In a recent class, our tutor John discussed how we look at artist's experiences can have an effect on their work and how their lives can shape movements. This lead on to each of us as a class having to look at one art movement each and then feeding back all the info we collected as a group.
I looked at cubism - a movement that began with Pablo Picasso's famous painting 'Demoiselles D'Avignon'.
(Picture source: https://www.moma.org/explore/conservation/demoiselles/)
This piece (shown above) is a large oil painting featuring five naked women. Their bodies are shown to have both flat and curved components which gives them a geometric element. This painting took months of editing; in fact, this piece used to feature a naked man, but Picasso eventually painted over it.
Picasso was a famous cubist painter, but another artist called George Braque was also heavily involved in this art movement. In fact, the term for cubism came up after an art critic named Louis Vauxchues viewed some of Braque's landscapes and found that many of the geometric forms looked like cubes.
The idea of cubism is that drawing things in a realistic manner should be rejected and that there should be more experimentation with viewpoints and perspectives. Picasso once said "A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like". This often meant extreme abstraction of the subject matter (usually of still life or portrait). In fact, some pieces were so abstracted that they just appeared to be black, brown, or grey overlapping shapes. Some cubist paintings also featured collages - as mentioned from the Tate website: "The inclusion of real objects directly in art was the start of one of the most important ideas in modern art".
There's also two types of cubism. The first is analytical cubism. This movement ran from 1908-1912, and during this time, Braque and Picasso's work were so similar that it was difficult to tell the artist's works apart. These paintings were much more intense looking. They featured a lot of dark tones and dramatic lineage. The second kind of cubism is called Synthetic Cubism. This movement stemmed from around 1912-1914 and was much softer. The shapes were much simpler, and also the colours were much brighter. This kind also featured more collages from objects such as newspapers and tobacco wrappers.
I discussed this movement with the girls in my group, and I learnt from them about three other movements: Modernism, Kinetic art, and Performance Art.
Modernism is a movement that began in the late 19th century. This was a highly abstract movement that rejected historic styles that aimed to be highly immersive for the viewer. It was also political in that the movement tried to encourage people to move forward and look ahead, rather than cling on to the past.
Arguably the most famous artist in modernism was Kazimir Malevich - a Russian painter who witnessed much of the first world war, as well as the October revolution (he also was in fact suspected to be a war spy). One of his most famous pieces, 'The Black Square', was hidden away for most of his life, and in fact wasn't first exhibited until half a century after his death. This piece, which is now badly cracked, is black painted over a square canvas. It's so iconic due to it being seen as one of the first paintings that isn't of anything really, and has no true interpretation. This takes in a lot of what modernism is really about - which is ignoring the past (where one would try to paint something that exists) and instead trying something newer.
(Photo taken from: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/malevich)
Another icon of Modernism is of course, Jackson Pollock. Pollock was seen more of as an abstract expressionist, however his intentions very much seemed to be that of a modernist. His paintings mainly followed a 'drip' kind of method, in which he would literally drip paint onto a canvas, usually using a stick straight from a tin of paint. He rejected the idea of a painting having to be of anything, and instead used a canvas to express his emotions and feelings.
Next we heard about Kinetic Art. This began in the 20th Century, however was most significant in the 1950's. Some say that this movement has ended, however many say that it's still on-going. Kinetic art is art that relies on movement from the viewer when looking at the piece of art. It works almost like an optical illusion.
The most significant artist of this movement is Yaacov Agam. Agam is an Israeli artist who sources his inspiration for his work through light an sound to create an interesting experience for the viewer. His main source of inspiration comes from the book 'Lust for Life', and rejects traditional ways of painting and sculpture. One of his most significant pieces of work (shown below) is called 'Peaceful Communication With the World', which aims to explore how art exists and interacts with time.
Another significant artist of this movement was Alexander Calder. He was a sculptor, who originally studied engineering, which showed through his work and how he made work that was carefully balanced and relied on movement and gravity. One of his most significant pieces was mobile (shown below) which is a piece that moved delicately depending on air and gravity. This provided an interaction with the audience in that the piece's movement allowed the viewer to gain different perspectives.
Finally, we looked at performance art. This movement began in the 1950's through more live performance, though nowadays it is seen more digitally (through film etc). The main aim was to get the viewer to think, and to challenge the conventions of traditional art. This meant that art was no longer being seen as just a painting or a sculpture
One of the most significant artists of this movement is Yoko Ono. Ono is a Japanese multi-media artist, though known most significantly for her performance art (and of course her marriage to her late-husband, John Lennon.) Much of her performance art included audience interaction, including some of her instructional pieces, such as her first art book 'Grapefruit' which included 'Voice Piece for Soprano' which encourages the reader to scream against the wall, the wind, and the sky - whether that be in real life or in their mind.
Another highly significant artist was Chris Burden. His work also involved human interaction, however provided far more challenges. Much of his work is uncomfortable to hear about - such as one of his most significant pieces, titled 'Doomed', in which Burden lay underneath a glass plane at an angle for 45 hours, until he was prompted by museum staff to stop. He didn't inform the staff that the intention of the piece was to see how long he could lay there for until they stopped him until a staff member placed a glass of water next to his head due to the fear that he may accidentally kill himself. When the glass of water was placed next to his head, he got up to the next room, picked up a hammer and an envelope, smashed the clock, and then handed the envelope over, which contained an explanation of the piece.
