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Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: circa 1884-1904
Info:
Reacting to/against Impressionism
many artists move away from the main city of Paris to create their work
Artists were interested in representing symbolic & personal meanings (unlike
Impressionists, who were interested in objective reality - moving away from IMpression
to EXpression)
Increasing importance in relationship between color & shape
Characteristics:
Van Gogh & Gauguin (more color / lyrical style) - influential for Expressionism
Seurat & Cézanne (more structured / geometric style, form) - influential for Cubism
Artists:
Van Gogh
Gauguin
Seurat
Cézanne
Van Gogh and Gauguin set us off for color and influence:
Cezanne and Seurat set us off for form and influence:
Expressionism, Cubism
☆Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte,1884-6
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1884-6
Artist: Seurat
Title: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte
Info:
stillness- static, analytic application of paint as tiny dots, push and pull/tension between the painting as a whole as a window to the world vs the actual small dots of paint applied, stability, engagement w/ prior art history tropes w/ shallow ground and frieze of figures, various classes depicted - tank top guy lower class than ppl w/ monkey exotic pet and umbrellas
Practice Visual Analysis Comparison
Renoir, Moulin de la Galette vs. Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte
Similarities:
subject matter of public spaces
upper-class ppl depicted
everyday moment depiction
lean towards abstraction bc of the application of paint on canvas
Differences - Renoir, Moulin de la Galette:
impressionist
1876
gestural brushstrokes, instant moment, effects of lights
figures lack a sense of weight
subject more about lighting and catching the movement
Differences - Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte:
post-impressionist
1884
public space w blend of upper and lower-class people
orderly brushstrokes- one dot after another
static unmoving figures in space
figures have weight
subject is more about analysis of color relationships
Michel-Eugene Chevreul’s Principles of Color Harmony:
Claims to be able to predict the
visual effect of simultaneous
contrast. If two colors are placed
in proximity, they will tint one
another their complimentary
color.
For instance, if red & blue are
placed next to one another, the
red color will give blue a
greenish hue because green is
its complement, making it
greenish-blue.
Blue imposes orange on the red,
making it a red-orange.
Van Gogh, Night Café,1888
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1888
Artist: Van Gogh
Title: Night Café
Info:
color in an emotional capacity, vibrating florescent lights + sickish greenish yellow color + warped perspective = you’re drunk, nobody engaging with one another, slouched figures and empty glasses, not inviting bar scene, loneliness, unease, heavily built up layers of paint
☆Van Gogh, Starry Night,1888
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1888
Artist: Van Gogh
Title: Starry Night
Info:
painted during his time at the asylum/ convent post-mental breakdown, some fabricated elements some real ex: church w Netherlands architecture- maybe he’s homesick, genre scene at bottom edge w village, subject is night sky, village takes up very little space in scene vs the sky, message about expanse of the universe and our minor place in it all, wonder and beauty, hopeful but melancholic, influence of Japanese woodcuts w framing and bold graphics ex: the swirls in the sky
Gauguin, Night Café, 1888
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1888
Artist: Gauguin
Title: Night Café
Info:
same cafe as Gogh’s painting, they were roommates for period of time and discussed art together
☆Gauguin,Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1888
Artist: Gauguin
Title: Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel)
Info:
townspeople post-sermon seeing a vision, most prominent color is red = passionate and aggressive, unrealistic emotional space w red floor - not a REAL space, uses washes of color
☆Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? Where Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1897
Artist: Gauguin
Title: Where Do We Come From? Where Are We? Where Are We Going?
Info:
ideas of birth + life + death → life is vertical figure divides canvas w death (old woman) on left and birth (baby) on right, mostly nude female figures, lush landscape but almost mystical w washes of paint- are we even in a real space right now?
Cézanne, Bay of Marseilles, seen from L’Estaque, c. 1885
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1885
Artist: Cézanne
Title: Bay of Marseilles, seen from L’Estaque
Info:
“shingles” of paint layered, looking at things from head-on but also ¾ perspective
☆Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-4
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Date: 1902-4
Artist: Cézanne
Title: Mont Sainte-Victoire
Info:
landscape scene, chaotic verging on abstraction, outline around the mountain allows viewer to see it and without it sky and mountain would just become shingles of paint, different perspectives/ angles of the houses in the same plane, painting a memory scape- can almost sense him walking through the space daily and seeing all the angles, experience and emotional relationship w the space depicted, rethinking of the way paint creates form - we CAN represent multiple perspectives in one painting (leads towards Cubism)
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1899-1908 (Major years = 1905-1907)
Info:
Fauves (“Wild Beasts”)
Characteristics/Contributions:
Separating color from its representational function
Allows color to exist as an independent element
Color
-establishes mood and structure without having to be natural
Interested in overall balance of the composition
Simplified forms and saturated colors
-Drew attention to the overall flatness of the canvas
Valued individual expression
influenced by Post-Impressionism & Symbolism (we aren’t going over this movement)
Artists:
☆Henri Matisse
André Derain
Reassessment of African Art
Musee Trocadero: first anthropological museum in
Paris. Founded in 1878 & closed in 1935. Its
collections are now housed in the Musee de
l’Homme.
