by placing them in a gallery or museum setting and changing their titles.

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