Harlem Renaissance

1920s - 1940s

From 1920 until about 1930 an unprecedented outburst of creative activity among African-Americans occurred in all fields of art.

 

Important Artists (selected list):

• Johnson, William H.
• Lawrence, Jacob

Image:  Jacob Lawrence, The Library  

 

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

 

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Bauhaus

1920s - 1940s

Established in 1919, Bauhaus was a very influential German school of design headed by architect Walter Gropius. Breaking with the past, the Bauhaus Masters (which included Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Josef Albers) and their students applied some of the concepts of Cubism to architecture and art. The original school was shut down by the Nazis in 1933 but later reopened in Chicago where it exists today as the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute of Design.

Important Artists (selected list):

• Albers, Josef
• Gropius, Walter
• Kandinsky, Wassily
• Klee, Paul

Image: Walter Gropius's Expressionist Monument to the March Dead

By: Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Series of security blunders allowed thief to carry out art raid in 15 minutes

Yesterday it was disclosed that the multi-million pound alarm system at the Museum of Modern Art had been broken for three months. Read the rest of the story: Series of security blunders allowed thief to carry out art raid in 15 minutes

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BBC News - What France's stolen masterpieces tell us

Five well-known masterpieces, by Picasso, Matisse and other great artists, have been stolen from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.

Read the full report: BBC News - What France's stolen masterpieces tell us

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Dada

1916 - 1922

Dada is a French word that when translated means hobby horse. A nonsensical name for a nonsensical art movement --- that's the way the artists (or non-artists) wanted it. With Dadaism, usual, everyday objects were altered ever so slightly and called "art". Prime example being Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" which was actually a urinal that he signed "R. Mutt". The idea here was that art really meant nothing and had no purpose whatsoever. The artists involved were essentially ridiculing those who came before them. Rebels you might say.
 
Important Artists (selected list):

• Arp, Jean
• Ernst, Max
• Duchamp, Marcel
• Ray, Man

Image: Marcel Duchamp, Fountain

By: Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Cubism

1905 -1939

Cubism began with artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, after the creation of Picasso's 1906-1907 painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (Young Ladies of Avignon). The term cubism derived its name from comments made by painter Henri Matisse and critic Louis Vauxcelles, who described Braque's 1908 work "Houses at L'Estaque" as looking rather like a bunch of cubes.


Cubism can be defined as either analytical or synthetic.

Analytical cubism occurred between 1908 and 1912, when Braque and Picasso were becoming terribly aware of the space found around and inside an object. In an analytical cubist painting, the object was "taken apart" and reshaped with the use of flat intersecting planes.

The Synthetic Cubism stage occurred from 1912 to 1913. A Synthetic Cubist work had bits of real objects worked into the picture. Items like newspaper clippings, rope and other "found objects" were attached to the canvas. This was the beginning of a "flimsy sculpture" known as Collage. Movements such as Futurism, Constructivism and DeStijl were all outgrowths of Cubist theory and practice.

Important Works:

• Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pablo Picasso
• Houses at L'Estaque, Georges Braque

 Important Artists (selected list):

• Braque, Georges
• Picasso, Pablo
• Mondrian, Piet (Neo-Plasticism: 1917-1944)
• Juan Gris
• Fernand Leger

Image: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

By: Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Fauvism

1903 - 1907

Always a favorite, Fauvism lasted from about 1898 to just around 1908, give or take a few months either way.


This movement was all about color, color and more color. The fauves (or, the "wild beasts" as their friends and enemies referred to them) didn't care much for the softness of impressionism. They did however enjoy the vibrancy and passion of post-impressionism and they particularly liked the animalistic and at times violent qualities of expressionism.

Do you like Henri Matisse's work? Yes? Well, then, you are a fan of fauvism.
 
Important Artists (selected list):

• Matisse, Henri
• Derain, Andre

Image:
Henri Matisse
Goldfish
 
By Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Expressionism

1890s - 1920s

Expressionism was all about the depiction of emotions and the types of responses those same emotions evoked. The traditional goal of representing nature as accurately as possible was thrown out the window and instead vibrant colors, wild abstract shapes and emotional subject matter took over. Expressionism had its roots in African cultures and included many sub-styles within it including Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider) and Die Brucke (the bridge).

Important Artists (selected list):

• Bacon, Francis
• Beckmann, Max
• Kandinsky, Wassily
• Klimt, Gustav
• Munch, Edvard
• Schiele, Egon

Image:
Wassily Kandinsky

Composition IV, 1911

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Post-Impressionism

1880 - 1920s

The term Post-Impressionism was coined by art critic Roger Fry. During this period in art, the work of the artists revealed a freely expressive use of color and form. Post-Impressionists were still interested in color but where the earlier Impressionists were concerned with light falling on objects and the colors produced by this light, the Post-Impressionists were looking to find new ways of expressing color. If this meant that paintings appeared flatter and less three-dimensional than in the past, well then so be it.

Important Artists (selected list):

• Cézanne, Paul
• Gauguin, Paul
• Rousseau, Henri
• Seurat, Georges
• Van Gogh, Vincent

Image:
Georges Seurat

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Art Institute of Chicago

By: Andrea Mulder-Slater

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Impressionism

1870s - 1890s

Impressionism (the word) came from a painting by a fellow named Claude Monet. The painting was titled, "Impression Sunrise" and it depicted (among other things) sunlight dancing and shimmering on water. The movement lasted from around 1870 to 1910 and included artists such as Monet, Degas and Pissarro. Light, surface, color and capturing fast fleeting moments... that's what Impressionism was all about. Hard to believe that in the late 1800's, many folks hated the stuff, given all the impressionists art calendars we see today...
 
Important Artists (selected list):

• Bazille, Frederic
• Boudin, Eugene
• Caillebotte, Gustave
• Cassatt, Mary
• Cézanne, Paul
• Degas, Edgar
• Manet Edouard
• Monet Claude
• Morisot Berthe
• Pissarro Camille
• Renoir Pierre-Auguste
• Sisley Alfred

Recommended Books:
Critical Readings in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: An Anthology (Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Books)
Impressionism: 50 Paintings You Should Know
The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago

Image:
Claude Monet
Impression: Sunrise

By Andrea Mulder-Slater

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