Cecelia Turkewitz
Essay #1
Cubisms represent an artistic expression of the rapidly multiplying perspectives that were
brought to the fore in the early 20th century. Modernism started in France in bourgeois circles, as a collection of advocates for a formal progressive art that focused on artistic means and did not seek to reference outsiders notions of art. This new modern reality was shaped from new technological inventions and philosophical speculation such as the theory of relativity and the new wave of mathematics; it was in turn fashioned by increased cultural interactions between the East and West, the primitive as well as the industrialized. Cubism represents a world of shifting perspectives, and constant fluctuation dependant upon the spectators point of view.
In 1910, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, artists of different upbrings and temperaments, invented a movement in the history of art known as Cubism. Cubism was a major transformation in Western Art that directly violated principles practiced since the Renaissance, such as the structure of planes and spatial positions. Cubism, like many movements of modern art, created artistic ambiguity. When looking at a Cubist painting one must come to an understanding that no single interpretation can be complete in itself. This is why so many spectators and artists found cubism so intriguing The new movement of Cubism began with an explosion; Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, 1907, mirrors the past while declaring the future. Picasso drew from historical precedence referring to classical nudes, like Manet’s Olympia and the appropriation of non-western art forms seen African masks similar to Gauguin, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, 1897. In Les Demoiselle, utilized explicit references to present a primitive savagery that dominates the painting. The violence of anarchist 1907 Spain can be felt in the emotional upset of this painting. The three twisting naked women on the left of the painting are a crude representation of first Venuses, while the squatting sharp figures serve to remind the spectator of the pagan art of Iberia – the right two figures complete this painting with their likeness to the masks of early African art. The new freedoms Picasso has adapted can be seen in his exploration of line, plane mass, and void in Les Demoiselle. The twisted, jagged nudes as well as his use of searing blues, reds and lavenders that lend to a sort of Expressionist pallet help to make this painting a starting piece for more radical liberties to come.
Similar to Pablo Picasso’s, Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, Paul Gauguin post-impressionist painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?1897, mirrors past principles of art in formal means, Gauguin draws specifically from past stylistic ways, the composition of the painting incorporates the gold ground of fresco and icon. The bright yellow in the upper corners contribute to the resemblance of Renaissance style art. The painting poses many questions at the root of human existence, which are made explicit in its title. The painting is a deliberate mixture of universal symbols and personal, philosophical inquiry. This inward turn of post-impressionism stands in stark contrast to the cubist assertion of the equal validity of multiple perspectives. The cubist embrace of fractured and multiple realities as the essence of modern life is a profound rejection of the Post-impressionist retreat to symbolic content, formal order, and structure.
Essay #2
Pablo Picasso’s, “Guernica,” is one of, if not the 20th century’s strongest statement against war. One could interpret Guernica as a work of modernist art from the perspective of the contemporary political struggles; specifically, the war in Spain and the threat of fascism present during that particular time period. In 1936, a civil war began in Spain between the democratic Republican government and fascist forces, led by General Francisco Franco, attempting to overthrow them. Picasso’s painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when Hitler’s powerful German air force, acting in support of Franco, bombed the village of Guernica in northern Spain, a city of no strategic military value. The Spanish town of Guernica was to serve as a reminder of the victims who lost their life to the terrible fascist regime.
While Picasso’s Guernica surely saw a lot of criticism from both the left and the right political parties, the amount of left and liberal bourgeoisie acclaim it received was shocking. The painting provided solid evidence that abstract art had the potential to enact real impact through political statements. Picasso’s work fit in the parameters of aesthetic avant-gardist expectations of the bourgeois cultural elite’s for formal means. Therefore, Picasso’s Guernica helped to strengthen the politicisation of the bourgeois cultural elite.. As a result of many artists, scholars and political officials publitization a broader awareness of the struggle in Spain reached outside the artistic sphere and into the country’s cultural climate. The anti-fascist struggles between Germany and Spain in the 1930’s were documented by two major artistic styles. The German’s practiced art that's sole purpose was to actively promote political struggle. This agitpop viewpoint was favored by popular culture over artistic political statements for it was the only art considered legitimate. France and Spain departed from the overly politicized art in favor of diversity of classes and cultures. It was not in any way anti-political art rather, both countries promoted individuals need to depart from realistic images of the destruction of Guernica that can be viewed in the photos seen in newspapers. Picasso joined the communist party in 1944; however, this did not stop him from favoring unambiguous symbols instead of a clearly political statement. Picasso was quite forcible and clear on where he wanted Guernica to be shown. For instance, the painting was made at the disposal of the fight for the Spanish republic; however, when the Museum of Modern Art wanted to show the painting in an anniversary exhibition in 1939, Picasso refused. It was clear Picasso did not want the political objectives in the picture neutralized by having the painting exhibited for another purpose.
