Francis Bacon, Painting, oil and pastel on linen, 1946, oil and pastel on linen, Existentialism
Bacon produced post war images of the wounded and traumatized after WW2. In this painting, the blended colors and abstract shapes and forms present a nightmarish setting, all along with distortions and disturbing imagery that a post-war veteran would see.
Alberto Giacometti, Man Pointing, Bronze, 1947, Bronze, Existentialism
Giacometti made this sculpture based on a live model, but scraped off most of the figure's body mass and distinguishing facial features, stripping it down to a skeleton-like shadow with a very rough texture that is pointing with his right hand. Man Pointi
Willem de Kooning, Woman I, oil and charcoal on masonite, 1950, oil and charcoal on masonite, Abstract-Expressionism
Linked towards coining the term "action painting," is a very dynamic and abstract artist. His Abstract Expressionist work (which he didn't identify his work as such at the time) treated human form in a completely idealistic manner. Colors are splattered e
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, oil on canvas, 1950, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, oil on canvas, Abstract-Expressionism
Abstract Expressionism is the first major American avant-garde movement. Abstract Expressionist paintings are usually abstract and express the artist's state of mind. Some Abstract Expressionists adopted Surrealist improvisation methods and created works
Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, oil on canvas, 1951, Museum of Modern Art, New York, oil on canvas, Abstract-Expressionism
Abstract-Expressionist Newman was one of many artists that challenged ideas of art at the time. Many challenged his paintings because of his simple zips (lines that go from one end of the canvas to the other) painted against a simple background. His ideas
Jean Dubuffet, Grand Maitre of the Outsider, emulsion and oil on canvas, Existentialism (Art Brut)
Jean Dubuffet used asphalt, glue, sand and very heavy layers of paint (impasto) . His artwork incorporated graffiti and the crude simple images. He believed that the art of young children, the mentally ill, prisoners and outcasts was more genuine and hone
LeCorbusier, Notre Dame du Haut, 1955, Ronchamp, France, Brutalism
This chapel is a pilgrimage chapel, built after the previous one had been destroyed during World War Two. The thick walls and a shell-shaped roof provide insulation and sculptural form, with irregular windows adding dim light into the chapel. The shapes o
Jasper Johns, Flag, Encaustic, oil, collage on fabric mounted on plywood, 1955, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Encaustic, oil, collage on fabric mounted on plywood, Pop Art
Pop Art started in the 1950's in Britain and then the United States. It challenged traditional art such as painting and sculpting by presenting imagery of popular culture. Jasper Johns mainly does Pop Art and presents his iconography as a paradox or irony
Richard Hamilton, Just What Is It That Makes Today's Homes So Different?, Collage, 1956, Collage, Pop Art
This work is a Pop Art collage. Hamilton uses several emerging technologies during his time such as the radio and television. He also has many popular culture references like the Ford insignia on the lamp, the vacuum ad, the movie theatre through the wind
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Seagram Building, 1958, New York, New York, International Style
His philosophy is "less is more" This is a minimalist glass tower constructed of concrete, steel and glass but unlike Sullivan's early 20th c. skyscrapers, the fa�ade is uniform, unadorned , monolithic - a shaft in the environment in which it is construct
Louise Nevelson, Tropical Garden II, Wood, 1959, Musee National d'art Moderne, Georges Pompidou, Paris, Wood, Abstract-Expressionism
Nevelson's "Tropical Garden II" was an Abstract-Expressionist work that gained recognition for being made out of wood, which brought out the concept of nature quite well. This sculpture was based off of experiences she had and she used wood as a medium be
Morris Louis, Saraband, Acrylic on canvas, 1959, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Acrylic on canvas, Colour Field
Paintings with solid areas of color covering the entire canvas A type of Abstract Expressionism, these artists were interested in the lyrical or atmospheric effects of vast expanses of color, filling the canvas, and by suggestion, beyond it to infinity.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Solomon Guggenheim Museum , NYC, 1959, New York, New York, Organic Architecture
Reinforced concrete. Tower resembles a snail shell and included a wide interior ramp (similar to one in LA Museum of Tolerance). Shapes are curved and organic with lower horizontal band and above a cantivered balcony area
Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard box, printed paper, photographed wood paint tube, 1959, Sonnabend Collection, New York, NY, oil, pencil, paper, fabric, metal, cardboard box, printed paper, photographed wood paint
Canyon is one of Rauschenberg's Combines, hybrid works incorporating painting, collage, and found objects that he began making in 1954. The centerpiece of Canyon is a stuffed bald eagle that was found in a pile of discarded belongings in the hallway of th
Jean Tinguely, Homage to New York, 1960, New York, New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Perfomance Art
Jean Tinguely was asked in 1960 to produce a work to be performed in the Sculpture Garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In collaboration with other artists/engineers, among them Billy Kl�ver and Robert Rauschenberg, he produced a self-destroyin
Mark Rothko, Untitled, Oil on canvas, 1961, Oil on canvas, Post Painterly Abstraction
Rothko's Untitled 1961 intends to evoke a spiritual sense. The painting consists of flat areas of a reddish color and a darker color. These layers of color give a calm, contemplative atmosphere. Rothko wanted to escape the political climate with his paint
Tony Smith, Die, steel, 1962, Museum of Modern Art, New York, steel, Minimalism
A twentieth century art movement and style stressing the idea of reducing a work of art to the minimum number of colors, values, shapes, lines and textures. No attempt is made to represent or symbolize any other object or experience. It is sometimes call
Andy Warhol, Green Coca-Cola Bottles, oil on canvas, 1962, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, oil on canvas, Pop Art
In 1962, as part of Pop Art, Andy Warhol released his Green Coca-Cola Bottles artwork. It is important to know they are not real bottles. The medium is acrylic, screen-print and graphite pencil on canvas and the work depicts numerous Coke bottles stacked
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, Oil, acrylic and silk screen enamel on canvas, 1962, Tate Gallery, London, Oil, acrylic and silk screen enamel on canvas, Pop Art
Created in 1962 as a tribute to the legendary Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe, who had died just weeks earlier. The images in the painting were based on a publicity photograph of the actress, which was taken to publicize the 1953 film 'Niagara', in which
Claes Oldenberg, Shuttlecocks, 1962, Kansas City. MO, Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Pop Art
To challenge the idea that an art installation at a building as prestigious as The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art could not be of an object as mundane as a shuttlecock, Oldenburg and his wife made four enormous shuttlecocks to be scattered strategically on t
Roy Lichtenstein, Hopeless, oil on canvas, 1963, Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum, Basel, oil on canvas, Pop Art
Roy Lichtenstein, a leading artist of the Pop Art movement is known for his comic book style of art. Hopeless in particular is one of his more renowned works. It depicts a woman in tears feeling hopeless. It has very animated characteristics that make it
Ellsworth Kelly, Red, Blue Green, Oil on canvas, 1963, Oil on canvas, Post Painterly Abstraction
Post-Painterly Abstraction developed out of Abstract Expressionism and exhibits a cool, detached rationality with an emphasis on pictorial control. The hand of the artist is conspicuously absent in Post-Painterly Abstraction. There is a purity of line th
Eero Saarinen, TWA Terminal, 1963, JFK Airport, Queens, New York, Postmodernist Architecture
Organic form architecture inspired by work of Frank Lloyd Wright with sweeping curvilinear rooflines possibly resembling wings in flight. Constructed of concrete and glass. Saarinen wanted his building to convey motion
David Smith, Cubi XVIII and Cubi XVII, Polished stainless steel, 1964, Polished stainless steel, Abstract-Expressionism
Cubi is a series of monumental scale abstract stainless steel sculptures by Abstract Expressionist sculptor David Smith created between 1963-1965. The works are comprised of rectangular and cylindrical pieces of variable scale and orientation. The pieces
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, Wooden folding chair, photgraphic copy of a chair, & photographic enlargement of dictionary defintion of chair, 1965, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Wooden folding chair, photgraphic copy of a chair, & photographic en
Conceptual Artist Kosuth used three different objects to represent a chair. A chair, a picture of a chair, and a definition of a chair. He questioned whether the function changed or stayed the same depending on the form of the chair. Kosuth often played a
