Segment 2 Study Guide Gallery 7

Describe Courbet's artwork? What was important for Courbet to portray through his art?

"The Stone Breakers" -Inspired by the "complete expression of human misery." -The work of ordinary, human labor scandalized the art public in 1850. -By keeping the workers faceless and anonymous, Courbet doesn't allow the viewer to identify with them. -The texture and weight of the tools and stones is concentrated on and portrayed through texture. The lack of drama or sentiment is typical Realist manner "Burial at Ornans" -Courbet painted the commonplace on a monumental scale -The painting is over 10 feet high and 22 feet long -Depicted is the funeral of an anonymous commoner in an undramaticized depiction of life and death. -This is a break from the Romanticists' portrayal of death through the dreariness of the drab colors and the bleak landscape. -It was important for Courbet to be realistic. He stated, "I have never seen angels. Show me an angel and I will paint one."

Who was Kandinsky? He was the first artist to do what?

-A Russian born Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) who founded "Der Blaue Reiter" ("the blue rider"), a group of german expressionism . "Der Blaue Reiter" comes from a combination of Kandinsky's fondness for blue and Marc's affinity for horses. -"Der Blaue Reiter" works were more lyrical, romantic and abstract. Their spontaneous, avante-garde expressive style provided visual form to feelings. -Kandinsky was one of the first artists to work in total abstraction "Small Pleasures." -All recognizable forms are gone in favor of a vivacious arrangement of quickly moving color, lines and shapes. -The color is free from the constraints of description and identity; space is open and boundless, not limited by horizon and baselines; the forms reflect the artist's intuition and expression rather than predetermined shapes. -Kandinsky turned away from visible reality for a spiritual reality.

Describe Fauvism. Who was the most influential artistic of this period?

-A time of tremendous political and societal turmoil or transformation determined the new direction in art of the twentieth century. -The period is characterized by the many radical changes, from the incredible advancements in science, medicine and technology, to the horrors of multifarious totalitarian dictatorships and global wars. -Fauvism began in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne. Here, a hostile critic, seeing a Renaissance style piece of sculpture amidst a collection of revolutionary paintings, exclaimed, "Donatello au milieu des fauves!" ("Donatello among the wild beasts!"). The painters ironically responded by taking "fauves" as the name of their movement. -The Fauve works are "ferocious," or wild in color, brushstrokes and distortion. -Fauvism is essentially an expressionistic movement employing shockingly bold, often contrasting color, rough brushstrokes and unnaturalistic drawing and perspective. -Building on the innovation of van Gogh and Gauguin, the Fauves further freed color from its descriptive role by using it as a means to convey structure and expression and aesthetics. -Fauvism was short-lived as an organized movement, lasting five years, but its influence on the evolution of twentieth-century art impacted each successive style that followed. -Picasso

Describe Henri Matisse's art.

-Henri Matisse (1869-1954) elevated color as the primary means to convey meaning, "What characterizes [Fauvism] was that we rejected imitative color, and that with pure colors we obtained stronger reactions [and] more striking simultaneous [ones]." -Matisse's colors are applied with broad brushstrokes in large flat patterns or splotches that are often startlingly juxtaposed "Woman with the Hat." -In this portrait of the artist's wife, she is in a conventional pose which is contrasted with the unconventional use of color. -Matisse's characteristically brilliant and striking use of color is applied not only to the background, but to the sitter herself. "Harmony in Red" -An interior scene of a maid placing fruit and wine on a dining room table. -Matisse has simplified and flattened the forms (the table, missing a front edge, is as flat as the wall, with which it shares an identical pattern), to intensify the sense of warmth and comfort that the contrasting colors convey. "Color was not given to us in order that we should imitate nature. It was given to us so that we can express our emotions."

Describe African Art. What characteristics are seen in the different cultural styles?

