art exam 3
Vincent VAN GOGH
Born 30 March 1853 Quotes: "I have tried to emphasize that those people, eating their potatoes in the lamp-light have dug the earth with those very hands they put in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labour, and how they have honestly earned their food." --Van Gogh, 1885 "I am quite absorbed in the endless sea of wheat fields set against the hills of gentle yellow and delicate green and violet ploughed earth, regularly checkered with potato plants in flower under a sky of blue, white, pink, and violet." •Vincent wrote over 800 letters in his lifetime.
conceptual art
Conceptual art isn't a style. It is a philosophical & aesthetic point of view taken by many artists working in the 20th & 21st centuries. Conceptual artmaking cuts across media areas and in a sense, breaks down the traditional barriers between artforms. We must talk about the roots of conceptualism first.
Joseph Beuys
See his performance piece: I like America & America Likes me; Beuys' work is based in odd behavior that has become ritual to him. Explores the notion of artist as shaman. He uses his art to heal both personally & universally
Yoko Ono
She isolates a sensory act of everyday life to bring us (the viewers) in direct encounter with the self--what in Zen terms is 'self-being'. •She calls these events "additional acts," another dimension of art that provokes awareness of ourselves, our environment, our actions.
Dada is organized in Zurich in 1916 :
They are a multi-art movement--there should be no borders between art forms. •They despised ' high art'--they were for anti-art! •They loathed art dealers, collectors, galleries, & museums--art for the few. •They believed art should derive from 'life.' •The borders between art & life should be broken down. •They like word-play and tongue i n cheek (or ironic) visual metaphors. •performance (dance, music, theatrical scenes) is very much a part of dada. •They poked fun at high society & high art institutions. "...god & my toothbrush are dada..."
the 3 modern masters of paint:
Vincent VAN GOGH, Pablo PICASSO Jackson POLLOCK
the Salon de Paris
annual art exhibition in the 19th century established by the Académie des Beaux-Arts
montage or photomontage
another group of dad in Berlin There was more of an emphasis on 2-D art, particularly COLLAGE. There was also development of the graphic arts (design and printing). Their name for collage artists: •Raoul Hausmann •Hannah Hoch •John Heartfield
where did Dada start?
at the Cabaret Voltaire , Zurich 1916 by Hugo Ball. Artists involved with dada joined in at the Cabaret Voltaire where dada events occurred.
Jackson POLLOCK
born in Cody, WY, 28 January 1912 (one of 5 brothers) •1929 moves to NYC & trained with Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League •1936: learns how to use acrylic paint & other media at Siqueiros studio •1945 marries painter Lee Krasner •late 1940's: moves to Springs NY & starts experimenting with pouring paint & what we now call 'action painting.' His teachers: •The European Surrealists •Thomas Hart Benton (painter from KC, Missouri at the Students Art League in NYC) •David Alfaro Siqueiros (Mexican muralist) " On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally 'in' the painting." Jackson Pollock, 1947 •Pollock underwent treatment through JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY: •Seeks to engage the images that emerge from the unconscious. •Jung was interested in dream imagery (archetypes) not in sexual terms (as Freud explained) but as meaning these archetypes represented. •Jungian analysis actively seeks to render images from the imagination (personal and universal unconscious).
Impressionism, Sunrise by Monet 1874
gave the movement its name critic Louis Leroy said: "Impression--I was certain of it. Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape!"
Nam June Paik
he was the first to use video film & TV monitors in his art. He comments on how the viewer blindly accepts images & information in a culture where it's difficult to tell real information, or truth, from all the other garbage we absorb in life
Edgar Degas
heavily influenced by photography
Manet
pre-curser to impressionism and modernity
why is the urinal art? argument:
side 1: The artist did not make it. It is not a unique object. It has no visual or aesthetic properties that make it art. it's too commonplace & uncouth side 2: raises these issues: •Makes fun of high art on pedestals. •Does the artist's hand have to touch the art? •Can found materials be used in art making? •Does art have to original, one-of-a-kind? •Can art come from daily life? •Who decides what art is? •I am the artist and it is my intent that this is an art object. •The idea dominates
Pierre-August Renoir
started as a china painter
George Maciunas
starts FLUXUS, a New York movement
Dada
the beginning; The roots of 20th century conceptual art are found in an early 20th century movement
Camille Pissarro
the grandfather of impressionism
fluxus artists:
they are all classically trained musicians (in Western music) but came to believe that music was NOT linear, melodic, or rhythmic. Instead, they believed that music could be ANY sound put together (especially sounds in everyday life situations). These 4 artists are conceptual artists. The art object is not important. Their works are limited by time because they are performance and/or music based.
