Art History G11 Final - 20th Century Painting

Portrait of a Woman (Green Stripe)

1905, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• not really focused on the female figure, but rather the use of colour

• energetic and lively brushstrokes borrowed from Van Gogh

• exotic colours borrowed from Paul Gaugin

Le Luxe (1)

1911, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• not satisfied with this version, created the second version

• more of a 2D decorative piece, does not have any real meaning behind it

• used the long rod with brush at end to outline figures

Le Luxe (2)

1911, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• figures and details more simplified to help viewer focus on colour

• inspired by cloisonnism idea, and black outline

• brighter colours make it more visually appealing

The Dance

1910, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• circular forms in painting lets viewers eyes wander around the painting

• darker outline shows cloisonnism feel

• faces of figures not shown or depicted in detail to get viewer to focus on the movement of the dance

The Moroccans

1915-16, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• inspired by his travels to Morocco

• uses grand black idea to show that black is a colour and not just used for empty space

• 3 aspects of the piece: architecture, still life and figure

• inspired by the African light, and how the night sky looks compared to Paris

• night at the Kasbah cafe

Piano Lesson

1916, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• shows his son Pierre having a lesson in his studio

• musical motifs seen through piece - metronome and bass clef look in balcony wires

• green strip is a path going into the distance in the backyard

• figure in back is one of Matisse’s famous bronze sculpture pieces, showing that the setting is his studio

Le Toboggan (from Jazz)

1947, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• depicts the figure, in blue, enjoying a toboggan ride (black box)

• from a book called Jazz with similar illustrations

• trying out new colours and techniques

• painted paper with gouache, then cut them out and reassembled it to form image

Head of Christ

1905, Georges Rouault, French, Fauvism

• used encaustic painting technique

• black outline goes back to cloisonnism feel from Cezanne

• terracotta and blue hues enhance the stained glass feel he wants to achieve

Henri Matisse backstory

• known as the grandfather of Fauvism

• used a long wooden rod with a brush on the end to paint at distances - created energy and looseness that is seen in his works

• known for letting colours speak in his work

Georges Rouault backstory

• very religious, hence the Church influence in his pieces

• known for using encaustic painting technique

Encaustic painting technique

also known as the hot wax technique, it involves melting a wax medium and adding coloured pigments, and then applying it to wood

Christ Mocked by Soldiers

1932, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• encaustic painting technique used

• black outline and colour palette contribute to stained glass feel

• Roman soldiers depicted as beasts to show that they treated Jesus inhumanely

The Old King

1936, Henri Matisse, French, Fauvism

• King holds a flower like a scepter, showing his vulnerability and frailty of his monarch

• black outline - stained glass feel

• encaustic painting technique used

The Blue House

1906, Maurice de Vlaminck, French, Fauvism

• brushstrokes influence from Van Gogh

• dark outline influence from Paul Cezanne

• exotic colours influence from Gaugin

The Wheat Field

1945, Maurice de Vlaminck, French, Fauvism

• made sure composition and colours were balanced in all quadrants

• brushstroke influence from Van Gogh

• colours taken from Gaugin

Gypsy Woman with Baby

1919, Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, Fauvism

• heavily inspired by his trips to Africa where he saw African masks

• elongated face shape, nose and almond eyes are indicative features of his travels

• painted random subject matters that were on the streets

Jeanne Hebuterne

1918-1919, Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, Fauvism

• his long time devoted supporter - painted her a lot as a thanks

• the only figure he painted repeatedly

• elongated face and nose from African mask influence

Church of St. Severin

1913, Maurice Utrillo, French, Fauvism

• antisocial - found a street with no people to paint

• chalk used as subtle highlights

• resembles Camille Pissarro’s postcards

Church of Le Sacre Coeur de Montmartre

1938, Maurice Utrillo, French, Fauvism

• his wife painted the figures for him

• likely imagined, or he put together photos of this street as he basically never left Paris

