Benjamin West

The Death of General Wolfe - 1770

  -West was an american Quaker

 -dealt with scenes of classical antiquity

-history painting very prestigious!!

-painting is of battle of Quebec, modern clothing and subject matter, though the theme is classical

-viewer is part of the wheel of interest**

 -everyone is worrying

-Mohawk in contemplative state, he exists in order to localize the portrait

**-General Wolfe faces Indian, symbolizing native american assimilation/disappearance

-as Wolfe dies, they have won the battle

-only one person was actually present for Wolfe's death, though it cost 100 pounds to be in the painting so there was a propaganda element

-sky symbolizes passage from life to death

-Wolfe looks like dead Jesus held by Mary in "Pieta" by Michelangelo

-sybol that wolfe gave his life meaphorically 

** people saw colonization in religious terms

Joseph Wright of Derby

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air-Pump- 1768

-Derby belonged to a club called 'lunar society'.. collection of industrialists and scientists about new scientific discoveries

-interested in meteorology as well

-painting uses chiaroscuro

-around time of industrial revolution

-moon in window referance to lunar society

-man in picture is a travelling demonstrator of scientific experiments (entertainment)

-intellectual/entertainment demonstration

-emotional scene exists- scientist lookingat viewer... others are interested/overwhelmed

-one man is "meditating"

-the light from center is not a religious aura, but a mark or notion of discovery

John Henry Fuseli

The Nightmare - 1781

 Fuseli linked to Romanticism

-had to flee Switzerland, went to England

-woman asleep in bed with incubus sitting on chest

-demon produced by women while they slept

-not real, but a psychological creation

-notion that she is giving birth to it through dreams

-horse has sexual implications (head through drapery)

-Fuseli was politically conservative 

-image is a precursor to surrealism

-interest in irrational, investigation of subconsciousness

-mostly romanticism, combined with some NC aspects

Angelica Kauffmann

Cornelia Pointing to Her Children as Her Treasures - 1785

-Kauffmann born Swiss, trained in Italy, studies with Mengs

-was one of only two members of the Brittish Royal Academy

-this scene from Roman antiquity (building, clothing)... greek/roman noses... as the forehead slope is identical with nose (no curve)

-children tiberius and gaius gracchus are future politicians... they reformed roman state

-one child is ina conflicted state with jewelry

-moral story, and historical (honorable)

Jean-Baptiste Greuze

"The Village Bride", or The marriage, "The Moment When a Father Gives His Son-in-Law a Dowry" - 1761

-Greuze deals with overly sentimental subjects- and morality tails

-adopts ideas of Dennis Viderot, who wrote that actors should not address audience... give feeling of looking in secretly

 -linked with neo-classicism

-shallow image.. not much depth

-notary/lawyer is present, recording the giving of dowry

-subjects not well off... not type of people who would buy this picture...

-aristocrats of the time into uplifting themes of morality

-image of reasssurance/stability... poor people are agreeing, getting along... ideal stuff

-respect of tradition and authority

Jacques-Louis David

The Oath of the Horatii - 1784

 -David thought of as NC master; embodiment of this style

-develops ideas of Rousseau (socialism.. do as you want others to do... public interest takes precedence over social interest)

-another shallow image

-painting based on play "Horace"

-image thought to be subversive to authority

-3 brothers are making a vow/oath

-rather than two cities going to war, triplets from either city would fight to the death... father supports this idea

-two sets of brothers also cousins (family vs family)

-disregarding family ties to defend the state

-one of the women is Alban, and married to one of the Horatii brothers (only one who survives)

-another one of them is engaged to the other brother on the Alban side

-men in rigid pose, women is state of collapse

-Haratius is only one who survives, his sister is angry because he killed her fiance, se he kills her... declared not-guilty in court

-very graphic, instantaneous effect... like looking at an advertisement (not hidden details)

-criticizes aristocracy... precursor to French Revolution

Jacques-Louis David

Death of Marat - 1793

-David was a member of Jacobins

-believed his art should educate the public to new political system

-two political groups: Jacobins and Girondist

-Jacobins seized power during French Revolution

-Marat organized attacks on Girondist, so Coray killed him in hopes of stopping this (lead to friendship b/w two groups)

-David visited Marat day before

-Instead, killing lead to a raign of terror.. jacobins went on killing spree

 -Corday wrote a not to Marat, which he is holding.... David changes wording on the note to make it look like he was a good man doing a favor to his would-be murderer by allowing them to visit

-Marat had skin disease and was confined to medicinal bath

-picture does not present him as having a skin disease or being ugly

 -Marat was a political extremist

-wooden box used to write letters idicates personal austerity, though he was actually wealthy and this was fictional propaganda

-religious symbolism in the picture.. Marat looks like the carrying of christ.... he is a martyr

-strange glow in the pictures creates other-worldly effect

Fransisco Goya

Third of May - 1808

-Goya studied in Sara Gosa/Madrid/Italy... leading painter in Spain

-paintings blurred, and have smokey atmosphere

-Goya prioritized rationality over superstition

-enjoyed images of social oppression

-Napoleon's troops are executing Spanish

-Napoleon central figure in Europe for several years

-King Charles IV 's son Ferninand wanted to take out his father earlier, so invited Napoleon to help, but Napoleon screwed over Ferninand and made his brother King (Fern eventually regained throne)

-execution in industrial production line.. suggestion here to modernization

-powerful sections of before/during/after

-notion of helplessness

-man in white is trying to find humanity in his murdereers

-shining white with hands up... looks religious .. symbolizes moral purity

-hands up like a crucifixtion (jesus)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) - 1840

 -nothing lear in this work, only hints of what is coming on.... flying fish feeding on slaves?

-chains and limbs sticking out of water

-actual event in 1783... painting based on a book

-slaveship is going to the new world,, and encounters storm

-throw slaves overboard to lighten the load (only sick/dead slaves)

-he could now collect insurance policy because the slaves drowned at sea

-became a huge scandal when he tried to claim

-Turner is kind of an activist (British)

-in this painting, nothing is in place, in oath of Horatii, nothing is out of place

Caspar David Friedrich

Monk by the Sea - 1810

-German Romanticism painter

-move towards pantheism at this time.... a split occurs between religion and spiritualism

-no "thing" is god... god not an individual, but is everywhere

 -pantheists believed that nature was "god-like"

-Friedrich inspired by Goeth "nature is liing garment of god"

-rising theory of the shaman (simultaneously healer/religious leader/artist)

-monk on beach by north sea, operates as figure for viewer to identify with..... monk is having a religious experience with nature

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Grande Odalisque - 1814

-Orientalism painting

-Napoleon invaded Egypt at this time... brought with him artists/intellectuals/scientists/etc

-Odalisque are women within Ottoman Empire in Harems.... she is secludedand no western artist would be able to see her... image is one of fantasy

-Ingres gives people strange bone structure.. imaginary... makes her seem very smooth

-incense and pipe on one side

logic: If euopeans anre ligical, then foreigners must be irrational... idea that they are overly sensuous, potentially violent, etc...

