Chap 14 - Fauvism, German Expressionism, Primitivism, and Cubism

Henri Matisse

- FAUVISM - French - Dominant founder of Fauvism - Believed that expression was the most important goal of the artist. - Oils, sculpture, and paper cut-outs - Created his view of paradise in this life.

Käthe Kollwitz

- German - Graphic Artist (woodcuts and lithographs), sculptor - Didn't associate herself with the Expressionists - Subject matter - death, poverty, war, and motherhood

Franz Marc

- German - Cofounder of "Der Blaue Reiter" group in Munich in 1911. - He focused on the iconography of color and used animals as subject matter because he believed they were purer than humanity. Pessimistic about the state of humanity.

Improvisation 28

- German Expressionism - By Vassily Kandinsky

Fate of the Animals

- German Expressionism - Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider) - Marc developed a system of correspondence between specific colors and feelings or idea. In this apocalyptic scene of animals trapped in a forest, the colors of severity and brutality dominate"

Woman with Dead Child

- German Expressionism - SM: death, poverty, war, and motherhood -"The theme of the mother mourning over her dead child derives from images of the Pieta in Christian art, but Kollwitz transformed it into a powerful universal statement of maternal loss and grief" (Kleiner 393).

Vassily Kandinsky

- German Expressionism - Russian but moved to Germany in 1896 - Formed a group called Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider) with Franz Marc (They both liked the color blue and horses). - But they also both believed that art could lead people to a better state of mind. - An intellectual who "saw himself as a prophet who mission was to share the ideal with the world for the betterment of society" (Artstory)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

- German Expressionism. - Led the group "Die Brücke" (The Bridge). - Art considered degenerate by the Nazis - committed suicide.

Pablo Picasso

- Spanish but moved to France - Acutely aware of politics and women - Made huge contributions to new ways of representing the surrounding world. Prolific artist - oils, printmaking, and ceramics

upheaval during worldwide 1900-1945

• Two Global Wars • Rise of Communism • Fascism • Nazism • The Great Depression (upheaval=bouleversement)

Fauve Movement

In 1905 a group of young painters exhibited canvterm-21ases so simplified in design and so shockingly bright in color that a critic, Louis Vauxcelles, described the artists as fauves (wild beasts). An early 20th century art movement led by Henri Matisse. For the fauves, color became the formal element most responsible for pictorial coherence and the primary conveyor of meaning. Bright, dissonant color, crude sense of urgency of surface, distorted drawing, and love of bristerm-8k, raw-looking sensation.

Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider)

A second major German Expressionist group, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), formed in Munich in 1911. The two founding members, Vassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, whimsically selected this name because of their mutual interest in the color blue and horses. But they also both believed that art could lead people to a better state of mind. An intellectual who "saw himself as a prophet who mission was to share the ideal with the world for the betterment of society" (Artstory) Example: Franz Marc by Franz Marc

Difference between German Expressionistic art and Fauve movement

Adopted the aggressiveness of Fauve color, but lost "the optimism, the ideal of sensuous wholeness, which spoke through the color like a spirit through the medium". The "expressiveness" of the German images is due as much to wrenching distortions of form, ragged outline, and agitated brushstrokes. Example: Ernest Ludwig Kirchner

Les Demoiselle d'Avignon, 1907

African and ancient Iberian (Spanish) sculpture and Cezanne's late paintings influenced this pivotal work, with which Picasso opened the door to a radically new method of representing forms in space.

cubism

An early 20th-century art movement that rejected naturalistic depictions, preferring compositions of shapes and forms abstracted from the conventionally perceived world.

analytic cubism

Analytic cubists rejected naturalistic depictions preferring compositions of shapes and forms abstracted from the conventionally perceived world.

avant-garde

Artists felt the effects of the political and economic disruptions of the early 20th century. Artists searched for new definitions of and uses for art in a radically changed world. The term, which means "front guard", derives from French military usage. Avant-garde artists were the vanguard, or trailblazers. They rejected the classical, academic, and traditional, and zealously explored the premises and formal qualities of painting and sculpture.

Matisse's greatest goal

Believed that expression was the most important goal of the artist "the entire arrangement of my picture is expressive...Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the diverse elements at the painter's command to express his feelings".

Red Room (Harmony in Red)

By Henry Matisse. Fauvism. Believed that expression was the most important goal of the artist. "Matisse believed painters should choose compositions and colors that express their feelings. Here the table and the wall seem to merge because they are the same color and have identical patterning"

Street Dresden

German Expressionism. Led the group "Die Brücke" (The Bridge). • Focused on the detrimental effects of industrialization and the alienation of individuals in cities • Kirchner's perspective, distortions, disquieting figures, and color choices reflect the influence of the Fauves and of Edvard Munch, who made similar expressive use of formal elements.

Guernica (April 26, 1937)

Guernica, capital of the Basque region in southern France and northern Spain, had been almost totally destroyed in an air raid on April 26. Nazi pilots acting on behalf of the rebel general Francisco Franco bombed the city at the busiest hour of a market day, killing or wounding many Guernica's 7,000 citizens.

the world before World War I

MAIN M = Militarism A = Alliances I = Imperialism N = Nationalism But the event that set if off was an assassination. Militarism - each country sought to build the strongest weapons Alliances - There were two important alliances that were established before World War I (Central Power and Triple Alliance). Imperialism - Nations all scrambling for colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific (new markets for trade and raw materials) Nationalism - pride or devotion to one's country - to encourage unity, but puts nation against nation.

global colonization (19th and 20th centuries)

Most of the Western powers maintained colonies in Africa or the Pacific. Westerners often perceived these colonial cultures as "primitive" and referred to many of the non-Western artifacts exhibited in museums as "artificial curiosities" or "fetish objects:. These objects, which often depicted strange gods or creatures, reinforced the perception these peoples were "barbarians" who needed to be "civilized" or "saved", thereby justifying colonialism and missionary work worldwide.

synthetic cubism

Synthetic cubism utilized mixed media, instead of dissecting forms, artists constructed paintings and drawings from objects and shapes cut from paper or other materials.

Die Brücke (The Bridge)

The first group of German Expressionists - Die Brücke (The Bridge) - gathered in Dresden in 1905 under the leadership of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The group members thought of themselves as paving the way for a more perfect age by bridging the old age and the new, hence their name. =They sought to "bridge" the old age and the new. The Bridge artists protested the hypocrisy and materialistic decadence of those in power.

primitivism

The incorporation in early 20th century Western art of stylistic elements from the artifacts of Africa, Oceania, and the native peoples of the Americas. France was heavily involved with African countries and culture. Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse were enthusiastic collectors of "primitive art".