Pablo PICASSO
•1881 : 25 October, born in Málaga, Spain •1900 : first trip to Paris, the art capital of the world. •1906 : Sees the Paul Cezanne retrospective. It changes the way he paints. What's going on to impact his artistic research? •the purity & abstraction of African & primitive (non-industrialized) sculpture--a spiritual search? •Einstein's Theory of Relativity published (time, motion, distortion of form in time). •invention of film (motion pictures) •rumblings of war in Europe: a fragmentation of order. " I have a horror of people who speak about the beautiful. What is the beautiful? One must speak of problems in painting! Paintings are but research and experiment. I never do a painting as a work of art. All of them are researches." Pablo Picasso, 1956 Vogue magazine
VAN GOGH's expressive legacy to modern art:
•Arbitrary color use. •Distortion of form. •Inherent expressive quality of composition and form (lots of texture, impasto; movement on the surface which means that the appearance of the paint itself of significance).
qualities of photographs that influenced impressionism:
•Asymmetrical compositions •silhouette •interest in broad landscape (distance in between camera & subject matter) •elevated point of view •interest in spontaneity of scenes and action
conceptual art (summary):
•Comes out of the tradition of performance art forms: theatrical performance & music. •Pushes the boundaries of the definition of art in the first place. •No object required: the idea (& subsequent action derived from the idea) is more important. •Conceptual art is heavily dependent on the discourse surrounding it-the description & explanation! •Most conceptual pieces are documented in some way (in video, film, photography, or even a set of written instructions) •Often involves or comments on current cultural and/or political events, situations...e tc. •In our own time, conceptualism is found in most artforms including performance pieces, video art, photography & just about any medium you can imagine. •Conceptual art is linked closely to mundane, everyday actions and events of both the personal and the public (universal). •Consequently conceptual art must be viewed through the lens of the social, political, and cultural conditions of any given time & place. •very often, there is no closure, no resolution, no answers for the viewer with these artworks (they very often will remain enigmatic). life and art are merging...
John Cage
-avant garde composer; He said: " there is no such thing as silence."
formal qualities of POLLOCK's work
All over pattern of line--the formal aspects are more significant (line, rhythm, movement, balance...) •There is no horizon line or apparent light source •Endless movement is part of the composition. •Color is there but de-emphasized (removes any emotional directness?). • There is no focal point-- no beginning, no end (endless repetition of gesture & form). •They are large scale (a serious attempt!) •The gesture of arm & body with which he applied his paint is apparent. •These characteristics influence the production of artists who become known as Abstract Expressionists (The New York School)
CONCEPTUAL ART:
Conceptual art is based on ideas. •The object is not as important as it once was. •Art can include actions, thoughts, words, deeds; there doesn't have to be a 'beautiful' art object at the end of an act of art making.
artists to know:
Camille Pissarro Gustave Caillebotte Pierre-Auguste Renoir Edgar Degas Berthe Morisot Mary Cassatt Claude Monet
Mary Cassatt (American)
Even among Impressionists,Cassatt presented unorthodox images of women: •images of women with obvious financial autonomy. •women in the company of women; women participating in cultural events. •women conversing with each other, interacting (versus the stock images of other Impressionists who painted women outdoors, as performers, dancers, nudes, listening or watching men do something). •women engaged in intellectual activity. •women in control of 'the gaze' versus being the object of the gaze. •women in situations that were considered inappropriate for the day (ie: traveling alone, driving horse buggies...) •Mother & child depictions without overt sentimentality
Ukiyo-e (Floating world, Japanese woodblock prints)
Japanese WOODBLOCK printing from the 19th century. •Discovered as packing material in goods from Japan. •Exhibited at the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. •Subject matter: genre scenes, subjects from temporary events like theatre, dance, erotica, courtesans.
the SALON of the REFUSED
Monet, Sisley, Pissarro and Renoir
Fluxus
These artists, like dada artists, believe that art must emerge from daily life.....They create a loose affiliation of artists. This movement called itself FLUXUS --taken from the Roman word 'flux:' something that is always shifting, changing, constantly moving.....
Conceptual art (esp. Cage & Ono) is deeply impacted by the post-war exploration into Asian thought namely Zen Buddhism.
