1ST QUARTER
MODERN ART
The 20th century saw a boom in the interchange of ideas,
beliefs, values, and lifestyles that continues to bring the
citizens of the world closer together
TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
-from the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s, the world
zoomed into the Electronic Age in the mid-1900s, then into
the present of Cyberspace Age
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ENVIRONMENT CHANGES
-Migration across the globe has allowed different cultures,
languages, skills, and even physical characteristics of different
races to intermingle like never before
EFFECTS ON THE WORLD OF ART
-The art movements of the late 19th century to the 20th
century captured and expressed all these and more
IMPRESSIONISM: ORIGINS OF THE
MOVEMENT
-IMPRESSIONISM was an art movement that emerged in the
second half of the 19th century among a group of Paris-based
artists
-painting styles:
neo-impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism, cubism
-The name impressionism was coined from the title of a work
by French painter Claude Monet, Impression, soleil levant
(Impression, Sunrise)
-the term precisely captured what this group of artists
sought to represent in their works: the viewer’s momentary
“impression” of an image
-it was not intended to be clear or precise, but more like a
fleeting fragment of reality caught on canvas, sometimes in
mid-motion, at other times awkwardly positioned- just as it
would be in real life
IMPRESSIONISM: A BREAK FROM PAST
PAINTING TRADITIONS
-there were several areas in which impressionist artists
moved away from the established practices of art at that time
COLOR AND LIGHT
-the painting conventions and techniques of earlier art
periods were very much concerned with line, form, and
composition
-they used “broken” strokes that were intentionally made
visible to the viewer
“EVERYDAY” SUBJECTS
-impressionists also began to break away from the creation of
formally posed portraits and grandiose depictions of
mythical, literary, or religious subjects
-they ventured into capturing scenes of life around them,
household objects, landscapes and seascape, houses, cafes,
and buildings
PAINTING OUTDOORS
-the impressionists found that they could best capture the
ever-changing effects of light on color by painting outdoors in
natural light
OPEN COMPOSITION
-they experimented with unusual visual angles, sizes of
objects that appeared out of the proportion, off-center
placement, and empty spaces on the canvas
THE INFLUENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
-photography was in its early stages at this time as well
-photography inspired impressionists to capture fleeting
moments of action, whether in landscapes or in the day-to-
day lives of people
IMPRESSIONISM: WORKS OF MONET,
RENOIR, AND MANET
-by the 1870s, the stage was set for the emergence of the
next major art movement in Europe, impressionism
-it started with a group of French painters—that included
Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Edouard Manet—and
eventually spread to other countries, such as Italy, Germany,
and the Netherlands
CLAUDE MONET
-was one of the founders of the impressiomist movement
along with his friends Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and
Frederic Bazille
-he was the most prominent of the group, and is considered
the most influential figure in the movement
-Monet is best known for his landscape paintings, particularly
those depicting his beloved flower gardens and water lily
ponds at his home in Giverny
-Works: bsta naas book hahahahahahahah
AUGUSTE RENOIR
-was one of the central figures of the impressionist
movement
-his early works were snapshots of real life, full of sparkling
color and light
-by the mid-1800s, Renoir broke away from the impressionist
movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to
portraits of actual people and figure paintings
EDOUARD MANET
-was one of the first 19th-century artists to depict modern-life
subjects
-he was a key figure in the transition from realism to
impressionism, with a number of his works considered as
marking the birth of modern art
POST-IMPRESSIONISM: WORKS OF CEZANNE AND VAN GOGH
-The European artists who were at the forefront of this
movement continued using the basic qualities of the
impressionists before them—the vivid colors, heavy brush
strokes, and true-to-life subjects
-however, they expanded and experimented with these in
bold new ways, like using a geometric approach, fragmenting
objects and distorting people’s faces and body parts, and
applying colors that were not necessarily realistic or natural
PAUL CEZANNE
-was a French artist and post-impressionist painter
-his work exemplified the transition from late 19th-century
impressionism to a new and radically different world of art in
the 2Oth century—paving the way for the next revolutionary
art movement known as expressionism
VINCENT VAN GOGH
-was a post-impressionist painter from the Netherlands
-his works were remarkable for their strong, heavy brush
strokes, intense emotions, and colors that appeared to
almost pulsate with energy
-his striking style was to have a far-reaching influence on 20th-
century art, with his works becoming among the most
recognized in the world
EXPRESSIONISM: A BOLD NEW MOVEMENT
-in the early 1900s, a movement arose in the Western art
world that came to be known as expressionism
-expressionist artists created works with more emotional
force, rather than with realistic or natural images
-they distorted outlines, applied strong colors, and
exaggerated forms
-they worked more with their imagination and feelings, rather
than with what their eyes saw in the physical world
EXPRESSIONISM ART STYLES:
-neoprimitivism
-fauvism
-dadaism
-surrealism
-social realism
NEOPRIMITIVISM
- an art style that incorporated elements from the native arts
