Modern art

Modern art is a loose term used to describe works of artistic expression created approximately between 1860 and 1970. As is the case with most art, the definition of what constitutes modern art is often subjective; however, it is generally agreed that the genre is categorized by a rebellion against conformity and a rejection of artistic tradition. Modern art became less about depicting religious or cultural imagery and more about the artists' vision of reality and the emotional experience the work produced. The genre is often distinguished by an experimental use of color, technique, or artistic medium. Many artists incorporate different materials into their works, using objects such as paper, metal, and even bathroom fixtures. Although the timeframe is open to interpretation, art experts define works produced after 1970 as falling under contemporary or postmodern art.

Background

Archaeologists believe the earliest works of human art were created for ritual purposes. Stone figures resembling pregnant females were most likely seen as fertility symbols, while cave paintings may have been a means of asking the spirits to ensure a successful hunt. The art of Mesopotamia and Egypt was predominantly made to honor the gods or record military accomplishments. The ancient Greeks and Romans brought elements of realism and proportionality to their artwork, creating masterworks of sculpture and architecture that remained unmatched for centuries. After the fall of the Roman Empire, art survived under the auspices of the Christian church and was decidedly religious in nature.

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a cultural rebirth known as the Renaissance swept across the medieval world. Renaissance art took inspiration from the works of the Greeks and Romans and returned to a highly detailed style of realism and proportionality. Styles shifted somewhat in the centuries after the Renaissance as artists changed ideas of perspective and tone, but religious themes continued to be popular, as was private artwork commissioned by wealthy families.

At the start of the nineteenth century, a cultural change known as the Industrial Revolution brought a series of technological advancements that transformed the way society functioned. People left their agricultural communities for the larger cities in search of a growing number of factory jobs. This shift helped create a new middle class but also led to overcrowded cities with often impoverished living conditions.

The changing societal landscape inspired a new artistic philosophy called Realism. Developed in France around 1840, this style was one of the first movements to defy conventional artistic norms. Rather than creating grand images of high art commissioned by wealthy benefactors, artists painted for themselves, portraying the working classes and the common labors of daily life. One of the main figures in this style was Gustave Courbet, known for his sometimes bleak subject matter and use of light and darkness. An example of his work is A Burial at Ornans, which depicts a funeral service. While the definition is not universally accepted, some art experts consider Realism to be the beginning of modern art.

Overview

Many experts view the genesis of modern art as coinciding with the French Impressionism movement of the 1860s and 1870s. In mid-nineteenth-century France, major artwork was displayed through government-sponsored exhibitions known as salons. Many young artists were unhappy with the strict inclusion guidelines set by the government and rebelled against the precise artistic form favored by the salons. They created works that used quick, subtle brushstrokes that focused less on exact detail and more on capturing the fleeting "impression" of the natural world. The Impressionists abandoned rough sketches and studio work for the spontaneous elements of open-air environments. They insisted on a realistic depiction of light, painting scenes in the colors as they perceived them, produced by the momentary interactions of sunlight and shade.

The style received its name from the 1872 work Impression: Soleil Levant by Claude Monet, one of the most famous Impressionist painters. Monet specialized in landscapes, and among his best-known works is Nymphéas (Water Lilies). Other well-known Impressionists include Edgar Degas (The Dance Class); Édouard Manet (A Bar at the Folies-Bergère); and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Bal du Le Moulin de la Galette).

Postimpressionism

Just as the Impressionism movement of the 1860s was a response to the established artistic values of the day, in the 1880s, another group of artists grew to challenge the conventions of the Impressionists. The Postimpressionism movement encompassed several distinct styles that viewed reality through the emotions it brought out in the artist, rather than the true-life depiction of the world favored in Impressionism. Postimpressionist art used a more simplified color palette and interactions between color and shape to encompass a more abstract artistic form. Despite their common view of art in more emotional terms, the Postimpressionists did not consider themselves a coherent movement and often used a variety of styles in their work.