Eva Hesse, Hang-Up, Acrylic on cloth over wood and steel, 1966, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Acrylic on cloth over wood and steel, Multi-media
Multi-media Art is art created through the use of more than one medium such as sound, visual art, and moving media. Eva Hesse was a sculptor who explored three-dimensional forms and exemplified her fascination with the absurdities in life through her work
Helen Frankenthaler, Bay Side, Acrylic on canvas, 1967, Acrylic on canvas, Colour Field
Frankenthaler, while influenced by the Abstract Expressionist practices of the time, created her own technique known as "soak-stain." She used acrylics because they were thinner and allowed for more viscosity and movement than oils did. She would pour the
Bruce Nauman, The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths, neon with glass tubing, suspension frame, 1967, private collection, neon with glass tubing, suspension frame, Neon
In concept art, the artist's idea is the "artful aspect of art not necessarily the final product. Artistic impact is based in part on the interaction between work and viewer, not artwork and artist. Artwork generated by computer programs. Language used as
Chuck Close, Self-Portrait, Acrylic on canvas, 1968, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Acrylic on canvas, Hyperealism
This is a hyperrealist painting of Chuck Close's face and neck, looking down at the viewer, smoking a cigarette. Close does the painting in varying shades of grey to make it look like a black and white photograph. To achieve photorealism, he carefully cop
Louise Bourgeois, Cumul I (rounded clouds), marble, 1969, Musee National d'art Moderne, Georges Pompidou, Paris, marble, Abstract-Expressionism
Bourgeosie pioneered "confessional" artwork, a psychological approach to image creation in which the artist incorporates personal imagery, possibly reflective of childhood traumas experienced by Bourgeosie. The process may be Freudian and, like Surrealist
Donald Judd, Untitled, Brass and coloured fluorscent plexiglass on steel brackets, 1969, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Brass and coloured fluorscent plexiglass on steel brackets, Minimalism
Minimalism was a reaction to Abstract Expressionism and incorporates reduced design elements. Judd believed in the materials and artistic forms as being significant in themselves. The medium is copper separated into ten units with 9-inch intervals. In thi
Christo and Jean-Claude, Surrounded Islands, woven polyprophelyne fabric, 1970, Biscayne Bay, Florida, woven polyprophelyne fabric, Environmental Art
In 1970, Christo and Jean Claude created there art piece Surrounded Islands as part of the environment art period. The point of their art was to visually impact the viewer with beauty and differentiation in familiar landscapes. The islands of Miami's Bisc
Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, Black rock, salt crystals, earth, water, 1970, Great Salt Lake, Utah, Black rock, salt crystals, earth, water, Environmental Art
Spiral Jetty is an example of Environmental Art. Located in the Great Salt Lake of Utah, it is spiral shape that extends into the lake. It is 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide. It is made of black basalt rocks and earth from the area. Environmental art cha
Michael Heizer, Double Negative, 1970, Environmental Art
Artists use natural formation to create a combination of ecological architecture and sculpture. Works are large-scale with full exposure seen best from an aerial view. Materials are dependent on the area where the artwork is formed. Some artworks are temp
Duane Hanson, Shopper, Polyester resin and fiberglass, 1970, Nachfolgeninstitut Neue Galerie, Sammlung, Ludwig, Aachen, Polyester resin and fiberglass, Hyperealism
Shopper is a Hyperrealist life-size sculpture of a woman with a shopping cart filled with items. Her hair is in curlers and she wears real clothing. In his sculptures Hanson depicted stereotypical, middle-class Americans to show their loneliness. He used
Joern Utzon, Sydney Opera House, 1972, Sydney, Australia, Postmodernist Architecture
Inspired by Gothic vaulting, Australian history (tall ships) and organic forms (seagulls in flight), Two massive concrete shells rise from a flat base in multiple "wings" . Utzon worked with Frank Lloyd Wright and was recommended for the project by Eero S
Ana Medieta, Flowers on Body, 1973, color photo of earth body work on body, Femmage
Mendieta's family was tied to Fidel Castro's movement, but as the alliance bittered, she was exiled to the U.S. where she became interested in nature as a place to express her feelings of displacement the work shows her body filled in with leaves and flow
Nam June Paik, Global Groove, still of video image, 1973, still of video image, Video & Digital Imagery
