Claude Monet, Jardin de la  Princesse, 1867

-view of the city being prepared for a large event

-while working as a copyist at the Louvre, he secretly paints his own work from the window

-lacks topographical accuracy, but adjusts view to portray his perspective

-greater picture of the modern city, vibrant Paris environment

Gustave Caillebotte, Le Pont de l’Europe, 1876

-alientation of modern experience, lacks vibrant/variation of impressionist street scenes

-bourgoise couple and working class man in background with his back turned away

-large new cast iron bridge/structure in paris, lack of greenery

-notice his perspective/concept of linear space!

Claude Monet, La Grenouillère, 1869

-Monet and Renoir take a holiday, leave Paris for the weekend to a a popular bathing spot (popular concept at the time- men and women together gathering to bathe- the bourgoise SPRING BREAK!)

-the two set up and pain the area simultaneously

-Monet- more landscape effects, light on water

-Renoir-focused on people

Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1873

-highly criticized by critics at the time

-sunrise, harbour not clear/identifiable

-conflict/integration of nature and man

-lacks academic finish

Societe Anonyme- impressionist group, began exhibition

work goes up at impressionist exhibition 1874 (event started after impressionist work rejected from salons over and over; goes on every year until 1882)

commune- rebellion in france after defeated in the franco-prussion war

Napoleon III overthrown, middle/lower classes take control

critics apply impressionist work to intransigents, rebellious and revolting citizens in france

Claude Monet, Boulevard des Capucines, 1873

-impressionism

-masses moving into the cities after renovation of paris,

-urban setting, dynamic/exciting moving quality of city scene,

-entire space rather than specifics, view from afar without specifics/detail

-captures optical world; passing moments; movements

-suggestion of both eternal and ephemeral beauty, rather than purely material world

-artists own subjective experience of what he sees

-obvious brush strokes

-high contrast between light/dark areas

Impressionists:

-transition from realism to every-day, embrace paint effects

-captures a general feeling

-strong focus on overall light rather than specific forms, light effects on leaves and water

-elevated angles

-individual perspective on overall scene

-INTRANSIGENTS-

      --name given to revolutionaries; resistance/rejection of norm

      --people going against concervatives.republicans

      --many associated impressionists with this term who go against     classical styles

      --painters grasp impressionist term , so as not to be associated with controversial/negative connotations

     --didn't necessarily engage/associate with nature of revolutionaries, but rather capture and embrace their own individuality.

elements of both

Auguste Renoir, La Grenouillère, 1869

-Monet and Renoir take a holiday, leave Paris for the weekend to a a popular bathing spot (popular concept at the time- men and women together gathering to bathe- the bourgoise SPRING BREAK!)

-the two set up and pain the area simultaneously

-Monet- more landscape effects, light on wate

-Renoir-focused on people

Auguste Renoir, At the Moulin de la Galette, 1876

-Changing city after hausmann's rennovations in 1860s

-new privileged middle class, engaging in leisure activities

-rise of entertainment- theaters, operas, ballets, circuses, cafes

-Artists go into the cities, begin depicting more urban subjects

-outdoor dance hall, eventually such places develop a racy reputation (can-can derived from french dance halls)

-in this scene, more wholesome/daytime feel, sunday dancing

-renoir includes his favorite model- idea of conviviality, fraternizing with friends

-freshness, spontenaity of brush strokes, feathery, lighthearted nature

Edouard Manet, Bar at the Folie-Bergère, 1881

-famous cafe work

-more upscale dance hall for upper-class (more up scale than those attended by Degas)

-Bar Maid-

psychologically compelling

emotion not clear- remote and disengaged, not typical/expected of a bar maid

-series of dijunctures in the work, ambiguous meaning

-woman in front of a mirror which reveals hat she is looking at- trapeze, audience

-typically bar maids also prostitutes, woman being sold off

-woman in the mirror/reflection is the same figure as the barmaid? unclear meaning

Edgar Degas, L’Etoile, 1878

-As impressionist exhibition develops, more of a division among artists- especially degas and others who didn't feel impressionism was appropriate term/concept for their style, thought it limited to loose brush stroke style

-opera and theater major cultural passtime. Degas takes on as his favorite subjects and attends many events

