American Modernism
-'merica: most important architect. One of the most influential during the 20 c.
-Prairie school: low, horizontal houses with flat roofs and heavy overhangs that echoed the flat plains of the prairie in the Midwest
-Uneasy relationship with European Moder
Cubism
Proved a fruitful launching pad for artists allowing them to comment on modern life and investigate the ways in which artists perceive and represent the world around them
Dada
One of the first artistic movements to address the slaughter and moral questions. A transitional movement with distinct local manifestations that arose almost simultaneously in Zurich, New York, Paris, and Berlin. Went further to question the concept of a
De Stijl
Means The Style. Became a focal point for Dutch artists, architects, and designers after the war. Beauty took two distinct forms: sensual or subjective beauty, and a higher, rational, and universal beauty. Challenged artists to aspire to universal beauty.
Bauhaus
Germany - creators of Bauhaus which has been founded by Gropious. Found the strict geometric shapes and lines of Purism and De Stijl too rigid and argued that a true German architecture and design should emerge organically. Brought together German archite
Harlem Renaissance
-hundreds of thousands of blacks migrated from the rural south to the urban North to escape oppression and find greater social and economic opportunity
-promoted the formation of nationwide New Negro movement and the Harlem Renaissance in New York calling
Surrealism
Embracing irrational, disorderly, aberrant, and even violent social interventions. Emerged as an offshoot of Dada born from the mind of a poet Breton. Published the Manifesto of Surrealism, reflecting Freudian conception of the human mind. Sought to explo
Abstract Expressionism
European art world moved to New York. Stole modern art. Most deeply affected by the work of European surrealists and developed own unique style. Describes art of fairly wide range. Loose affiliation. Sole purpose is to express profound social alienation a
Assemblage
Combining disparate elements to construct a work of art
Pop Art
Individual and mass identity increasingly determined by how you looked. Critiqued the superficiality of pop culture's fiction of perfect home and person.
Minimalism
Sought to dematerialize art objects. Rejected gesture and emotion invested in handcrafted object, as well as traditional materials
Conceptual Art
Logical extension of the minimalist move away from the handcrafted art object. Argue the "idea" and "form" are separable in art. Physical object is an appropriate vehicle for a work of art, at other times, performance more appropriate. Literally "demateri
Process Art
Explored physicality, personality, and sensuality of the process of making art
Performance Art
Tears down barrier traditionally existed between viewer and work of art. Art comes to life and invades viewer's space, intellectually and physically. Often radical and assaultive.
Feminist Art
Feminists challenged the patriarchy, feminists and photographers better positioned to create outstanding post-modern art. Forced viewers to confront differences. Challenged authority of the canon, none particularly valued originality or individual artisti
Postmodernism
Early 80s. Strategy for art. Reject seriousness of Modernism, creating visually interesting, messy, sometimes contrary and often political images that mock modern art. Take images from high and pop art, re-positioning and re-contextualizing them, making t
Postcolonial Discourse
90s. Increasing migration and expansion of global communications and economies, questions of personal, political, cultural, and national identities. Addressing issues of contested identity and struggle of post-colonial people. Speak with unfamiliar but fo
Identity Art
A growing and complex concern of new millennium. Breaking traditional distinctions between medium and message in the process, and dissolving boundaries to create art that is interesting, exciting, difficult, and confusing as the world itself today.
Activist Art
Culture wars fueled by activist art. AIDS in younger art scene and triggered global health crisis. Anger and agony combined with gov't inaction spilled over into art. 90s. Angry art about the body, AIDS, and identity as well as discrimination by different
Nonrepresentational
Works of art that do not aim to produce recognizable natural imagery
Fauves
French for "wild beasts," group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism.
Explosive colors and blunt brushwork which is wh
Die Bruke
group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905, after which the Br�cke Museum in Berlin was named. Founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Later members were Emil Nolde, Max Pechst
Der Blaue Reiter
Named for a popular image of a blue knight, the St. George on the city emblem of Moscow. Aspired to offer spiritual leadership in the arts. Wide range of styles, from realism to radical abstraction
Analytic cubism
Sharpened interests in altered form and compressed space. Reducing nature's complexity to its essential colors and elemental geometric shapes. Work was rejected by the Autumn Salon. "Little cubes" and "reducing everything to cubes" = birth to the art-hist
Synthetic cubism
Picasso and Braque almost were brought to the brink of complete abstraction, but they pulled back and began to create works that suggested more clearly discernible subjects. Neither wanted to break the link to reality. The second phase of Cubism because o
collage
A composition made of cut and pasted scraps of materials, sometimes with lines or forms added by the artist
orphism
offshoot of Cubism that focused on pure abstraction and bright colors, influenced by Fauvism, the theoretical writings of Paul Signac, Charles Henry and the dye chemist Eug�ne Chevreul. Named after Orpheus, legendary Greek poet whose lute playing charmed
futurism
artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized speed, technology, youth, and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane, and the industrial city. Emphasis on portraying technology and a sense of sp
nonrepresentational art
compositions which do not rely on visual references in the world. Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are related terms, indicating a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art.