-could be tobacco, hashish, opium, etc

Antoine-Jean Gros

Napoleon in the Plague House at Jaffa - 1804

-Gras was a favorite of Napoleon

-he used loose brush handling.. almost like Turner

-at the time of invaion of middle east

-scene is like a hospital.. many of Nap's troups got babonic plague... skin erupts into tons of boils

 -very painful death

-Napoleon is touching one of the boils... he wants to become emperor (appeal to people)

-His chief officer has a hankie to his mouth

-typically female nudes are in a passive postion, with males they are fighting, or heroic

-in this case, nudes are about to die

-in reality, Nap had his sick troups urdered, and tried to keep it secret

-this painting is Nap trying to contain rumor... make people believe he takes care of his troups

-light falls mostly on napoleon, makes him centre and special status

Theodore Gericault (accent on both e)

Raft of the Medusa - 1818

 -French ship called Medusa off the coast of Africa

-inexperienced captain got the job because he had powerful friends 

-ship sank with 400 on board... captains went to lifeboats, everyone else on rafts

-captains cut loose the rafts that were attached to the boats

-everyone waist deep in sea water for 12 days

-hit by storm at one point.. people attacked officers on board and committed suicide

-after 30 days 150 became 15.. 10 survived in the end

-in picture, mast of ship is in the distance.. they are trying to signal it

-occupants look muscular and heroic, not like they've been starving for weeks

-Gericault got corpses and body parts in his studio from hospital so he could get it right

-Jean Charles black man soldier in french army... Gericault opposed to slavery.... this seen as a kind of liberation

Gustave Courbet

A Burial at Ornans - 1849

-Courbet was a realist painter, was a radical (personally and politically)

-This picture is Courbet's hometown... knew these people personally

-his work was rejected as popular because of crude brushstrokes, type of people used and the fact that his paintings didn't depict events in history

-you weren't supposed to paint poor/middle class people "big", but rather, small

 Courbet thought of as a socialist due to his works

-one row of people.. all at same level.. suggestion of equality

-very direct paint handling.. linked to his personality/political ideals

-this was the funeral of his maternal grandfather, who was a veteran of the french revolution, but who is also standing in the crowd

-the pit opens up to  our space, we are part of the wheel

-** the fictional men in the foreground wearing 18CE clothing are a connection between current revolution and French Revolution

Edouard Manet (accent on Edouard)

Olympia - 1863

-thought to be a central picture of modern art

VERY similar to 'Venus of Urbino', which was generally a private kind of painting.. Venus was a courtisan (very educated woman who would circulate in upper levels of society and was available for a price... a 'sort-of' prostitute

Olympia seen as a not a courtisan, just a common prostitute. It made people upset and embarrassed, as it was not a conventional nude woman. Courtisan was an emblem of falsehood... mimicked upper class women.

*Manet saw prostitutes as performing the same role in society that avant garde/bohemian artists did.... social outlaw

**at this time, there was a move away from royalty employing artists.. industry becomes more commercial

-reactions to this picture were very exaggerated because it was such a scandal.. people would go and laugh at it.... a nude woman should never look at the viewer (another ignored convention)

** the painting is sketchy... photography is widespread at this point, and painters no longer prizing themselves on accuracy

-move from crisp representation to loose brushwork.... distinguish from both photography and manufactured objects

Edgar Degas

The Orchestra of the Paris Ope.ra - 1869

-Degas was a leading impressionist

-took up challenge of representing everyday life

-audience wouldn't normally be looking at orchestra... they are simply there to provide music for theatre (they are hidden)

-things are not unified in the picture, they tend to disappear into sides... this style is similar to amateur phtography

-around this time, japanese doors open to trade, and alot of influence came from their art

-man in the corner is watching his dancing mistress, and being very protective.. a japanese theme?

E.douard Manet

A Bar at the Folies-Berge..re - 1881

-impressionalism

-one of Manet's last paintings

-reflection, though reflection doesn't make sense

-portrayed as older and fatter

-working in a nightclub, has circus acts/trapeze acts

-bright white electric lights were new technology

-deliberately introducing spatial inconsistencies... indicating a fictional work

-commenting that there is a difference between surface and reality

-Monet had extremely bright palette

-relaxing atmospheres

-

Berthe Morisot

Summer's Day - 1879

-option to wander around painting not available to females at the time

-can only go where socially permitted.. art reflects this

-landscapes, vacations, families, etc

-closest detail is in the faces

-definite declaration of making painting... brushwork very evident

-women riding on ferry... going from on island to another... 

-very geometrically organized park... later reworked to be natural

-park also had racetrack/zoo/botanical gardens

-should be people everywhere... but you don't see them

-gives image a sense of natural world

Claude Monet

Impression, Sunrise -1872

-art of the day does not reflect reality of the violence

-industrial/modernity image... large ships/port/cranes

-paited really fast... though added sun after painting dried

William Holman Hunt

The Awakening Conscience - 1853

-belongs to victorian period.. definitely a tale of morality

-belonged to Pre-Raphaelites(Raph -early renaissance- refers to painters before this time.. ie. early medieval)

-middle ages seen as being more authentic and genuine

Pre-Raphs interested in guilds (early trade union), had to be a member of the group... promoted collaboration and equality

-linked to Brittish Socialism

-encouraged return to craft (rather than production line)

-woman from poor background meets rich guy.. becomes mistress... Hunt believes that this is an immoral situation

-man is the cat playing with the bird

-woman having a relevation.... will lead to her social reform

-house is surrounded with expensive things

-also morality tale on materialism

-strange shape- Hunt made his own frames... carved on them 

-Hunt uses frame as transitional zone ... not complete separation

Julia Margaret Cameron

Sister Spirits - 1865

 -Cameron was a Brittish colin India (born there) who moved back to England in 45... interested in culture... unique technique and approach

-she tried to arrange scenes in which she evoked poetry/bible

-same kind of sensibilities as the PreRaphaelites...
"dreamy look"...

-photographed friends, familiy members, servants

-women never portraits, almost always characters

-women and men not in everyday clothing, used drapery.. no fashion involved... presented a timeless photograph

-uses soft focus and narrow depth of field... some things in ocus and some things out (poetic)

-images were suggestive

**LACK OF DEFINITION=POETIC

Paul Ce.zanne

Mont Sainte-Victoire - 1885

-Ce.zanne painted this moutain over and over again.. wanted to get something really sold; consistent with hearly historical stuff

-most impressionists went very quickly... Cezanne took years to make a painting.. extremely calculated

****with photographs, everthing coheres in a stable manner, one focus nd everything is fixed.... definitely not the case with zezanne... illusion of actuality.. everything in focus (not like real sight).. he looks at one area, and painting is a registration of that instant of perception****

-suggests depth with larger areas of paint in foreground... also by painting mountain blue

Vincent van Gogh

Starry Night - 1889

-Gogh's most famous work

-linked to Taoism, the life energy force that permeates all things.. linked strongly to Pantheism

-everything is alive** everything has a consciousness in a way

-this is a partial view from his mental hospital... Alpilles hills in the background

-kind of a cut and paste job... things in landscape that shouldn't exist... (i.e. he could not see village from asylum... imported village... for symbolic and aesthetic effect.... not looking for geographically accurate representation

-church in Saint Remi didn't look like that... he invented the steeple

-symbolism: resembles cypress tree... both acting in AXIS MUNDI (axis of the world)- religous architecture

-connection b/w worldly and spiritual... connects with sky

-cyprss tree does the same thing

VAN GOGH

-dutch artist... most famous stuff done in france

-stuff leads to expressionism

-had many many jobs... almost fanatical with religious devotion... Anton Mauve was his teacher...