I looked at cubism - a movement that began with Pablo Picasso's famous painting 'Demoiselles D'Avignon'.
(Picture source: https://www.moma.org/explore/conservation/demoiselles/)
This piece (shown above) is a large oil painting featuring five naked women. Their bodies are shown to have both flat and curved components which gives them a geometric element. This painting took months of editing; in fact, this piece used to feature a naked man, but Picasso eventually painted over it.
Picasso was a famous cubist painter, but another artist called George Braque was also heavily involved in this art movement. In fact, the term for cubism came up after an art critic named Louis Vauxchues viewed some of Braque's landscapes and found that many of the geometric forms looked like cubes.
'The Park at Carries-Saint Denis' by George Braque
(image source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/georges-braque/the-park-at-carri%C3%A8res-saint-denis-1909)
The idea of cubism is that drawing things in a realistic manner should be rejected and that there should be more experimentation with viewpoints and perspectives. Picasso once said "A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like". This often meant extreme abstraction of the subject matter (usually of still life or portrait). In fact, some pieces were so abstracted that they just appeared to be black, brown, or grey overlapping shapes. Some cubist paintings also featured collages - as mentioned from the Tate website: "The inclusion of real objects directly in art was the start of one of the most important ideas in modern art".
There's also two types of cubism. The first is analytical cubism. This movement ran from 1908-1912, and during this time, Braque and Picasso's work were so similar that it was difficult to tell the artist's works apart. These paintings were much more intense looking. They featured a lot of dark tones and dramatic lineage. The second kind of cubism is called Synthetic Cubism. This movement stemmed from around 1912-1914 and was much softer. The shapes were much simpler, and also the colours were much brighter. This kind also featured more collages from objects such as newspapers and tobacco wrappers.
I discussed this movement with the girls in my group, and I learnt from them about three other movements: Modernism, Kinetic art, and Performance Art.
Modernism is a movement that began in the late 19th century. This was a highly abstract movement that rejected historic styles that aimed to be highly immersive for the viewer. It was also political in that the movement tried to encourage people to move forward and look ahead, rather than cling on to the past.
Arguably the most famous artist in modernism was Kazimir Malevich - a Russian painter who witnessed much of the first world war, as well as the October revolution (he also was in fact suspected to be a war spy). One of his most famous pieces, 'The Black Square', was hidden away for most of his life, and in fact wasn't first exhibited until half a century after his death. This piece, which is now badly cracked, is black painted over a square canvas. It's so iconic due to it being seen as one of the first paintings that isn't of anything really, and has no true interpretation. This takes in a lot of what modernism is really about - which is ignoring the past (where one would try to paint something that exists) and instead trying something newer.
(Photo taken from: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/malevich)
Another icon of Modernism is of course, Jackson Pollock. Pollock was seen more of as an abstract expressionist, however his intentions very much seemed to be that of a modernist. His paintings mainly followed a 'drip' kind of method, in which he would literally drip paint onto a canvas, usually using a stick straight from a tin of paint. He rejected the idea of a painting having to be of anything, and instead used a canvas to express his emotions and feelings.
'Convergence' by Jackson Pollock (image source: https://www.jackson-pollock.org/convergence.jsp)
Next we heard about Kinetic Art. This began in the 20th Century, however was most significant in the 1950's. Some say that this movement has ended, however many say that it's still on-going. Kinetic art is art that relies on movement from the viewer when looking at the piece of art. It works almost like an optical illusion.
The most significant artist of this movement is Yaacov Agam. Agam is an Israeli artist who sources his inspiration for his work through light an sound to create an interesting experience for the viewer. His main source of inspiration comes from the book 'Lust for Life', and rejects traditional ways of painting and sculpture. One of his most significant pieces of work (shown below) is called 'Peaceful Communication With the World', which aims to explore how art exists and interacts with time.
(Image source: https://blog.lofty.com/featured/yaacov-agam/)
(Image Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alexander-calder-848)
One of the most significant artists of this movement is Yoko Ono. Ono is a Japanese multi-media artist, though known most significantly for her performance art (and of course her marriage to her late-husband, John Lennon.) Much of her performance art included audience interaction, including some of her instructional pieces, such as her first art book 'Grapefruit' which included 'Voice Piece for Soprano' which encourages the reader to scream against the wall, the wind, and the sky - whether that be in real life or in their mind.
(image source: http://imaginepeace.com/archives/19372)
Later on there was also 'Cut Piece', where Ono sat on a stage, and invited audience members to gradually cut away pieces of her clothing. This was to challenge the relationship between the audience and the artist, as well as challenge its neutrality.Another highly significant artist was Chris Burden. His work also involved human interaction, however provided far more challenges. Much of his work is uncomfortable to hear about - such as one of his most significant pieces, titled 'Doomed', in which Burden lay underneath a glass plane at an angle for 45 hours, until he was prompted by museum staff to stop. He didn't inform the staff that the intention of the piece was to see how long he could lay there for until they stopped him until a staff member placed a glass of water next to his head due to the fear that he may accidentally kill himself. When the glass of water was placed next to his head, he got up to the next room, picked up a hammer and an envelope, smashed the clock, and then handed the envelope over, which contained an explanation of the piece.
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