This is a glimpse of a video landscape of tomorrow when you will be able to switch on any TV station on the earth and TV guides will be as fat as the Manhattan telephone book.' Paik's introductory statement stands for the tape's compositional principle an
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Sears Tower, 1974, Chicago, Illinois, Postmodernist Architecture
At the time of its construction, it was the tallest building in the world. A slender multi-level shaft building with emphasis on the vertical. Glass skin, unadorned fa�ade, nine clustered shafts and a recessed area at the base for a public plaza
Miriam Schapiro, Anatomy of a Kimono, Fabric and acrulic on canvas, 1976, private collection, Fabric and acrulic on canvas, Femmage
Styles and media are all different but every feminist artists is using art and what were called the domestic arts (quilting, place settings, sewing, etc.) to comment on the status of women in modern society
Alexander Calder, untitled, aluminium honeycomb, tubing and paint, 1976, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, aluminium honeycomb, tubing and paint, Organic Sculpture
Calder is the foremost mobile sculptor of the 20th century. His work ranges from small abstract to massive works located in public spaces. Calder uses modern lightweight materials; his forms are often organic. Although the compositions may be asymetrical,
Audrey Flack, Marilyn , Oil over acrylic on canvas, 1977, Collection of the University of Arizona Museum, Tucson, Arizona, Oil over acrylic on canvas, Hyperealism
A play on the Dutch Baroque Vanitas still life, this is a work of Superrealism. which mimics photographic precision effects such as reflective surfaces, illusion from distance. Artists may work form photographs. Works are clean and stripped of action
inte
Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1977, Paris, France, Postmodernist Architecture
Post-Modern architecture that deconstructs the elements of the building turning elevators, air ducts, pipes and other hidden elements into highly coloured decorative additions to the fa�ade. Incorporates industrial materials and laser technology. Architec
Charles Moore, Piazza d Italia, 1978, New Orleans, Louisiana, Postmodernist Architecture
The analytical strategy called deconstruction considers all cultural constructs as "texts" that can be read in a variety of ways but from which cannot be derived any fixed or uniform meanings. Analysis of these texts seeks to reveal the suppressed or conc
Judy Chicago, Dinner Party, Multimedia including ceramics and stichery, 1979, Multimedia including ceramics and stichery, Femmage
The Dinner Party is a large scale installation piece. It requires a team of 400 to assemble. The artwork is a gigantic triangular dinner table with thirty-nine place settings for both real and mythical females in history. Every place setting (cups, plates
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #35, gelatin-silver print, 1979, gelatin-silver print, Femmage
The image shows Sherman dressed as a housewife, with the low angle stressing the artist's glance. She uses lighting, framing, and composition to help define the character type she resembles. Sherman looks like characters from movies from the 1950s and 196
Susan Rothenberg, Tattoo, Arcylic flashe on canvas, 1979, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Arcylic flashe on canvas, Neo-Expressionism
Tattoo is the front if a running horse, in blue, marked on the side of a leg. Rothenberg's works are abstract and neo-expressionist. Imagery is unclear or distorted and the surface of the work is heavily textured suggesting action and agitation.
Philip Johnson and John Burgee, AT&T Building (Sony Building), 1979, New York, New York, Postmodernist Architecture
Post modern building in "Miesian" style (named after Mies van der Rohe). Includes a scrolled roofline and patterned fenestration. Post-modern architecture is a response to the stark, rigid , "bleak" structures of the modernist era. Post-modern buildings h
Leon Golub, Mercenaries IV, acrylic on linen, 1980, Ron Feldman Fine Arts, New York, acrylic on linen, Fabric based Expressionism
Golub was part of the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists who advocated the connection between the observable world and the role of art in current events. Golub's style shares the grotesquerie and expressive colour of the New Objectivity artists of Weima
Michael Graves, The Portland Building, Portland, Ore, 1980, Portland, Oregon, Postmodernist Architecture
Post Modernist architecture. Draw attention to the fa�ade of the building and its horizontal structure through the use of shape and colours emphasizing deliberately polychromed surface as opposed to the blank facades of International Style architecture.