A well-known example of Postimpressionist art is the 1889 painting The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Other artists who embraced the style include Paul Gauguin (Spirit of the Dead Watching) and Paul Cézanne (The Bathers). Georges Seurat (A Sunday on La Grande Jatte) experimented with mixing tiny points of color to create a coherent image, a style that was sometimes called Neo-Impressionism. Henri Matisse (La Danse) was at the forefront of a short-lived Postimpressionist movement known as Fauvism, which used dramatic, bright colors that added an element of unrealism to the artists' work.

Cubism

Influenced by the Postimpressionist trend toward abstract imagery, artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque developed a style of art known as Cubism in the early twentieth century. Both artists were inspired by the work of Cézanne, while Picasso was further influenced by his introduction to African tribal art. Cubist artists abandoned any concept that art should adhere to traditional elements of perspective, dimension, or natural environments. The style used geometric forms that seemed fractured and rearranged into an image with often conflicting vantage points. Early Cubist art maintained some type of realism, with the painting's subject still discernable, although in abstract form. Later works often used a style known as non-objective art, which had no coherent connection to the natural world.

Picasso is not only one of the creators of Cubism, but he also is arguably the most famous artist of the twentieth century. His 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is considered one of the earliest works in the genre and exhibited the nontraditional geometric style of early Cubism. Some of his later efforts, such as the Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, were painted as a series of flat, overlapping geometric shapes in a style known as Analytical Cubism. Bottle and Fishes, a 1912 work by Georges Braque, was another example of Analytical Cubism. A third style of Cubism called Synthetic Cubism used a wider variety of colors and other materials, such as paper collages. Juan Gris (Still Life with Checkered Tablecloth) was a key contributor to this style. Other noted Cubist artists include Fernand Léger (The City), Robert Delaunay (L'Équipe de Cardiff) and sculptor Jacques Lipchitz (Pregnant Woman).

Futurism

As the twentieth century dawned, the world was undergoing a transformation brought about by an influx of new technology. Just a few decades earlier, electricity, radio transmissions, automobiles, and airplanes were unheard of; now they were ushering in an era known as the "machine age." These changes inspired a group of young artists from Italy to develop an avant-garde art movement that cast off tradition and celebrated technology and modern life. Known as Futurism, this art featured a dynamic style that tried to capture the movement and vibrant atmosphere of a bustling metropolis. Its elements were a blend of the emotional impact of Postmpressionism and the abstract qualities of Cubism. Futurism found an outlet not only in painting but also in literature, sculpture, architecture, music, photography, and the relatively new medium of film. Among the most notable artists of this movement were Umberto Boccioni (The City Rises) and Giacomo Balla (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash).

Expressionism

While Italy embraced modernity, other artists had the opposite reaction as unease began to grow about humanity's place in a rapidly changing world. This anxiety led to the Expressionism movement, a highly personal style that developed in Germany about the turn of the century. Expressionist artists channeled their own emotional interpretation of the subject onto the canvas, rather than a simple observation. They used loose brushstrokes, strong outlines, and exaggerated swirls of colors and shades to evoke a state of unsettled emotion. The style was a reaction against the standards set by the Impressionists and grew out of a move toward symbolism in some Postimpressionist works.

While Gauguin and van Gogh were involved in pioneering the genre, one of its primary proponents was Edvard Munch whose 1908 painting The Scream is a prime example of the alienation and emotional turmoil embodied by the movement. Other Expressionist painters include Wassily Kandinsky (Composition VII), Franz Marc (Large Blue Horses), and Erich Heckel (Portrait of a Man). Examples of Expressionism can also be seen in early cinema, such as the brooding atmosphere of the 1922 vampire film Nosferatu.

Dada and Surrealism

The devastation caused by World War I (1914–18) included the deaths of millions of people and the scarring of both the landscape and psyche of Europe. In the art community, the war created a backlash against societal values and national institutions, leading to a movement specifically designed to subvert the establishment. Dada began in Switzerland and used painting, photography, film, and performance art to revolt against normalcy, turning the art world on its head. Cubist artist Marcel Duchamp embraced Dada and created artwork such as L.H.O.O.Q., a postcard of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa with a mustache and goatee drawn on the figure. His work Fountain was nothing more than a porcelain urinal he submitted to the Society of Independent Artists in 1917. Fountain caused a scandal among the art establishment and framed a debate on what constitutes art. Other prominent Dada artists include Hans Arp (Shirt Front and Fork) and Hugo Ball (Karawane).