-African Art ranges from naturalistic, religious, spiritual, and commemorative. -Sculptures, masks, and architecture are made from durable, local materials such as stone, terracotta, bronze, hardwood. -African Art is often conceptual art and abstract art to represent the concept or purpose to be used during religious ceremonies. -Many objects were utilitarian or functional as a representation of a vehicle for energy used for communication with the spirit world. -African Art reflects region and the culture of people who create it; the product is as vast and diverse as the continent itself. Ashanti (Asante): known for renowned metal work in gold. Bronze and brass were used for ritual urns, kuduo, and gold weights-human or animal figurines of known subjects were represented. Baluba: of the Bantu peoples in Central Africa who are noted for their natural resources such as gold, ivory, and copper and their trade of pottery and masks. The Baluba are known for their carvings of their wooden ancestral figures that were ceremonial masks and symbols of kingship Dogon: a West African people settled in the great bend of the River Niger. Their sculpture is characterized by free-standing ancestor figures in which the cylindrical shape of the torso is emphasized. The Dogon softwood masks have bold abstract forms and decorative high-relief in cubistic forms. Distortion is stylistically used to stress spiritual significance which is relevant to the purpose of the work Fang: a populous complex of African peoples living in the region of the Northern Gabon. They are especially noted for mortuary heads and figures that represent their primeval ancestors and the people they are to protect. Their wooden sculptures, reliquary guardian figures, would be attached to the box that contained the bones of the deceased. Speculation about their purpose ranges from the sculpture being an abstract representation of the deceased to their purpose being to protect the spirit of the deceased from evil. Yoruba: a people inhabit southwestern Nigeria and are the largest and one of the most artistically prolific ethnic groups in West Africa. The Yoruba are known for their wood carving that focus on secret societies and religious cult objects

Describe the work of Toulouse Lautrec? What subjects did he paint? What culture influenced his art?

-Because of childhood injuries that left his legs crippled, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) often felt left out of the aristocratic world he was born in. -He frequented the Moulin Rouge, a famous Parisian nightclub named for the red windmill on its roof and depicted many of his friends and favorite entertainers from there "La Goulue" - In the work, the Moulin Rouge's reigning dance star, the woman adjusts her red hair while the dwarfish Toulouse-Lautrec and his tall cousin, Gabriel Tapié de Céléyran, walk toward the left. -The glum assembly of characters seated around the table includes writer Edouard Dujardin, entertainer La Macarona, photographer Paul Sescau, winemaker Maurice Guibert, and another redhead, perhaps entertainer Jane Avril. The woman with the green face illuminated with artificial light is May Milton, another popular dancer of the day. -Toulouse-Lautrec's Post-Impressionist style is a highly personal combination of the Impressionists' interest in contemporary subject matter and his own expressionistic color and line. -The eerie green light of the interior evokes an unhealthy atmosphere. -The artist created visual drama by utilizing different lines, such as the curving silhouette of La Goulue fixing her hair, the collar of Avril's coat, and the outline of Milton's sleeve. -These lines contrast with the strong diagonals of the banister and the floorboards, which rush forward toward the viewer.

Describe Japanese art. What are some important characteristics of Japanese art?

-Buddhism defined the tradition and roots of Japanese art. -Throughout the centuries Japanese art has transitioned from representing the religious and cultural connection to mirror cultural and artistic growth. -Japanese art and architecture is reflective of a pluralistic culture with visual commonalities. The art has evolved from a religious vehicle to reflect the culture as a whole and become a commercial success. Japanese art has influenced European movements, such as the Post-Impressionists

Describe the use of perspective by Cezanne

-Cézanne's use of geometric form and disjointed perspective made him an inspiration to Pablo Picasso, Cubism and the abstract art of the twentieth century. -Cézanne took a formalist approach through structural regularity of his subjects by repeating round and angular shapes -With a composition full of lines, planes and colors of nature Cezanne created perspective and structure through color patterns.

Describe the Dada movement.

-Dada ("dada" is French for "hobbyhorse") was an artistic and literary movement which ridiculed contemporary culture and traditional art forms. -It was born out of the widespread disillusionment caused by World War I, and the resulting collapse of social and moral values that followed. -Dada artists produced works that reflected a cynical attitude toward social values and were irrational, absurd, playful, emotive, intuitive, and often cryptic. -More of a mindset than a style, Dadaists typically produced art objects in unconventional forms produced by avant-garde methods. -Artists employed the chance results of accident as a means of production and materials were ready-made, objects that were taken out of their original context and used in art.

Describe Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space"

-Displays the "motion aesthetic" of Futurism -Speed and force are portrayed in combination in a sculptural form, as the artist has emphasizes motion instead of the source of the motion (i.e., the human figure).

What is Expressionism?