-ballets between opera acts

-Dancers an object of desire for wealthy upper class

-bellerinas typically from working class families, not middle/upper

-young girls solicited- men with theater subscriptions were allowed access back stage and in dressing rooms

-Degas revolutionary in his portrayal of dancers and this world

Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1877

-woman as the observer rather than person being objectified

-she gazes out, peering forward, depicted in masculine way

-turns male stereotype, new perspective of female's engagement/experience

Mary Cassatt, Five o’clock Tea, 1880

-female impressionists-a separate perspective of modern life

-limited experience of feminine domestic sphere; most of their works of the home, domestic duties, a very different reality

-private social world of women; nuances of domestic sphere and social activity

-expectations to take domestic world seriously

-social networking with other families

-in painting, sense of third party even though not depicted

sense of discomfort, seclusion, stiffness

-conveys the world as structured, something that can be understood- what you see is what is

Berthe Morisot, Reading, 1869-1870

-female impressionist, also engaged with private life of women

-painting of morisot's sister who gave up painting/art for her family, while morisot married a supportive artist (manet's brother) and did not have to

-standard behavior of bourgeois women- cannot roam streets without an escort

-pregnant woman expected to stay inside

-disconnection from scene- engaged in thoughts and contemplation

-sacrifice inherent in feminine domestic situation

Georges Seurat, A Bathing Place, Asnières, 1883-4

POST IMPRESSIONIST- name given after painters were alive, did not adopt the name at the time

-1880s- impresionism no longer a vital movement, division of group, shows end in 1882

-Seurat- neo-impressionism

POINTILISM-tiny dabs of paint, color theory

-new intellectual and systematized form

-eliminates lines, but more solid figures/definition

-continuity of form, very ordered and planned, many studies before he begins painting

-internal and sense of stillness

Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon at La Grande Jatte, 1886

Neo-impressionism

-seurat astounds art world, impressionism suddenly seems romantic and passe

-looking to ground impressionism, give it stillness and form

-seurat's underlying system, carefully planned art contrasts with spontaneous nature of impressionism

-reliant on structure and science rather than instinct/impulse

-very scientific approach to art- studies color, mixes complimentary colors to find optimal value

-juxtaposes complimentary colors with thousands of dabs of paint

-Chromo lumination: colored light; color and optics to convey mood

-Pointilism: pure components of color applied in tiny dots, eye blends them together

Subject matter related to impressionism-social scene, in the park

-Seurat individualizes people, cut outs clean and clear,

-alienation, figures not engaged with one another or their life

-mass production of modern experience

-the work called a criticism of urban life

Seurat a socialist, interested in lower class, depicts range of socio-economic classes in work

Thought he ultimatized democratic art form in his new philosophy/style

Many artists drawn to this new avenue/style of the future

Some offended by seurats idea of universal style/method

Critics thought work too structured, not democratic but dehumanizing

Paul Cézanne, The Bay from L’Estaque, 1886

-Joins Pissarro in the countryside, work side by side on a series of works

-Cezanne not want to view the world only with the eyes, but convey how the world is known to be rather than  how it appears.

-develops monumentalized landscapes, scenes become internalized and separated from movement of everyday life

-sees the world through spheres, shapes, a search for form

-disposes of painterly effects, discards formula of shadows/modeling effects

-bright contrasting colors to convey depth and materiality

-uses bright colors to bring objects forward

-motifs, color ranges

-not truthful/photographic but truth of lasting structure behind fleeting visuals

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Basket of Apples, 1890-94

-begins work on still life, conceptualizes objects, explores their shape, structure, color relationship

-everything in a state of change- apples casually placed, rolling, different spacial views

-swells objects with color, materializes them with sense of touch/density

-actual subject matter not important, but is something to analyze

-idea of LIVED PERSPECTIVE- presents the world as he individually experiences it

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Yellow Armchair, 1893

-consistently focuses on concept of "coming into being" and emerging order

-disjuncture, flatness of chair, cutting dark line

-spacial relationship at odds, things don't match up

-cezanne a person with social anxieties, worked alone a lot, usually could not paint women

-idea of repressed feminine sexuality

Paul Gauguin, Vision After the Sermon, 1888

Symbolism, primitivism

-critical of modernity, seeks to abandon polluting and alienating effects of modernity; interested in primitivism