of the South Sea Islanders and the wood carvings of African
tribes that surged in popularity at that time
Amedeo Modigliani
- Used the oval faces and elongated shapes of African
art in both his sculptures and paintings
FAUVISM
- a style that used bold, vibrant colors and visual distortions
-Its name was derived from les fauves (“wild beasts”),
referring to the group of French expressionist painters who
painted in this style
Henri Matisse
- one of the French expressionist painters and the
most known
DADAISM
- a style characterized by dream fantasies, memory
images, and visual tricks and surprises – as in the
paintings of Giorgio de Chirico
- although the works appeared playful, the movement
arose from the pain that a group of European artists
felt after the suffering brought by World War I
European Artists
- rebelled against established norms and authorities,
and against the traditional styles in art
- choose the child’s term for hobbyhorse, dada, to
refer to their new “nonstyle.”
SURREALISM
- a style that depicted an illogical, subconscious dream world
that seemed to exist beyond the logical, conscious, physical
one
-its name came from the term “super realism,” with its
artworks clearly expressing a departure from reality – as
though he artists were dreaming, seeing illusions, or
experiencing and altered mental state
Surrealist Works
- depicted morbid or gloomy subjects
SOCIAL REALISM
-expressed the artist’s role in social reform
-artists used their works to protest against the injustices,
inequalities, immortality, and ugliness of the human
condition
-in different periods of history, social realists have addressed
different issues: war, poverty, corruption, industrial and
environmental hazards, and more—in the hope of raising
people’s awareness and pushing society to seek reforms
ABSTRACTIONISM
-had the same spirit of freedom of expression and openness
that characterized life in the 20th century, but it differed from
expressionism in certain ways
-ABSTRACTIONIST movement arose from the intellectual
points of view in the 20th century
-logical and rational
-involved analyzing, detaching, selecting, and simplifying
-REPRESENTATIONAL ABSTRACTIONISM depicting still-
recognizable subjects
-PURE ABSTRACTIONISM where no recognizable subject could
be discerned
ABSTRACTIONISM ART STYLES:
-cubism
-futurism
-mechanical style
-nonobjectivism
CUBISM
-CUBIST style derived its name from the cube, a three-
dimensional geometric figure composed of strictly measured
lines, planes, and angles
-CUBIST ARTWORKS were a play of planes and angles on a flat
surface
-one of the cubists was Pablo Picasso
-CUBISTS analyzed their subjects’ basic geometrical forms,
and broke them up into a series of planes
-they reassembled these planes, tilting and interlocking them
in different ways
-took the contemporary view that things are actually seen
hastily in fragments and from different points of view at the
same time
FUTURISM
-began in Italy in the early 1900s
-the futurists created art for a fast-paced, machine-propelled
age
-they admired the motion, force, speed, and strength of
mechanical forms
-their works depicted the dynamic sensation of all these
MECHANICAL STYLE
-basic forms such as planes, cones, spheres, and cylinders all
fit together precisely and neatly in their appointed places
-mechanical parts such as crankshafts, cylinder blocks, and
pistons are brightened only by the use of primary colors
NONOBJECTIVISM
-logical geometric conclusion of abstractionism
-lines, shapes, and colors were used in a cool, impersonal
approach that aimed for balance, unity, and stability
-colors were mainly black, white, and the primaries
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
-world events in the mid-2oth century immensely influenced
the course of human life and the course of art history
-happened after World War I and World War II
THE NEW YORK SCHOOL
-reverse migration brought European scientists, architects,
and artists to American shores
-New York became a haven for the newly arrived artists and
their American counterparts
-“The New York School” as opposed to be “The School of
Paris” which had been very influential
ACTION PAINTING
-JACKSON POLLOCK worked on huge canvases spread on the
floor, splattering, squirting, and dribbling paint with no
preplanned pattern or design in mind
-the total effect is one of vitality, creativity, “energy made
visible”
COLOR FIELD PAINTING
-used different color saturations to create their desired
effects
-some of their works were huge fields of vibrant color—as in
the paintings of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman
-others took the more intimate “pictograph” approach, filling
the canvas with repeating fragments or symbols—as in the
works of Adolph Gottlieb and Lee Krasner
POP ART, OP ART -the performer himself or herself is the artist
-the performance venue may range from an art gallery or
POPULAR ART museum to a café, theater, bar, or street corner
-the pop art movement wanted to make reforms in
traditional values involves 4 basic elements:
-made use of commonplace, trivial, even nonsensical objects -Time
-pop art artists seemed to enjoy nonsense for its own sake -space
and simply wanted to laugh at the world -the performer’s body
-their works ranged from paintings, to posters, to collages, to -a relationship between performer and audience
three-dimensional “assemblages” and installations
-they made use of easily recognizable objects and images
from the merging consumer society—as in the prints of Andy
Warhol
-their inspirations were the celebrities, advertisements,
billboards, and comic strips that were becoming
commonplace at that time
-Roy Lichtenstein was an American pop artist who became a
leading figure in this new art movement, along with him were
Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist

OPTICAL ART
-a movement that emerged from the 1960s
-another experiment in visual experience
-a form of “a form of action painting”, with the action taking
place in the viewer’s eye
-lines, spaces, and colors were precisely planned and
positioned to give the illusion of movement

CONCEPTUAL ART
-arose in the mind of the artist, took concrete form for a time,
and then disappeared
-CONCEPTUALISTS questioned the idea of art as objects to be
bought and sold
-they brought their artistic ideas to life temporarily, using
such unusual materials as grease, blocks of ice, food, even
just plain dirt
-requires little or no physical craftsmanship
-much of the artist’s time and effort goes into the concept or
idea behind the work, with the actual execution then being
relatively quick and simple

CONTEMPORARY ART FORMS:

INSTALLATION ART & PERFORMANCE ART
-INSTALLATION ART makes use of space and materials in truly
innovative ways, while PERFORMANCE ART makes uses of the
human body, facial expressions, gestures, and sound.
-both speak powerfully about contemporary issues,
challenging their viewers to respond

INSTALLATION ART
-is a contemporary art form that uses sculptural materials and
other media to modify the way the viewer experiences a
particular space
-usually lifesize or even larger
-is not necessarily confined to gallery spaces
-can be constructed or positioned in everyday public or
private space, both indoor and outdoor
-the installation artist’s manipulation of space and materials
has also been called “environmental art”, “project art”, and
“temporary art”
-materials used in today’s installation art range form
everyday items and natural materials to new media
-creates an entire sensory experience for the viewer
-some works allow the viewer to touch or feel, hear, and
smell elements that the artist has incorporated in the
installation

PERFORMANCE ART
-a form of modern art in which the actions of an individual or
a group at a particular place and in a particular time
constitute the work
-can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time.
-include such activities as theater, dance, music, mime,
juggling, and gymnastics