exposes artists to abstracted forms that are simpler but expressive
Henri Matisse, Luxe, calme et volupte (Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure), 1904-05
Movement: transitional for Matisse between Post-Impressionism and Fauvism
Date: 1904-5
Artist: Matisse
Title: Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure
Info:
pointillism influences ( not analytical w/ merging color relationships but more gestural, leisure scene, subject matter = nude female nymphs + Madame Matisse and Henri at picnic, return to traditional trope of nude female figures for mythological purposes- these are nymphs, combo of traditional subject matter with impressionist style → tension between subject matter and how its depicted
Practice Visual Analysis Comparison
Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte vs Matisse, Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure
Similarities:
leisure in an outdoor setting
pointillism utilized
representing people- families
Differences - Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte:
1884-6
post-impressionism
true pointillism- analytical and about color relationships
structure, sense of weight, stability
class relations depicted in leisure
Differences - Matisse, Luxury, Calm, and Pleasure:
1904-5
traditional between post-impressionism and Fauvism
inspired by pointillism- larger blocky spots of saturated color w little to no overlap
leisure + traditional subject matter of nude mythological female figures
Ex of a Thesis:
Each work utilizes pointillism in different ways to depict different subject matters and provoke different feelings.
☆ Matisse, Bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life), 1905-06
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1905-06
Artist: Matisse
Title: Bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life)
Info:
classical subject matter with nude female nymphs at leisure in a park, maps out color relationships using washes of colors, unusual + bright + saturated colors, balance through painting colors all around the canvas for unified look, flattened by color washes but can tell you are going back into space because vignette of the trees create foreground and can see that the dancers in the circle are smaller and further back, radical form coupled with traditional subject matter, centerpiece around discussion around painting at the time
Gertrude Stein
art collector, buys a lot of Matisse’s works and hangs them in her home spurring convo around what is modernism, famous patron, hosts avante-garde artists
☆ Matisse, Dance I, 1909
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1909
Artist: Matisse
Title: Dance I
Info:
technically a study he created for the final piece, was commissioned to paint a large-scale painting w subject matter of his choice, ring of dancers pulled from The Joy of Life, joy + whimsy + mystical, simplified bodies and background
Practice Visual Analysis Comparison
Matisse, Dance I vs. Matisse, Dance (III)
Similarities:
fauvism
same composition
same subject matter
same background
Differences - Matisse, Dance I:
1909
whimsy, joy
simplistic pink figures
more naturalistic color
lightness to the bodies
no sense of weight or stability
Differences - Matisse, Dance (III):
1909-10
aggressive
intense orange/red figures w definition of musculature
weight of feet on the ground and contortion of the muscles
completely diff vibe than the initial study
☆ Matisse, Red Studio, 1911
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1911
Artist: Matisse
Title: Red Studio
Info:
made right b4 his cubist sort of era, self portrait of his studio space, shows some of the pieces he actually made in the studio, floors + walls + furniture all mapped out in red, bringing the ultimate ground of the canvas to the foreground by using exposed canvas in the linework- reserve lines, confusing perspective bc hard to tell the wall apart from the floor and creates flatness
reserve line
unfished or unfinished or blank areas in the painting, surrounded by painted areas
☆Matisse, The Blue Window, 1913
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1913
Artist: Matisse
Title: The Blue Window
Info:
monochromatic canvas of blue, sister piece to Red Studio, looking out window in house shows the studio nestled in the surrounding trees, portrait of his artistic practice, maybe a depiction of a black mirror in right corner, transitional work into his cubist period- simplified flattened shapes + circular forms + cubes + rhythmic arrangement of objects, skewed/flattened perspective with some sense of ambiguous foreground, entire painting is constructed of flat planes almost tetris style, expressionistic with the use of blue as stability + softness + calmness
