August Rodin
Turn of the Century Sculpture

walking man

August Rodin

Turn of the Century Sculpture

picasso
Cubism

guitarist

picasso

Cubism

picasso
Cubism

The Bottle of Suze  

picasso
Cubism

Guernica   

picasso
Cubism

Head of a Woman

picasso
Cubism
Cast in bronze in unique way

glass of Absinthe

Influenced by motion pictures,

used to imply motion

express the value and beauty of “mechanicalness” and speed.

influenced Modern sculpture.

futurism
marcel duchamp
Making things seem mechanical and moving

New ideas of movement

futurism

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space

Modern Architecture
Wrought iron, Parisians hated it, meant to be torn down

Eiffel Tower

Modern Architecture 
Mies van der Rohe 
All glass house, to feel a part of nature

Farnsworth House    

Modern Architecture 
Mies van der Rohe
Simple was better, less was more
Be true to the materials

Seagram Building

a reaction to war

anti-art of nihilism,

meant to be meaningless and useless, advocating anything antisocial and immoral.

influenced later art toward spontaneity, humor, and absurdity.

Dada
Marcel Duchamp
    
Mona Lisa represented traditional art

L.H.O.O.Q.

dada

marcel duchamp

dada
marcel duchamp
The Bride Stripped Bare of Her Bachelors, Even    

The men figures represented uniformed figures in society

Artists only found Dada relevant for about a decade.
Surrealism focused on the workings of the subconscious mind and dreams as the way to access truth.
Various methods were used to access the inner mind.

Some artists such as Dali and Magritte used realistic images in strange combinations.

Automatists painters such as Miro developed non-objective paintings by using a spontaneous approach.
French poet Andre Breton was the leader of Surrealist.
Few women were part of the Surrealist movement but Frida Kahlo.  

Surrealism
Salvador Dali
Symbolism: time is organic and can be destroyed
The Persistence of Memory

surrealism
Joan Miro Automatism
Dutch Interior I

Reminiscent of Bosch
Abstracted

surrealism

Two elements of sophisticated sculpture

Object   a.k.a. Luncheon in Fur 

During and after WWII many European artists moved to the U.S. 

New York replaced Paris as the world center for art.

  The gallery system for selling art developed.  Fostered by Carl Jung’s ideas of the “collective unconscious”, European styles blended with the American focus on independence. 

The idea of the “Avant Garde” defined artists as the front line in regard to new ideas of art and culture. 

 Photography was developing as an art form dealing with realistic representation.

Artists turned to introspective work based on spontaneity, energy, and intuition resulting in what one critic described as “a herd of independent minds struggle for self knowledge.” 

Clemet Greenberg was an influential New York critic who contributed to defining Ab. Ex. 

Some Ab. Ex. Painters were considered “action painters” & some were “color field painters”. 

 Many Ab. Ex. paintings are actually non-objective instead of abstract.

As we have seen in the past, the name was given to the group by a critic.
Mixing of cultures
Federal job creation programs
Eastern culture influences
Clement Greenberg one of largest pieces
“What I am, what am I” idea

Arshile Gorky

Abstract Expressionism

The Liver is the Cock’s Comb

Willem De Kooning 

Abstract Expressionism

Women paintings- similar style in many paintings

Dutch Abstract Action painting

Jackson Pollock

Abstract Expressionism

Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (style)

action painting

Only American of the abstract expressionist

Clement Greenburgh: important critic, adored Pollock

Mark Rothko

Abstract Expressionism

Blue, Orange, Red (style) 

Color field painting

Spiritual experience with paintings

Abstract Expressionism

Abstract Expressionism

Helen Frankenthaler        

Mountains & Sea

Abstract Expressionism

Helen Frankenthaler        

Bay Side

Alexander Calder

kinetic

Mobiles 

non-objective

Alexander Calder

kinetic

non-objective

He invented mobiles

Stabiles

Metamatic  

kinetic

kinetic 

Homage to New York  

The art of Robert Rauschenberg was a rejection of Abstract Expressionism and reflected our cluttered world. 