Richard Sierra, Titled Arc, Cor-Ten Steel, 1981, Federal Plaza, New York City, New York, Cor-Ten Steel, Environmental Art
This curving wall was made to reflect a figure's movement and environmental changes through the plaza through contraction and expansion. This work exemplifies Serra's style of exploring the interaction of the artwork, the viewer, and the site surrounding
Hannah Wilke, Starification Object Series (S.O.S.), 10 b/w photos w/15 chewing gum sculputes in Plexiglasscases mounted on ragboard, 1982, Ron Feldman Fine Arts, New York, 10 b/w photos w/15 chewing gum sculputes in Plexiglasscases mounted on ragboard, Fe
Hannah Wilkes juxtaposes commercial glamour imagery and feminist commentary. The "stars" are molded chewing gum attached to the body. Wilkes, like Cindy Sherman, is the artist and the model in the work. Wilkes has associated the "scars" as a reference to
Magdalena Abakanowicz, Backs, 1982, Fabric based Expressionism
This work is a series of 80 sculptures of human backs that seem to be sitting. They are made from resin and burlap. Abakanowicz is a fan of Fabric based Expressionism and used this sculptural medium in many of her other works as she demonstrates the stren
Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face), Photostat, 1983, Mary Bone Gallery, New York, Photostat, Femmage
Trained as a graphic designer and photographer, Barbara Kruger's conceptual collages contrast imagery and text. The image is a classical female figure symbolic of traditional aesthetic definition of the female and female beauty. The text cut out and paste
Faith Ringgold, Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima, acrylic on canvas, 1983, private collection, acrylic on canvas, Femmage
Within the quilt is the life history of a family from the end of the Civil War through the 20th century. It shows the changes in African-American life after the Civil War and also reflects the diversity of ethnicity within the family (both Native American
Maya Lin, Vietnam Memorial, Black granite, 1983, Washington, DC, Black granite, Minimalism
Black granite minimalist geometric form; adorned only with the names of those died in the Vietnam War. Lin wanted the structure to encourage people to interact and have a "psychological dialogue" Viewers see themselves in the polished surface. Lin wanted
Anselm Kiefer, Nigredo, Oil paint on photosensitive fabric, acrylic emulsion, straw, shellac, relief paint, 1984, Philadephia Museum of Art, Oil paint on photosensitive fabric, acrylic emulsion, straw, shellac, relief paint, Neo-Expressionism
American art movement of the 1980's based on influences from German Expressionism from early 20th century. Hitler called the movement "Degenerative Art" Heavy use of paint (impasto). Colour, shape and line are used to reflect dark and sometimes turbulent
Julian Schnabel, The Walk Home, Oil, plates, copper, bronze, fiberglass, and bondo on wood, 1985, Broad Art Foundation and the Pace Gallery, New York, Oil, plates, copper, bronze, fiberglass, and bondo on wood, Neo-Expressionism
Adding other materials to the painted surface (pottery, copper, broken china plates) allowed Schnabel to explore the 2 dimension painting and more 3D imagery in sculpture. Images were emerging from the painted surface and breaking the 2D barrier
Jeff Koons, Rabbit, stainless steel, 1986, Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, stainless steel, Pop Art
Koons took what was originally a store bought plastic toy of a rabbit eating a carrot, and transformed it into a stainless steel replica. He confuses the viewers by creating a very balloon like metal figure that leads many to believe it is light. However,
Krzysztof Wodiczko, The Homeless Projection, multi-video project against Soldiers and Sailor Civil War Monument, 1987, multi-video project against Soldiers and Sailor Civil War Monument, Video & Digital Imagery
His works focused mainly on video and digital imagery and he is well known for his projections. Wodiczko always wanted the image he projected to have some sort of purpose for being projected on a certain building. This work is an outdoor slide projection
Guerrilla Girls, The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist, poster, 1988, poster, Postmodernism
An anonymous group of female artists who use public areas and modern imagery (ads) to protest the under-representation of women in art as artists "The Guerrilla Girls call this 1988 poster their all-time favorite. They like it because it reflects discrimi
Kiki Smith, Untitled , beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands, 1990, Whitney Museum of American Art, beeswax and microcrystalline wax figures on metal stands, Femmage
Femmage (work created by women) artist Femmage (work created by women) artist Kiki Smith used a male and female body to depict the wrongdoings of society on their bodies. They're slumped figures with bodily fluids running down their bodies. Even though th
Bill Viola, The Crossing, two channels on video projection, 1996, two channels on video projection, Video & Digital Imagery
The violent annihilation of a human figure by the opposing natural forces of fire and water is projected simultaneously on the front and back of a double-sided screen. One one side, a man approaches from a long distance in slow motion. He finally stops an
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997, Bilbao, Spain, Postmodernist Architecture
Deconstructivist architecture. Made of titanium and limestone. Fa�ade is comprised of sweeping and broken forms that indicate the building has collapsed to multiple fragmented units - some organic and some geometric in form. Topped with a "metallic flower