• painted quickly and sold to tourists for a living

Sleeping Gypsy

1897, Henri Rousseau, French, Proto-Surrealism

• depicts a dream like state, idea of sleep and dreams

• sleeping gypsy represents innocence, while the lion represents the danger that is always lurking

• very imaginative, as he never left Paris, likely made a collage of many pictures

The Dream

1910, Henri Rousseau, French, Proto-Surrealism

• idea of putting unrelated things into one big collage

• very surreal and imaginative - plants are made up with lions in the back

• relies more on the subject matter rather than what we see

• colours borrowed from Paul Gaugin

Tropical Forest with Monkeys

1910, Henri Rousseau, French, Proto-Surrealism

• colours borrowed from Gaugin are incorporated

• not a perfect painting, more about imagination

• lacks perspective. very flat overall

• he was a sign painter so all his works lacked perspective

The Scream

1893, Edvard Munch, Norwegian, Expressionism

• idea of human suffering, especially feelings of anxiety and anguish

• silent screaming idea, and going mad leads to screaming inside

• some influence from Gaugin’s colours

• figure in front holding his head symbolizes loneliness, as we see two figures in the back that have each other to talk to

Dance of Life

1899, Edvard Munch, Norwegian, Expressionism

• depicts a typical Norwegian midsummer celebration

• used his girlfriend as a model for the woman in the white, who represents purity/virginity

• woman in black looks at couple in middle with jealousy, symbolizing old age and loneliness

• lady in red represents carnal knowldge

• started this series in Paris after he left unhappy after a love affair

Burial of Casagemas

1902, Pablo Picasso, French, Blue

• modelled after Burial of Count Orgaz by El Greco

• takes the idea from German myth stories that when you die and go to heaven you ride a white horse

• used faces of his fellow classmates for the figures, and the face of his instructor as the one being buried

The Tragedy

1901-1903, Pablo Picasso, French, Blue

• the boy is shown as the victim

• elongated figures modelled after El Greco’s style

• deals with the feeling of empathy through the blue hues and body language of figures

• body language tells us that they are poor

Family of Saltimbanques

1905, Pablo Picasso, French, Rose

• idea of how he felt as a small, Spanish man in the streets of Paris - like a circus freak

• the figure in the back that is colourless has no soul, represented by the fact that he does not have pupils

• represents the idea that although they are circus people, and meant to entertain, they feel different from the rest of society

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

1907, Pablo Picasso, French, Analytical Cubism

• idea of different geometric cutouts and shapes being used

• slightly resembles the African masks from Modigliani’s work

• he gives the cutouts aggression and energy through the shapes and angles used

Ambrose Vollard

1908, Pablo Picasso, French, Analytical Cubism

• idea of using geometric cutouts to show many angles at once

• originally made a drawing in full, cutout the paper and rearranged it

• inspiration for many upcoming young artists to use in their work

Analytical Cubism

sometimes called faceted cubism, it is deconstructive and reconstructive

Synthetic Cubism

based on the art of collage

The Portuguese

1911, Georges Braque, French, Analytical Cubism

• based on his memories of a Portuguese musician he saw in a bar

• more monochromatic to get the viewer to really focus on the painting and try to read into the real subject matter

• idea of playing with both 2D and 3D shapes

• concentrates the energy in the use of different angles

Bather

1917, Jacques Lipchitz, French, Analytical Cubism

• example of a cubistic sculpture piece

• piece was made out of clay before turning into bronze

• took the figure of someone getting out of the bath/basin and breaking it down into different shapes and angles

• mimics cubistic paintings in the way that different angles and geometric shapes are used

• can be viewed from all around

Still Life with Chair-Caning

1911-12, Pablo Picasso, French, Synthetic Cubism

• took different paper pictures and cut them up

• Jou means play in French, and was taken from a journal

• more like a collage with geometric pieces rather than many different angles

• incorporates both illusion and reality

Ma Jollie

1912, Pablo Picasso, French, Synthetic Cubism

• very monochromatic to get viewers to focus on the shapes and lines used

• does not require viewer to get too involved into this work, unlike some of his other pieces

