Chapter 26 ART HISTORY

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Artists with Backs The backs are made of fibers. They are symbols for the individual in society lost in the crown yet retaining some distinctiveness. The repeated pose of the figures suggests: meditation, submission, and anticipation. Although made from a single mold, the artist also gave the figures a sense of individuality.

Robert Arneson

California Artist Arneson created this work as a direct response to the negative comments of a critic. It incorporates all of the critics stereotypes. So the artist is acknowledging mechanisms like art criticism that people use to evaluate and validate art.

Matthew Barney

Cremaster Cycle It is a multimedia site specific installation. It involves: drawings, photographs, sculptures, videos, films, and performances (presented in videos) It is a long narrative that takes place in a self enclosed universe created by Barney. The title refers to the cremaster muscle. The entire project explores the notion of creation. It has a force that competes with the immense scale and frenzied pace of contemporary life.

Richard Meier

Getty Center This complex will play a significant role in the future of art and art history. It includes both modernist and postmodernist designs. It houses 5 programs and can acquire art, exhibit it, study it, conserve it, and document it more than any other museum in the world.

Nam June Paik

Global Groove This is an example of video art. It combines in quick succession fragmented sequences of various images. It was intended to give viewers a glimpse of the rich worldwide TV menu Paik had predicted would be available in the future.

Frank Gehry

Guggenheim Museum This building is an example of deconstructivst architecture. It is one of the most dramatic buildings inspired by the architecture of the past. His chief concern here was to combine the clients needs with his own interest in sculptural form. It has an irregular organic plan- it resembles a living organism. Its disorder and seeming randomness of design fit nicely into postmodern and deconstructivist ideals.

Frank Lloyd Wright

Guggenheim Museum Wright is using organic forms- inspired by the spiral of a snail's shell. This building is very inventive in design and function. It is the definitive example of the modern architectural imagination.

Conclusion

In the later 20th century the domination of formalism in art gave way to an electic postmodernism. In recent decades many artists are concerned with race, gender, class and other facets of identity. Computers, digital technology, and the internet will have a big effect on the art world.

Major Ideas Covered

Modernist architecture includes both structures with organic forms and curvilinear looks and rectilinear skyscrapers. Postmodern architecture is characterized by eclecticism including historical references, vernacular references, and organic forms. Postmodern art in other media is also characterized by eclecticism including historical references, political concerns, and the individual in modern society. Video and digital technologies have led to new forms of art in the later 20th century. Later 20th century art also includes a self awareness with references to commodity culture and art criticism.

Anselm Kiefer

Nigredo This painting is an example of Neo expressionism. It has a thickly encrusted surface. The incinerated landscape indirectly alludes to the horrors of the holocaust. The blackness of the landscape may also refer to alchemical change. His work has a deep symbolic meaning. The form and content work closely together here.

Le Corbusier

Notre Dame du Haut We see very startling organic forms here- it is a fusion of architecture and sculpture. Interior seems like a sacred cave or medieval monastery. The design of the roof resembles the shape of praying hands, the wings of a dove and the prow of a ship. Le Corbusier believed that here people could find new values.

Jeff Koons

Pink Panther Koons made no attempt to manipulate or alter the objects- they lack the traditional media of sculpture. He addresses issues of commodity culture in his art. This work addresses contemporary mass culture by intertwining a magazine counterfold nude with a well known cartoon character.

Richard Rogers & Renzo Piano

Pompidou This is one of the earliest examples of the "playful" use of historical forms of postmodern architecture. The architects here used motifs and techniques from ordinary industrial buildings (vernacular references) It appears to have been turned inside out- the anatomy is fully exposed.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson

Seagram Building This is a rectilinear glass and bronze. It typifies van der Rohe's philosophy: "Less is more." It is meant to look elegant and impressive.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Sears Tower This is also a simple, rectilinear, glass-sheathed building. It was trying to convey an image of power and intimidation. Until recently it was the world's tallest building.

Eero Saarinen

TWA Terminal He based his design on the theme of motion. Exterior and interior has a curvilinear look.

Bill Viola

The Crossing Viola designs his works encouraging spectator introspection. This is an installation of 2 screens: 1 showing a man being overcome by water and the other showing a man overcome by fire. Sound accompanies the images for a pure sensory experience.

Judy Chicago

The Dinner Party This work addresses issues of feminism. She used craft techniques that women traditionally practiced to celebrate the contributions women made throughout history. It is a "dinner party" for 39 honored guests of significant women. It lets viewers experience the importance of forgotten details in the history of women.

Michael Graves

The Portland Building This is an example of postmodern architecture. It has ornamental walls, color painting on its facade and symbolic references- all characteristic of postmodern ideas. It was considered a "courageous architectural adventure" and is an early marker of postmodernism.