ART History II Final

Warhol, Marilyn Diptych

Acrylic on canvas - Celebrities as contemporary martyrs. Complexity of celebirity life (difference between public and private life)

Minimalism

Advanced the idea of unsymbolic physicality of the object (a work of art is an object not a tool to carry out abstract ideas). Radical simplification of shapes (hence, the name of the movement). Impersonal quality involved in generating their work - its industrialized, serialized character

Analytic Cubism

Analysis -- shattering of the surfaces of objects and their amalgamation to the space around themNew pictorial language that would "translate" the object into tiny, slightly tilted planes-- Contraction of the palette from the full color to monochrome-- Extreme flattening of the visual space-- Shallow planes set more or less parallel to the picture surface-- Slight tilt establishes a linear network that forms a grid --Superiority of conceptual knowledge over perceptual realism

Pop Art

Arose from the belief that the avant-garde had alienated the public, and turned to more familiar images. Consumer culture, Mass media, production, advertising. Pop Artists used bold, flat colors and hard edge compositions adopted from commercial designs.Made use of new technologies and methods such as mass production, fabrication, photography, and printing

Mapplethorpe, Self-Portrait

Artist focused on capturing the life of the Gay SNM community. Controversial works, but he argued that he always captured these images in the same way that he would capture a flower.

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Asked to have no political statement regarding the war, and to simply be a place of remembrance. Black, color of mourning. Literally a reflective surface. Names listed in order of death, first name first lending more individualization. Like a scar on the earth.

Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space

Bronze - Again, attempts to depict motion, shown by the way the form lows fluidly out, as though it is moving forward. This is stunted by the very solid base that it stands on.

Giacometti, Man Pointing

Bronze - Figures shown as frail, and delicate. The surface is rough and agitated, again meant to reflect the nature of humanity. Responds to the despair that emerged following the war.

Hamilton, Just What is it...

Collage - Includes references to both mass media and pop culture. Parody of post-war consumer culture. Distinction between public and private areas.

Dada

Dadaism emerged from the post war mindset, the artists involved heavily effected by the horrors that they had seen in war. Dadaism is not so much a concrete style as it is a mindset. The nonsensical nature of the war bleeds over into the way that they create their art. Dadaism is often cynical or irreverent (for example, painting of a mustache on the Mona Lisa).

Hans Haacke, MetroMobiltan

Fiberglass construction, three banners, and photomural - Corporations and artwork?

Futurism

Futurism sought to reform and revolutionize art and society. Futurists glorified war as a cleansing act, that washed away the stagnant past. The speed and dynamism of modern technology (Industry) was of special interest to them. Futurist art often focuses on motion in time and space.

Sherman, Untitled Film Steel # 35

Gelatin silverprint - Part of a series of photos that Sherman sets up to look like film stills, they all portray different stereotypical female roles in films. Male gaze

Surrealism

Many artists involved with Dadaism moved to the Surrealist movement. Found improvisational methods important for engaging with elements of fantasy and activating the unconscious. Sought to bring aspects of the "outer" and "inner" reality together. Two main paths: either Naturalistic Surrealism, depicting recognizable scenes that appears dreamlike (or nightmarish), or Biomorphic which was largely abstract.

Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty

Meant to evoke entropy. Was underwater until recently. Should it be open for viewers to walk on?

Chicago, The Dinner Party

Multimedia, including ceramics and stitchery - Reminiscent of the last supper. Triangular shape refers to the Goddess and ancient symbol for women. Plates incorporate both butterfly and vulva motifs. Important historical female figures given places at table

Lichtenstein, Hopeless

Oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas - Comic books, forms of entertainment meant to be read and discarded. Benday dots

Grant Wood, American Gothic

Oil on beaverboard - Depicting mid-western (?) culture. Artist painted house with an out of place gothic style window.

Kirchner, Street, Dresden

Oil on canvas - About the anxiety of moderninity. Feeling of walking on a crowded street and being entirely alone. Tilted at an angle to make one feel that they are walking in the street. Mask-like painted faces. "working women"

Balla, Dynamism of a Dog

Oil on canvas - Attempt to capture the motion or movement of the dog

Miro, Painting

Oil on canvas - Creation of art without conscious control. This meant getting very high and letting whatever came out onto the canvas to happen. Based on a collage made of clippings from machinery catalogs, magazines, and other similar things.