Using real objects in collage paintings and assemblage sculpture he created “combines” which were both painting & sculpture in the same piece.

Robert Rauschenberg

neo-dada

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg

The focus was ‘60s reflected American’s concern for material things and our “throw away” society. 

 a commentary on the triviality of the contemporary culture using references to comic strips, movies, advertising, and most of all TV. 

Pop artists rejected abstraction and returned to realistic images of everyday objects, glorifying the mundane and at the same time trivializing the values of art and culture.

Typically an American style, Pop art described the American way of life. 

The ‘60s are the beginning of Post-Modernism.

Richard Hamilton 

Jasper Johns 

What is the criterion for art? 

pop art

Jasper Johns

Is the flag or a  painting of the flag? 

pop art

Jasper Johns

Does art have to be something that is not real life  

pop art

Andy Warhol    

pop art

Andy Warhol    

Desensitized to commercialism  

Andy Warhol

Wanted to be apart of the beautiful people 

Claes Oldenburg

What should we be afraid of? War or materialism?

Claes Oldenburg

No meaning

Op art was a brief trend in the ‘60s based on optical illusion. 

art about life

influenced by photography

commercial culture

art is the experience

appropriation: taking something someone has done

It was influenced by earlier theories on perspective, non-objective art, scientific investigation of optical perception, and the culture of the time.

Artists were also influenced by performance art and the idea of art as an experience rather than as an object. 

1960 the end of modern

still trying to engage the viewer

 Op Art

Op Art 

Current

monumental art,

spiritual experience

Art as experience was reactionary to the Minimalist movement of the ‘60s which focused on art as object.

Artists were also motivated in part by the desire of some artists to sidestep the increase of museum and gallery control of art.

Environmental art could not be treated as a commodity.

Usually created on a monumental scale and influenced by the art and architecture of ancient cultures (Egyptian & Pre-Columbian pyramids etc.), these works were built for a specific location.

Often far from civilization, a pilgrimage is necessary to see the work in person.

Richard Serra’s urban site specific sculpture created a controversy over the role of art in public places

Environmental scultpture

connection between nature and technology 

spiritual connection, power of nature

Environmental Sculpture

Robert Smithson

Christo

temporary

environmental sculpture

Christo 

Richard Serra 

 petitioned to remove

Formalism is the theory of “art for art’s sake.” 

This theory is relatively new

originating in New York in the ‘50s and ‘60' through the theories of Clive Bell and Clemet Greenberg. 

Formalists hold that aesthetic value is the only criteria for judging the quality of a work of art. 

Influenced by the historic interest in realistic representation, and aided by advancements in photography, painters in the mid ‘70s turned to extremely realistic paintings.

The focus, texture, clarity of detail, and the additions or deletions of details create an image not possible with a camera.

Following George Segal’s realistic figures molded from a live model, sculptors using new materials were able to produce figures so life like they are hard to distinguish from real human beings.

The decade of the ‘70s was a time for many “neo” styles such as pattern and decoration, narrative, and expressionism.

Super realism 

Duane Hansen

 new technology

a comment on the human condition

 questioning our perceptions

super realism 

John De Andrea 

 questioning perceptions

super realism 

Williamsburg Bridge  (style) 

Super Realism 

Chuck Close 

 Lucas II

Super realism 

Chuck Close

Self portrait

Feminist and civil rights activists were becoming increasingly vocal in the ‘80s. 

As had the Pop artists, women and minority artists were using the techniques of advertising to promote their ideas. 

Brief interest in the art of the street brought fame to several “graff” (graffiti) artists.

Guerrilla Girls   

Jenny Holzer 

Jean-Michael Basquiat 

 influences of primative art

It is difficult to give shape to an era still in progress. 

Nam June Pike

 The ‘90s & CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

Andy Goldsworthy  

no outside or artifical

The ‘90s & CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

Frank Gehry

The ‘90s & CONTEMPORARY TRENDS

The ‘90s & CONTEMPORARY TRENDS  

Frank Gehry  

ment to be a sculpture