Modern Art Periods - Assignment Example

? Question 4 Impressionism Impressionism art is an art movement that began in French. Realism of the impressionism can be defined as the use of “optical realism” to create vivid effect of movement by using light, texture and effects that demonstrate motion in painting (Ackerman 85). Figure 1 adapted from Web Museum by Camille Pissaro demosntrates the use of light, texture and contrast to create a vivid effect of motion in the painting Figure 1: The Stagecoach at Louveciennes Apart from the fact that the term avant-garde in painting was first used by Theodore Duret who was a famous impressionism artist, impressionism art employed new but different concepts and techniques that had never been used before. Duret had been significantly impressed by the ability of impressionism art to employ light and texture to bring about vivid effects and emotions in paintings (Kleiner 689). In essence, Impressionism transcended boundaries and traditions that had characterized art and pioneered the emergence of new and radical forms of art. The tendency by the impressionist artists to paint outdoors was also considered radical since most artists were used to painting indoors and then allowed the painting to dry gradually. However, impressionist artists preferred painting indoors. In addition, impressionism art avoided the use of symmetry in looking at most of the paintings of the landscapes one realizes that they preferred asymmetry but still managed to maintain balance. Figure 2 adapted from Impressionist Paintings shows an example of an impressionist’s depiction of a spring landscape. Figure 2: Spring Landscape by Lena Kurovska Impressionism redefined art through the use of light and visual effects and the tendency to paint outdoors and a significant number of impressionism paintings depict landscapes. In depicting landscapes the impressionism artists employed asymmetry about an object like a tree. The utilization of space was done uniformly demonstrating a tendency to create balance. Figure 3 adapted from Impressionism Paintings, shows how the garden has been visually harmonized by the trees in the background. Figure 3: Estate maine, USA by Sergei Oussik Manet’s painting style was always considered to be controversial due to his tendency to paint images of nude women. Perhaps one single impressionist artist that share many similarities with Manet is Edgar Degas. Both artists hailed from wealthy families and their paintings were often done luxuriously in places like racecourses. In fact when the two met Edgar influenced Manet to adopt a more impressionist approach in art. The artists share some similarities and difference in their style of painting. Figure 4: Daughter of Jephtha by Edgar Degas In figure 4 adopted from Blacksheep, one realizes that Degas occasionally painted from a historical perspective demonstrated by the Bibilical depiction in the painting. Degas also preferred the use of deep and dull colors. His paintings also brought about an important aspect of impressionism; depiction of movement. On the other hand as depicted in Figure 5 adopted from Blacksheep, Manet preferred the use of brigher and huge chunks of colors. Manet wlaso avoided historical paintings. Figure 5: The Absinthe Drinker Claude Monet contributed to suburban realism by constantly providing a vivid depiction of the suburban places he had visited and the feelings the paintings had elicited within him. Monet’s depiction of the suburban areas was characterized by paintings indicating the simple pleasures of suburban areas where nature met with the emerging civilization. Figure 6 adapted from Claude Monet's Paintings, shows one of his paintings depicting pleasure boats at Argentueil. Monet uses light to depict the emerging civilization and its pleasures and dull colors to depict the tranquility of nature. In essence, the juxtaposition of nature and civilization as depicted by Monet provide new avenues of adventure by artists. Figure 6: Pleasure Boats at Argentueil by Monet Question 5 “Modern” as a period in history of art can be defined as a period when art began to embrace and acknowledge the changes taking place in the world and seek to involve art within these changes. The conventional modern is characterized by aspects such as increased use of technology, capitalism, urban culture and secularism. Initially, artists had ignored technological advancements such as the construction of railways and lighting. However, during the modern period with regard to art, artists began to incorporate some of these aspects within their paintings. Capitalism influenced artists to consider ways in which they can use their talents to appeal to the emerging classes. Initially, artists had only targeted the wealthy and forgotten about the bourgeoisie. However, modern artists recognized