• idea of experimenting with different ideas and techniques

• composed so that eyes move and follow the lines and shapes

• based on the idea of collage work

Fruit Dish and Cards

1913, Georges Braque, French, Synthetic Cubism

• idea of using birds eye view

• took a bunch of paper shapes, and cut them and glued it onto the paper

• idea of the work is to fool your eye and mind by showing many angles at once

• main theme in the work are elements of shape and texture

• shows the idea that forms should go beyond the frame

Three Musicians

1921, Pablo Picasso, French, Synthetic Cubism

• starts to reintroduce colour into his work, developing his personal style

• figures are still very flat and 2D, almost interlocking together

• represents traditional and modern art in one piece

• gives each musician its own personality by using different colours and shapes

House and Street

1931, Stuart Davis, American, Synthetic Cubism

• attempts to create an American modern style of cubism art

• incorporation of flat shapes and his own style gives it a rhythmic feel/pattern, which he was going for due to jazz being very popular during this time

• based on NYC, with the vibrancy and urban, industrial scene in the back

Noah’s Ark

1927, Aaron Douglas, American, Synthetic Cubism

• represents the symbolic and historical memories of African American art

• the artist settled in NYC during the Harlem Renaissance, so his African American background strongly influenced the style of his pieces

• overlapping light beams and shapes create a mystical feel and atmosphere

City Rises

1910, Umberto Boccioni, Italian, Futurism

• about the pure colour and energy that is given off

• mixes interests from cubism and photography

• taking the idea of how much space cubism takes up, rather than the geometric shapes aspect of it

• repetitive forms in the background create a sense of movement, compared to static feel of cubism

Futurism

A Milanese movement in reaction to the stagnant state of Italian art by the beginning of the 20th century

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space

1912, Umberto Boccioni, Italian, Futurism

• overall feel slightly resembles the flow of drapery seen in the Nike of Samothrace, but not exactly

• represents idea of someone running, and the blurriness as their muscles move

• idea of trying to add movement to a still sculpture piece

• puts a bunch of still life frames of the figure running into one piece

Young Girl Running on a Balcony

1912, Giacomo Balla, Italian, Futurism

• same girl is running, but image is repeated to create movement

• pointillism inspired dots also help give it a sense of movement

• focused on the topics of speed and movement

Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash

1912, Giacomo Balla, Italian, Futurism

• shows speed and movement of lady’s legs and leash, and the dachshund’s legs moving and tail wagging

• repetitious sequence of the same movement happening over and over again

• superimposes the image over and over to create the sense of movement

Swifts Paths of Movement and Dynamic Sequences

1913, Giacomo Balla, Italian, Futurism

• incorporates elements of movement and speed into the painting

• the waves are representing birds swooping in and out of the frame

• wing and wind pattern created by the swallows creates immense sense of energy and movement

• similar to the experimentation aspect of cubism, except its experimenting with movement and speed

Blue Dancer

1912, Gino Severini, Italian, Futurism

• shows a dancer in a flamenco style blue dress

• shows movement and energy combined with aspects of cubism, showing many angles at once

• strong sense of music, rhythm and motion are conveyed through this combination

• angles and overlapping forms express dynamic movement rather than realistic anatomy of the dancer

Dadaism

• ready made art

• putting already made objects together to create sculpture pieces, only slightly altering them

• idea that objects are already art themselves so why not put them together to see what happens

Bicycle Wheel

1913, Marcel Duchamp, French, Dadaism

• third version of this piece

• he thought that spinning the wheel adds an aspect of beauty to the wheel

• strobing illusion of the spokes, as it blurs out as it spins

• idea of putting already found objects together to make a sculptural piece

• the spinning of the wheel can add a visual surprise and create a soothing atmosphere

• “the idea of ready made art is implied that the production of art need be no more than the matter of selection” - artist does not need to create something new, but can rather select existing objects and create art out of that.

