Jackson Pollock Impulsiveness

Artists in the early 1900s commonly utilized techniques of distortion and exaggeration, characteristics of expressionism, to establish the element of emotion. According to Wolf (2017), expressionist artists often incorporate “swirling, swaying, and exaggeratedly executed brushstrokes to convey the turgid emotional state of the artist reacting to the anxieties of the modern world” (p. 1). Amplification of the human figure often evokes strong emotions for audiences of many different cultures. Additionally, the style reflects the consequences of urbanization, such as the alienation of individuals in society (Wolf, 2017). Expressionism allows artists to surpass realism and reflect the tribulations of living in a modern society.

In Abstract Expressionism - a certain construction of the world we call “individuality” is revealed in its true, that is to say, contingent, vulgarity. And so is painting; or rather, so are paintings like Hofmann’s “The Garden” and Adolph Gottlieb’s “Black, Blue Red” - done as they were under the sign or spell of such a construction, by “individuals” believing utterly (innocently, idiotically) in its power.

If people were asked to make a mental picture of a painter working on his work of art, most of them would describe it as a person with a big canvas on a stand in front of them painting the subject which they are looking at. There were two major differences in Pollock's approach to his art compared to other artists. The first major difference was that Jackson painted on the floor. The second difference was that he used a stick instead of a brush. They would say that because they are all not exposed to different types and styles of painting. For those people who do not know much about art wouldn't know the meaning of the painting or how it was created. In some instances people say to themselves, "you call this art, my little brother could

Expressionism sought to give shape to emotions through stylized visuals, particularly using high contrast lighting and exaggerated colors, lines and shadows, most of the examples given before. The style combines moral values and emotional expreience. It is a unique and very different style of art.

Though the start of the modernisation may trace back to the beginning of Industrial Revolution. “Modernism in the design world did not exist in a fully developed form, until well after First World War.” (Wilk, 2006) Causing the great loss of lives and other countless damage to the world, it reshaped many people’s way of thinking the world. With the inspiration of early avant-garde movement, the modernism began to emerge advocating an utopian future and shared certain core principles by various styles of modernists: rejecting the past and applied ornament; forms follow function, a preference for

After the conclusion of World War One, many artists experienced a sense of psychological dislocation from the traditional values of the romantic period of literature. Formerly anchored points of meaning (country, status, etc.) by which people had defined their lives were lost or rendered meaningless in the aftermath of the war. However, this lack of meaning was not merely a side effect of World War One; rather its roots lay with the rampant industrialisation of the world and the subsequent belief among many westerners that there was nothing left to discover. Attempts by the next generation of artists and writers, desperate to carve out meaning from the chaos of the new geopolitical landscape, were characterised under the banner of modernism,

Published in 1989, Modris Eksteins’ book, “Rites of Spring” argues that World War I, with Germany specifically as a catalyst, is the turning point of modernism. As Eksteins explains it, World War I was the final battle between the old world and the new, modern, world. To put it simply: England and her allies represented the old ways, while Germany and her allies represented new ways. Eksteins believed that the end of the nineteenth century was filled with urges for modernism with Germany leading the way as the “modernist nation par excellence of our century” Throughout the three acts of his novel, Eksteins continues to address how Germany, and both world wars, managed to battle the old ways of the nineteenth century and as a result continue into the twentieth century with humanity completely disillusioned as a whole.

The innovative and passionate presence in both Jackson Pollock’s and Wassily Kandinsky avant-garde paintings exemplifies the redefinition of boundaries throughout their art making practices. Both artists challenged traditions both materially and conceptually using innovative and diverse approaches to materials and techniques when painting. Wassily Kandinsky goes against traditions and academies to create vivid, sensual and symbolic large-scale semi abstract expressionist oil paintings in a heightened state of mind. Many artworks of his convey bright and cheerful spontaneous colours that make the audience fully consumed within his works due to hypnotic and distorted semi realist shapes. Consequently, Jackson Pollock also goes against

Art has evolved and regenerated itself many times during our human existence. These differences are defined through changes in styles under various theories. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a style known as Expressionism became popular. During this movement the artists were trying to use their artwork as a tool of expression toward life. It was mainly dominant in the nonrepresentational arts, such as abstract visual arts and music. It also was probably one of the most difficult movements to understand because the whole point of the piece lay within the artist. Not only was it a movement, it defined the act of art as a whole. From the beginning of time, each work of art, excluding replicas, show a way of expressing

The mistrust of the world which is at the center of modernism can be attributed to the world wars and the psychological effect that it had on the individual. The horrors and violence altered public perceptions of life, a change that is evident within writers of the time period. The focus of writing shifted from the outward world to inner thoughts and feelings and overall representation of an individual’s stream of consciousness which are themes associated with modern text. In “Impact of Modernism”, focuses on the idea that world needed new outlets for expression and in finding them rejected the tradition that was already there with the quote, “Many modernists believed that by rejecting tradition they could discover radically new ways of making art.” (Impact) .The world no longer had the beauty it once did so a a discovery of new arts were needed. The mind of an individual became that new found inspiration and beauty that modern writers needed and for that reason it was one of the main focuses of modern

It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established

Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation

What further contributed to the rise of modernism was the First World War, which shell-shocked many. People lost their sense of certainty and it made them change their points of views. It made modernists question civilisation. This is seen in T.S Eliot’s poem “The Wasteland” which questions

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and V.S. Naipaul’s The Mystic Masseur, the concept of modernism is established through two supporting characters, both of which have only brief physical interactions with our protagonists. Kurtz, from Heart of Darkness, and Mr. Stewart, from The Mystic Masseur, both represent the idea of modernism through both their beliefs and their actions, in a time when modernism was finding its footprints and was viewed differently to those foreign to the movement. Although these novels take place in very different locations, they take place during a similar time period; the early 20th century. The modernist movement “flourished between 1900 and 1930” and emphasized the idea of deviating from the norm, including the rejection of religious principles, artistic freedom, and looking beneath the surface of man to find where our creative energy comes from, to reinvent how it can be utilized. Both Kurtz and Mr. Stewart may have been deemed as outsiders in their respective stories, but we begin to see their modernistic values and how they come to affect their respective novels over the course of time.

Before minimalism in the 1950s, the dominant art movement in the United States was Abstract Expressionism. The artists at that time’s goal were to express their personal emotions through their artwork (“Introduction to Minimal Art”). One popular branch of Abstract Expressionism was called Action Painting. This style of painting was spontaneous; paint would be