the middle class and began painting images that would be suitable and affordable to the bourgeoisie. Traditional artists had emphasized on religion depicted by most paintings that were done before the modern period. However, modern art avoided religion as it embraced secularism (Khan Academy). These aspects of modern art provide a distinction between the art and the preceding traditional art. In essence, modern art embraced the changes that were being experienced within societies. The modern was characterized by the emergence of new social, political, philosophical and political changes that had significant impact on the direction of art. The emergence of capitalism brought an end to feudalism that had taken root allowing people to accumulate wealth and use the wealth to purchase even more wealth. Furthermore, capitalism allowed people to specialize by producing what they could best and purchasing whatever they did not produce. Initially, it was difficult for an individual from a lower class to climb to a higher class through individual effort. However, capitalism embraced invention and innovation and the doors were open for the poor and middle class to make it to the upper classes. In addition, aspects such as education increased interactions between persons from different classes. With the emergence of industrial revolution urban areas began springing up as people left their fields to look for better prospects in cities. Consequently, cities began springing up. Unlike the countryside, cities were metropolitan and people from diverse cultures converged the result of which was the emergence of urban culture. Urban vices such as prostitution, poverty, and crime emerged. In addition, housing and sanitation became a problem for authorities due to overpopulation. However, in urban areas people were also able to become innovative and use their skills to make a living (Khan Academy). The painting “Young Ladies of the Village” by Gustave Courbet in Figure 7 was a painting done in 1952 that does not reflect the emerging form of art called modernism (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History). Modernism was a form of art that depicted the inner feelings of the painter and it was also abstract. The Young Ladies of the Village on the other hand is realism painting depicting village women having a conversation with a young girl. The painting is direct and Courbet’s aim was to depict the scene as it actually was and this was a characteristic of realism art and not modern art. Figure 7: Young Ladies of the Village by Gustave Courbet On the other hand the painting “Dream City” by Paul Klee in figure 8 is an example of modern art referred to as cubism. Cubism art is characterized by the expression of true feelings of the artist through the avoidance of conventional symmetry and the use of abstract ideas (Museum Quality). One characteristic of cubism is that it does not give the eye the opportunity to create reason from the painting as a result of past experiences, but rather takes the eye through a continuous maze of discoveries as depicted in Dream City. This form of abstractness is a characteristic of modern art. Figure 8: Dream City by Paul Klee Question 6 Post impressionism art followed some of the techniques used by impressionists such as preference for soft color, although they avoided the use of light and every artist sought to express their art in a unique way. Fauvism on the other hand preferred the use of violent colors and daring deformations. Art Nouveau was a form of art that existed in Europe for a short period of time and was aimed at providing decorations by use of the characteristics of flowers. Post impressionism continued with the ideas of impressionism through the use of bright colors, texture and the vivid representation of movement in their paintings. These aspects as used by post impressionists were borrowed from the impressionists. However, post impressionists did not place significant emphasis on the use of light (West Valley Art). Post impressionism is characterized by the artists pursuing their own ideas and depicting the world as they see it free from the constraints of the traditional art. Post impressionism connects to symbolism because they also believed that “truth” could only be experienced by avoiding conventional trends and depicting the world as one saw and perceived it (Museum Quality). Art Nouveau was a form of art that emerged at the end of the 19th century and that was mostly used in decorating buildings, furniture and other things through the depiction of nature. Figure 9 adapted from Museum Quality shows an example of art Novuea “Winter” by Alphonse Mucha. Figure 9 Impressionism art and art nouveau are different in their use of colors and their depictions. Figure 1 shows impressionism art by Oussik shows deportation