-Expressionism was a dominant art movement in Germany from 1905 to 1925. -Color was an important element for the German Expressionists; distortion (or abstraction), rough, flat outlines and aggressive brushstrokes were stressed above all. -These artists were responding to a spiritual crisis of sorts as Germany rapidly transformed from an agricultural society (i.e., one close to nature) to an industrialized one (which was alienated from nature). -The German Expressionists were seeking a visual representation of their inner visions and one free from the established order (which they saw as corrupt).

What is Futurism?

-Futurism, an Italian literary and artistic movement, embraced the age of the machine by seeking to convey the dynamism of twentieth-century life. -The Futurists had a political agenda as their works glorified war, which they saw as the only effective cleansing agent for society's ills. -Futurists advocated for the complete annihilation of the old guard, which included the destruction of museums and libraries. -Futurists were especially interested in the motion, speed and dynamism of the machine age, and the perceived beauty therein.

Describe Degas' style. What subjects did he chose to portray?

-Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (1834-1917) was fascinated with the effects of indoor lighting. -Degas admired the linear perfection of the Neoclassicists and many of his compositions reflect this. -Where the line is concerned, Monet and Renoir are at different ends of the Impressionistic spectrum. -Degas is known for his many depictions of dancers, a favorite subject he painted throughout his career. In his later years he painted nudes

What is Impressionism? What is a salon?

-Impressionism began in 1874 when a group of artists came together to show their own works, bypassing the official (and rigid) system of Salon exhibits of the French Academy. -Impressionism captures a moment and concentrates on the present, in contrast to the preceding Realists that were concerned with the present. -The term describes where the artist has aimed to capture the visual impression made by a scene instead of representation of it. -Impressionistic subjects did not come from the Bible, history, mythology, or offer social commentary. -Subjects were from the their own middle-class lives-streets on which they walked, bars and cafes that they frequented, and the surrounding countryside where they relaxed -The "captured moment": cropped, compressed space of her compositions, and the use of clear, bright colors in the manner of the Impressionist movement. -Impressionists were defined through pulsating colors, informal middle class scenes, loose brushwork, and cropped compositions. Salon: A hall or gallery for exhibiting works of art.

Discuss how Daumier's "Transonian Street" was used as a political statement.

-In "Transnonian Street" ("Rue Transnonian") Daumier recounts a terrible atrocity. -The title comes from the name of a street that a government guard, commissioned to quell worker unrest, was killed by an unknown assassin. -Because the shot came from worker housing, other government guards stormed the block and killed every inhabitant. -Daumier, in realist manner, presents not the dramatic moment of execution but rather in the horrible, yet snapshot-like aftermath.

Discuss Manet's artworks. What period did he have a huge influence on?

-Manet (1832-1883) is important for his clear presentation of Realist ideals and because of his stylistic techniques greatly influenced the Impressionist painters. "Olympia" -featured the courtesan Victorine Meurend represented in the traditional theme of the female nude. -The strong, uncompromising technique, such as the harsh shifts in tonality, shocked the art public and profoundly impacted the later Impressionists. -In "Olympia," The subject matter offended the public despite Manet's formal and iconographic references to Titian's Venus of Urbino. -The painting portrays the cold and prosaic reality of a truly contemporary subject: Venus has become a prostitute, confident and challenging the viewer with her calculating look "Luncheon on the Grass" ("Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe"). -Depicts a pastoral scene -Different from traditional versions (by such painters as Giorgione and Titian), Manet does not depict gods or nymphs in the foreground, instead there are identifiable and contemporaneous figures. -The nude is Victorine Meurend (Manet's mistress and favorite model at the time) -The man with the cane is the artist's brother Eugene, and the second man is the sculptor Ferdinand Leentrof. -The foreground figures are also exceptionally unidealized and exceedingly nonchalant (especially the publicly nude Victorine). -Manet's painting caused an outrage when it first debuted, because the public considered it immoral and it was judged to be artistically inferior. -Manet purposefully painted the background broadly and softly, while depicting the foreground with clarity and in harsh lighting. -The resulting "flatness" of the piece actually strengthens the effect of the colors (note particularly the shimmering hue of the foliage in the foreground as well as the glaring flesh of the nude). -Manet was laying the foundation for the most important trend in "modern" art and moving away from pictorial illusionism towards the concentration of color and light.

Describe Duchamp's art.

-Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was a Frenchman who was also the co-founder of the Dadaist movement in the United States. -Duchamp was more interested in the origin of an object and how the context could alter the concept than in creating a work of art. "Fountain" -Duchamp has converted a urinal into a work of art, elevating the level of absurdity the Dada movement was associated with. -Submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, Fountain was rejected despite the rules that stated all art would be accepted if a fee was paid to participate.

Why was Mary Cassatt important in the Impressionistic period?

-Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was the only American Impressionist who exhibited with the giants of the movement -Women and children were her most frequent subjects

Describe Picasso. What brought along his Blue Period, Rose Period, and his Proto-Cubism Periods? What culture has a large effect on Picasso's artwork?

-Pablo Ruiz y Picasso (1881-1973) dominated the development of the visual arts during the first half of the twentieth century. -Inspired by African art Blue Period: -During Picasso's Blue Period (1901-1904), which began after a close friend committed suicide in Paris, the artist worked with a monochromatic palette, flattened forms, and tragic, sorrowful themes. -Picasso's concern was the plight of the downtrodden which manifested in many canvases depicting the miseries of the poor, the ill, and those cast out of society. -Picasso knew what it was like to be impoverished, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902. Rose Period: -In 1904, Picasso settled in Paris and took a studio in a building inhabited by other artists in Montmartre. -The distorted despair of the Blue Period gave way to the artist's Rose Period. -Picasso's figural representations from this time are more tender and delicate and the artist's palette is clearly lighter, featuring gentle tones of pink, ochre and gray. -Picasso's Rose Period compositions still display a considerable void, marginalized figures and a melancholy mood. -His favorite subjects during the Rose Period were actors and circus performers. -"Family of Saltimbanques" depicts a troupe of saltimbanques (wandering circus performers) who are grouped together, but set apart emotionally in a barren, unidentified landscape.Such a depiction serves as a metaphor for the "homelessness" of the modern artist who now works without royal or religious patronage. The composition also suggests the alienation of humanity (and especially the artist) in the modern world. Proto-Cubism: -"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" is a revolutionary and completely innovative break from traditional composition and perspective. The confrontational piece ostensibly depicts five sex-workers in a brothel on Avignon Street in the red-light district of Barcelona. -Picasso has literally shattered nearly every convention of Western art in order to represent the raw, even the brutal sexuality of these prostitutes. -In a striking departure from the tradition of Mimesis, which had governed art in Europe since the Renaissance, the women's bodies are broken into planes with sharp, harsh angles, lacking any sense of volume. This "shattering" is so intense that it is impossible for the viewer to separate the figures from the curtains, walls and ground.-The space itself is also fragmented. While Picasso offers the viewer multiple perspectives, everything is still in one flat picture plane. -The artist destroyed any sense of unity of style: the three nudes on the left, with their almond-shaped eyes and scroll-like ears were inspired by ancient Iberian sculpture; the two nudes on the right recall African art; and the motif of female nudes placed around a still life as well as the figural poses are indebted to classical conventions. -This is a significant turning point away from Mimesis and towards abstraction, one of the dominant characteristics of twentieth-century art. This work lays the foundation that Cubism will develop from.

Describe Gaugin's use of color.

-Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), like van Gogh, rejected the naturalistic effects and subtly contrasting hues of Impressionism for simplified figures and exaggerated color to convey meaning. -Gauguin's color was flat and appeared as patches or patterns. -The flat shapes and (near) patterns of pure color characterize the artist's style.

Describe Pissarro's style.

-Pissarro's style is characterized by his careful, craftsman-like quality and is considered more detailed than other Impressionists.

What is Post-Impressionism?

-Post-Impressionism is an umbrella term used to describe a variety of artists who were influenced by Impressionism but took their art in different directions. -Lacking a well-defined style, of Post-Impressionism in general it is less casual and more emotionally charged than Impressionist work. -The Post-Impressionists are unified by the period of time their work was created. -The artists of Post-Impressionism are defined by a shared time period, not commonalities throughout their works. The lack of a unified movement is evident in the nightclub scenes in Lautrec's Moulin Rouge, van Gogh's flowers, and Seurat's mathematical use of pointillism.

What is Realism?

-Realism was a reaction against the strict norms of Neoclassicism and the theatricality of Romanticism in favor of unidealized scenes of everyday life, painted as they are observed. -The term"realism" was used by the leader of the movement Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) in describing his own work, "I have never seen angels. Show me an angel and I will paint one." -A lack of drama or sentiment is typical Realist manner -Spontaneity in a piece is characteristic of Realist work -Realism grew out of the continued urbanization of society and glorified the unsung heroism of laborers. -As a reaction to Neoclassicism and Romanticism, Realism art reflected unidealized portrayals and representation of observed life.