-Gogh is an ideallist who tends to elevate the poor... had ver dramatic lifestyle.. life becomes part of his work

-his paintings tend to have really sharp recession back in space

-used a viewer to map out depth

Paul Gaugin

The Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) - 1888

-Gaugin started off as an impressionist, then became very interested in symbolism and Primitivism

-he worked from memory in order to eliminate inessentials

-Bretons lived in Brittney - North France - culturally linked to Celtic British people... language a variant of Gallic

-women in photo are dressed as Bretons

-there seemed to be an artist calling in this town as everyone became interested in Breton culture

-**studying ethnic minorities made them feel exceptional... similar to how Bohemians felt

-this scene very similar to a manga Japanese print

-story comes from book of Genesis

-12 Breton women symbolize 12 tribes of Israel

-red land where they fight, and green land symbolizes promised land

-styalized tree on ground, and also a cow

-tree is meant to be an apple tree (tree of knowledge)... old traditions incorporated with colonial tradition (wrestling, cow sacrfice = traditional)

-Gaugin wrote about his paintings... he was a big liar though... he was also into Neo-Platonism (people should turn away from external world and contemplate upon internal visions)

Georges Seurat

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - 1885

-Seurat did alot of experimentation

-associated with neo-impressionism/poitalism (dots)

-carefully calculated work... scharacters are sculptural

-repetition across works makes pattern... rythmic pattern...

-river seine... lots of social mixing.. classes dont care where they sit and with whom they enjoy nature

-neo impressionists were anarchists... connection b/w impressionism/neo-imp/symbolism

Edvard Munch

The Scream -1893

-Munch from Norway, and linked to expressionism (like Gogh)

-landscape manifestation of psychological state of mind

-lines and color do this

-all of nature echoes the scream

-Munch said it was a mmory that he tried to capture... not actually screaming , but having a mental breakdown

-non-natural perspective... linked to paranoia (railing by water's edge)

-eruption of a volcano in indonesia around this time could be the cause for such amazing sunsets

Gustav Klimt

The Kiss 1908

-linked to symbolism primarily, and some expressionism (distortion)

-couple kissing on edge of a cliff... a mement of danger

-Vienna succession promoted modern art/culture... a radical group

-Vienna important place at the time... Sigmund Freud doing research here at the time... can see link (intense emotional feeling)

-unification exists b/w the two people and clothing

-uses a metallic paint

Gustave Moreau

The Apparition (Dance of Salome.) - c1876

-like Klint.. a particular branch of symbolism

-interested in unconscious, dream world... occult

-also idea of femme fatale and 'fin de sie..cle' mentality

-biblical story.. king in background

-Salome. is daughter of hisconsort.. asks her to dance

-does a wild dance... she can have anything she wants

-she requests John the Baptist's head on a plate... Salome. is recoiling from he scene

-means "light and dark"

-a method of modeling form primarily by the use of light and shade (in painting)

means fresh

-the technique of painting on plater with pigments ground in water so that the paint is absorbed by the plaster and becomes part of the wall itself.

Victor Horta

'Intrior Stairwell of the Tassel House, Brussels' - 1892

-example of art nouveau

ART NOUVEAU - mostly comes from architecture/design... emeres in France/Belgium/Germany..... interest in biomorphism, generally 1890-early 1900s

-Horta a great art nouveau designer

-very lush, activates everything with plant forms

-uses iron/steel to emulate plants

-stairs open up... smooth transfer from one zone to another

**arabesque**-on styalized line, but others similar to it

-optical oscillation occurs when you observe... a rythmic pattern found a lot in muslim architecture

-creates a kind of hallucinatory experience

-huge amount of detail involved... degies material!! (metal seems alive)

-relationship between art and biology is an interest

Gertrude Ka:sebier

'Blessed Art Thou Among Women' - 1899

-print on japanese tissue(expensive)

-associated with pictorialism (photographers who want to have themselves thought of as artists)

-lots of amateur photography around at this time

-photographers had to convince people that they weren't simply point and click... used fancy materials and expensive stuff

-this is a mother and daughter scene

-connection beingmade between foreground and background of image (pre-raph print)

-symbolizes a coming of age,, child about to cross a threshold ... both standing in doorway

-child being sent out into world by mother... young girl died only a couple years later

Jacob Riis

'Five Cents a Spot, Unauthorized Lodgings in a Bayard Street Tenement' - c1889

-Riis was a social reformer type

... photographed conditions he once knew himself

-accompanied the police on their raounds and was a reporter for social issues

-incorporated photography in his police reporting jobs

-made slides of his pictures... and did presentations for public awareness

-produced 'how the other half lives'

-he is trying to help people, however police are doing raids

-people have eyes closed and are pissed off

-flash is unusual and threatening experience

**photographer is doing the speaking for victims... big problem with this kind of documentary

E.tienne-Jules Marey

'Walking in Front of a Back Wall' - c1884

The Woman with the Hat - 1905

Henri Matisse

-matisse linked to fauvism (just lasted a couple years 1905-1911)

-Matisse started impressionist, then took on Seurat's style

*uses 'lack of boundaries' and 'vibrating space'... kind of hysterical... linked to discovery of atmoic theory, etc

-another image of his wife- Ame/lie

-she ran a hat shop for a living

-early in Matisse's career, she brought in the money

-critical for development of his career

-this painting a critical point of criticizm for Matisse

-thought to be an outrageous image.. people would stand around and laugh

-totally out of bounds... people would even damage it

-hostile response... the one REALLY got under people's skin

-could have to do with position... looking directly at viewer... and agressive and un-lady-like position

-the fan confuses things

... difficult to understand what is going on

-uses very bright complimentary colours that react against one another... creates strong reactions

-colors don't represent anything... they are placed there to creaste an optical buzz

Mountains at Collioure - 1905

Andre. Derain

Derain was a friend of matisse, and another fauvist painter

-similar style to that of Van Gogh

-twisting landscapes, heightened color, things look alive

-fauvism 'updates' late 19CE french art

**DE-SKILLING -don't have to present a flashy and finished painting... look for verity instead

- these ideas stemmed from Manet

-not investigating/exploring... just immitating a prior approach (that is why this is not impressionism

-wanted to apply a child-like and direct brushwork

-favism uses non-imitating

-you don't see shadows**

-non-naturalistic application of colors to intensify scene (ie. red tree trunks)

-very little under-painting... raw canvas

-previous paintings used many many layers

-areas of raw canvas exposed

*they are evoking and disavowing impressionism deliberately and simultaneously 

**with fauvism, trying to make a psychological imprint of emotional state... uses crude and direct application of paint to do this...

