MODERNISM
- Time - 1860's- 1970s
- Artists - Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Pollock etc
- Style - Series of movements that follow on from each other - sometimes building ideas and others times rejecting them
- Aim - Searching for a single truth about reality. picture is flat reather than an illusionary space ( cubism, Minimalism). Revealing the inner truth about the human state (surrealism, Expressionism)
- Serious Playful - Serious intent
- Unified Fragmented - Seeking to create a unified statement. Creatingmeaning out of human life
- Construct Destruct -Constructivist - trying to create something real, new, significant - universally recognised, accepted - and common unifying language.
Analytical Cubism
Picasso, Braque and Gris
Key Features
Still life and portraiture- Landscape no longer s motif. Most work done in the studio as artist more interested in style than subject matter.
Flattened picture plane- Planes are increaingly arranged paralleel to the pictue surface. - eliminating depth, no perspective devices used - illusionistic depth is a lie as the honesty in painting means acknowledging that the canvas is FLAT.
Decorative- Lighting of planes is used for decorative purpose. - light and darks used to differentiate one area from another rather than to describe form or volume.
Clues- Introduction of words, letters, numbers to give clues to meaning of painting. sometimes the facets so small that this is the only way to identfy what the image is (was).
Monochromatic- The Palette is reduced to a minimum. colour variation, or even natural colour, would have destroyed the "form" and pictorial unity of the composition.
Brushwork- Broken brushwork to differentiate between planes and add tactile interest.
By 1912 Picasso and Braque came to realise that they had reached a decade end. the logical developments of Analytic Cubism had resulted in the inability of the viewer to restructure. the motif and not in the greater realism they were seeking, they then began to explore different techniques, in particular papier colle and collage. which led to the emergance of a new form of Cubism.
Still life and portraiture- Landscape no longer s motif. Most work done in the studio as artist more interested in style than subject matter.
Flattened picture plane- Planes are increaingly arranged paralleel to the pictue surface. - eliminating depth, no perspective devices used - illusionistic depth is a lie as the honesty in painting means acknowledging that the canvas is FLAT.
Decorative- Lighting of planes is used for decorative purpose. - light and darks used to differentiate one area from another rather than to describe form or volume.
Clues- Introduction of words, letters, numbers to give clues to meaning of painting. sometimes the facets so small that this is the only way to identfy what the image is (was).
Monochromatic- The Palette is reduced to a minimum. colour variation, or even natural colour, would have destroyed the "form" and pictorial unity of the composition.
Brushwork- Broken brushwork to differentiate between planes and add tactile interest.
By 1912 Picasso and Braque came to realise that they had reached a decade end. the logical developments of Analytic Cubism had resulted in the inability of the viewer to restructure. the motif and not in the greater realism they were seeking, they then began to explore different techniques, in particular papier colle and collage. which led to the emergance of a new form of Cubism.
Synthetic Cubism
Picasso, Braque
By 1912 Picasso and Braque had realised that the techniques of Analytic Cubism that they had developed since 1907 were leading them to abstraction and not a greater expression of reality as they had intended. They, along with Gris, then began to explore a new range of ideas and techniques which led to the emergance of a new form of Cubism; SYNTHETIC CUBISM.
Key Features
Letters- First used in the Analytic Cubist works which represents the transitional phase towards synthetic Cubism e.g Braque ' The Portuguese' these letters had a number of functions.
1. Another means of communication,being by their nature specialised visual symbols
2. They emphasise the difference between the painting and reality - words are a symbol of the object just as the picture is
3. They empasise the picture surface - words are two dimensional, just as the painting is
4. They are more ' real' than painting, because they are an integral part of everyday life, and therefore qualify as a subject for 'Art'.
5. They maybe used as a purely decorative element in the work
6. They may be used for compositional purposes to reinforce the basic geometry of the work.
collage-Incorporation of ready made objects- tickets, illustrations from magazines, newspapers etc. printed wallpapers - into the composition of the painting. Papier colle ( pasted paper) collage,.
- Allowed artists to question the nature of Art, by using materials not normally associated with "fine art".
Collage shapes are not just used to represent the contours of an object but are also used as abstract compositional elements in relation to each other.
Collage elements can be used in a non-representational (decorative) manner and convey information.
Space - There is a complete denial of illusionary space - papier colle is inherently flat.
- Overlapping collages and shadowing of edges create spatial relationships but these are PICTORIAL not DESCRIP
Key Features
Letters- First used in the Analytic Cubist works which represents the transitional phase towards synthetic Cubism e.g Braque ' The Portuguese' these letters had a number of functions.
1. Another means of communication,being by their nature specialised visual symbols
2. They emphasise the difference between the painting and reality - words are a symbol of the object just as the picture is
3. They empasise the picture surface - words are two dimensional, just as the painting is
4. They are more ' real' than painting, because they are an integral part of everyday life, and therefore qualify as a subject for 'Art'.
5. They maybe used as a purely decorative element in the work
6. They may be used for compositional purposes to reinforce the basic geometry of the work.
collage-Incorporation of ready made objects- tickets, illustrations from magazines, newspapers etc. printed wallpapers - into the composition of the painting. Papier colle ( pasted paper) collage,.
- Allowed artists to question the nature of Art, by using materials not normally associated with "fine art".
Collage shapes are not just used to represent the contours of an object but are also used as abstract compositional elements in relation to each other.
Collage elements can be used in a non-representational (decorative) manner and convey information.
Space - There is a complete denial of illusionary space - papier colle is inherently flat.
- Overlapping collages and shadowing of edges create spatial relationships but these are PICTORIAL not DESCRIP