Art Section V: Homage to Blériot

When was the Wright brothers' first successful flight?

1903

Where was the Wright brothers' first successful flight completed?

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Why were airplanes not widely represented in art in the first decade of manned motorized flight?

They were not very present in the public consciousness and daily life

Where were airfields usually located?

Far from city centers

Who were the main users of airplanes in the early days of flight?

Stunt people and specialized flyers

What year did artists start to think about representing flight with abstract art?

1913

In which countries were artists starting to think about depicting flight in their art?

Britain, France, Italy, and Russia

Who was one artist that was interested in flight?

Robert Delaunay

What movement was Delaunay associated with?

Orphism

What does Homage to Blériot combine?

Scientific color theory and celebration of modern technology

Who does Homage to Blériot praise?

Louis Blériot

What were Louis Blériot's professions?

Aviator and airplane manufacturer

Where and when was Robert Delaunay born?

Paris in 1885

What did Delaunay apprentice as when he was a teenager?

Painter of theatrical backdrops

Which artists inspired Delaunay?

Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne

What did Delaunay become interested in due to inspiration of Gauguin and Cezanne?

Abstraction and color theory

What art styles did Delaunay experiment with?

Impression and Fauvism

What art style did Delaunay become associated with in 1909?

Cubism

What was a key innovation of Cubism?

Breaking down the illusion of three-dimensional space

How did Cubists represent space?

Fragmented and made up of overlapping shapes

During what period of time did Delaunay experiment with Cubist techniques?

1909-1912

What did Delaunay's Cubist works depict?

Paris and the Eiffel Tower

How did Picasso and Braque feel about color?

They thought it was a distraction from their strict analysis of space and perspective

What change did Picasso's and Braque's works undergo?

They became more monochromatic

What was Delaunay interested in?

The psychology and optics of color

What was Delaunay accused of by his Cubist peers?

Making decorative paintings

Who was Delaunay's wife?

Sonia Terk

What were Terk's professions?

Painter and textile designer

When did Delaunay and Terk split from the Cubists?

1912

What style did Delaunay and Terk have during 1911-early 1920s?

Abstract arrangements of brightly colored patterns and shapes

What trend could be seen in Delaunay and Terk's work in the 1910s?

Circular or disc-like forms

Who was Delaunay and Terk's friend?

Guillaume Apollinaire

What did Apollinaire call Delaunay and Terk's style?

Orphism

For Apollinaire, what was the difference between Orphism and Cubism?

Orphism was deeply emotional and spiritual while Cubism was intellectual

What other artists did Apollinaire consider to be Orphists?

Fernand Léger, Francis Picabia, and Marcel Duchamp

What success did Delaunay achieve despite the short-lived notoriety of Orphism?

He received many public mural commissions into the late 1930s

When did Delaunay die?

1941

What did Delaunay's work blend?

The intellectual rigor of chromatic theory and an understanding of the emotive power of color

Who did Delaunay influence?

Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Josef Albers, and Kenneth Nolan

At what point in Delaunay's career was Homage to Blériot from?

The early Orphist period

How did Delaunay work through a theme?

By using different color combinations to see which created the most effect optical vibrations

What did 19th century color theory claim?

Placing complementary colors together made them look brighter and more dynamic

What sensation do the nested disc shapes create?

Whirling movement

How did Delaunay describe the painting?

As showing "multiple disk prisms that flood the earth, from which airplanes depart"

What are the four recognizable forms in the painting?

The nose of an airplane with a propellor, the Eiffel Tower, and two airplanes

What color are the two planes?

One is orange while the other is maroon and white

What did Delaunay have a passion for?

Aeronautics

Which of Delaunay's other works show is passion for aeronautics?

The Cardiff Team and Propellor

What does Delaunay's inscription translate to?

The 'first simultaneous solar discs' to the great constructor Blériot

What was Blériot known for in his time?

Being a celebrity aviator

How did Blériot make history as an aviator?

He was the first to fly across the English Channel in 1909

What did Blériot receive as a prize?

£1000

Which country's aviators were considered the best in the early 20th century?

France

What did Wyndham Lewis say about French aviators?

The French Press gushes sentimentally every day about their 'hommes-oiseaux'

What event did Delaunay attend due to his interest in aviation?

The parade in Blériot's honor when he returned to Paris

What did Delaunay do after the parade?

Write a fan letter to Blériot

Where did the Delaunay's often go?

Buc airfield

What did Sonia Terk say about the way Delaunay watched planes?

He "watched the take-offs with joyous eyes"

What did the paintings in the Simultaneous Windows series depict?

A combination of a street-level view and map-like perspective of Paris

What did Delaunay use to compose his paintings?

Aerial photographs of Paris

What do our brains have to do when we view a scene from above?

Do extra work to make sense of the unfamiliar perspective

What happens to an aerial viewpoint when motion is added?

It multiplies and fragments

What other artists used multiple perspectives and fragmentation to represent flying planes?

Edward Wadsworth, Kazimir Malevich, Natalia Goncharova, and Gino Severini

What artworks depicted flying planes?

A Short Flight (1914), Airplane Flying (1914-1915), Airplane Flying Over Train (1913), Flying over Rheims (1915)

What did the artists depicting planes have in common?

They were part of avant-garde artistic movements, imagined the experience of viewing the world from an airplane, or presented planes as symbols of modernity

What did Wyndham Lewis write in 1914?

All revolutionary painting to-day has in common the rigid reflections of steel … in the spirit of the artist

What did painters have to do in order to represent the magic of flight on a 2D surface?

They had to convey the thrill of an plane flight to viewers that hadn't experienced it