***wanted equivalence of reality, not immitation.... these are sophisticated artists making this choice

-fauvists eventually gravitated towards faschism

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - 1907

Pablo Picasso

 Grew up in Barcelona

-living in Paris, developped a sense of discontinuity in the big city... a degree of fracture

-this is one of founding paintings of 20CE modern art

-early 20th was a tossup b/w Matisse and Picasso for influence

-Picasso probably more influential ... he worked fast and non-stop

-he is a legendary figure

-Picasso working in a realist/symbolist style

-one that dealt with night life/ clubs/ thoughtful scenes

-he haad famous 'blue period' before this

-this work not exhibited until 10-15 years after made

-didn't want to show it... felt it wasn't finished

"all artists steal, but I only steal from the best"

-recognized that ideas were borrowed, 

-obsessed with workd of Paul Cezanne (crude material)

-cubic angular forms

-deveral different styalistic approaches in this painting... aspect of discontinuity

-tries to reincorporate Spanish antiquity and relate it with his modern spanish heritage

-masks in painting very similar to masks from Etoumbi regions, People's republic of the Congo

-African/non-western models were ways o free-associate and do new things... though mask is from a very traditional culture... people carving mask not thinking about free expression.. more an emphasis on cultural continuity

-women with mask-like faces

-location is supposed to be a brothel

-firgure of prostitute important for modernity

-'Avignon' is a city/town in southern France, but also a famous brother street in Barcelona

-anguilarity of forms communicates a brutality

-all kinds of rude jokes found in his paintings

-watermelon, fruits, grapes, pears, at bottom

-they are a stand in for male sexual apparatus 

-forms that don't fit anything... indefinite

-something is not clear (ie. lady's leg on the far left)

-Picasso and Braque were trained classically but chose not to paint this way

-early cinema has influence on artists of this age

-paintings exhibit fast moving characteristics

-cubism refers to fractures, not to cubes

Street, Dresden - 1908

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

German expressionism

-Kirchner did lots of downtown street scene images

 -dynamic times, rough areas

-heightened color and distortions add a psychological content and emotional feeling (like Edvard Munch)

-interested in the immediate impression of their encounter

-direct impact in a violent and agitated way

-"die Brucke' - group formed by german expressionists... "bridge to the future"

-originally architect students who got bored

-set up commucal studios

***notion of 'gesamtkunstwerk' - not easily translated... basicall "total art work"

-idea first found in German opera

-try to get many different art forms at same time

-idea that all senses were stimulated... and it would be completely overwhelming

-walking into an artwrk in away, suspended inside... heighten response

-with expressionism, there is a psychological intensity present

-extension of post-impressionism

Sketch for "Composition II" - 1910

Wassily Kandinsky (Russian...innovator in German expressionism)

-Kandinsky was a writer and important theorist

-lots of representational content

-rider on a horse (Blue rider)

-drawing on early sybolist approach

*given just enough to recognize content... but wants you to work to reveal it for yourself

-does not want speciic content

-the experience if more important than the painting itself... painting is a gateway

-painting has an 'inner sound', -writes this

-inner sound is not musical, but an inner resonnance that triggers emotion

****This is ABSTRACT (some recognized forms, though highly distorted) art, not NON-REPRESENTATIONAL art (no recognition of forms)

-in a way following the French Symbolists (Paul Gaugin)

-true reality is not available to us (neo-platonic point of view)

-kandinsky went to town with this idea... ultimate reality is not directly accessible

"it is not in form that the absolute is to be sought"

-process of adding more and more .. intention is that viewer can intuitively latch on to it

-when listening to non-vocal music, you just hear sounds, not description... no subject matter exists

-with music, you have to direct your attention towards it... but you don't start looking for things... they occur to you

-Blue Rider group was not formally organized... basically an aggregate for purposes of publishing and showings 

The Red Studio - 1911

Henri Matisse

 -things begin to slow down for Matisse, and begins to spend months on a work rather than a very short time

-this is his own painting studio

-completely non-naturalistic

-all things that he painted and made around room

-scenes exaggerated and almost cartoon-like

-almost a parallel to reality

-lines (of table, etc) invoke depth... but single red color indicate a flat surface

-furniture was brown, walls lue-grey... but then everything red.

-he had an interest in African art and culture

-didnt know anything about actual/traditional uses though

Matisse died in early 50s, though could not paint though did cutouts instead, which were a big influence on 60s abstract painters

States of Mind I: Farewells - 1911

Umberto Boccioni

-Marinetti was leader of Italian futurism

-started as a symbolist poet, eventually guided peope towards dynamism of modern life.

-all kinds of art - poet/art/music/cinema/architecture/etc

-early avant guarde also associated with radical politics... futurist associated with anarchism... but different... very militarily orientated anarchism... very right wing

 -believed italy had to be sweeped and cleaned... artists role in this idea was forget about the grand smothering force of historical art... denegrated early culture in order to break away from past

-prior to WWI, many people felt that war was on the horizon, but lots of people (esp Italy) felt that war would be a good thing

-at beginning of war, government did not want to participate

-anarchists felt war would be a speeded up version of modernity... and thrilling nature of life

-@ end of war, Mussolini led the rising of of Italian faschism

-Manifesto writing... short programs state aims and projections of major avant guard groups... tend to be nearly of hysterical nature... really wanted to harness the tendencies of modernity

 -in art and life, speed, violence, dynamism, etc were championed

-connections with french cubist painting (which emerged at the same time)

-with futurism, you get a color... also a dynamic force

Etienne Jules Marey very significant (pictures of movement) and influential

-locomotive train... people all around

-belief that should not paint things as directly observed

-thought that they were depicting movement as it actually occurs

-wanted to depict both time and space

 -depict dynamic sensation over static form

*lots of Boccioni's paintings occurred accross time and space within same frame

-he distinguished b/w absolute motion (actual movement) and relative motion (other things in relation either not moving or going in opposite direction)

Guitar, Sheet Music, & Wine Glass - 1912

Pablo Picasso

-w/o invention of collage moern culture art would not be where it is today

-wall paper (patterned) as ground for work

-a ready made compostitional element

-the act of choice is the compositional decision

-reference to fragment of pop-music at the time 

**lots of referrals

-taking things out of their context and giving them meaning (no wall but wallpaper, not full song, etc)

-newspaper unctions in same way as sheet music, purpose in reality is instantaneous communication... Pablo makes permanent only a reference

 -all these different elements create a new meaning

-optical trick with guitar

-not actual guitar... allp pieces come together to make one

-wall paper comes through to seem higher

-Le Jou- cut off le journal, deliberates rude little joke that makes sexual reference

-the rest, 'rnal' will be used in a different picture

-'the battle has began' - pre WWI reference to fighting in Balkans

-so many seemingly disjointed references

-gives them no choice... they have to relate

-montage (film) is a consequence of collage

-

Braque invented collage... Picasso 'took off' with it

*interior design, pop music, wars, journalism, wood cut, etc etc

-referenceto fast experience to dislocation..... like the city

Nude Descending a Staircase, No2 - 1912

Marcel Duchamp

-this guy was a big deal French artist

-his first paintings were impressionist, then fauve, then cubism, then went off on his own

-his ideas extremely influential (after this painting)

-working in a cubist sense in this image, but not the same type of cubism as Picasso/Braque

-very influenced by Etienne Jules Marey... also related to futurists

-like Picasso, uses "earth tones"

-he incorporates movement, and diferent kinds of jokes

-title is printed on the bottom, means that title is a component of work (not distant)

-too convention of the nude, and played around with it (should be passive and lying down)

-he combines male and female nudes (passive and active)

-was not permitted in a cubist show... inappropriate.... this made him very upset... se he retired a little, and worked as a librarian for a couple years.... learnt about scientific discoveries

-1913- Armoury show.... very famous art show in New York... changed shape and direction of American modern Art

-this painting went to the show... and it was "the Hit"

-huge success... people found it interesting and funny

-he then moved to New York... he was loved there

"artist does not have to make artwork, just has to make choices.. desn't need to be beautiful... can be enigmatic, strange, interesting, etc

A Crystal Day - 1913

Erich Heckel

 German expressionism

-a very unnaturalistic landscape

-crystalline forms/shapes

-references to cubism (fragmentation)

-interested in 'naturalism' --nudism

-Wandervogel - 'wandering bird' movement

-kind of like early hippies

 -had sandals/beards/vegetarians/communes etc

-that is what is being presented here

-also political anarchists... extreme individuality

-break the bonds that hold you back in society.

