Rosalind Krauss Expanded Field

Calder discovered what he wanted: “to paint and work in the abstract” (Calder, p.133). He created relief paintings such as White Panel (1934) and applied himself thereafter to creating sculptures based on the plastic dynamics of asymmetry. Calder discovered the leaders of avant-garde, the Abstraction-Creation group. Under their influence, Calder began to look into Boccioni and Moholy-Nagy’s theories, using sculptures in motion.

Visual opulence, creativity, inimitable vision, and a style that is highly influential are the many characteristics of an admired movement in art history, that being of the Post-Impressionism movement (1875-1892). This movement, which was a by-product of the Impressionism movement, is the bridging gap between the two movements known as Realism and Expressionism. Post-Impressionism takes on some of the stylistic characteristics of these movements; however, it does not contain the all too glossy visuals of Realism or the heavily fantastic visuals of Expressionism, rather it is the intermediary of these two poles. My paper will discuss why this link was absolutely essential to the history of art movements, and I will be specifically using the

When it emerged in the sixties among the crush of several other art movements (Pop Art, Minimalism, among others) Land Art came to be an anti-gallery artistic offshoot that straddled the domain between architecture and sculpture. It had no manifestos nor schools nor leaders and it was not quite a movement; the artists who were involved with it were also involved in other types of arts. Land art was labelled as modern ‘sculpture’ but its versatility and introduction of new concepts and visual materials made it difficult to ascribe it to one field or term. Later on, the term “Earth Works,” coined by Robert Smithson came to use but Earth Works only refers to works that use earth while Land Art is an all-encompassing umbrella that includes works

The sculptress Louise Nevelson was a towering figure of American modernism. Born in 1899, she came to prominence in the late ‘50s, gaining renown for monochromatic structures built out of discarded wood. Critic Arthur C. Danto wrote, “There could be no better word for how Nevelson composed her work than bricolage—a French term that means making do with what is at hand.” (Danto 2007) Her pieces evolved and expanded in size across the latter 20th century, moving from smaller pieces to wall-sized ones, and the plays of volume therein, between light and mass, generated comparisons to numerous different movements.

Ruth Asawa’s, Untitled (S.114, Hanging, Six-Lobed Continuous Form within a Form with One Suspended and Two Tied Spheres), ca. 1958, is displayed at The Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. Asawa’s work follows the methodology of structuralism, which implies that artists use elements of human culture in relationships to a larger, overarching system or structure. Asawa is also influenced by abstract expressionism by incorporating it into her art by allowing nature to create her forms. Asawa’s specific background, technique, and material allows her to create beautiful sculptures that manipulate form and space, while also sharing similar characteristics as artists we have studied in class.

3.           How does the artist use the elements of mass, texture, and color in this sculpture?

Marshall Berman’s take on modernity is presented in his book All That Is Solid Melts into Air whereby he focuses on its issues and the cultural attitudes and philosophies towards the modern condition. In doing so he shares his experiences of modernity post WWII in New York in the height of an economic boom and then more specifically of his childhood neighbourhood, the Bronx. In addition to expanded austerity, industrial and architectural development, the end of WWII proved to be a key period in world history and by extension the history of art. A talented group of artists emerged in result that had been influenced by an influx of established European artist who had fled to New York to escape fascist regimes in their homelands. More importantly these artists produced art that was at the heart of maelstrom Berman describes in regards to his experience of modernity. I aim to highlight the correlation between Berman’s experience of modernity and the emergence of a new American modernism. Modernity throughout this period was broken into two different compartments, hermetically sealed off from one another: "modernisation" in economics and politics, "modernism" in art, culture and sensibility. It’s through the lens of this dualism in which we recognise that both Berman and these artists try to make sense of the world around them by making their individual expressions that would re-conceptualise what it is to be modern in the twentieth century.