Suprematist art
art movement, focused on basic geometric forms, such as circles, squares, lines, and rectangles, painted in a limited range of colors.
readymade
An object from popular or material culture presented without further manipulation as an artwork by the artist. An object from popular or material culture presented without further manipulation as an artwork by the artist.
primary colors
any of a group of colors from which all other colors can be obtained by mixing.
degenerate art
term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds that it was un-German, Jewish, or Communist in nature, and those identified as degenerate artists were subjected to sanctions. Attempt to r
Action painting
Using broad gestures to drip or pour paint onto a pictorial surface. Associated with mid-twentieth-century American Abstract Expressionists. Placing un-stretched raw canvas on the floor, and throwing, dripping, and dribbling paint onto it to create abstra
gesturalism
A style of modern art painting characterized by energetic, expressive brushstrokes deliberately emphasizing the sweep of the painter's arm or movement of the hand
Color Feld painting
style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It was inspired by European modernism and closely related to Abstract Expressionism, while many of its notable early proponents were among the pioneering Abstract Express
formalism
An approach to the understanding, appreciation, and valuation of art almost solely on considerations of form. The Formalist's approach tends to regard an art work as independent of its time and place of making
assemblage
Artwork created by gathering and manipulating two- and/or three- dimensional found objects
found objects
originates from the French objet trouv�, describing art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects or products that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function.
happenings
An art form developed by Allan Kaprow in the 1960s, incorporating performance, theater, and virtual images. A Happening was organized without a specific narrative or intent; with audience participation, the event preceded according to chance and individua
earthworks
Usually very large-scale, outdoor artwork that is produced by altering the natural environment. Using land as canvas, made art outdoors, manipulating raw materials found at the site.
site-specific sculpture
Of a work commissioned and/or designed for a particular location.
pluralism
A social structure or goal that allows members of diverse ethnic, racial, or other groups to exist peacefully within the society while continuing to practice the customs of their own divergent cultures. Also an adjective describing the state of having a v
neo-expressionism
One of the first international expressions of post-modernism, was launched by London and Berlin. Large scale figural paintings that recovered the luxury of painted surface. Almost exclusively male.
mural painting
any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture
installation art
Contemporary art created for a specific site, especially a gallery or outdoor area, that creates a complete and controlled environment. Raised issues about how average Americans construct their identities in the digital age. Considers how the world of tec
electronic art
form of art that makes use of electronic media or, more broadly, refers to technology and/or electronic media.
video art
Rapid development and increasingly widespread availability of hand-held video cameras created a new medium for artists. artists rejected traditional forms and meanings to make art deliberatly non-precious, used to address place and prevalence of TV in our
critical theory
school of thought that stresses the reflective assessments and critique of society and culture by applying knowledge from the social sciences and the humanities.
postmodern architecture
international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s[1] and continues to influence present-day architecture; architects rediscovered past architectural ornament and
Henri Matisse, Le Bonheur de Vivre (the Joy of Life), 1905-6
A large pastoral landscape depicting a golden age - a reclining nude in the foreground plays pan pipes, another piper herds goats in the right mid-ground, lovers embrace in the foreground while others frolic in dance in the background. Similar to Cezanne'
Vasily Kandinsky, Improvisation 28 (Second Version), 1912
Kandinsky one of the first artists to investigate the theoretical possibility of purely abstract painting. Gave his work musical titles and aspired to make paintings that responded to his own inner state and would be autonomous, making no reference to the
George Braque, Violin and Palette, 1909-10
Shows the kind of relatively small-scale still-life paintings that he created during the initial collaboration of recognizable subject matter and space. Items are not arranged in a measured progression from foreground to background depth, but push close t
Pablo Picasso, Bottle of Suze, 1912
A collage. At the center, assembled newsprint and construction paper suggest a tray or round table supporting a glass and bottle of liquor with an actual label. Around this arrangement Picasso pasted larger pieces of newspaper and wallpaper. Offers multip
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (Second Version), 1950 (orig 1917)
Remains one of the most controversial works of art in the 20th c. It is transgressive. Incites laughter, anger, embarrassment, and disgust, by openly referring to private bathroom activities, to human carnality and vulnerability. Questions the very essenc
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Painting (Eight Red Rectangles), 1915
Emerged as a leader in the Moscow avant-garde. Termed Suprematism (the supremacy of pure feeling in creative art). One of his works in Suprematism. Arranges 8 red rectangles, set diagonally on a white ground - a pure abstraction.
Piet Mondrian, Composition with Yellow, Red, and Blue, 1927
Sought to accomplish this by eliminating everything sensual or subjective from paintings. Uses three primary colors, three neutral, and a grid of horizontal and vertical lines in his search for the essence of higher beauty and the balances of forces. Oppo
Walter Gropius, Bauhaus building, 1925-26
Bauhaus moved to Dessau, Gropius designed the new building. Structure openly acknowledges its reinforced concrete, steel, and glass material. Also a balanced asymmetry to its three large cubic areas that was intended to convey the dynamism of modern life.
