The Renaissance 1450 1600 AD The Baroque Period

The Renaissance 1450 -1600 AD The Baroque Period 1600 -1750 AD The Classical Period 1750 -1825 AD The Romantic Era 1825 -1900 AD The Age of Modernism 1900 -the Present

The Age of Modernism 1900 to the Present

20 th Century Modernism Modernists repudiated representation and meaning. They were interested in exploring pure form, abstracting the essence out of the representation. As Leonard Bernstein famously said, “Stories aren’t what music means at all. Music is never about anything. Music just is. ”

20 th Century Modernism The Reaction against Romanticism 1. 2. Early-20 th-century art was the product of a reaction against Romanticism. It sought to escape refinement and traditional views of beauty and form. Instead, artists experimented with primitive, uninhibited, and spontaneous styles. Artists were inspired by non-Western sources (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe) for primal, powerful rhythms, and fresh concepts New Trends in the Arts such as Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, Abstract Nonrepresentationalism, Cubism, Surrealism, etc. (see the following slides).

Visual Art Movements in Modernism 1870’s to the Present

Impressionism The Visual Arts 1872 -1892 Impressionism began as a rebellion against the conservative judges of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in the Salon de Paris. The label, “Impressionists, ” was at first an epithet ridiculing what one art critic saw as “nothing but impressions” in the paintings of these independent artists. The Impressionists’ individual styles were quite varied but they all attempted to represent visual perception, rather than a photorealistic depiction of nature. Their theory of visual perception was based on fleeting optical impressions in the passing moments of life. Artists Edouard Manet Claude Monet Edgar Degas Pierre-Auguste Renoir Camille Pissarro Alfred Sisley Mary Cassatt John Singer Sargent Berthe Morisot “The Seine at Marly” by Camille Pissarro

Art Nouveau The Visual Arts 1890 -1905 Art Nouveau was aimed at modernizing design, seeking to abandon the excessively ornamental styles of the 19 th century. Artists drew inspiration from both organic and geometric forms, evolving elegant designs that united flowing, natural forms with more angular contours. Art Nouveau artists sought to revive good workmanship, raise the status of craft, and produce genuinely modern design, believing that the function of an object should dictate its form. Artists Gustav Klimt Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo Arthur Liberty Alphonse Mucha Josef Hoffmann Otto Wagner Adolf Loos Antoni Gaudi (architect for the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain) Louis Comfort Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany, designer of jewelry & home decor) Aubrey Beardsley Koloman Moser Joseph Maria Olbrich Franz Matsch Charles Rennie Mackintosh Rene Lalique (Lalique glassware and jewelry) “Times of the Day” by Alphonse Mucha Tiffany Stained Glass Window

Post-Impressionism The Visual Arts 1880’s-1914 Post-Impressionism continued the progression of art as a window into the artist’s mind and soul. Not interested in depicting the natural world, Post -Impressionists were more interested in their memories and emotions in response to the world around them. They began to abstract form and pattern which led the way to more radical abstract movements in the 20 th century. Artists Paul Cézanne Vincent van Gogh Paul Gauguin Georges Seurat Édouard Vuillard Pierre Bonnard Henri Rousseau Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec “Olive Trees” 1889 -1890, by Vincent van Gogh

The Visual Arts Cubism 1899 -1908 Cubist artists abandoned perspective, used since the Renaissance to depict space relationships in three-dimensions. They also abandoned realistic depictions of the human figure. Cubists were influenced by Cézanne's use of generic forms to simplify nature and by non-Western and indigenous art forms with abstract art traditions. Artists Pablo Picasso George Braque Fernand Léger Juan Gris Robert Delaunay Sonia Delaunay Jacques Lipchitz Raymond Duchamp-Villon Jean Metzinger “Brick Factory at Tortosa” 1909, by Pablo Picasso

Fauvism 1899 -1908 The Visual Arts Taken from a French word meaning, “wild beast, ” Fauvism was the first of the 20 th century styles of Modern Art. Fauvism featured pure, saturated color and simplified forms as a means of conveying the artist's emotional state. Color could project a mood and establish a structure within the work of art with no allegiance to a representation of the actual, natural world. The artist’s individual expression was of more import than traditional art theory. Artists Henri Matisse Georges Braque Maurice de Vlaminck André Derain Raoul Dufy “Boats at Martigues” by Raoul Dufy

