Art History Notes

Bauhaus

  • Founded in Weimar, Germany, in 1919 by Walter Gropius.
  • Objective: To unify all arts by reimagining the material world.
  • Gropius's vision: Combine architecture, sculpture, and painting into a single creative expression.
  • Curriculum: Craft-based, blending fine arts and design education.
  • Teaching method: Community of artists collaborating, integrating art with everyday life.
  • Teachers include: Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Josef Albers.

Paul Klee

  • Swiss-born painter, printmaker, and draughtsman associated with German Expressionism.
  • Taught at the Bauhaus.
  • Explored the relationship between music and visual art, such as color and musical sonority.
  • Challenged traditional boundaries between writing and visual art.
  • Inspired by children's art, Klee sought untutored simplicity in his work.

Josef Albers

  • Brought European modernism and Bauhaus principles to America.
  • His work proposed that color is the primary medium of pictorial language.
  • Interaction of Color (1963): Comprehensive analysis of color perception, influencing art education.
  • Homage to the Square: Explored visual effects through color and spatial relationships.
  • Taught at Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, and Yale.

Dadaism (1916-1923)

  • A cultural movement rooted in Switzerland, Dada was a response to the seriousness of war.
  • Reaction to World War I and nationalism.
  • Rejected traditional art standards, finding art in everyday objects.
  • Characterized as Anti-war and Anti-art.
  • Artists: Marcel Duchamp and Raoul Hausmann.

Ready Made Art

  • Term coined by Marcel Duchamp.
  • Prefabricated objects elevated to art by artist's choice.
  • Challenged definitions of art and the role of the artist.

Collage

  • Dadaists adopted collage to advance their absurdist philosophy and political activism.
  • Use of prefabricated materials negates the importance of artistic skill.
  • Iconoclastic act, rejecting the source material's world-view.

Surrealism (1924-1940)

  • Sought to unlock imagination by channeling the unconscious.
  • Influenced by Sigmund Freud's work, particularly The Interpretation of Dreams.
  • Characteristics: Dreamlike qualities, fantasy, lack of reason; incorporated ideals of Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx.
  • Artists: Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Paul Delvaux.
  • André Breton: Author of the Surrealist Manifesto.
  • Salvador Dalí: Known for "paranoiac-critical method."

Social Realism

  • An international art movement focusing on the conditions of the working class and the poor.
  • Flourished between the two World Wars.
  • Aimed to make art accessible and legible to the wider public, portraying heroic figures.
  • Artists include Ben Shahn, William Gropper, Aaron Douglas, and Candido Portinari.
  • Ben Shahn: The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti.
  • Aaron Douglas: Captured themes of racial injustice.

Mural Painting

  • Emerged as significant form of expression emphasizing unity, freedom and optimism.
  • Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
  • Potent instrument of liberation, freedom of speech, social action, and propaganda.
  • José Clemente Orozco: Depicted the effects of modern warfare on humanity in Dive Bomber and Tank.
  • Diego Rivera: Prominent figure in Mexican Muralism.
  • David Alfaro Siqueiros: Featured social and political subjects.

Abstract Expressionism

  • Marked the beginning of New York City's influence on the Western art world.
  • Inspired by Surrealism and automatism.
  • Convey strong emotional or expressive content.
  • Action painters: Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning (used expressive brushstrokes).
  • Color field painters: Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman (large areas of a single colour).
  • Jackson Pollock: Used "drip" technique.
  • Mark Rothko: Refined compositional format through abstract shape and color.
  • Barnett Newman: Used vertical band called "zip."

Art Informel

  • French term for abstract painting with improvisatory methodology, gestural technique, and a rejection of geometric abstraction.
  • Emphasizes change and improvisation.
  • Alberto Burri: introduced energy, life, death, and destruction using natural and industrial materials.
  • Lucio Fontana: Founder of Spatialism.
  • Antoni Tàpies exploration of Surrealist imagery

Pop Art

  • Emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain.
  • Drew inspiration from popular and commercial culture.
  • Incorporated techniques and materials from the commercial world.
  • Roy Lichtenstein: Used perforated templates to replicate dot patterns.
  • Andy Warhol: Replicated brands and celebrity images; used silkscreening.

Op Art

  • Abbreviation of 'optical art'; uses abstract patterns to stimulate the eye.
  • Effects range from subtle to disorienting.
  • Figures: Bridget Riley, Jesus Rafael Soto, and Victor Vasarely.

Graffiti Art

  • Unauthorized marking of public space.
  • Emerged in 1970s New York.
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat: Mixed graffiti and signs with Abstract Expressionism.
  • Keith Haring: Used illustrative figures and symbols; known for The radiant baby and The barking dog.
  • Banksy: Uses multi-layered stencils and satire.