Kandinsky, Improvisation

Oil on canvas - Interested in capturing impressions of the internal nature. Supposed to represent the unconscious.

Warhol, Green Coca-Cola Bottles

Oil on canvas - Mimics display shelves in stores. Themes of seriality, consumerism, and universal imagery.

Picasso, Gertrude Stein

Oil on canvas - Painted for his primary patron. Not an attractive woman, he struggled with portraying her accurately. Drew inspiration from "primitive" found in an Iberian sculpture.

Dali, The Persistence of Memory

Oil on canvas - Reference to time not being a solid or stable thing. Death and decay implied by the insects swarming the watches on the table.

Picasso, Guernica

Oil on canvas - Response to the bombing of Geurnica, the fragmented, confused images are meant to express the horror of the event, which newspaper print included in the piece. Picasso would sit where the painting was being exhibited to discuss it with viewers.

De Kooning, Woman I

Oil on canvas - Smile inspired by Camel cigarettes ad, female models on billboards also served as inspiration. Suggests fertility figures and satire of Venus. The grotesque body

Magritte, The Treachery of Images

Oil on canvas - Symbolic of a pipe and yet it is not a pipe. It is a symbol. Reasons that he specifically picked a pipe? Action involved in using it, commonly used item, stuffing in order to use.

Picasso, Les Demoiselles d' Avignon

Oil on canvas - depicts women in a brothel. Met with disdain by his contemporaries. Painting was very carefully created, with the faces painted in the style of tribal masks seen at the world fair. Expresses otherness, and "aggressive sexuality"

Matisse, Red Room

Oil on canvas - focus on flat surfaces, monochromatic color scheme. Was repainted several times. Window or painting?

Braque, The Portugese

Oil on canvas - meant to depict a Portuguese musician he had seen in a bar. Number and letters add to flattened effect?

Aaron Douglas, Noah's Ark

Oil on masonite - Incorporates motifs from African culture. Biblical stories traditionally depicted with white characters

Pollock, Number I (Lavender Mist)

Oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on canvas - Paint was flung, dripped and poured onto canvas, creating seemingly random, yet meticulously crafted pieces. Sense of underlying order

Rauschenberg, Canyon

Oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard box, printed paper, printed reproductions, photograph, wood, paint tube, and mirror on canvas, with oil on bald eagle, string, and pillow - An assemblage or combine, this work is reminiscent of Rembrandt's painting The Abduction of Ganymede

Abstract Expressionism

Paintings are mostly abstract, but meant to express the artist's state of mind. The goal of these paintings is to strike an emotional chord with the viewer. Formailism - focusing on the visual elements of a painting rather than subject. Developed along to main lines, gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction. Gestural focused on expressiveness of pigment, while chromatic focused on color's emotional resonance.

Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary

Paper collage, oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map pins, elephant dung on linen - Incorporates traditional African materials into his artwork. Pasted genitalia from pornographic magazines

Lange, Migrant Mother

Photograph/Gelatin silver print - Mother and her children in camp. She becomes the face of the Great Depression. Never credited (bad?)

Jeff Koons, Pink Panther

Porcelain - Par of Banality Series, statue is meant to represent the kitsch... message that people should enjoy what they like without feeling shamed by the elite. Statue is about masturbation.

Duchamp, Fountain

Porcelain? - Very controversial art piece, a urinal purchased, and signed under a false name, and then entered into an art competition

Serra, Tilted Arc

Raw steel - Curved wall commissioned. It was site specific, the artist studying the space. Caused controversy due to fear of mugging/inconvenience. Eventually removed.

Oppenheim, Object

Tea cup and saucer covered in fur - plays with the idea of sensual pleasure (the softness of the fur) with the unpleasant sensation from using the cup while wrapped in the fur. Eroticism?

Arp, Collage Arranged According to Chance

Torn and pasted paper - Supposedly dropped the pieces of paper and kept them arranged as they fell.