Discuss Monet's use of light

-The rich vibrant colors and broad brushstrokes move the viewer's eye and convey a fleeting moment being captured, an impression. -Monet used light to capture a moment in time

What technique did Seurat invent? How did this work?

-Using newly discovered optical and color theories, Seurat rendered his subject by placing tiny, precise brush strokes of different colors close to one another so that they blend at a distance. -Art critics subsequently named this technique Divisionism, or Pointillism. -With his precise method and technique, Seurat conceived of his painting as a reform of Impressionism. The precise contours, geometric shapes, and measured proportions and distances in Seurat's masterpiece (not to mention its monumental size) contrast significantly with the small, spontaneous canvases of Impressionism.

Describe the work of Van Gogh. What made his artwork so unique for the time? What periods did his art influence later on? KNOW HIS ARTWORK!

-Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was the most revolutionary Post-Impressionist with expression, color, form and brushstroke. -Van Gogh suffered severe depression, personal tragedies, epileptic fits, mental breakdowns and eventually suicide. -Van Gogh's color expresses his emotions and response to the world. -His brushstrokes of thick, opaque paint almost seem drawn. -His interacting colors and forms and strong expressive line influenced nearly every artistic movement that came after him, including Symbolism, Fauvism, and Expressionism. -Inspired by Japanese Art "The Night Cafe" -a depiction of a bar, but the composition is charged with a nervous energy. -This is created by the dissonant and contrasting colors, and the uplifting perspective that extends the pool table into the space of the viewer. -The piece is described by the artist in a letter to his brother: "I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green. The room is blood-red and dark yellow with a green billiard table in the middle; there are four citron-yellow lamps with a glow of orange and green. Everywhere there is a clash of disparate reds and greens in the figures of little sleeping hooligans, in the empty dreary room, in violet and blue. The blood red and yellow-green of the billiard table, for instance, contrast with the soft, tender Louis XV green of the counter, on which there is a pink nosegay. The white coat of the landlord, awake in the corner of that furnace, turns citron-yellow, or pale luminous green." "The Starry Night" -Depicts a night sky full of energy with contrast in the quiet village below. -The flame-like cypress, a tree traditionally associated with graveyards and mourning, connects the sky and village. -The artist wrote of his experience to his brother Theo: "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." the morning star, or Venus, is the large white star just left of center in "The Starry Night." -The church spire evokes van Gogh's native land, the Netherlands. "Irises," -Was painted withing the first week of checking in asylum, working from nature in the asylum's garden. -The cropped composition, divided into broad areas of vivid color with monumental irises overflowing its borders, may have been influenced by the decorative patterning of Japanese woodblock prints. -There are no known drawings for this painting; van Gogh himself considered it a study. -His brother Theo quickly recognized its quality and submitted it to the "Salon des Indépendants" in September 1889, writing Vincent of the exhibition: "[It] strikes the eye from afar. It is a beautiful study full of air and life." -Each of van Gogh's irises is unique due to his careful study to movement and shape.

Describe Winslow Homer's work.

-Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is an American painter whose style is characterized by its directness, realism, objectivity, and splendid color. -Homer did not consider himself part of the Realism movement but his works reflect the style and he was quoted as saying, "When I have selected the thing carefully, I paint it exactly as it appears." -Homer originally was a lithographer and illustrator, serving as a battlefront Civil War correspondent for "Harper's Weekly." -During the final siege of the Civil War, the artist covered the area around Petersburg where he first made studies for a series of realistic and sensitive watercolors and paintings about the life of rural blacks. "The Sharecroppers" -Homer's treatment of American subject matter is viewed from a low vantage point, with two powerful women that dominate the composition. -The artist has captured a deep meditation in the downturned face of one, a somber reflection and yearning in the gaze of the other.

Who were the influential artists of Cubism?

Picasso and Frenchman Georges Braque (1882-963) began the movement in 1907, after the work of Paul Cézanne, who said artists should render nature "in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone." The name of the movement was derived from comments made simultaneously by the painter Henri Matisse and the art critic Louis Vauxcelles, who described Braque's "Houses at L'Estaque" as being comprised of "little cubes."