-"obey all of your instincts"

-WWI is a situation where this actually happened

-discovered that when people obey their instincts, they end up killing others

-around 1908 Worringer published very important book in germany "abstraction and empathy"

-felt that people living in medieval times are not comfortable of their surroundings, don't want to be reminded of them in art.. they tend towards abstraction because they are disturbed

-want something more permanent (diamonds/crystal)

Empathy - sympathizing with an image because you can relate

 -something people can look to and aspire to.. otherworldly, more spiritual, an escape...

-book was a big theoretical hit in early 20th CE

-space is very weird, landscape is very styalized

Animal Destinies (The Trees Showed Their Rinkgs, The Animals Their Arteries) - 1913

Franz Marc

-another Blue Rider

-interested in painting animal forms

-felt they exemplified innocence

-met Kandinsky in 1910

-animals struggling with nature, at chaotic world

-relations ot Italian Futurists

-very fast trajectories .. a confluence of living animal forms and the liing forms of nature

-like van gogh, suggests that all of nature is alive

-Granz was an early casualty of WWI

-all killed artists affected art of the time

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space - 1913

Umberto Boccioni

-image of a man running... a little bit "cartoony"

-wanted to incorporate experience of the individual observing the motion... who know if he was successful

-lines called "force lines", ie action comics.. represent movements

The Traveler - 1915

Lyubov Popova

-woman painter/stage designer

-combination of French cubism and Italian Futurism

-Russians call it cubo-futurism

-fragmentation introduction of text, and also representational content

-later becomes a constructivist painter

Installation photograph of Malevich room in 0-10 Exhibition, St Petersburg - 1915

Kasimir Malevich

-some of the most radical paintings of 20CE

-paintings not presented sidebyside... all ver te place

-presentation has a compositional effect

-can't just look at one painting... look at all together

-works with fundamental forms (black cross/black square)

-painting top=middle in a strange place.... does not hang flat

-in Russian/Christian tradition, this is where icon is to be placed

-icon is a manifestation of the divine

-hangs it where families would hang their icons.

-chair is to scale

-Malevich and others produced opera "Victory over the Sun"

-he was designer of set, costumes, and lighting

-only parts of costume would be lit at one point

-theme of the exlipse (black square theme)

-black square painted over top of another painting

-painting over old paint causes cracking (damaged painting)

-he felt that this imae represented the end of western art styles and the rebirth of new stuff and ideas (analogous to exlipse)

 -alot of these artists were huge egomaniacs

-alot of future art (after this) references to this statement of radicalism/evolution by putting in a little black square

*a huge sybol for art

*painting does not look like something else (like most paintings).. it is not a reproduction... it is simply a square....

The Entombment of the Birds and Buterflies (Head of Tzara) - 1916

Jean Arp

-originally from a region of France bordering with Germany

-Tzara - one of Zuric poets

-during WWI some safe havens exist

-Switzerland was neutral... and Zuric was a destination for many peope in Europe

-creates an international centre there

-Lenin was there at this time

-artists/poets there associated with German Expressionism (anarchists)

-Cabaret Voltaire was a nightclub they created

-Voltaire was very funny/witty philosopher

-night club played a similar role

-not like a bar... a little different

-would have entertainment (popular or avant guarde)... brought togeter expressionism and futurism 

-would attempt to provoke the audience

 -ie. reading several different poems at one time

-notion of simultenaity

-also published magazines... became like an artwork

-mass produced and manufactured artwork (first of)

-references organic/microscopic forms

-had a carpenter who would cut out his works

-made a step away from handi-craft-ness

-poetic aspect of the work became characteristic of work

-Arp was a painter/sculptor/poet/ did everything

-worked with chance as an organizing principle

-gravity is already an organizing principle

-even with chaos, there are laws of science and natural order

Fountain - 1917

Marcel Duchamp

-a readymade

-like the black square.. symbol of the 20th CE

-something he bought at a hardware store

-men's urinal, rotated on axis, presented differently

-almost noone has see it, the original was destroyed only a couple years... a sculpture only known in 2D form

-'American Society of Independent Artists'

-was this society as open as it seemed to be?

-this work was a test.. would they allow it?

-sent it in under a different name (Richard Mutt)

-Duchamp was on hanging committee.. could see politics

-people said it was too rude and it was censored

-Duchamp resigned in protest, and it created a huge scandal

-then it became a very famous and important work

-initiated an age where the artist does not need to manufacture a work

-photograph also institutes the role of documentation

-lots of art (esp since 60s) is instigated by information surrounding a work,, not the work itself

-like with bicycle wheel takes a useful object and make it useless... gives astrangenes.. why is it just sitting there?

-fountain refers to person who will use it? gross joke?

-cartoon.. Mutt + Jeff, reference to cartoon culture

-materializing joke of Picasso's "urnal".. like Picasso, ripping out of context and recontextualizing

-'Armut" German for poverty and lack

-French slang.. 'Richard' is someone who is very rich

-creates a play on words.. and contradiction

*The Blind Man, The Richard Mutt Case (article created to reveal the scandal)

"buddha of the bathroom"

-divine or excremental? union?

-claimed to have bought it... but cannot trace design... people suggest he had it crafted

-created a variety of versions... manufactured objects but only one of each kind

-in film, used twirly objects that create strange illusion between flat screen and D objects

-also uses a lot of puns

-copyright Rose Selavie

Cut with the Kitchen Knife - c1919

Hannah Ho:ch

-much longer title in reality

-much different style of collage

-frantic.... deliberately confusing

-things don't make "spatial sense"

-no clear zone where things belong

-**example of Berlin Dada

..@ end of WWI had some revolutions

-notion that group would bring down government and create Communist state... this was brought down violently and abruptly

-economic collapse at this time and mass unemployment

-requirement of social change.. much of male population dead

-boyfriend Raoul Hausmann

-Berlin Dadists much more political that Zuric Dadists

-lots of references to Dada... from some sort of political magazine... repetition of "meaninglessness"

-is chaotic... though some things are identifyable

-ie. political leaders, soldier (anti-dada), man with insect coming out of forehead, connection between human and machine forms, ballerina with no head, silent film star, dada friends, Lenin, Marx, herself, crowds of people,

-bottom left "H.H.".. common artistic signature should be cursive bottom right.... uses cut out letters to de-personalize

-photograph of bf attached to doll's body

**-bottom right, map of Europe where women can/cannot vote...

-kind of proto-femninst

1 Copper Plate... - 1920

Max  Ernst

-was working in Germany

-later became leading member of French surrealists

-reversed idea of collage

-take a page from an advertisement

-then overlaid it with Gaushe

-reverse of collage.... just laid over/painted out everything else

-creates a new space by doing this

-give notion that certain things are much different in space on his work than on original

