Focus Paper 1: Major Styles In Modern Art

Cubism is a new and so far highly influential art style created by two incredibly talented artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They came up with the style initially three years ago (1907) and have been developing the idea ever since. Cubism’s style represents the flat, two-dimensional surface of an image, disregarding traditional methods such as view, chiaroscuro, modelling and foreshortening.

Throughout the late 19th century and the 20th century, the style of modernist art was created with the approach of trying to relate their work to the rapidly changing society. For hundreds of years classical painters had the goals of creating the most realistic and life-like painting of humans, objects, and landscapes. The ideology behind this was that the best and most successful painters created the most realistic work. With the innovations and developments of cameras, it allowed artists to perfectly capture the real world. Consequently, modernist artists started to capture the feel and the emotions of the world instead of just the basic looks. This spurred many art forms such as surrealism, abstraction, impressionism, and countless others.

Kandinsky transformed colour into a completely abstract art absolutely divorced from subject matter. The fauvists and expressionists shared an appreciation of the pure and simplified shapes of various examples of primitive art, an enthusiasm that was generated by Gauguin and extended to Picasso, Brancusi, Modigliani, Derain, and others.

Color field painters used a different abstract strategy and focused on controlled shapes rather than a randomized effect. Abstractism in the 1940’s paved the way for Pop Art in the 1950’s by challenging traditional values and definitions of art work. Abstract Expressionism inspired the entire creative community, including sculptors, poets, photographers, and film-makers.

Impressionism can be considered the first distinctly modern movement in painting. Developing in Paris in the 1860s, its influence spread throughout Europe and eventually the United States. Impressionism was a style of representational art that did not necessarily rely on realistic depictions. The Impressionists loosened their brushwork and lightened their palettes to include pure, intense colors.

Overall, the ideologies discussed within the articles Written In Blood: 20th Century Art by Stephanie Dudek and Estrangement As A Motif In Modern Painting by John Adkins Richardson address similarities and differences from various standpoints. Modernistic ideologies towards social, cultural and technological changes of the 20th century are demonstrated in both articles. The article by Stephanie Dudek emphasizes on the employment of radical and transgressive values by modern artists within their work to target cultural, and artistic principles that have persisted over many generations leading to a transformation within the subject of art (Dudek 105). Furthermore, modern art set out to obtain new visions of reality as witnessed within the Cubist

Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century. It was created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in

During the early 20th century an artistic and social movement originated in Italy and was known as futurism. It was an innovation in technology. A similar movement was also occurring in Russia France England and etc. The persons who practiced such phenomenon were known as futurists. Futurists practiced in every art aspect that there was. Such as music, poetry painting theater etc. In each different part of Europe where futurism was evolving there were unique artists arising. Such Luigi Russolo Vladimir Mayakovsky Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Richard Wagner and Claude Debussy amongst others.

Throughout Art History, it is apparent that techniques are established and flaunted to create some vivid image of a story, or a message. Up to the post war of World War II, art has delivered a scene which can be interpreted through context clues such as; current philosophies, current events, and folk-lore. Then, mainstream art had undergone a significant change in theme post World War II. New York City, United States of America, became the art capital of the world. Why? It is arguably due to Abstract Expressionist art and Pop Art known as Modernism. Modernism completely new to the world, and both of which abandoning some common core themes to art. Two famous artists whom facilitated and practiced such dramatic alterations in art culture are Paul Jackson Pollock, or just known as Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol.

In 1909, former symbolist poet Filippo Marinetti published his subversive Manifesto of Futurism. This avant-garde proposal for literary revolution proved highly influential to the world of visual art in Italy. Marinetti’s call for dynamism and movement of both physical and societal nature triggered a movement which stood proudly for vivacity, energy, and disruption, and reflected the state of politics and industry during its time. In his contribution to the advent of a seismic change in Italian art that included introducing non academic approaches and abstraction Marinetti exemplified the avant-garde art scene of early 20th century Italy.

An Italian avant-garde art movement that took speed, technology and modernity as its inspiration, is where new ideas were introduced to society. Futurism portrayed the dynamic character of 20th century life, glorified war and the machine age, and favored the growth of Fascism. Created at the turn of the twentieth century, the Futurist Manifesto stands out as the announcer of the new artistic movement, but its significance is much broader than the field of visual culture. It is conceived by Marinetti as a new force of Italian cultural revival, the one that is tired of stale and unproductive adherence to the past, and is instead urging for the creation of modern Italy. This new society whose principles should be based on the idea of progress,

When the new upper class movement, Renaissance, occurred in Italy around the 14th century, a revival of the classical forms originally developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, an intensified concern with secular life, and interest in humanism and assertion of the importance of the individual began. Thus, artists such as Mosaccio and Giotto depicted art that unlike the Middle Ages, showed emotions, feelings, and bright colors, thus demonstrating the deep concern for naturalism in the society. Other artists during the Italian Renaissance period such as Giovanni Bellini began to express their art through secular and religious themes and ideas that were exhibited through landscapes and portraits. As new styles of

The 20th century is when German Expressionism started. Some of the artist decided to show their feelings while using bright colors to create their ideas. Some of the artist accomplished aim through distortion, exaggeration and sometimes fantasy as well as expressing anxiety and frustration in there paintings. I also previously read that some of the expressionist who were artist had died fighting in two of the World Wars and some of the them had successfully made it through. Roots of the German Expressionist School lay in works of some of the artist like Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch each who evolved a personal painting style. Expressionist were influenced by predecessors in 1890s and also interested in some of the African wood carvings as well as some Northern European medieval. This term “expressionism” meant “modern art”.

The beginning of 20th century was a time of drastic change. New developments were made in the arenas of the classical sciences, social science, psychology and philosophy - each challenging traditional thought. Industrialization and the introduction of many new, challenging concepts in the fields of politics as well as the development of new technologies gave artist more freedom to innovate and break the rules of traditional art. By using new materials, techniques and the new approach artists were pushing boundaries of what has previously been accepted art practice in order to invent radically new styles.

“Modern painting, breaking through old conversation, has released countless suggestions which are still waiting to be used by the practical world.”(Gropius) The birth of modernism and modern art goes back to the Industrial Revolution, a period that lasted from the 18th to the 19th century, in which rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology profoundly affected the social, economic, and cultural conditions of life in Western Europe, North America, and eventually the world. Before the 19th century, artists created art pieces for wealthy people and institution places like the church where they can create art works about storytelling of religious or mythological scenes . These arts were there to instruct the viewers.However, this changed when during the 19th century many artists began to create works that were about people, places, or ideas that interested them, and of which they had direct experience. With the popularization of the idea of a subconscious mind, many artists began exploring dreams, symbolism, and personal iconography as avenues for the depiction of their subjective experiences.Challenging the notion that art must realistically depict the world, some artists experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new techniques and mediums.