As the shock value of Dada began to wear off, many of its followers branched into a new art movement called Surrealism. This style was highly influenced by the work of psychologist Sigmund Freud and his 1899 book The Interpretation of Dreams. Surrealist art was less political than Dada, but still maintained a focus on antiestablishment concepts. Its art incorporated strange, often ridiculous dream-like imagery that seemed to channel the unconscious mind. The movement was founded by André Breton, whose Egg in the Church or the Snake was a photographic collage featuring a bizarre image that combined religion and sexuality. Salvador Dali, who was as recognizable for his distinctive mustache as his art, was undoubtedly the most famous of the Surrealists. His most iconic artwork is 1931's The Persistence of Memory, famed for its images of melting clocks.

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism is a general term used to describe an art movement that began in the United States and helped shift the focus of the art world away from the cultural centers of Europe and toward New York. The genre was inspired by Surrealism and formed in the economic hard times of the Great Depression. It came of age after World War II (1939–45) and was categorized by a reliance on purely abstract elements that were meant to express a subject without coherent form. While united under a common label, Abstract Expressionists displayed a wide range of styles and techniques. Some artists made bold, dynamic statements; others employed a more meditative and instinctual use of color.

The artist most often associated with this style was Jackson Pollock, who abandoned traditional painting methods to drip and fling paint at a canvas. Borrowing elements from Cubism and Surrealism, Pollock created swirling, chaotic patterns of color in his works, such as 1950's Autumn Rhythm (Number 30). Willem de Kooning combined a refined technique with an abstract element of incompleteness in work such as Woman I, painted around 1950. Mark Rothko's artwork consisted of rectangular bands of soft colors as displayed in 1958's No. 16 (Red, Brown and Black).

Pop Art

In the late 1950s, artists initiated another shift in style and returned to elements of realism, this time drawing inspiration from the world of mass media and pop culture. Pop Art sought to remove the dividing line between what was considered art and the elements of contemporary society. Subject matter was chosen from everyday life and could feature household items, consumer products, or media celebrities. On the surface, Pop Art did not strive to convey the emotions of the artist, but seemed to be detached from the material. Some critics saw the new style as endorsing consumerism, while others saw it as a subtle criticism of the system.

Prime examples of Pop Art are the works of Andy Warhol, who rose to become a media celebrity in the 1960s. His 1962 work Campbell's Soup Cans was a hand-painted representation of thirty-two red-and-white soup cans meant as a commentary on the growing trend toward mass production. Warhol also painted pictures of Coca-Cola bottles, boxes of Brillo pads, and celebrities and world leaders such as Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong. Another noted pop artist, Roy Lichtenstein, drew on comic books and cartoon characters such as Popeye for inspiration.

Bibliography

"A Beginner's Guide to Impressionism." Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/impressionism/a/a-beginners-guide-to-impressionism. Accessed 30 June 2017.

"Expressionism." Guggenheim Museum, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/movement/expressionism. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Herbert, Robert L., editor. Modern Artists on Art, 2nd ed., Dover Publications, 2000.

"Modern Art." Art Story Foundation, www.theartstory.org/definition-modern-art.htm. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Paul, Stella. "Abstract Expressionism." Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2004, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd‗abex.htm. Accessed 30 June 2017.

Phillips, Sam. …Isms: Understanding Modern Art. Universe Publishing, 2013.

"Pop Art." Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/terms/pop-art. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Rewald, Sabine. "Cubism." Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2004, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd‗cube.htm. Accessed 30 June 2017.

"Surrealism: The Search for Freedom." Miami Dade College, www.mdc.edu/wolfson/Academic/ArtsLetters/art‗philosophy/Humanities/Surrealism/Surrealism.htm. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.

Voorhies, James. "Post-Impressionism." Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2004, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/poim/hd‗poim.htm. Accessed 30 June 2017.