As science was evolving, art and architecture were too forming new ideas and styles. Starting with Einstein, Newton, and Heisenberg- in regard to quantum physics and leaping into architectural advances, it is agreed that this was a revolutionary time for all who lived in this era. That being said, Cubism, Futurism, and Fauvism are important styles in modernistic art. Whether it is literature, poetry, song, or dance, these principles helped to shape the future and individual approach to create our own perspective. The abstract styles discussed, paved the way for Nonobjective art to make its mark on humanity and to make us feel and see uniquely. Not to mention, architecture and the International style that later developed, teaching us modern design. The international style gave us unique structures, distinctly showcasing new synthetic materials, floor plans, and roofs. As one can see, modernistic art provides just as an important part of our everyday life as

Although mainly associated with painting, Michael Canning also works in the mediums of drawing, printmaking and object making. It might be more appropriate to refer to him as “an artist” rather than “a painter”, but according to him, he is first and foremost “a sculptor”, that is, “interested in the history of materials as much as the history of art” (Canning 2011, 4).

The sculptures created in the Renaissance era saw the use of new techniques and styles that were never used before. The artwork had a huge impact of humanism on the different artists in this era. Starting around the 14th century and ending around the beginning of the 17th century the Renaissance era art was all about realistic linear perspective where the artist would observe objects from close and far and then paint it. This enabled the artist to get a lot of depth in his or her sculptures. Also, the art changed to depicting joy of human emotions and pleasures of life. On the other hand, art of today, also known as contemporary art, started a few years after World War II up to present day. During this period, different art movements occurred that influenced artists all over the world. In the 1950 and 1960, contemporary art was influenced by movements like Abstract, Expressionism, Pop Art, Neo-Dada, Minimalism and New York School. Some of the famous artists of this era are Andy Warhol, Wassily Kandisky, Robert Lichtenstein and Jackson Pollock (Witcombe, 2005). The 1960s was a playground for modern art. In spite of this new movement in art, the innovation and technical skill was not of a near caliber as of the Renaissance era. This mainly because of the lack in detail and human spirit, these are not recognized in modern art sculptures, paintings and photographs today. This being a

If today modern American and European art are among the most studied topics in the history of art, it is definitely due to the work and life of Alfred Barr, and his exhibition and catalogue of “Cubism and Abstract Art” 1936. His understanding of modernism shown in the chart that accompanied the exhibition as a visual tool for creating a logical understanding of the transcendence of the movements and their developments which helped to create a pure modernist style. This is probably one of the most significant accomplishment of Barr so far in his life, for creating an understanding for a civilization as he gathered all of his

The realm of postmodern art encompasses various aspects of contemporary styles. There is no set format to creating artwork anymore. Art pieces in the past basically conformed to the Kantian-Hegelian theory of art. Thomas McEvilley claim, "It was essentially an aesthetic theory of art, which held Beauty is a universal force that enters the soul with immediate, unquestionable authority at the instant when the soul approaches the beautiful object with openness to it" (qtd. in Weintraub 245). Beauty became an inborn characteristic of art. Pieces of artwork inevitably possessed the quality of beauty, seeking to inspire and touch the soul with powerful, aesthetically pleasing images.

When I visited the De Young Museum, I found a lot of postmodernism architectures and sculptures. After took off the bus, the first sight is the full picture of De Young Museum and the twist tower. Through the analysis of the structure of twist tower, the designer cut off the entity, to add, to reshape and to deform the modeling. Then divided them into modules stratified, partially distorted, and eventually became a postmodern architecture. This is the so-called deconstruction. The main idea is to use nonlinear or non Euclidean geometry to form the deformation of the relationship between architectural elements.

In his text entitled “Modernist Painting”, Greenberg focuses on the development of painting between the 14th and 19th century and emphasizes on what distinguishes Modernist painting from previous forms of painting, particularly those of the Old Masters. Greenberg begins by relating Modernist art to Kantian philosophy claiming that, the same way Kant used reason in order to examine the limits of reason, Modernist art is when art became self critical because it uses the technique of art to draw attention to its status as art. Indeed, he explains how without this self-examination similar to that of Kant’s reflection on Philosophy, art would’ve been “assimilated to […] therapy” like religion, because

In a ‘tradition breaking spirit’ [D’Alleva, 2012], that characterised modernist artists, early in the twentieth century, Duchamp abandoned traditional ideas and techniques, to create a new kind of ‘art’, one that the idea behind a work of art is more important that its visual realization, the ‘retinal’. The ready-mades was the product of Duchamp’s questioning what art is.