The Fountain

1917, Marcel Duchamp, French, Dadaism

• 16 versions of this was made

• it was a urinal hanging from the ceiling

• it was made to challenge the concept/idea of traditional art

• original one was lost which led to remakes

• challenged people’s ideas of what art is and can be

3 stoppages etaton (3 standard stoppages)

1913-14, Marcel Duchamp, French, Dadaism

• 3 strands of string that are on the panels match up to the pieces of wood in the same pattern

• worked with a mathematician to create this

• depending on how you display something, you can give it a luxury quality

• panels made with glass to challenge space and dimension

The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors

1915-23, Marcel Duchamp, French, Dadaism

• 2 big panes of glass pressed together with image in between gives illusion that figures are floating

• bottom looks like a helicopter because he was interested in machines

• top and bottom plates each represent different realms/eras

• became shattered as it got dropped in transport, but artist wanted to keep it a part of the work

Untitled (Collage with Squares Arranged According to the Law of Chance)

1916-17, Jean Arp, French, Dadaism

• pieces of ripped paper thrown in art and then glued

• about the law of chance and the possibilities

• idea of making a collage work and just letting the papers fall

Constellation with Five White Forms and Two Black (Variation III)

1932, Jean Arp, French, Dadaism

• pieces of wood that were painted

• magnets attached to the back allows movement and different arrangements

• idea that it is like poetry - a piece of fixed work but has fluidness

Overturned Blue Shoe with Two Heels Under a Black Vault

1925, Jean Arp, French, Dadaism

• painted wood pieces

• magnets on back allow for movement to different positions

• interactive aspect of it due to magnets

• resembles a collage, makes use of organic shapes to create this specific look

Merz

1919, Kurt Schwitters, German, Dadaism

• title is short form for commerce in German - idea of the stuff you buy

• created a collage out of items having to do with commerce

• idea that Germany was going through WWI, so there was a lot of trash and scraps everywhere

• inspired by cubism collages

Das Undbild (And Picture)

1919, Kurt Schwitters, German, Dadaism

• collage work

• pieces together scraps that are not related to each other

• purposefully placed darks and lights to create strong contrasts

• inspired by cubism cutouts and collage

Cut With the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany

1919, Hannah Hoch, German, Dadaism

• collection of collages which creates a kaleidoscope effect

• sense of movement that is being conveyed through the many items and figures being put together

• about the idea that after WWI life was chaotic for many Germans, and Germany had to pay Europe after the destruction

• the dream like quality is seen as you look more into the piece

• gives off a similar feel to cinematic layouts of early films

Bourgeois Wedding Couple - Quarrel

1919, Hannah Hoch, German, Dadaism

• shows how middle class lived post WWI

• represents how social status becomes a big part of German life

• photo montage is from different cutouts of newspaper

• showing that mass consumer culture is rising in Europe

Vortograph

1916-17, Alvin Langdon Coburn, American, Symbolist

• idea of showing machine forms seen in modern life

• used multiple mirrors to create this vision and different kinds of exposure

• figure in the picture creates geometric patterns and shapes

• taking the cubism idea and transferring it to photography

• all made on one negative

Pier and Ocean 5 (Sea and Star Sky)

1929, Piet Mondrian, Dutch, De Stijl

• gives on overview of the lake

• simplifies the waves into lines

• white represents the reflection on water made from sky

• rectangle on bottom represents the dock

• idea of simplifying imager using lines alone

Composition with Blue and Yellow

1929, Piet Mondrian, Dutch, De Stijl

• idea of using just shapes and colour

• using black to separate the colours and less us focus on them

• idea of making eyes move around at each colour

• taking forms and making them into simple geometric shapes

Broadway Boogie Woogie

1942, Piet Mondrian, Dutch, De Stijl

• represents the streets of NYC - overview

• dots represent people or cars, showing how busy it can be

• jazz being popular at the time influenced the title

• incorporates rhythm into it, as we can see some slow parts and some quicker parts

