|
|
 |
Essay on Timeline Of Art
| Date: |
04-23-99 1:40am |
| Subject: |
Arts |
| Word Count: |
1712 |
| Page Count: |
6.85 |
Timeline of Art
The Thread:
The thread which joins all the isms in the twentieth century
are its slow evolution from one period to another. As artists
from one concepts were exploring a certain idea that led to
another either just for the sake of the curiosity or by sheer
boredom. Therefore my paper deals with the evolution of
different isms in this century.
Fauvism:
From 1904-7, for a very brief period, a few Paris painters
evolved a style of painting that earned the name Les Fauves (wild
beasts). Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Maurice Vlaminck were
the major contributors to this style of painting which gained
popularity due to its apparent freedom of expression with the use
of pure colors and exaggeration of drawing. Among all of the
twentieth century art movements, this was the most transient and
least definable. The three major painters' work was highly
individual and shared only for brief periods. The momentary
excitement that held these painters aloft and allowed them the
maximum of freedom, deserted them as their work developed and
matured. The hangover from this movement led to new means of
expression. It was never a movement with aims that could be
realized such as successive movements as Cubism was, but was a
erratic process of experiments with possibilities suggested by
the post-impressionist painters.
Cubism:
Cubism, which began very shortly after Fauvism, is
exemplified by Pablo Picasso. In this movement the flattened
space including background and foreground are related in a new
and more abrupt manner. The first effect is of a camera in
motion, a kaleidoscopic impression of the solid portions of the
figure. This certain feature can be contrasted to the
impressionist movements' works. Added to this kaleidoscopic
quality is another new element. Picasso and his Cubist
colleagues disintegrated the form into a series of simultaneously
viewed but different aspects of the same subject. A cubist
painter, to achieve a greater understanding, walked about the
subject, observing it from significant various angles and
recording them as his impressions of form. But this procedure
led to actual destruction of form and its reduction to a series
of decorative elements. Negro art and sculpture had a profound
effect and it was quite extensively used by Picasso. Negro
sculpture approved his subject in a more conceptual way than a
naturalistic depiction, mostly by a western view. This resulted
in forms that were more abstract and stylized and in a sense more
symbolic. Picasso held the view that it was art that held the
key to the young twentieth century painters to liberate
themselves and was more representational and anti-naturalistic.
The rational, geometric breakdown of the human head and body
provided Picasso re-appraisal of his subjects. This style gave
birth to the next phase of development, known as synthetic
Cubism. Georges Barque was major contributor to this style, in
which he joined bits of real wallpaper, playing cards, tobacco
package labels and other materials. These were selected not to
form impact but for decorative and compositional-making. In this
form, the Cubists were more concerned with textural and
decorative values. Cubism was an art of experiment which
stripped bare the mechanics of pictorial creation and destroyed
the artificial barriers between abstraction and representation.
It still remains the pivotal movement in the art of the first
half of this century.
Abstract Expressionism:
Since the World War II the paintings' movement had gathered
considerable momentum. The political realities of the time- from
1943 to early 1950s- the War, the Holocaust in Europe, the
apparent threat of the world destruction by atomic bomb, the
conservative reaction of McCarthyism in United States and even
intensified hurly burly of city life-resulted in a movement
called Abstract Expressionism. Abstract Expressionism combined
two tendencies already evident in the twentieth century; the
drive to create totally abstract works and express emotion
through the use of brilliant colors. The leading figure of this
new painting style was Jackson Pollock, who produced his large
works by dribbling strands of paint on the canvas, involving his
whole body in the activity and creating sensations of sparkling
energy and movement. The term "Action Painting" was coined to
describe how Pollock worked. Pollock felt, he could become
emotionally involved with his work and through it communicate his
emotions to the viewer. A more violent and intense form of
Action Painting was devised by Willem de Kooning from whose
seeming destruction of form gradually emerged a bodily image.
During the fifties, older and younger artists alike were
affected by the trend towards discarding all standards of form.
Mark Rothko developed a uniquely personal, reserved, almost
mystical mode of painting in which colors interacted as they
appeared to shift in space. In this geometrical abstraction, a
clarity of design appeared, together with the use of flickering
effects of color. The example of Abstract Expressionism was
followed within a short time by artists all over the world. In
Great Britain, abstract art took on fresh importance when new
relationships of form and color were highlighted in two and three
dimensions. A number of painters in Belgium, Holland and Denmark
added the aggressive aspects of Abstract Expressionism to their
own versions of Northern-European Expressionism. Again, in
Germany and Italy there also emerged followers of the new fashion
who strove to express their own feelings through unobstructed out-
pouring in paint. This led to matter painting in which very
thick layers of paint, mixed with plaster and manipulated on the
surface of the canvas. At the height of popularity of Abstract
Expressionism worldwide, the fashion was swept aside and interest
turned in the appearance of Pop-Art.
