Art History Week 11
Art and its Contexts
"High" and "Low" culture in the myth of modernism "Kitsch" is a label applied to habits, tastes and artifacts of popular culture Boundaries between high and low art blended in the 1960s when art such as Marcel Duchamp's urinal was exhibited
Hiroyuki Hamada
#55 2005-2008 Open to viewer's interpretation Vagueness
Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956) Action painter Work was affected by Jungian analysis of his self-destructive personal problems Admittedly self destructive alcoholic
Modern
About the creator
Art since 1945
Absolute political unrest on a global scale Political ramifications of the world wars has an effect on the whole world There is a radical transformation on art People lived through the horrors of the war, it became impossible not to see the dark horrors of the world America and Soviet Union became two powerhouses after WWII American art becomes very prominant Cold war
Jackson Pollock
Autumn Rhythm (number 30) 1950 Was painted by dripping enamel house paints and conventional oils into graceful abstraction Extremely busy Overly determined Irrational, chaotic human thought represented Allowed viewers to escape into a realm of the unconscious
Robert Rauschenberg
Canyon 1959 Developed "combines" of painting, collage, and sculpture in non-traditional material Canyon includes a stuffed eagle and suspended old pillow in its rich disorder His work was exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art's "The Art of Assemblage" in 1961, as one of two American artists Meant to force the viewer to make intellectual connections
Elizabeth Murray
Chaotic Lip 1986 Cartoon aspects
Pop art
Critics were fearful that acknowledgement of commercial culture would threaten Modern art and "high culture" The Independent Group included Richard Hamilton, whose collage "Today's Homes" satirizes modern life and materialism in marketing campaigns
Kara Walker
Darktown Rebellion 2001 Aims to shock and horrify Depicts slave revolt and massacre
Nam June Paik
Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S. 1995
Clement Greenberg
Famous art critic The idea of the mainstream A modernist conviction has always been the notion that some artworks are more important than others because they are associated with high culture Formalism is the close analysis of the work of art and critical judgements based on visual perception alone, as developed by Greenberg Saw art in its purest form as something that embraces the medium in which its produced Not a fan of mixed media or mixing genres
Fem mage
Feminine aesthetic collaging
Feminist Art
Feminists challenged the idea that great art was made by men Women were rarely mentioned in art history despite their contributions Although women gained suffrage in 1920, feminists discovered in a August 1970 assessment that women were still holding few positions in important exhibitions
Frank Gehry
Guggenheim Museum 1993-1997
Norman Foster
Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank 1979-1986
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Horn Players 1983 Child-like aesthetic combined with understanding of art history and social issues Conveys legendary jazz musicians and a determination to portray African Americans unsentimental
Rudolph Burckhardt
Jackson Pollock Painting 1950 Typical Laying convasses out onto the floor Interested in the combined action of his body and gravity Work became very distinctive
Conceptual and Performance Art
Joseph Kosuth abandoned painting to examine the conceptual intersection of language and vision His early work was indebted to the linguistic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein One and Three Chairs presents an actual chair, a photograph of a chair, and the dictionary definition of "chair"
Richard Hamilton
Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes so Different, So Appealing? 1956
Claes Oldenburg
Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks 1969 References a missile on a tank Criticism of America's involvement in the Vietnam War Shows an eroticized form os a feminine cosmetic with frank phallic associations The university was offended by the irreverant humour of the "make love, not war" sentiment and rejected it
Kerry James Marshall
Many Mansions 1994 A visual essay on public housing projects Biblical references
Andy Warhol
Marilyn Diptych 1962 Dominated the pop art scene Play on advertsing as raw materials Based on products Notion of using other people to complete your work Questioned Though history of high art, medieval guilds, would utilize similar production References religious diptychs Suggests Marilyn as a cult icon
Anslem kiefer
Markische Heide 1974
Helen Frankenthaler
Mountains and Sea 1952 Created more lyrical versions of action paintings with thinned paints resembling watercolours Had visited Pollock's studio earlier in her career Experimented with unprimed canvas Slightly representational or dream like Very soft Typical of the period for women to be reduced to their gender
Earthwork and Site-Specific Art
Movement taking art out of the gallery setting Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty illustrated the ongoing dialectic between constructive and destructive forces of nature He hoped the algae living in the Great Salt Lake would cause it to erode and disappear It is now covered with crystallized salt and can be seen on Google Earth New meaning through lived experience Things we do to the earth have lasting effects Is relevant beyond its initial purpose
Neo-Expressionism
Names assigned to the revival of older styles
Abstract Expressionism
New York artists of the 1940s began taking two approaches Action painting Colour field painting
Eva Hesse
No Title 1970 Each time it is arranged it has a slightly different shape Different kind of minimalism Based most of her art on her life Leads us to a system of chaos Escaped Nazi Germany Web Partially destroyed
Roy Lichtenstein
Oh, Jeff... I Love You, Too... But... 1964 Based on comics, cartoons and advertisements Heavy lines, minimal colour, Benday dots Painted Solidifying comic art as high art Makes fun of the pop culture divide, but also questions why we don't look at pop culture the same way we look at high art