black mirror
artistic device that reduces the sensation of color
☆Matisse, The Piano Lesson, late summer 1916
Movement: Fauvism
Date: late summer 1916
Artist: Matisse
Title: The Piano Lesson
Info:
portrait of his son Pierre as a young child- a memory of him practicing the piano, capturing of everyday life, includes depictions of Matisse’s work, rigid + authoritative + faceless female figure sat higher than the boy watching him closely, female figure may be a teacher or his mother or maybe a painting of an earlier painting of his, tension between rigid straight upward lines and sensuous curving lines of the railing and female sculpture’s body, metronome symbolizes pressure or boredom of the piano lesson vs the feeling of listening to music as transcendent + rhythmic + joyful
Matisse’s Odalisque period
example shown is: Matisse, Odalisque with Raised Arms, 1923
Info:
nude female figure productions of work, figures lounging in decorated patterned scenes, idea of flatness w the patterns, ambiguous suggestions of where the figures exist in space and they become a decorative element in the space, trope of lounging female figure but w a changed context bc she becomes a realm of experimentation in expressionism
Matisse’s Cutouts, late 1940s
his wife leaves him, after rough years of cancer he is wheelchair bound sp he must change his artistic practice, decorative and pattern-like forms, grow from small scale to large installation sized cut outs, continuous expansion on ideas about simplified bodies as seen in the dance scenes as well as monochromatic planes and expressionistic colors, subject matters of circus + pain + death, blue nude series, swimming pool massive installation
☆André Derain, The Dance,1906
Movement: Fauvism
Date: 1906
Artist: André Derain
Title: The Dance
Info:
sensuality and joy shown through thicker linework + curvature + bold aggressive colors, exotic imagery scene- in conversation with imagery from Gauguin, influences of African art, takes artists like Delacroix’s exoticized scene of a harem turned into splashes of color, idea of freedom from society, mythical creatures
Movement: German Expressionism - Die Brucke (“The Bridge”)
Date: Formed in 1905 in Dresden, moves to Berlin in second half of the movement
Info:
responding to sprawling urbaniznation in germany and emergence of the city life (similar to impressionists in France but diff reaction)
a lot of the artists are architects and lived upper class and upper middle class but want to abandon it for bohemian lifestyle
their studios are bohemian and they engage in freedom in forms of drug, sex, and partying
Characteristics:
Emphasis on the alienation of urban modernity, modern city place of corruption, want to escape the bourgeoisie life trappings
interested in sense of freedom and connection with nature, a lifestyle not just art
tension between depictions of the city vs the countryside
Reductive & primitivizing aesthetic; revival of older media/artistic forms in particular the woodcut
Artists:
☆Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Fritz Bleyl
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Erich Heckel
Two diff models of abstraction:
Lyrical abstraction: comes first, begins with Wassily Kandisky rhythmic, free flowing, sensual
Geometric abstraction: rigid shapes, think Cubism
German Empire (1871 - 1918) and “Modernity”
The German Empire was unified in 1871, driven by a sense of nationalism among various German states who sought to create a cohesive nation.
This period marked a significant transformation in German society and culture, coinciding with a surge in industrialization, urbanization, and the emergence of modernity. As cities expanded and the economy grew, a new sense of identity and consciousness developed among the German populace. This era also witnessed the rise of social movements and political ideologies, including liberalism and socialism, reflecting the complexities and contradictions of a rapidly changing society. The cultural scene flourished with advancements in the arts and literature, inspired by technological progress and new ideas about society, leading to innovations that defined modernity in Germany.