Vladimir Tatlin was at the center of the of the Russian Constructivist movement looking for inspiration from Cubism reliefs and Russian Futurism. He was apart of a new movement of art characterized by a meld of sculpture and architecture. One of the most important discoveries of Tatlin’s icon painting career was through Pablo Picasso’s Cubist colleges which introduced Tatlin to unusual materials to incorporate into paintings. The desire to abolish traditional representational functions of art in favor of more practical uses, especially to aid the Russian Revolution, can be seen in much of Tatlin’s mature work. He is remembered most famously for his Monument to the Third International (1919-20). This sculpture was built for the Communist International headquarters and crystallized Tatlin’s desire to synthesize technology and art. Tatlin’s desire was to incorporate lessons from the art studio to services of the real world. Tatlin designed the Monument to the Third International with the hope of creating joy amongst the Russian people and inspiring them to rebuild their society after the destruction of the Russian revolution and war. The towering monument would serve as a symbol of the utopian future for a broken Russia. Russian constructivism was centered around the belief that art should be incorporated into everyday human existence in a beneficial way.
Essay #3
Abstract Expressionism is a Post-World War Two art movement developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. The movement is categorized in 5 steps of cohesion. First, an institutional base was key; the group most famously associated with Abstract Expressionism was the Art Students League in New York City. The next step in the cohesiveness of the movement was a gallery in which to display works of art. Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery opened in New York in 1942. Next, teachers of the principles of this new movement were necessary to explore it further. Hans Hofmann, a German born artist who escaped during the second world war, filled this role.. Then, the movement needed critics to add legitimacy to the artwork. The most famous critics of the era were Harold Rosenberg who specialized in existentialism and Clement Greenberg who concentrated on formalism. Finally, the last step in a cohesive movement is creating a common enemy. For abstract expressionists, this common enemy was the public. This movement of art is characterized as an art that shows expressions of the self, profound emotion and universal themes. Abstract Expressionism is shaped by the legacy of Surrealism, a movement that encompassed the post-war mood of anxiety and hurt. Most of the artists associated with Abstract Expressionism matured in the 1930s. They were influenced by the era's leftist politics, and came to value an art grounded in personal experience. Having matured as artists at a time when America suffered economically and felt culturally isolated and provincial, and having witnessed the atrocities involved in the second war, the Abstract Expressionists were welcomed as the first authentically American avant-garde. Their art was championed for being emphatically American in spirit – monumental in scale, romantic in mood, and expressive of a rugged individual freedom. Barnett Newman’s Onement 1, is a declaration of individuality. The artist sought to paint as if painting had never been done before. His work is very existentialist, in the idea of individuality but also personal freedom.
Commodity culture boomed in 1950s and 60s America. Persuasive imagery through television and radio created a consumer-based status quo. In this era the lack of idiosyncrasy led to everyday items and architecture becoming flat and preprocessed. The rise of the suburbs led to an isolation between the city — a place where you could conceivably have access to anything you would ever need, and the suburbs — bedroom communities of boredom. Also at this time of cold war with the Soviet Union, the constant threat of being blown out of existence was very real. For Rauschenberg, de Kooning epitomized painterliness, abstraction, and personal expression. Erased de Kooning Drawing was not a way for Rauschenberg to sever ties with the preceding generation, but a way to come to terms with its successes. In doing so, Rauschenberg was coming to terms with the influence of Abstract Expressionism, generally, and de Kooning, specifically, as well as with the idea of having been influenced, with both its positive and negative implications. Rauschenberg’s work is on par with Pollock in being a major artist in abstract art. He makes his works, exemplified by Erased De Kooning Drawing, by questioning the concept of authorship, and inviting spectators to question it as well. Rauschenberg avoids the easy answer. His celebration of the de Kooning invites viewers to contemplate his work on an intellectual level.