'subtractive method, rather than additive'

-uses paranoid sharp recessions/perspectives back into space

-used out of date/obsolete materials (19CE) and thus creates nostalgia

-would often bring in slightly disturbing themes (ie. skin being punctured, etc)

ABCD - 1923

-Raoul Hausmann

-more aggressive approach to photomontage

-image of himself furrounded by tickets/letters of alphebet

-instead of signing it, puts in poster with his name etc

-he was a poet interested in dance and psychoanalysis

-sometimes made experimental poetry with just letters and sounds

-he thought WWI proved Europe's uselessness... needed a rebirth, therefore sounds became constituent elements of art

-while making sounds @ a demonstration, he would also make movements

-utterances in his mouth, which give birth to the universe

-didn't make words, but used letters that could be pronounced

-can be read/looked at/ or spoken

Bird in Space - 1928

Constantin Brancusi

-was a highly regardd sculptor from Romania... lived in Paris

-kind of regarded as a cubist

-would remake a sculpture many times to perfect it

-presentation of organic forms... alsoo idea of metamorphosis (constant change and transformation)

-a very streemline bird... no wings or anything... suggests a sharp fast movement in space

-bird is moving directly upwards...

-Brancusi takes a lot of time deciding upon base of his structures

-purpose of base very similar to purpose of frame... removes artwork from the world... gives its own reality

 -cylinder wood/limestone and bird is bronze

-transition creates a dynamic change in density and mass

-flatness at top references beak of bird

As in the Middle Ages, So in the Third Reich - 1934

John Heartfield

-original name "Helmut Hertzvult"

-changed his name in a protest to nationalistic chauvenism

-photomontage.. worked with magazine called AIZ... left wing magazing publication with wide distribution

-AIZ moved to Prague (Czechslovakia) when Nazis came to power

-he and George Grosz joined the communist party... dedicated lots of time to anti-Nazi propaganda

-top is a sculpture of a christian martyr

-had a team of people working for him

-would make a rought cut and paste job.

-actual phtomontage was highly colored.. then photographed and printed in straight brownish tone

-creates a 'realism'

-begins in Zuric... latter WWI

-people from all over Europe

-it is a reaction to the absurdity of war

-WWII had a purpose, no purpose to WWI, global misunderstanding

-therefore dada prioritizes absurdity

-to a degree light hearted

-Berlin Dada though was a very hostile form

-'dada' is a meaningless term... though it is prioritized and repeated again and again... symbolized irrationality

-they were social critics... idea to dismantle overregulated convention of prior culture

Gesamtkunstwerk

Wanderogel

AIZ

Victory over the Sun

Cabaret Voltaire

De Brucke

Blue Riders

Marinetti

Vladimir Tatlin

Project for "Monument to the Third International"

1920

-like an architectural model

-leader in Russian constructivism

-Bolsheviks - radical communists staged a coup... called October Revolution (here were two, this was the second)

-later because USSR... things changed completely.. collectivisation of property

-also, there is a civil war.. 17million kiled

-lots of Avant-Garde artists as Bolsheviks came on board... lost of these artists were politicians

-idea that art would parallel politics

-meant to be 400m tall and span a river

-would be 3 rotating glass rooms in teh building . .though it was impossible to build at this time

-bottom room would rotate once/year

-next level once/month

-glass cyclinder at top would rotate once/day

-symbolic of the cosmic notion of revolution... demonstrates solar system

 -rooms would contain legislative bodies

-propaganda/information @ top.. wanted radio system that would broadcast from top

-also wanted to broadcast film and project it to the clouds at night

-Tower of Babel was a potential model for this 

-also could have been Eiffel Tower

-very different idea of a monument

-constructivists start being very radical painters and sculptors.. then decide these things are old fashioned

-felt that artists should go into production and become useful

-Tatlin and others started making clothin designs, furniture, etc

-reaction against individuality... artists go into production

productivism is a branch of constructivism

La.szlo. Moholy-Nagy

Light-Space Modulator

1922-1930

-like looking @ film projector.. not looking at the film itself, just the machine that makes it

-turn off lights, plug it in, and it does crazy things

-light sources with various kinds of movements

-one of first motorized sculptures... first of "light shows"

Varvara Stepanova

Design for Sportswear

1923

-specialized in textile/graphic design

-lots for athletic events

-sportswear that was loose and easy movement.. at same time not too revealing.. bagggy

-political sybols and strong graphic elements on clothing

-married to Rodchenko (good friends /w Popova)

Gerrit Rietveld

Interior of Schro:der House, with "Red-Blue" chair

1924

- famous for furniture
- common use of primary colours in his work
- created a very open, airry space
- structure of the interior was more like a skeleton, the walls were meant
to seperate the rooms rather than support the structure

(exterior)
- no large plain surfaces
- again, noticable use of primary colours
- very clean, straight lines

Gerrit Rietveld

Exterior of Schro:der House

1924

Alexander Rodchenko

Advertisement: "Books!"

1925

- was made to be a poster
- Russian Suprematist aspect
- avant-garde
- used for educational propaganda
- married to Stepanova
- Lily Brik(friend of Varvara Stepanova's)was the model
- started literacy campaign
- mass production introduced to art

Andre. Masson

Battle of Fishes

1926

-very abstract surrealism

-very organic

-application of automatism to drawing/painting

-again, automatist approach

-glue and sand

-no sealer on canvas, can see resulting stain

-nothing is defined, he finds this more interesting

Piet Mondrian

Composition with Red, Blue, & Yellow

1930

-dutch artist

-De Stijl group of artists from the Netherlands at this time (the style)

-notion of equilibirum and stability very important

-becomes more and more abstract as he gains experience

-moved to Paris in 1911, became influenced by Braque/Picasso

-also becomes more organized and begins to use grids

***no single point for your eye to rest

-got kicked out of Paris during WWI

-later on formed De Stijl group

-interested in philosophical and spiritual themes

-belonged to theosophy movement, which was a big thing in the early 20th CE
-an attempt to create a synthesis of all world religions

-try to pick out the best from each one, and create a world unity of spiritual beliefs

-deeper spiritual reality can only be accessed through meditation... looking at paintings is a form of meditation

-within a unity, you have differences, which accounts for everything

-his painting represents a philosophy concerning reality

-grid=pre existing form

-difference within grid is the theme

-'field of activity'

 -this is alater work, more subtle, not as dynamic and flashy

-still, no place for your gaze to rest

-philosophical picture of a world view

-frame designed by Mondrian - white- transition zone

-dealing with relationships/construction that is unstable rather than object and form and color and lines

-*not a decorative artist

Salvador Dali

The Persistence of Memory

1931

-surrealists involved in everything but music

-this is a very famous painting

-is Spanish, joined surrealist group

-uses fanciful surrealist technique

-Masson/Miro use automatism, Dali plans things out

-still believes he will have surrealist effect by disorientating viewer

-clocks inspired by camembert cheese melting

-pocket watch with ants crawling all over it

-Dali will represent decay quite often

-image is impossible

Meret Oppenheim

Object (Luncheon in Fur)

