Post 1945 Art w/notes

-rise of totalitarianism very threatening to modern art, especially that involving abstraction -first artistic movement to originate in the US and make a worldwide impact -even more pluralistic than cubism -"expressionism compressed into the infrastructure of cubism"

Abstract Expressionism

Reinhardt: -Cartoon 1946 - "What Do You Represent?" - do we, as human beings, represent something? NO, we have inherent value -why does painting have to represent something? just appreciate as an autonomous, independent unit -different temperament - didn't go in for metaphysical representation of anxiety. -very upset with arts relationship to artist - didnt want it to be as upsetting as many AE pieces were

Ad Reinhardt

-transitional figure between surrealism and abstract expressionism, 2 movements which don't necessarily have many communal points in common. -survivor of Armenian Genocide, which he lost his mother and many other relatives to -"Gorky" is not his real name; he claimed (falsely) to be related to a Russian poet -Loss of his mother, change of identity, etc. prominent themes in his works

Arshile Gorky

-critic -leftist -socialist sympathies went counter to his belief that art is a strongly progressive force - Greenberg was appalled that Russia used art as propaganda. -didn't think art should have a political agenda. -came up w idea of "purity" -every art form should be independent of every other art form. -desired compositions with no center of attention or domination

Clement Greenberg

-critic -art is a means of self expression (opposite of Greenberg) -you can't fake art - it has to be genuine, coming from profound, deep, genuine feelings. -wanted art to be impure -lived, worked, critiqued at same time as Greenberg

Harold Rosenberg

Gorky 1944 "One Year the Milkweed" AE -connect to Miró's "Birth of the World" (1925) -May have a very precise, tight composition, but then applied paint very rapidly and allowed it to run, making the effects uncalculated. This doesnt mean Gorky relinquishes control, for he always as the opportunity to change whatever aspect he doesn't like. -despite not knowing what is being depicted, there are references to the human body, the organic. -red slashes look like cuts, lacerations, which underscores a degree of violence. Is the inside or the outside of the body? ambiguity present; are the mind and body really 2 different aspects? -think of the body as a container being an integral part of our experience. -outside world is interpenetrating with our fundamental bodies, disconcertion resulting from the feeling of the body being turned inside out. -internal mental world may be infinite, but physical world certainly is not.

IMPORTANT

-critic -assembly line type thinking -all spontaneity, creativity does not lie with the worker - the worker is alienated from the piece in the process of making it. -Shapiro sees artists like Dekooning who stress the process, as rejecting, pulling against society. -someone like Benjamin wanted things to be mechanical because that was the way to democratize art, but Shapiro says the opposite, and thinks that mechanism is the plight of the worker under capitalism -liberty of creation makes it unique.

Meyer Shapiro

-a sign = a signifier + a signified -3 classes of signs: the icon, the index, and the symbol.. -icon: relationship is one of resemblance (e.g. a photograph, still life, landscape) -index: relationship is one of cause and effect (e.g. when you see smoke, you think fire) -symbol: relationship is completely arbitrary (e.g. language: "table" does not look like a table")

Semiotics

Still 1957 "1957-J-No. 2" AE -others similar to this (one with yellow)

Still 1957 "1957-J-No. 2" AE

-critic -marxist -wanted to radicalize art -sensitive to the way the art market manipulates the works of certain artists for the means of financial gain (e.g. limited editions idea) -thought photograph was the nest vehicle for a new kind of art that was socially progressive - negative of a photograph can be reproduced and is accessible to everyone.

Walter Benjamin

Dekooning 1944 "Pink Lady" AE -dissonant color relationships -use of geometry in background evocative of architectural elements -body highly distorted. -gestural strokes becoming more active, rapid. -multiple contours have the figure merging with its environment, as seen in Gorky paintings. -smudging of paint creates certain degree of violence -illustration of a body being torn apart in this moment.

not important

Dekooning 1950/2 "Woman I" AE -kept painting and repainting this piece -very difficult to categorize -some negative reactions; accused of going backwards, betraying abstraction. -Greenberg opposed to references to reality. -Dekooning "it's all about freedom"

not important

Gorky 1940-41 "Garden in Socchi" AE -Miró is the primary surealist who pushes Gorky away from Cézanne and Picasso -reference Miró's 1938 "Seated Woman," notice how the title allows us to see the seated woman in the painting, how there is an insertion of humor, whimsy, and large areas of unmodulated color. -Garden in Socchi is reference to Armenia -lots of traditions in Armenia that were meant to connect the self to nature and bring good fortune that Gorky references in very abstract ways. -multiple campaigns of this piece, too.

not important

Gorky 1941-42 "Garden in Socchi" AE -great connection to surrealism, which is based on free improvisation and emphasis on throwing calculation to the wind in favor of the unconscious governing the composition. -Breton (surrealist leader) liked Gorky despite the fact that he painted from nature.

not important

Kline 1957 "Untitled" AE -comes closer to dekooning. -thrust, counter thrust; punch, counter punch. Indicates anxiety laden pieces we saw earlier -Paths hitting each other, going in different directions, illustrates different tensions evocative of certain emotions

not important

Dekooning 1948 "Dark Pond" AE -using cheap paints because he had no money - this pushes him towards monochromatic color schemes -search for fundamental way to describe experience at its very origin. -title may have been attached after the piece was finished. Or, the title may portray interest in the unconscious (darkness > nighttime, pond > water) -reflects tensions in Dekooning's own personality

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Dekooning 1949 Untitled AE -reductiveness of everything to a very simple contrast -homage to cubism in overall composition -composition with no center of attention -- provides certain avenue to his thought process, because although it looks accidental, the aspect of overall composition with no center of attention requires some degree of calculation. -forcing you to look at painting from left to right -no 3 Dimensionality

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