The 'I' & awareness disappears & emptiness prevails--the emptiness of realization, self-knowledge (mind-full-ness). •Ono is interested in philosophical views that recognize an affirmation of being & existence through a metaphysics of the everyday here & now. •This is to say that her works involve the banal, the everyday, & 'occur' within the mind, the imagination. •Fluxus' impact on art that followed is found in: Performance based artworks
why is dada important
The artists of dada set the stage for conceptual artmaking in the middle of the 20th century.
Impressionists:
•Felt free to choose their subject matter. •They played with the effects of natural & artificial lights (shimmering, constantly moving...) including atmospheric effects like rain, fog, mist. Painters went outside to paint: EN PLEIN AIR. •Committed to OPTICAL TRUTH not intellectual truth--they painted what they saw, not what they knew to exist (purple tree--OK!). •Subject matter: genre scenes, the bourgeoisie, portraits, still-life, landscapes, architecture and anything outdoors that provided a surface for the play of light & color. Also, images of Industrialization: ie: trains, factories...etc. •Open brushwork: quick way to paint those fleeting outdoor scenes (also, Delacroix & Manet influenced them) •Started thinking of color as the primary component of their palettes--even shadows were often simply color. (arbitrary color use) •Invention of tube paint got them outdoors. •Often were interested in color theory--letting the viewer's eye help 'blend' the colors. •Import of UKIYO-E woodblock prints impacts composition & other visual techniques.
Dada artists:
•Hugo Ball •Jean Arp •Meret Oppenheim • Marcel Duchamp. See Duchamp's Fountain (the urinal)
what makes impressionism modern?
•It liberated color use for painters... •It liberated the brush (rapid, spontaneous strokes...) •And it allowed painters to expand subject matter. •Here steps in the painter Vincent Van Gogh, learning so much from and following in the wake of the Impressionists. He sets painting on its modern path...
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
•Monet travels to London to escape the Franco-Prussian War--what artist does he see? J.M.W. Turner, the great British painter. •Monet's home is at Giverny (it's still there & can be visited). •Monet is a serial painter: he paints the same thing over & over & over (why?)
PICASSO's cubist legacy
•Spatial revolution; background & foreground collapse. •A painting can show more than one point of view at a time. •Hierarchy of the picture plane destroyed. •The SURFACE is more significant than anything. •The painting is what it is: painting , nothing more, nothing less. •ABSTRACTION!
POLLOCK's legacy
•The work was part of a purification of form going on in art--it is formalistic & eliminates historical content--we've entered complete non-objectivity. •The flatness of the surface is acknowledged & even celebrated. •He limits his work to lines, movement--everything derived from the gesture . • The work becomes an 'environment' for the viewer. •Like Picasso, there is no hierarchy of form. •The object (the art) is not significant: this is a record of his actions & movement around the canvas. •The process was more important than the product. • Pollock's work is an internal 'psychic' landscape . Where other painters had created imitations of the visual world, he plunged the depths of his own mind and his experience & gave form to something that is formless.
Stylistic CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING:
•Transient effects of sunlight and color. •Shimmering movement of light on objects outdoors. •Loose and broken brushstrokes, heavy impasto (not blended and smooth). •Color often defines shadow (no more black & grey) •Paint, color, and brush eventually dissolve form. •The essence or impression of an object is captured."Immediate, bright, transient..."
historical/cultural players:
•Urban renewal (Franco-Prussian War & Revolution of 1789): a gleaming, beautiful Paris with parks, recreation, open boulevards. (Baron Hausmann—city planner, architect) •Industrial revolution created a bourgeoisie (middle class) who had leisure time. •Industrial Revolution offered subject matter: gas lamps, railroads, trains, bridges, factories. •Photography influenced them. •Paint in tube available--artists go outside to paint. (What's outside?)
What's happening in the world & who are dada artists looking at?
•World War I (Europe is the war front). •Freud's theories of psychoanalysis (theories of the unconscious & dreams). •Nationalism & declarations of independence that also had ' ethnic cleansing' as a side effect. •Surrealism (art of dreams & the irrational) is developing simultaneously. •To them, all rational thought has led to war...thus, IRRATIONAL thought must be the answer.
What set the stage for the appearance of impressionism:
•the Industrial Revolution •Rebuilding Paris by Baron Haussmann; he built a beautiful, wide-open Paris for the citizens. •tube paint is invented (Impressionists painted en plein air: outside!) •IMPRESSIONISTS PONDERED THE NATURE OF COLOR AND LIGHT. THEY WERE INTERESTED IN COLOR, NOT AS THEY UNDERSTOOD IT TO EXIST, BUT AS THEY SAW IT IN NATURE. •the invention of photography influenced Impressionists.