Salvador Dali, Birth of Liquid Desires, 1931-32
Focuses on a few key themes: sexuality, violence, and putrefaction. Large yellow biomorphic form (an organic shape resembling a living organism) - looking like a monster's face, a painter's palate, or a woman's body - that serves as the backdrop for four
Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, Panel No. 1: During World War I There Was a Great Migration North by Southern African Americans, 1940-41
-60 panels chronicle the Great Migration, a journey that brought Lawrence's parents from S.C. to N.J
-First panel migrants stream through the doors of the train station to either Chicago, NY, or St. Louis
-boldly abstracted silhouettes with flat bright sh
Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939
-Frida Kahlo more personal; natural surrealist
-she said she never painted dreams rather she painted her own reality
-Mixed heritage (German and Mexican)
-Double self portrait represents her identity split into two ethnic selves; European one in a Victori
Frank Lloyd Wright, Edgar Kaufmann house (Fallingwater), 1937
-Most famous expression of conviction that buildings should not simply sit on landscapes but coordinate with it.
-Commissioned by Edgar Kauffman (Pittsburg dept. store owner) to replace a family summer cottage
-House built right into cliff and over the po
Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937
-First preliminary sketch for visual response to the atrocity (Spanish civil-war; 1 mil. marching in Paris)
-monumental painting detailing the attack made several preliminary sketches
-complex painting layered with meaning
-Preferred to let the individual
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950
-most famous -abstract expressionist; self destructive
-2 Pollocks: shy and sober, or obnoxious and drunk
-sober in 40s when he created most celebrated works
-pushed beyond surrealist automatic painting
-unrestrained gestures transformed idea of painting
Mark Rothko, Lavender and Mulberry, 1959
-Very little formal training
-Shapes as fundamental "ideas" expressed in rectangular form, umediated by a recognizable subject, which sit in front of a painted field.
Jasper Johns, Target with Plaster Casts, 1955
- Questioned formalism
- Stretches it to its limits and mocks it.
- Painting and sculpture
- Arrangements of cast body parts parodies abstract expressionism, while the target is embodiment of hierarchy
- Refers to pop culture and world
- Meaning is fluid
Shozo Shimamoto, Hurling Colors, 1956
- Gutai (art of creating itself was art)
- Smashed bottles against the canvas on the floor
- Pushed pollock technique to point where work resided in performance
Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959
- Made series of combines (painting and sculpture with non-traditional materials)
- Assortment of old family photographs, public imagery, fragments of political posters, and garbage
- Make sense, each might interpret differently
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962
- Silkscreens made immediately after her death
- Memorializes screen images by transferring photograph onto silkscreen so signature features stand out
- Celliod sex symbol
- Made in "The Factory"
- Carries religious connotations (implying her as a goddess
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three chairs, 1965
- Not about beauty, but imperfect possibilities of visual and verbal communication
- Visual representation of semiotic theory
- Actual chair, photo of chair, and direct definition of a chair
- An object, an imperfect representation of an object, and a ver
Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1974-79
- Mixed media
- Dedicated to the hundreds of women and female artists rescued from anonymity by early feminist artists and historians.
- 13 Setting on each side representing women (like the last supper)
- Celebrates traditional women's crafts and argues f
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1969-70
- Sought to illustrate "ongoing dialectic" in nature.
- Stone and earth platform spiraling in Great Salt Lake in Utah
- Salty water and algae of lake suggested both the premordial ocean where life began and a dead sea that killed it.
- Spiral because it i
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21, 1978
- Series that exemplifies Postmodern strategies
- Eerily resemble publicity stills but are actually contemporary photographs of Sherman herself, in which she poses, appropriately made up, in settings that seem to quote from the well-known plots of old mov
Chris Ofili, The Holy Virgin, 1996
-controversy over public figure funding for arts; offends Mayor Giuliani
-Glittered painting of a stylized African Madonna with elephant poop and women's butts
-African nations have traditions of using found or salvaged objects
-Contemporary bicultural re
Sherin Neshat, Rebellious Silence, 1994
-"women of Allah" series
-explores Iranian women stereotypes in the west
-Islamic identities more varied and complex
-portrays a part of an Iranian woman's body overwritten with Farsi text and a weapon
-traditional chador with face showing, writing on fac
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, 1993-7
Concrete, interrupting vocabulary with the shapes, Museum has open atrium where you navigate on ramp in circular motion, like you're in shell.
-Asymmetrical design that allowed the creation of a powerfully organic sculptured structure
-shimmering silver a
Matthew Barney, Cremaster 3: Mahabyn, 2002
-Arcane sexual mythology; gender mutability dominates the narrative which questions gender assignation and roles throughout
-Named after muscle that gives guys boners
-settings and costumes lavish and epic plot is complex and interconnected
-Transform int