Fauvism, Cubism & Futurism
(1900s-1920s)
| Americans and Europeans, at this time, felt that human society would advance through the spread of democracy, capitalism and technological innovation. Representative governments existed in the United States and every major European nation, and Western power grew through colonialism. The competitive nature of both colonialism and capitalism created great instability in Europe, resulting in countries joining together to form alliances, which led to WWI (1914). During this time, Russia also became Communist, which transformed European politics and economics and the United States emerged as an economic leader. Modernism in culture and art connotes a rejection of conventions and a commitment to radical innovation. Artists liked to engage in the process of experimentation and discovery, seeking to explore new possibilities of creativity and expression in a rapidly changing world in order to define art. Each modern “ism” had its own manifesto (unique philosophy). Common trends between these groups were the tendency toward abstraction or nonrepresentational art (more toward discovering line and geometric forms), and the continuous questioning of the idea of art through the adoption of new techniques and materials. Fauvism, c. 1905: Cubism, 1900s-1910s: Futurism, 1910s-1920s: |
Works:
Fauvism:
Henri Matisse, The Woman with the Hat, 1905
Cubism:
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon,
1907
Pablo Picasso, Ma Jolie, 1911-1912
Futurism:
Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity
in Space, 1913
Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917
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Henri Matisse, The Woman with the
Hat, 1905, Oil on Canvas |
| -explosive colors and impulsive brushwork, advance
the colorist tradition of the Impressionists -short strokes of pure color (~divisionist, derived from van Gogh and Seurat) are combined with curvilinear planes of flat color, inspired by Gaugin -color/art generates its own artistic energy -stark juxtapositions of complementary hues -sketchy brushwork, and wildly arbitrary colors create a harsh and dissonant effect – created controversy and deliberate disharmonies -Matisse uses themes of light and beauty |
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Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon,
1907, Oil on Canvas |
| -see influence from sculpture of the Iberian
region (modern Spain and Portugal) – linked with colonization and
the slave trade -identified the figures with stoic dignity of the villagers in the province of his birth – influence seen in the faces of the three leftmost figures (simplified features and wide, almond-shaped eyes) -“Demoiselles” = a euphemism for prostitutes and “Avignon” refers to the red-light district of Barcelona -central issue of sexuality; viewer = a participant (the women look directly at us) -space = fractured and convulsive -Picasso, through the women’s gazes and the hard fruit, seems to convey that women aren’t gentle and passive creatures (contradicts the tradition of erotic imagery since the Renaissance) -response to French classical tradition -the painting originally included males, but Picasso thought they took away from the painting – wanted the viewer to be a part of the art -five prostitutes from a brothel, Picasso abolished perspective, no integrity to the human body, masks, destroyed beauty, = a triumph to the power of the ugly (against the tradition of seeking beauty) |
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Pablo Picasso, Ma Jolie, 1911-1912,
Oil on Canvas |
| -Analytic Cubism, instead of fracturing the subject,
Picasso picked it apart and rearranged its elements – subject can
still be discerned – a woman with a stringed instrument -art does not = a representation of the woman (event, place, etc.), but simply a “pure painting” -according to Picasso one should not ask what the painting represents (one should only enjoy it as is) -tension between order and disorder – aesthetic satisfaction of such a work depends on the way chaos seems to resolve itself (the appearing random assemblage of lines and colors turns out to be a well-organized unit (w. a pyramidal shape) |
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Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of
Continuity in Space, 1913, Bronze |
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-aimless male nude in a powerful stride –
the contours of the muscular body flutter into the surrounding space,
expressing the figure’s great velocity and vitality as it rushes
forward (symbol of the brave new Futurist world) – “sculpture
of the environment” where forms are integrated with the surrounding
space |
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Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917,
Porcelain Plumbing Fixture and Enamel Paint |
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-Duchamp believed that art should appeal to
the intellect rather than the senses |
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