Pop-Art:
By early 1960s a newer style called Pop Art began to thrust
into fore-front. Pop Art depicted every day objects and images
in techniques borrowed from advertising and the comics. The
first Pop Art work was made in Britain. In America it grew by
slow stages out of the prevailing abstract expressionist style.
Its reception was not too warming. According to the critics, "
Pop art depicts the consumer environment and its mentality:
ugliness becomes beauty." Another said, " Subject is raised to
the status of content by the artist's attitude to it." as it
emerged from the experiment of the fifties, Pop art was the ideal
instrument for coming to grips with the American urban
environment. Although the imagery referred to popular culture,
the works of the pop painters were as much art made out of art
as the self-conscious purely formal arrangement. Pop art was the
product of industrial revolution which succeeded it. It brought
together fashion, democracy, and the machine. Andy Warhol, a
leading Pop artist, as a commercial illustrator used, whimsical
methods in "Ethel Scull 36 Times", grotesquely made up Marilyn
Monroe and tearful Jackie Kennedy. As the fashionable fever over
Pop art died down, the other styles pressed forward.
Op Art:
The painters showed renewed interest in investigating the
technical possibilities of abstract painting and extending its
ability to create optical sensations with or without emotional
content, called "Op Art". This led to optical illusion and other
visual effects achieved by manipulating abstract form and color
areas. Op art was first referred in Life. By 1965, Op art was a
household phrase referring to black and white boldly patterned
fabrics, window displays, and generally used objects. Op art's
crucial aspect involved a technique rather than an ideology. It
was impossible to make exact distinction where the movement began
and ended. Sometimes. Kinetic and op art were grouped together
to achieve a unique illusion. The number of artists working in
op art were very limited. Most famous explored such effects like
the wavy shimmering forms on watered silks. Op paintings do not
necessarily lend to intellectual exploration. There main reason
is to provoke an intense sensual and often sensational impact.
Minimalism:
Minimalism can be best described as the art which no longer
cared about to serve state and religion. It wanted to exist for
itself and for itself only. Minimalism celebrated rationalism
and a mathematical way of thinking, where an object would point
toward an immediate legible geometry. Minimalism defined a
mutual sense of psychologically indifferent decoration. The
minimalists shared the view that a work of art should be
completely conceived by the mind before its execution. They
wanted to get away from the idea of self-expression. The
Minimalists introduced the idea with a commitment to clarity,
conceptual region and simplicity. Despite some earlier
opposition, Minimalism became a decisive force in painting, music
and dance.
Conceptual art:
In late sixties to early seventies an extended free-for-all
art began which lasted for more than a decade. This extremely
diverse range of activities were labeled as Conceptual ,Idea or
Information Art. This movement placed an emphasis on ideas:
ideas about everything around us, an unruly range of information,
subjects and concerns. These diverse ideas were conveyed by
written proposals, photographs, documents, charts, film and
video, maps, artists' use of own bodies and language. This
resulted in art form which demanded a new kind of attention and
mental participation from the viewer.
Post modern Art:
Post modern art started in late seventies and then was
applied to everything that followed it. The post modernist is
best exemplified by some of the artist's works around 1980 that
recycled conflicting images and systems of representation.
Identities rooted in gender and sexuality became central forces
in the development of post modernism. The emergence of gay and
feminist movements in 1970s challenged conventional assumptions
about sexuality and gender. Explicitly feminist and gay
perspectives began to affect the arts. By frankly engaging in
social issues, post modernists deal with ideology, the mass media
and the dynamics of authority. ACT UP and WHAM, the two
organizations were actively involved in bringing out social
education in the AIDS crisis. The arts world presence in a number
of controversial issues brought forward the wrath of
conservatives in the Congress. Along with by highlighting some
abuses in the arts world Congress tried to cut major funds to a
number of individual artists and museums. Art has been a major
part of our development. One can accumulate a number of high-tech
weapons to gain superiority but it is gain in the art world which
brings harmony and peace in this diverse world. Even before the
Cold War ended, the involved countries were familiar with each
other only by heir respective artistic talents. There was always
artistic exchanges among the countries with an understanding to
know each other differences and similarities. Art world's
subsidization should be a major part of our budget. America is
known more in the foreign world for its various artistic talents
as in films and video as for its better-equipped army.
Complete List:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
|