☆Paula Modersohn-Becker, Self-Portrait on Her Sixth Wedding Anniversary, 1906
Movement: not formally German Expressionism
Date: 1906
Artist: Paula Modersohn-Becker
Title: Self-Portrait on Her Sixth Wedding Anniversary
Info:
formally trained and then leaves Germany and goes to Paris after marriage and sees Gauguin and Cezanne works, returns and is a part of a commune that’s interested in art being a lifestyle + return to nature, self-portrait- full body to thighs half nude engaging in larger tropes of art history showing nude female figure, simplicity w simple pattern and dress, gaze directed at the viewer but softness to her not a come hither or a confrontation, self-assured gaze showing acceptance of her nude body, she's maybe pregnant grasping her belly maybe she's a mom or sees herself as nurturing ie implication of creating a life or creating a work of art, declaring her craft and herself as a person
imagery from the first Die Brucke exhibition, 1906
Examples:
Fritz Bleyl, Poster for the first Die Brucke Exhibition, 1906 (orange image)
Kirchner, Programme, 1906 (black and white woodcut)
Characteristics:
stylized forms, bold shapes, bold colors,
printmaking w woodcuts - able to make multiples, blocky
☆Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Street, Dresden, 1908 (dated 1907 on painting)
Movement: Die Brucke (“The Bridge”)
Date: 1908 (dated 1907 on painting)
Artist: Kirchner
Title: Street, Dresden
Info:
modern everyday scene w ppl engaging in everyday life, snapshot of street scene w some figures being oddly cropped at edges, clashing/bold color choices, jarring neon colors not gradated or soft washes, jittery electric lines everywhere, like flashing lights, anxious, alienating, claustrophobic, aggressive figures coming towards the viewer w faceless masks w eyes carved out almost like zombies, child in the center depicted as terrified and terrifying not a typical depiction of a child being innocent and joyful, NOT a warm and inviting scene, about a sense of not belonging, potentially early iteration of showing the prostitute in Kirshner's work = intimacy transformed into a transactional
☆Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bathers at Moritzburg, 1909 - 26
Movement: Die Brucke (“The Bridge”)
Date: 1909 - 26
Artist: Kirchner
Title: Bathers at Moritzburg
Info:
harmonious and peaceful, trope of bathing scene, contrasting with the extra clashy colors in works that depict society’s corruption, aggressive relationship between color, depiction of bathers traditional subject except for the fact that hes not showing a mythological creature bathing like a nymph, bohemian lifestyle, him and his friends bathing nude at a lake, search for return to nature for man
German vs French Expressionism
Similarities:
appropriation of African and Oceanic art, which influenced their flexible proportions and stylized expressions
emphasize a focus on color and color’s effect on portraying emotions
Differences- German Expressionism:
focuses on modern moments depicting the anxieties and alienation of urban life
Die Brucke
The Blue Rider
Differences- French Expressionism:
often includes references to mythological figures from tradition
Fauvism
“Franzi” (Lina Franziska Fehrmann)
girl named Franzie models for Die Brucke artists and becomes a central figure in the movement being depicted often and throughout her whole life, models to help support her family, childlike innocence in some works but then as she grows up she is increasingly sexualized in the work
Beginnings of Modern Dance:
stylized forms of dance moved away from the traditional inhibited dramatic narratives and gracefulness in ballet, forms are much more free in expression, minor movements instead of grand dramatic movements tied to narrative, freedom for the body to move
“Exotocised” dancing is depicted a lot as a way that dance can free men and bring them closer to nature, artist are able to see performances of these dances
Example is: Emil Nolde, Female Dancer, 1913
Movement: German Expressionism - Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”)
Date: Formed in 1911 in Munich
Info:
cut short by WWI
group formed by Wassily Kandinsky
Subject Matter:
Characteristics:
Emphasis on spirituality- depictions of the spiritual plane
Reductive forms shifting towards abstraction
Artists:
☆Wassily Kandinsky - Russian but in Germany, obsessed w spirituality in art, believed that civilization is corruption, wants to create transcendent work where you can enter a spiritually cleansing space, gets us to full-on lyrical abstraction, forms the Blue Rider group
☆Franz Marc
Paul Klee
August Macke
The Blue Rider as a subject
figure depicted in Kandiskys earlier works and arguably in later works too, blue rider figure arguably represents Saint George- a knight on a white horse, there is a catalog of the blue rider artists, figure symbolized to movement from corruption into the spiritual realm, who Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”) movement is named for
Examples are:
Kandinsky, Cover of Der Blaue Reiter Almanach,1911
Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter, 1903
On the Spiritual in Art
book published by Kandinsky in 1911
Kandinsky’s artistic manifesto
Explains Kandinsky’s theory of art
Calls for a spiritual revolution
Claims artists should not depend on the
material world for their inspiration &
should instead think about the language of
color and form
Claims artists should express spiritual
truths
Foreshadows the shift towards
abstraction
art should immediately transport the view to a spiritual realm
☆Kandinsky, Sketch for Composition II,1909-10
Movement: The Blue Rider
Date: 1909-10
Artist: Kandinsky
Title: Sketch for Composition II
Info:
idea of the apolocliptic flood that will cleanse society of corruption, spiritual realm in right corner, blue rider in the middle, drowning figures in the left, everything is all over the place, moving away from centrally planned compositions, plans of color collapsing into one another and creating chaos
☆Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913
Movement: The Blue Rider
Date: 1913
Artist: Kandinsky
Title: Composition VII
Info:
arguably the first example of lyrical abstraction, breakthru moment for Kandinsky thinking about music, immediately should be transporting to a spiritual plane like how you immediately hear a joyful beat of a song and immediately recognize that feeling, Kandinsky has synesthesia so could see colors while listening to music, chaos/explosion, all over composition not a central point, is the blue rider still being depicted? debatable
Artists & the War (WWI)
topics about aggression + war + subject of suffering enter their works more, many of the German Expressionists enter the war and end up dying