Futurism 1909 -late 1920’s The Visual Arts An Italian avant-garde art movement of the early 20 th century. Futurists were fascinated by advanced technology and modern urban life. Futurists heralded the new and sought to destroy the ethos and artifacts of the previous culture. They saw beauty in the machine, speed, violence and change. This fascination for modernity and the machine ultimately led them to celebrate the arrival of the First World War. Though the movement continued into the 1920’s, the devastation of WW 1 took the air out of the movement. Though it continued, it lost its caché as an important avant-gard movement. Many of its members became Fascist which makes Futurism distinct as the only 20 th century art movement to embrace far right politics. Artists Umberto Boccioni Giacomo Balla Gino Severini Carlo Carra Natalia Goncharova Luigi De Guidici Primo Conti Anton Giulio Bragaglia Enrico Prampolini Fortunato Depero “Unique Forms of Contuinity in Space” bronze sculpture by Umberto Boccioni

Dadaism 1916 -1924 The Visual Arts Dadaism was a reaction to WWI and the conventions of the European societies that led to the conflict. It was anti-authoritarian, antinationalist, and anti-bourgeois. Dadaism mocked and opposed the culture of its time. It was influenced by other art movements of the time – Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism. It featured performance art, poetry, photography, sculpture, and of course, painting. Artists Francis Picabia Marchel Duchamp Man Ray Hannah Hoch Sophie Taeuber-Arp Andre Breton Hans Arp Hans Bellmer Tristan Tzara Kurt Schwitters Hugo Ball “Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Beer-Belly of the Weimar Republic, 1919” Hannah Höch

Expressionism 1905 -1933 The Visual Arts Expressionism was born out of anxiety over humanity's increasingly discordant relationship with the world and with a loss of feelings of authenticity and spirituality. Those yearnings and anxieties are expressed through distortion of form and the use of strong colors. Expressionism changed how art was created and viewed. What was important was what came from within the artist, rather than from a representation of the external visual world. Assessing the quality of a work of art was more about the authenticity of the artist's feelings rather than an analysis of the composition. Artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Wassily Kandinsky Paul Klee Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Chaim Soutine Max Beckmann Franz Marc August Macke Egon Schiele “Senecio, ” Paul Klee, 1922

De Stijl 1917 -1931 The Visual Arts Dutch artists formulated “De Stijl” a new style of art that was all about pure, abstracted geometric form. But it was more than an art style. In reaction to the carnage of World War 1, De Stijl artists had a vision for an entirely new aesthetic that would inform all the arts. That new aesthetic sought to bring order and harmony in the reborn society following the war. They hoped to unify architecture, urban planning, design, music, literature and other arts under the umbrella of De Stijl. Artists Theo van Doesburg Piet Mondrian J. J. Oud Vilmos Huszar Gerrit Rietveld Ilya Bolotowsky Georges Vantongerloo Vart van der Leck “Simultaneous Counter Composition” by Theo van Doesburg

The Visual Arts Surrealism 1924 -1966 Surrealism grew out of the Dada movement. Surrealist artists tried to tap into the unconscious as a bridge to the imagination. They were strongly influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis and in myth and primitivism. Their imagery was purposely dreamlike, outrageous, and disturbing. Artists Andre Breton Hans Arp Max Ernst Salvador Dali Alberto Giacometti Joan Miro Rene Magritte Man Ray Leonora Carrington Luis Buneul “Personal Values, ” Rene Magritte, 1952

Abstract Expressionism The Visual Arts Abstract Expressionism developed in New York in the 1940 s and 1950 s, originally influenced by leftist politics. It focused on color and abstract forms, creating expressive art of profound emotion and universal themes, reflecting the post-World War 2 mood of anxiety and trauma. Artists Jackson Pollock Willem de Kooning Mark Rothko Clifford Still Franz Kline Hans Hofmann Robert Motherwell Barnett Newman “Door to the River, ” Willem de Kooning, 1960

Minimalism The Visual Arts In reaction to the expressionism of the early 20 th century, abstract Minimal Art focuses on the medium and the materials and tries to distance itself from the personal expression of the artist. Works are generally simple in form and draw attention to the source of the materials. Minimalist music uses limited materials and relies on repetition and (slight) variation over time. Minimalism in music and the visual arts share the ethos of avoiding personal expression or metaphor. Artists Carl Andre Dan Flavin Robert Irwin Donald Judd Kenneth Noland Richard Serra Frank Stella Sol Le. Witt Agnes Martin Robert Morris Installation by Richard Serra

The Visual Arts Pop Art Pop artists celebrated commonplace objects and people of everyday life, in this way seeking to elevate popular culture to the level of fine art. Because Pop art became so, well…popular, it has become one of the most recognizable styles of modern art. Artists Andy Warhol Roy Lichenstein James Rosenquist Claes Oldenburg Richard Hamilton Jasper Johns Robert Rauschenberg Tom Wesselmann Sigmar Polke Eduardo Paolozzi David Hockney Alex Katz George Segal “F 111” by James Rosenquist