from symmetry and the depiction of objects about one or several central objects. On the other hand, Art Nouveau as shown in figure 9 demonstrates symmetry and there are objects that have just been placed in the painting for the purpose of decoration. Fauvism is a form of art that emerged in France and was characterized by the use of “violent colors” and daring distortions in paintings. The color red that is considered as “aggressive” was particularly famous with the fauvism movement. In essence, the fauvists sought to force one to look at the surface and avoid venturing into the deeper aspects of the painting through the use of color red. Figure 10 adapted from Khan Academy shows an example of fauvism art called “The Red Studio” by Henri Matisse. Figure 10 Paul Cezanne is an example of post impressionism artist. Looking at Cezanne’s painting called “Peasant in a Blue Smock” one realizes that he has used cool colors and that the painting is not centrally placed about the canvas. In addition, there is some depiction of movement of a lady in the background. Comparing the photo to Matisse’s “The Red Studio” one realizes that Matisse has used very violent colors and has purposely distorted boundaries. Figure 11: Peasant in a Blue Smock by Paul Cezanne Question 7 Cubism is a form of art in which the canvas was divided randomly along sharp lines using images with emphasis on the creation of three dimensional effects. In essence, the canvas was depicted as a surface where three dimensional objects were scattered randomly (Museum Quality). Cezanne influenced the cubists because he diverted from the traditional three dimensional creation styles and opted for the creation of objects on a flat surface. The use of the flat surface to create two dimensional objects appealed to the cubist. The cubist later adopted the approach to depict objects where one could view the painting from several angles simultaneously. The painting by Cezanne called Bibemus Quarry shows his use of the flat surface to bring out two dimensional effects (Art Factory). Figure 12: Bibemus Quarry by Cezanne ` Minor Cubists were artists who used the cubism style but who were infamous in the public circles because they rushed to present their work and hence got mocked by the public. Although they were popularized, they later came to be known as “minor cubists” because theirs was considered superficial cubism lacking of deeper meaning. An example of a minor cubist was Jean Metzinger and this is demonstrated in his work “Woman with Hat” in figure 13 (Museum Quality). The angular effects are not as evident as other works of cubism. Figure 13 Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler offered financial assistance to Picasso and Braque ensuring that they were free of the ridicule and discouragement from the salons. The first stage in the development of cubism was the influence of Cezanne of using the flat surface to create two dimensional effects as depicted in Figure 12 by Cezanne. The second stage was the study of the human view and the realization that it was a resolution of observing images from multiple angles. The third stage was the actual development of the cubist art by Picasso, Braque and Gris. The fourth stage was the influence of African art on cubism, the fifth stage was the introduction of analytical cubism and the sixth stage was the divergence of synthetic cubism from analytical cubism. Works Cited Ackerman, Gerald M. Transcending Vision: R.H. Ives Gammell, 1893-1981. Paris: R.H. Ives Gammell Studios Trust, 2001. Print. Art Factory. "Cubism: The First Style of Abstract Art." 2012. Art Factory. Web. 26 April 2012. Blacksheep, Jen. "Impressionist Artists: Edgar Degas - 5 Interesting Facts." 2012. Hub Pages. Web. 26 April 2012. Claude Monet's Paintings. "Pleasure Boats at Argenteuil." 2011. Claude Monet's Paintings. Web. 26 April 2012. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. "Young Ladies of the Village." 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 26 April 2012. Impressionism Paintings. "Estate Maine, USA." 2006. Impressionism Paintings. Web. 26 April 2012. Impressionist Paintings. "Lena Kurvoska." 2011. Impressionism Paintings. Web. 26 April 2012. Khan Academy. "Becoming Modern." 2012. Smart History. Web. 26 April 2012. —. "Matisse's The Red Studio ." 2012. Smart History. Web. 26 April 2012. Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 2. London: Wadsworth Learning , 2009. Print. Museum Quality. "Art Nouveau." 2012. Hunt for Art. Web. 26 April 2012. —. "Cubism." 2012. Hunt for Art History. Web. 26 April 2012. —. "Symbolism." 2012. Hunt for Art. Web. 26 April 2012. Web Museum. "Camille Pissaro." 16 July 2002. Web Museum. Web. 25 April 2012. West Valley Art. "20th Century Art: Post Impressionism." 2012. West Valley Art. Web. 26 April 2012. Read More