Transcript 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.

Aesthetics
Presentation #5
Modern Art
Impressionism
the birth of Modern Art
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Impressionism begins in the mid-1800’s in
Europe
It is a revolutionary movement
Goal – capture a moment, an impression
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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)
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Manet’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...
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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, Space, and the 4th Dimension
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Cézanne selected the
most characteristic
viewpoint of all his
objects
Changed eye levels
Created a composite
view with the illusion of
looking around it.
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
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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
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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
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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
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Die Brücke – “The Bridge” (eg. Kirchner)
Der Blaue Reiter
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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
Salvador Dali – The Last Supper
1955 – The National Gallery,
Washington
Dali – Christ of St. John of
the Cross (1951)
Abstract Expressionism
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Shifted the center of the art world from
Paris to New York.
One form is called “action painting”
These paintings are “irrational accidents”
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A rational response to the second world war?
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
Pollock – No. 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) (1950)
Ab Ex: Action Painting
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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
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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
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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”
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Modern art continues to evolve...Pop Art,
Hard Edge, Minimalism, Conceptual art.
Much of it is rejected because we “don’t
like it”
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But most people didn’t “like” Impressionism
when it appeared.
What do these movements tell us about our
world?
Pop Art
Lichtenstein – Wham (1963)
Hard Edge
Yellow with Red Triangle
Ellsworth Kelly (
Minimal Art
Donald Judd, untitled, 1969
Conceptual Art
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965