Joseph Kosuth
One and Three Chairs 1965 Interested in communication through words, images and chairs presents an actual chair, a photograph of a chair, and the dictionary definition of "chair"
Miriam Schapiro
Personal Appearance #3 1973 Believed women had a distinct kind of approach to art Her intention to adapt modernism in a more feminized form Collage technique Use of fabric in collage calls to the history of women in textiles Anti-minimalist in nature Enjoyed nature of the decorative Notions that were typically considered feminine Believed in an explicitly feminine aesthetic
Martin Puryear
Plenty's Boast 1994-1995 Invokes forms of sea creatures, instruments
Shirin Neshat
Rebellious Silence 1994 Asserts that Islamic women's identities are more varied than how they are portrayed
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California 1972-76
Minimalism and Process Art
Sculptor Donald Judd turned to Minimalism, which reduced artworks to technical essentials Brief and powerful effect on the world of art
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson
Seagram Building 1954-1958
Bruce Nauman
Self-Portrait as a Fountain 1966-1967 Turns himself into the work of art Reference to DuChamps
Contemporary art
Shift is to the viewer and their reaction to the art
Louise Nevelson
Sky Cathedral 1958 Developed an Analytic Cubist inspired style, collecting discarded packing boxes to arrange objects painted in matte black Was displayed with a blue light to mimic the moon Meant to look like a cityscape
Robert Smithson
Spiral Jetty 1969-1970 illustrated the ongoing dialectic between constructive and destructive forces of nature He hoped the algae living in the Great Salt Lake would cause it to erode and disappear It is now covered with crystallized salt and can be seen on Google Earth New meaning through lived experience Things we do to the earth have lasting effects Is relevant beyond its initial purpose
Faith Ringgold
Tar Beach 1988 African American artist painted on soft fabrics and decorated quilts Recalls the roof of an apartment building where her faily slept on hot summer nights
Jasper Johns
Target with Plaster Casts 1955 Sculptures of human body parts contracted with a target Forces viewer to try to relate them in some way Slightly interactive, the doors open and close
Bill Viola
The Crossing 1996 One man walks slowly to camera, where rainy deluge washes him away The other man is similarly walking and slowly engulfed by flames There is only one soundtrack to inform viewer's perception
Judy Chicago
The Dinner Party 1974-1979 Large 3-D sculpture Each place setting dedicated to an important woman from history Tiled floor featured names of 999 women from history Equilateral triangle represents the equality sought after by women Featured a lot of the craft Brought back an emphasis on things seen as feminine art Many women worked together on creating the art Collaborative work
Lee Krasner
The Seasons 1957 Temporarily gave up painting to support husband Jackson Pollock At the time, women were expected to be support in the lives of their husbands Expected to be subservient to husband Took over his studio when he died Only then that we see her work blossom Intense emotion of grief, longing, evocative Got the most satisfaction out of the process of painting, rather than the end result Media interested in the lives of artists
Dale Chihuly
The Sun 2008 Established the Pilchuck Glass School and became well known for sculptures that draw on the natural form of plants and sea life
Santiago Calatrava
The World Trade Center, Transportation Hub, New York 2006-2009
Assemblage
The combination of disparate elements was one divergence after Abstract Expressionism
After Abstract Expression
The generation of artists making art in the 50s increasingly addressed the real world, its fragmentation, relativism, and its messy relation to pop culture
Postmodernism
The generation of artists maturing around 1970 The decline of modernism was gradual and resulted from many individual transformations The variety of new approaches to art
Appropriation and the "Death of the Author"
The incorporation of a preexisting image into a new creation became popular among American and European Postmodern artists It is grounded in the ideas of Post-Structuralist French literary criticism, such as Roland Barthes's "The Death of the Author"
Shigeyuki Kihara
Ulugal'l Samoa: Samoan Couple 2004-2005 Poses as woman and superimposes face onto man
Wenda Gu
United Nations-Babel of the Millennium 1999 Installation of human hair woven together Shows the limitation of human knowledge Focuses on intersectionality in terms of race Universal race
Donald Judd
Untitled 1969 Minimalism Simple to complex world Concern with aesthetics and not world issues
Jenny Holzer
Untitled 1989 Unsettling declarations such as "you are a victim of the rules you live by" moved in a continuous loop above while a circle of granite benches
Mark Rothko
Untitled (Rothko Number 5068.49) 1949 Represents an interest in form and non representational art and mindset of artist and the viewer - the experience of viewing and creating art Interested in the aspect of colour evoking emotion or creating an atmosphere Force viewers into a meditative state to provoke their minds
Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still 1978 Worked on a series of black and white photographs Was both the model and the photographer Picture depicts a small-town girl threatened by looming city buildings Subverts the stereotypical gaze on women
Peter Voulkos
Untitled Plate 1962 Non traditional use of traditional materials Push towards bring craft back into high art Pots are unusable
Robert Venturi
Vanna Venturi House 1961-1964
Maya Ying Lin
Vietnam Veteran's Memorial 1981-1983
Willem de Kooning
Woman I 1950-1952 Took two years to paint Scraped it down and repainted it 200 times Said to have never been happy with the final image Seems to be a mockery or parody of the tradition of painting the female nude