1936

-work that arose out of converstaion with Picasso

-showing him her bracelet of fur

-covered with gazell fur (chinese)

-AGAIN: 2 separate objects combined to create something

-also making rude jokes

-linking to Manet's "Luncheon in the Grass"

-fur is like pubic hair

-SURREALISM: weird, suggestive objects

Jackson Pollock

Autumn Rhythm: Number 30

1950

-lots of different approaches

-regionalist at first... worked with a Mexican muralist

-murals big and non-portable... influence on surrealists

-very interested in European painting (Picasso, surrealists, Mondrian, etc)

-he is abstract expressionism

-not terribly descriptive of a term

-does however describe Pollock

-was very interested in automatism (improvising marks at randome)

-element of doodling.. what would emerge would emerge

-Pollock had issues.. severe alcoholic

-treated with jungian psychoanalysis

-Jung a student of Froyd

-part of treatment involved making paintings

-5+ meter long size makes a different impression on the viewer

-technique dripping painting

-would not stretch the canvas

-lay down fabric and paint directly on raw canvas

-test them by hanging on the wall.. if not.. paint more

-would then cut out the piece that was to be the painting

-used technique of throwing paint on canvas

-masking tape to determine size, where frame would be

-extra would be wrapped around and hidden

-uses a big can of paint.. would use household or industrial paint.. anything drippy

-very very automatist

-became good at dripping certain degree of control..

-lots of perceptions.. could walk all around it

-defies traditional this is the top and this the bottom

-just field

-no objects.. just relax andgaze with blank stare

-painting will activate your gaze

-

**called all-over approach.. everything active at once... people like Mondrian also "all over"

-canvas coming through gives painting a sense of wholeness

-vitalism and fluctuating energy

-Rosenburg... wrote 'American Action Painters'

-painting an arena within which painter acts

-painting is collection of events within boxing ring

-action is like thought

-painting is a collection of artists actions

-when brought together, becomes an idea

-Pollok used hand prints at times... sometimes walked on works

-paleolithic artists used hand painting alot

-primal... self identification

-these paintings being made after use of Atomic Bomb

Barnett Newman

Vir Heroicus Sublimis

1950

-another abstract expressionist... worked in a more organic style

-Mondrian and Malevich important to him

-strict edges achieved with application of masking tape

put masking tape on canvas to test it, but ended up really liking it and sometimes wouldnt take it off

-hispaintings were philosophical and somewhat religious

-he was Jewish.. also reerences to other religions

-work often related to idea of annunciation

-instantaneous... everything is immediately revealed

-Neo Classical style is a time based painting... painting about time, declaring space, and idea of instant

-Judaism not supposed to make images of divine..

-so big that couldnt be contained in painting

-same reason for abstract art in Islam

-DEALS WITH SUBLIME

-this is a massive painting

-about timing... everything is declared in sequence

-first see white line, then back then red ones, then side 

-interested also in holowing middle and activating sides

-sometimes used a spray gun.. dreamy way back into space look.

Mark Rothko

No. 61 (Rust & Blue)

1953

-first a surrealist then used this style

-almost blank area in middle of canvas.. and surrounding 

-fog in middle?

-peripheral vision is activated

-action is all going on on sides and in middle strip

-close relation to Friedrich'swork

-horizontal lines on abstract painting evoke landscape

-mostly used oil paint... worked in very thin washes

-sealed canvas with rabbit skin glue.. brownish tone

-sometimes would mix pigment into it

Andy Warhol
Gold Marilyn Monroe

1962

-most famous pop-artist

-source is a photo of Monroe

-took an even more distanced approach to painting

-this is a print not an artwork

-still shot from movie Niagra

-sent to silk screen producer

-screen with different sized dots

-Andy did lots...flim, publishing, talk show, magazine, also manageda rock band (Velvet Underground/Lou Reed)

-all different areas of contemporary culture

-goldenzone for Monroe to appear on

-can be related to medieval religious painting

-divine-like background

-series made just after she died... slightly commemorative

-

-would often create grids... "diptychs" (2 paintings)

-each part of grid done separately... brought together and not standardized

Roy Lichtenstein

Drowning Girl

1963

-example of pop-art.. which began in England

-based on comic book for girls (Run for Love!)

-started as abstract expressionist

-immediate onnection and immediate clarity of meaning in the comic book... it is direct and simple

-pop art is reflective and more complex

-changes wave patterns, hair, text bubble from comic book

-"brad".. stock character from Lichtenstein's paintings... just sits around and leaves all the taling and action to the women

-uses ben-day technique... like pointalism...little dots

-as reaction to this, used commercial printing technique

-uses full intensity colors

-pop-art contains lots of jokes about abstract expressionism

Dan Flavin

the nominal three (to Willian of Ockham)

1963

-works with fluorescent light tubing

-another minimalist

-interested in Russian constructivists

-simple and logical... sequence and like Dutch De Stijl

-interested in manipulating architechtural space

-this is dayling lamps... careful withintensities, colors, etc

-***work becomes an environments

-3D locational installation

-looking at the projection and lighting effect also

-hits you, you are immersed and part of work

Frank Stella

Empress of India

1965

-formalist abstract painter

-does not deal with intuition... can only carry out the plan

-everything is fixed from the beginning

-white lines pop out

Donald Judd

Untitled

1970

-minimalist artist.. minimalism important 60s movement

-uses a modular form (same form over and over again)

-similar to Brancusi (endless column)

-commercial fabrication.. did not do it himself

-works always untitled

-identical interchangeable copperunitys

-space betwee=space occupied

-liked to create works that are systematic with most art, canot just move things around

Eva Hesse

Untitled

1970

-not a minimalist, but friends with them

-interested in surrealism and strangeness/weird objects

-exposed to 'group zero' .. similar style to her later work (influence?)

-with minimalism, don't just look at work, but walk around it

-worked alot with latex and wire . .. creating minimalist boxes  ... hand made

-also weird wires.. surrounded in cloth.. organic element

-idea of extremely long nipples

-latex disintegrates... not permanent artworks

-related to 'anti-form' .. messy approach to sculpture

Gift

Man Ray

1921

-surrealism was a radical idea... they wanted to change society fundamentally

-also politically radical... tendency towards communism

-they were Trotskyites (refers to Leon Trotsky)... him and Lenin were leaders of Russian revolution

-Trotsky was expelled and sent into exile, and then murdered by soviet agents (had his own ideas)

-they were also opposed to colonialism... something that was thought of as right and normal... ie. white man's burden

****applied free association to art... would just talk randomly about something... art is a form of this free association

-this sculpture made a little bit prior to surrealist period

-old fashioned iron with tacks glued on

-it is a "dadist object" but later considered "surrealist"

****two things brought together will communicate

-force relationship and force meaning

-with Ray, often an element of danger/threat

-different from a ready made

-launched by Breton with the Surrealist Manifesto

-a pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express either verbally, or in writing, or in any other way, the true functioning of thought. Thought expressed in the absence of any control exerted by reason, and outside all moral and aesthetic considerations.

-he encouraged the use of dreamlike images, the juxtaposition of unrelated objects, and stream of consciousness writing

-group had strong socialist and Communist stance, and Breton was rather controlling and functioned as though he were the Pope of Surrealism, capriciously anointing or excommunicating artists as Surrealists for the flimsiest of reasons.

