Street-Dresden

Kirchner

1908

-Kirchner influenced by Fauves and Munch as evidenced by his use of perspectival distortions, disquieting figures, and color choice

-piece provides glimpse into urban activity of busy German city before WWI

Improvisation #28

Kandinsky

1912

-influenced by the scientific theories of Einstein and Rutherford that convinced Kandinsky that material objects had no real substance

Demoiselles d'Avignon

Picasso

1907

-influenced by African and ancient Iberian sculpture and later works of Cézanne

-tension between representation and abstraction=key, Picasso represented 3D space with 2D figures lying flat on the surface of a stretched canvas

The Portuguese 

Braque 

1911

-analytic cubism piece, cubists rejected the pictorial illusionism that had dominated western art 

-Braque concentrated on dissecting form and placing it in dynamic interaction with space

-cubists used a more subdued color palette

Fountain 

Duchamp 

1917

-"readymade" sculptures were mass-produced objects that the Dada artist modified

-Duchamp placed the status of art on a urinal and forced viewers to see the object in a new light

Night

Beckmann

1918-1919

-artist's treatment of forms and space in Night matched his view of brutality in the 20th century

-objects seem dislocated and contorted, and the space appears buckled and illogical

Persistence of Memory

Dali

1931

-Dali aimed to paint "images of concrete irrationality"

-in the realistic landscape he depicted three watches decaying as an allegory of empty space where time has ended

Suprematist Composition(:Airplane Flying)

Malevich

1915

-Malevich developed an abstract style he called Suprematism to convey that supreme reality in the world is a pure feeling 

-he placed brightly colored shapes to float against a white space; believed people would easily understand his work b/c of the universality of its symbols

Painting

Bacon

1946

-painted in the aftermath of WWII, intentionally revolting image of a powerful figure presiding over a slaughter is Bacon's indictment of humanity and a reflection of war's butchery

-Bacon referred to his art as "the brutality of fact" and strived to portray that vibe

-man with umbrella is meant to be Neville Chamberlain: wartime British prime minister

Number 1 

Pollock

1950

-Pollock's painting style emphasizes the creative process; his mural size canvases consist of rhythmic drips, splatters, and dribbles of paint that envelop viewers

Untitled

Judd

1969

-Judd's minimalist sculpture incorporates boxes fashioned from undisguised industrial materials

-artist chose to use Plexiglas b/c its translucency gives the viewer access to work's interior

Canyon

Rauschenberg

1959

-artist combines intersperse painted passages with sculptural elements

-Canyon incorporates pigment on canvas with pieces of printed paper, photographs, a pillow, and a stuffed eagle

-resembles a Dada collage

Marilyn Diptych

Warhol 

1962

-Warhol's repetition of Monroe's face reinforced her status as a consumer product, her glamorous visage confronting the viewer endlessly, as it did the American public in the aftermath of her death

-chose to portray Marilyn Monroe, not Norma Jean Baker, even using a publicity photo and then proceeding to flatly apply garish colors to reinforce her status as a consumer product not a person

Dinner Party

Chicago

1979

Spiral Jetty

Smithson

1970

-Smithson used industrial equipment to create environmental artworks by manipulating earth and rock; Spiral Jetty is a mammoth coil of black basalt limestone and earth extending into the Great Salt Lake

-he viewed it as symbolic of humankind's inability to win against nature

One and Three Chairs

Kosuth

1965

-conceptual art=the concept behind artwork is the defining component as in this piece

-Kosuth juxtaposed a chair, a photograph of a chair, and a dictionary definition of the word "chair" 

-he challenges the viewer to ponder the notion of "chairness"