Aesthetics Presentation #5

Modern Art

Impressionism the birth of Modern Art

• Impressionism begins in the mid-1800’s in Europe

• It is a revolutionary movement

• Goal – capture a moment, an impression– Modern transportation plays a big role

• Moving at unprecedented speeds• Ability to travel – painting directly on the finished

painting outdoors (not just sketches as was traditional)

Monet’s painting is regarded as a landmark work of art – marking a change in the course

of painting.

Monet – Impression: Sunrise (1872)

Manet – Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) 1863

Impressionism leads to...• Cézanne – a giant in art history. The first

truly modern painter, who inspires...• Cubism – including PICASSO• Fauvism• Expressionism• Abstraction• The abstract expressionists• Pop art, etc.

• Cézanne selected the most characteristic viewpoint of all his objects

• Changed eye levels• Created a composite

view with the illusion of looking around it.

Cézanne, Space, and the 4th Dimension

To see these multiple views of the actual object, we would have to move around it or revolve it in front of us; this act would involve motion, space, and time.

Still Life with Basket of Fruit by Cézanne oil on canvas 1888-90

Cézanne – Mt. St. Victoire 1887 vs. 1906

Cubism

• How can we present multiple perspectives on a two-dimensional surface? Cubism!

• Einstein’s work in physics in 1905 establishes that different perspectives produce different realities: “What time does the station leave this train?”

• Cubism reflects this new view of the Universe.

Picasso – Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1899 [left] and 1910 [right])

Fauvism – an explosion of color

• The name comes from the word “fauves” which means “wild beasts”. This name was given to them by a critic, who didn’t think much of them.

• Used color in entirely new ways to try and express emotion.

Derain – Big Ben (1905)

Matisse – Green Stripe (Madame Matisse) (1905)

Expressionism

• Exaggerates form and color to achieve a feeling.• The predecessors of this movement are the

post-impressionists (including Cézanne and Van Gogh) and Munch

• Two groups– Die Brücke – “The Bridge” (eg. Kirchner)– Der Blaue Reiter

• Franz Marc• Vassily Kandinsky

Van Gogh – Irises (1889)

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893,

Kirchner – Berlin Street Scene (1913)

Marc – Foxes (1913) Marc – Tiger (1912)

Marc – The Fate of the Animals (1913)

Marc – Fighting Forms (1914)

Kandinsky – Autumn in Bavaria (1908)

Kandinsky – Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) (1913)

Surrealist Art

Dali – Christ of St. John of the Cross (1951)

Salvador Dali – The Last Supper

1955 – The National Gallery, Washington

Abstract Expressionism

• Shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York.

• One form is called “action painting”

• These paintings are “irrational accidents”– A rational response to the second world war?

Pollock – No. 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) (1950)

Aesthetics Theories: Formalism Ab Ex: Action Painting

The painting was not so much a picture, but the record of an event

Many people think of Jackson Pollock as the quintessential Abstract Expressionist painter

Ab Ex: Action Painting

• Hurled and dripped paint on to a canvas on the floor

• Images are vibrate with energy

Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock 1952 on canvas 6’ 11 ½” x 16’ ½”

Number 1 (Lavender Mist) Jackson Pollock 1950

Jackson Pollock working in his studio.

Ab Ex: Action Painting

• Pollock seemed to have felt that the free, unselfconscious act of painting gave vent to primal, natural forces

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950, oil on canvas, 8’ 9” x 17’ 3”

Ab Ex: Color Field Painting

• Color Field – pure color filling the canvas

• Meditative tranquility (in contrast to dynamic energy of action painting)

• Draws viewer in & enveloped in sensuous color

• invites contemplation & emotional response

Orange and Yellow by Mark Rothko 1956 oil on

canvas 7’ 7” x 5’ 11”

• Modern art continues to evolve...Pop Art, Hard Edge, Minimalism, Conceptual art.

• Much of it is rejected because we “don’t like it”– But most people didn’t “like” Impressionism

when it appeared.– What do these movements tell us about our

world?

Lichtenstein – Wham (1963)

Pop Art

Yellow with Red TriangleEllsworth  Kelly (

Hard Edge

Donald Judd, untitled, 1969

Minimal Art

Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965

Conceptual Art