-escapes the city, moves to an artists colony in Breton

-primitive cultures a new "current"

-ritualized lives of Breton people, women visualize the sermon they just heard, joacob wrestling the angel, represented through color and imagery

-combines the primitive with subjective vision

-draws from dramatism and theatrical experiences, theatrical role playing

-intertwine his intellectual perspectives with his painterly style

-Equally experimental in his formal techniques

--more reductive, flat-plain style; stain-glass window paint technique, flat plains with dark outlines, representative of medieval art

--flat plains-abstracted visionary world

--colors no longer describe the world but represent alternative states

Symbolism- remove onself from the world that is known to an abstract world of feelings, aesthetic experiences, visions, color

tendency of people to obstruct themselves from the world that is known- drugs, heightened spirituality

the interior world of a visionary

Paul Gauguin, Self Portrait with a Halo, 1889

Symbolism, primitivism

-thoughts as abstract passages

-seeks meaningful authentic experiences

-Art should be an abstraction; one's vision of the present rather than reflective

-symbols reflect the perspective of his life rather than a bodily experience

- related to freud's idea of the liminal self, primitive form of consciousness

-impulse to aesthticize the self

Paul Gauguin, Teha’amana with her Ancestors, 1892

-leaves for Tahiti in 1890 to re-engage with primitive

-wanted to find/define himself within this culture, though it was connected to france

-fascination with mythology of tahitians

-he studied/read about it rather than learned from natives- as many of them were disengaged and had been converted to christianity

-misogynistic tone of colonialism in other lands, western influences

-christian missionaries required tahitians to wear modest dresses

-guagain claimed he married tahitian woman

-critics/feminists critical, situate his work as genderized, limited perspective, question his degrading views of their world

Vincent Van Gogh, The Sower, 1889

brighter palatte vivid colors

longing for infinite beyond what is known

spiritual impulse

references realists (millet's the sower 1848), but with a desire for more

heightened colors and spirituality anchors spirituality in the everyday

explosion of sun- pulling toward the supernatural

Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889

in mental institution

view from hospital window- search for meaning beyond his known life

apocolyptic, heavenly sphere, separation of the spiritual world and the rational world

spiritual charge

prior to suicide

André Derain, Three Boats on the Beach at Coullouire, 1905

fauves-wild beasts rar!

under 15 artists

avante garde 1905 salon indepenent

influenced by retrospectives: cezanne

searching for new meaning for COLOR

flatness of canvas, color alone to display depth

color as spatial illusion, hot colors to cool

simplified subjects, landscape is key subject

carves space with color, engages with formal aspects of paint without structure/science

Henri Matisse, Open Window at Collioure, 1905

ambiguous, as to whether the view is inside or outside

view of painting from open window outide or

view of boats from inside out window

fauvist use of color

push and pull of brush strokes to project image to viewer

Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat, 1905

scandalous success

ambiguous/disjointed body form- face is mask like, discontinuity of skin color disconcerning claw hand

a labaratory event?

conventional subject matched with highly experimental forms and color

purchased by gertrude stein and brother- they offer fauve art gateway to success, emergence in artistic circle

Henri Matisse, Joy of Life, 1906

salon des independent.

incorporates color/flatness

art of the past both immediate and classical

spatial incoherence/ primitive quality

engaging and challenging classical

pictoral structure and form at odds with classical subject

flat plains of solid color, reduced lines, ambiguities of space- collapse of space between background and foreground

after 2 retrospectives- Ingres and Manet, this work rectifies the difference between the two (ingres' classical concepts, manet's flat/painterly)

Henri Matisse, The Red Studio, 1911

stays true to Fauvism after 1907

(after Picasso appears and Fauvism dissappates)

stays true to color/act of making art

what should art be about?

painting about reduction

awkwardness in spatial relationships

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

philosophical brothel

25 years old breaks with previous work

"trauma painting"

anxiety over female sexuality/ assaults viewer from jagged world: TIME OF FREUD

fractures unity/baroque theatricality

interested and engaged with El Greco

each figure disconnected from eachother

cant tell which side and from what vantage we see them from

eliminates original allegorical intent of the painting

influenced by african masks

one of the figures wears a mask towards viewer although squatting body is faced away

barbaric world

magical blackness

the sleeping figure shown vertical

the painting a physical confrontation, fully engages viewer

form triumphs subject matter

Breaks three major traditions of western art: 1, idealization; 2, emotional distance; 3, fixed focus perspective

relevant reading:

*Leo Steinberg, “The Philosophical Brothel” October 44 (Spring 1988)

in the reading there were a series of picasso's drawings, steinberg traces the evolution of the painting from allegorical scene to “Tidal wave of female agression”
he also named figures:

Gisante's body language suggests she should be lying down, she levitates and has erotic charge
Dryad
Curtain figure- sexual outsider changes from male to female, go-between, non-participant, gowned, violently angular, sexually aggressive

the squatter- back to spectator but mask faces/ african mask, direct confrontation of viewer

Spectator- collision with art, inside

Pablo Picasso, La Vie, 1903

picasso's blue period

incorporates outcasts beggars prostitutes

this painting:

3 phases of sexulaity

young sexuality

dissillusionment

maternity

haunted by a mood of pessimism and stoic suffering

symbolist influence

Georges Braque, Houses at L’Estaque, 1908 

this painting has little cubes therefore becomes the name cubism

influenced and engaged by picasso helps create cubism

all about perspective

proto-cubist

eliminates every vestige of a horizon line

historic painting that provoked the term cubism

compact assortment of nothing but houses and trees simplified into an elementary family of forms

Pablo Picasso, Three Woman, 1908

ref. Braque

3d figures

color minimalized subtle tonal differences

picasso broke down form into planar components

braque simple geometry

Picasso, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910

open structure of interlocking arcs and angles

plays with portraiture, figure still identifyable and present but broken down

monochromatic

Braque, The Portuguese, spring 1911   

Picasso, Ma Jolie (Woman with a Zither), winter 1911

ANALYTIC CUBISM- breaks up forms into small pieces,appears flat but an investigation of space

objects seen from different views/perspectives

symbols referencing more than one thing/multiple meanings

broken down canvas but clear title

Ma jolie- "my pretty," the name of a popular song in france, and a nickname for his girlfriend at the time

monochrome pallette

Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912

Picasso, Guitar, Sheet Music and Glass, 1912

SYNTHETIC CUBISM

flattened wood grain

wall paper effect

different languages/messages through signs

Krauss criticizes viewer's interpretation of painting

many identify the "jour" as a reference to specific french journals, looking into the specifics of the messages, attempting to personify them

Krass criticizes attaching meaning to work as based on picasso's biography/background, feels it limits understanding and possibilities of meaning

against fixed meanings

Relevant reading- Krauss

SEMIOTICS- shifts focus from the author (artist) and the work to its reception

-work no longer an original piece, biography and back story no longer important

-no monolithic viewer, idea of many viewers/perspectives

1, concerned with signified and signifyer, 2, looks laterally for meaning in current culture, 3, posits a changeable constructed unstable meaning, 4, polysemic-capable of signafying multiple signafiers, 5, concerned with production of meaning (how and what)

Henri Le Fauconnier, Abundance, 1910

Context:

cubism- a formal enterprise, play with issues of formal aspects, scientific system; influence of picasso/braque on other artists

 French Nationalism- pre war era, extreme expansion of industry in Paris

3rd republic weak- threatened by extremists on both sides, polarization (monarchists and anarchists)

national obsession with the dryfus trial- jew found guilty for disclosing info to germans, later found inocent, country divided- liberals support him, suspicion of liberals, plays part in fragile state of france

german/nazi influence

racism- fear of foreigners in france

difficulty finding national unity/culture

1911- cubism revealed to the world, cubism exhibition, though picasso and braque worked alone

cubist phenomenon gets tied up with political issues, politicians critical of cubist artists

Abundance: language- simplifies the cubism style, not as scientific, butengaged with larger political issues in its meaning

work represents folklore and tradition

collective labor- french tradition, woman carrying apples, a small child with her, innocence

incorporates a narrative (unlike picasso/braque)

new form of cubism combined with traditional themes

Robert Delaunay, Sun, Tower, Airplane (Hommage to Blériot), 1913

- symbol of national strength and technological progress

-fascinated with Eiffel Tower- symbol of national pride, incredible engineering feat