DALI

-heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud

-famous film, An Andalusian Dog

-(Persistance) crippling passage of time leads to inevitable deterioration and death, although the title suggests we are looking backward to the past, not forward to the future.

OBJECT

-Oppenheim presents us with eroticism offered and eroticism denied, for individually, fur and beverage are sensual, but juxtaposed as they are, they are disconcerting, if not outright repulsive.

-attemped to evoke infinite associations that deal with the repressed realities of eroticism, sensuality, desire, and anxiety.

-communism!

-building on the innovations of Malevich's Suprematism, several movements followed, each attempting to pur art at the service of the new revolutionary society.

 -constructivism: abstract sculpture with geometric forms

-TATLIN

-according to Tatlin's theory called Constructivist Productivism, everything - from appliances to clothing, from living space to theater, now had to be machine-like and streamlined

-his manoument was supposed to be 1300 feet high, which would have made it the tallest structure in the world at that time.

 -the industrial materials of steel and glass and the dynamic, kinetic nature of the work symbolized the new machine age and the dynamism of the Bolshevki Revolution

*in the early 1920s Rodchenko stopped making Suprematist paintings and constructivist assemblages to focus on graphic design, as seen in BOOKS!

*bold mechanical geometry prevails... nearly spaceless image pressed to surface

"all spheres of knowledge"

-again, bright colors and simpe yet energetic machinelike geometry.

*****nothing that could be asociated with any class, time period, ethnic type, or region.... their art was utilitarian.

-founded by Piet Mondrian

-sought to create, through abstraction, total environments that were so perfect they embodied a universal harmony. Unlike their Russian counterparts, their mission was literaly spiritual

-intense commitment to theosopyhy, and like the communists, sought a universal order that would make nationalism obsolete.

MONDRIAN
-****there was an underlying mathematical structure to the universe that constituted reality. He believed that an artist could access and present this structure through the rational manipulations of geometric forms

-paintings are always asymmetrical, and remarkable for their perfect harmony

-every element is given equal weight

-feeling of tremendous space, even infinity, largely due to the rectangles expanding off the edge of the canvas

-elementary hues from which all colors are derived are symbolic of the building blocks of the cosmos.

Neo-Plasticism

-red-blue chair is uncomfortable, but emphasis is on spiritual aesthetics 

-on building, can find Mondrian's floating rectangles and lines, even the cantilevered roof appears to float. The interior is designed along the same principles, with wall-to-ceiling sliding panels allowing for a restructuring of hte interior space.

-both inside and out, is ethereal, buoyant, and farmonious......dynamic equilibrium

-evolved out of surrealism... was preoccupied wit ha quest to uncover universal truths

**deep seated belief in Existentialism, a philosophy that came to the fore with the devastation caused by WWII. The war shattered not only faith in science and logic, but even the very concept of progress, the belief in the possibility of creating a better world. The belief in absolute truths had been abandoned

-existentialism maintained that there were no absolute answers, no ultimate knowledge or explanations.. and that life was a continuous series of subjective experiences from which each individual learned and then correspondingly responded in a personal way. Essential to this learning process was facing the direst aspects of human existence, fear of death, the absurdity oflife, and alienation from individuals, society, and nature... and taking responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong, good or bad. The abstract expressionists, like so many intessectuals after the war, embraced this subjeective view of the world .Their art was a personal confrontation with the moment.

action paintings vs color-field painting

POLLOCK

-became a hardcore surrealist, whene he started Jungian psychoanalysis, making crude but powerful paintings filled with slapdash hierglyphs, totems, and references to primitie myth, whipped about in a swirling sea of paint.

action paiting

-applied by dripping, hurling and splattering when the unstretched canvas was on the floor. Pollock had worked on it from all four sides, and he claimed that its source was his unconsciousness.

**There is no focus upon which the eye can rest... even stress.... all over painting

Rothko

-color field painting

-large meditative planes of color to express the innermost primal qualities that linked them to universal forces

-very sublime

-flat planes of color stacked on top of one another

-sublime... infinite...

Newman

zips

-derives its imagery from popular or vernacular culture

-pop artists represented the artifacts of the world they lived in, namely the imagery of the mass media, although they did it using conventional painting rather than new mediums

-took low art  and made it into  high art, and by doing so, subversible revealed the manipulative impact of the mass media.--

Lichtenstein

-used  crude black and white advertisements in telephone books and newspapers and the prosaic drawings in comic books

-paintings were so radical they were thought hideous and were not even considered art by many

-uses benday dots.... get close enough and the patter becomes Abstract Expressionism

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-men are portrayed as strong, virile soldiers and fighter polots, whereas women are shown as emotionally distraught, dependent on men, and happily slaving around the house doing domestic work. With deadpan brilliance, he made his paintings a mirror of contemporary society, revealing the stereotyping embedded in the media

WARHOL

-generally only touched his paintings and prints when signing the backs

-tells us that paintings are commodities, that people are buying a name product, and that art is about idea, not necessarily about technique or craftmanship

-neither praises nor condemns

-Gold... replicates the cheap, impersonal presentation of newspapers and magazines. Here, he reproduces the sloppy,, gritty look and feel of 1960s color newspaper reproduction, where the colors often did not align properly with the image

-her personality is impenetrable, reduced to a public smile

-she died, suggestion that she had a different side to her?

-face is in a sea of gold paint, imitating Christian icons and thus deifying her.

STELLA

-there is no hierarchy to the compostion, which is determined by the V-shape of each of the four vectors that have been butted together

-"what you see is what you see"

-the painting has nothing that you do not see... no hidden meanings, symbols, or references

-wanted his canvases viewed simply as objects with an independent likfe of their own... free from associations

-had ability to create perfectly flat, spaceless paintings

-V's change direction to create new lines of movement

-beacause stella used a stripped down artistic vocabulary and often determined his compositions using a geometric premise, critics often describe his paintings as minimalism

SCULPTURE

-generally mathematical tools or conceptual premises ued...paralleling in sculpture what Stella was doing in painting. The reliance upon geometry in this work emphasized conceptual rather than emotional contect and favored the means and materials of mass production

-lack of evidence of the artist's touch

-also used unconventional nonart material.... plexiglas, flurescent tubes, galvanized steel, magnesium tiles, contiunuing the exploration of new materials 

-wanted to make art that did not look like art

JUDD
-math

-no base, no glass coase for protection... just a regular object

-space around the object becomes and integral part of the work

FLAVIN

-minimalist whose work was severely limited to mathematical formula

-renowned for his use of common fluorescent tubes, which he used to sculpt with colored and white lights

-although difficult to tell from reproductions, Flavin's deceivingly simple works are spectacularly beautiful, even when just white light

-magical quality of the light as it radiates through the surrounding space is mesmerizing,even calming, often projecting a classical serenity

-spirituality?

-strictly formalist

"Ground Zero"

Hesse

-died of a brain tumor at 34

-unusual materials, abstract works with a basis in geometry

-organic forms suggested

-also growth and sexuality

-fiberglass was trademark material (maybe cause of her brain tumor)

-four rectangular units of which it is composed imply boxes or framed paintings

-contradicting their geometry is uneven rippling surfaces and sides, which transform the fiberglass into an organic substance, expecially recalling skin

-etc