• made sure everything was balanced colourwise

The Hat Makes the Man

1920, Max Ernst, German, Surrealism

• collage of actual printouts of hats from magazines

• tries giving a sense of humour, as men back in the day would wear specific hats tailored to them, showing the style at the time

• represents that men and women become consumer puppets

Two Children are Threatened by Nightingales

1924, Max Ernst, German, Surrealism

• 3D painting of the source, work breaks out of frame

• mixing collage work with actual objects and painting

• the figure holding the baby at the top is actually a 3D sculpture

• composition encourages eyes to wander between the three figures

• combines dreams and childhood memories into one work

The Persistance of Memory

1931, Salvidor Dali, Spanish, Surrealism

• shows the themes of decaying

• showing how after time things can decay and lose all meaning

• background represents his home land area in Catalonia in Spain

Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man

1943, Salvidor Dali, Spanish, Surrealism

• the man trying to break out of the egg

• during WWII, as the man comes out, his hand is on Europe, and foot kicks in North America

• representing hope that US will save Europe in WWII which they did

• Earth bleeds as he tries to break out, showing that war is not pretty

• the figure pointing to Earth represents that future generations will have to deal with repercussions of war

Self Portrait with Chopped Hair

1940, Frida Kahlo, Mexican, Surrealism

• wears the suit of a man, and hair is all chopped off, representing that she just got divorced from her husband who was a jerk to her

• she was stuck with him because she was known in the art world and she wanted to get known, which was hard as a female artist

• shows that there is more to a person than just how they look

• lyrics at top say “look if i have loved you it was because of your hair, now that you are without hair, i don’t love you anymore”

Broken Column

1944, Frida Kahlo, Mexican, Surrealism

• column represents her spine, as she suffered a bad bus accident at 18 which broke her body

• she had to wear a cast, represented by the brace in the image, looking almost like a bird cage because it constricts her

• nails are inserted in her body to show the pain she had to endure

• land in back is barren and cleaved, like how she felt not being able to bear children, which put a strain on her marriage

The Beautiful Bird Revealing the Unknown to a Pair of Lovers

1941, Joan Miro, Spanish, Surrealism

• number 1 of 24 similar drawings made

• supposed to look like constellations

• made during WWII and Spanish civil war, where he was trapped in France and could not leave, so he coped by making art

A Toute Epreuve (Proof Against All)

1947-58, Joan Miro, Spanish, Surrealism

• a long illustrated book series

• around 79 prints made from cut wood in the book

• imagination of the artist, meant to give a whimsical, abstract feel

• used whatever wood he found to make prints, unlike other artists that used proper wood

• book includes everything from collages to poetry

Summer

1938, Joan Miro, Spanish, Surrealism

• depicts semi human creatures playing on the beach

• supposed to be joyful and happy - primary colours evoke this

• uses simplified shapes and forms as we branch in modernism

• supposed to be more imaginative and abstract rather than proper forms

The Kiss

1908, Constantin Brancusi, Romanian, Modernism

• made of plaster

• fourth version

• idea of unit as they kiss and embrace

• idea of becoming one and uniting when you embrace someone

• creates and overall geometric shape

Fish

1930, Constantin Brancusi, Romanian, Modernism

• idea of grand stonework being made and put together

• stone is balanced on the premade cement base

• idea of a fish is seen through the blue and grey colour of the granit

• exaggerates the overall shape of the fish, simplifying forms like the fins and tail into one fluid form

Bird in Space

1908, Constantin Brancusi, Romanian, Modernism

• sculpture piece that is hollow on the inside, like a cire perdue technique almost

• idea of a bird flying through the air

• all extra forms like feathers and wings are simplified and taken off

• many versions were made, 2-3, this is the main one

• the essence of movement is shown, although not a detailed form, we can still get a sense of the energy of the bird

• idea of creating a balanced form without unnecessary stuff