-interest in simultamaity- spans of time, 4th dimension, "space time," new space continuum in art

-many symbols- plane flying, eiffel tower, ferris wheel (invention of the modern age), represent flourishing industry and technology

-sun infiltrates painting, plays with color and light

---energy of the universe/nature verses technology

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Stairway, 1912

-painting poorly received, he begins separating himself and sends the painting to an exhibiotion in new york, very successful, becomes a celebrity in the united states

-his work more engaged with italian futurists, progression into dada

-embrace modernis, new beauty of speed and technology

Umberto Boccioni, States of Mind, Those who Go, 1911

excerpt from the Futurist Manifesto

1. imitation is despised

2. good taste should be rebelled against

3. critics: useless or harmful

4. whirling life of steel pride, fervor speed

locomotive train-speed and force of machinery

accoustic sensation of plains- sense of reverberations, movement of the machine

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 1912

-futurism

-speed and force represented through sculpture

-study in human musculature

Amádéé Ozenfant, Guitar and Bottles, 1919

1912- war breaks out, "call to order," xenophobic in nature, cubism attacked- too individualized and indecipherable

Purism- most extreme response to call to order

formal focus on clean geometries

simultaneously embrace technology

emphasis on reason and rationality

manifesto published- pre vs post war culture- self indulgent frivolous society, clean up and reconstruct  in post war era

Hans Arp, Collage with Squares arranged According to the Laws of Chance, 1916-1917

Beginnings of Dada

high quality construction paper ripped up fell at random.

World War One

context/rebellion

diminishing role of artist as creator

draws questions about fundamental truths

what is art? what is beauty? what is creation?

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917

READY MADE: product mass produced then exhibited as art

urinal as fountain, but upside down if used the urine would spray back at user

purpose reversed and abstracted

SAID IN CLASS NEEDS MORE INFO:

ref. Benjamin article

for the most part, we have seen art through reproduction

reproductions free art from religous fervor.

Marcel Duchamp, LHOOQ, 1919

uses french slang to say she has a hot ass

Hannah Hoch, Cut with a Kitchen Knife, 1919

photo montage, created at random

tzara's dada poetry, random words placed into an order to make poetry

similar concept

full name reflects this:

Cut With a Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer Belly

Vladimir Tatlin, Counter Relief, 1915

CONSTRUCTIVISM

born in Moscow

influenced by icon tradition

(religous paintings popular in Russia well after being out of fashion in Europe)

also influenced by modern/futurist incorporates sharp angles

MOST RADICAL SCULPTURE of its time!

fractural study of the handling of materials

(how iron is different from wood, for example)

dynamic relationship between materials

juts forward from walls involving viewer

ABANDONS TRADITIONAL SCULPTURAL MATERIALS

uses wood, iron, glass

industrial materials/juxtaposed materials

real materials real space

involve space!

Vladimir Tatlin, Monument to the Third International, 1920

Real Materials Real Space

after revolution Lenin commisions this project

CLASSLESS ART

real soviet implications

propoganda sculpture

never realized beyond model stages

would have been a giant monument larger than the Eiffel Tower by 1/3

A propoganda center

inside would be four glass forms each a different shape: cube, pyramid, cylinder etc...

different purposes for each: a lecture hall, offices, information center, radio center

each would rotate at different rates

the bottom at once a year the top at once a day

SOARING DYNAMIC ASPIRATIONS OF COMMUNISM

engineers create new forms

too ambitious! not enough materials or practical know-how for its creation. used in parades to inspire.

marks a beginning transition for the constructivists as they moved from pure art to engineering, making designs for rooms, textiles, clothing, theater

Alexander Rodchenko, Oval Hanging, 1920

CONSTRUCTIVIST

new relationship between art and production

artists go into factories to become cultivators of the future

art related to self rather than the object outside

could be flattened.

one material but twisted, engages space hangs from ceiling

explores balance and structures

not specific utilitarian function

Liubov Popova, Textile Design, c. 1924

constructivist move to industrial design, art as utilitarian purpose, real use, textiles colorful meant to be seen in movement. most successful in getting desings out into public realm, meant to create new communist lifestyle of classless productivity and excitement. modern engagement with machine.