Art Movements ofthe Post WWI Years1919-1939Raphaella W. DEFHGHS Chappaqua, NY

Essential Question:How were the emotions and actions of the aftermath of WWI expressed in the following art movements?

modernism1916 - 1940

The expression of the Artists right to freedom of choice in subject and style. Departure from literal representation no longer needed with birth of photography. Art for Arts sake Reject tradition and society.

Principles of Modernism

Modernism by the Critics For the younger artists of France have completely thrown overboard the ideals of perfection and form, of grace and measure and tranquility, which we are accustomed to think as their most valuable possession. their (Dadaists) manifestos and tracts with which it is proposed to purge French art of its slavish subservience to rules.from The Aesthetic Upheaval in France by Edmund Wilson Jr., Vanity Fair February 1922

Modernism by the Artists Seven years ago, I tried to make a painting that would live by its own resourcesAt the present time I am doing research in art. My conclusions? I cannot explain my present researches until I myself have evolved out of them, that is to say, until I have gone further in my artistic evolution.Francis Picabia, quoted from Francis Picabia and his Puzzling Art (an extremely modernized academician), from Vanity Fair November 1915

Art movements as part of ModernismDadaism (1916 1924)Bauhaus (1919 1933)Art Deco (1920 1935)Surrealism [early] (1920 - 1935)

dadaism1916 - 1924

Tristan Tzara founder of Dadaism Freedom : Dada Dada Dada, a roaring of tense colors, and interlacing of opposites and all contradictions, grotesques, inconsistencies: LIFEDada Manifesto [1919]

Began in neutral Switzerland in WWI Also big in Paris. Reached its peak between 1916 1924 Anti Art A movement against rigidity of society and art, and the barbarity of war the public didnt deserve art after the war.Dadaism

Tristan TzaraBorn in Romania in 1896. Lived most of his life in Paris. Wrote the first Dada text, La Premiere Aventure celeste de Monsieur Antipyrine in 1916. Penned the movements manifestos, Sept manifestes Dada, in 1924. Became an active member of the French Communist Party in later life.

Characteristics of Dada ArtNonsensical drawingsPastel and faded colorsUsed collages and layers to confuse the unworthy beholder.The beginnings of surrealism many Dada artists went on to become members of the Surrealist movement.Subjects sometimes mundane, called art as irony. (e.g. bicycle wheel, flyer.)

Important Artists of the Dada MovementTristan Tzara (1896 1953)Francis Picabia (1879 1953)Kurt Schwitters (1887 1948)Max Ernst (1891 1976)Marcel Duchamp (1887 1958)

Francis PicabiaMachine Turn Quickly1916-1918

Francis PicabiaFeathers1921

Francis PicabiaChapeau de Paille1921

Kurt SchwittersThe Cherry Picture1921

Kurt SchwittersMerz 448 (Moscow)1922

Kurt SchwittersKleine Dada Soiree1922

Marcel DuchampMonte Carlo Bond1924

Marcel DuchampYou Me (Tu-M)1918

Publications of the Dada movementMany publications within Dada MovementWas not only an art movement, but included poetry and theatre.First publication - Cabaret Voltaire Followed by Dada in July 1917 - an art and literature review organized by Tristan Tzara.Other publications included Le courre a Barbe, Der Dada, De Stijl, Proverbe, & Freie Strae

Example covers of Dada Magazine (1917 & 1920)

Example articles from De Stijl and Dada

bauhaus1919 - 1933

Walter Gropius: Founder of BauhausThe School will gradually turn into a workshopArt and Technology - a new unity.

BauhausBegan in 1919 with Bauhaus School in Weimar, Germany.Lead by Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, & Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe.Wanted to create new art to reflect the new times they were living in after WWI.Artist should be trained to work in the industry.

Walter GropiusBorn in Berlin in 1883 Served as Sgt. Major in WWI. In 1919 was employed as the new master of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar became the Bauhaus School. Fled Germany and the Nazi Party in 1934. Died in Boston, MA in 1969.

Characteristics of BauhausA lack of recognizable objects wanted to find the true meaning of art through disassembling it.Clean lines, geometric shapes layered. In architecture: clean, functional.Like Dadaism, was a step toward surrealism for artists such as Wassily Kandinsky. Stylistic patterns altered as leaders of the school changed earlier Bauhaus is different to later Bauhaus.

Important members of the Bauhaus school Walter Gropius (1883-1969) Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) Josef Albers (1888-1976) Herbert Bayer (1900 - 1985)

Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany

Wassily KandinskyContrasting Sounds1924

Wassily KandinskyOn White II1923

Wassily KandinskyYellow Red Blue 1925

Josef AlbersFigure (Glass, Colour and Light)1921

Herbert BayerProfil en Face1929

Herbert BayerBirthday Greetings to Xonti1930

Like Dada, Bauhaus also published periodicals and magazines.Head of printing and design for Bauhaus Magazine was Herbert Bayer.The Bauhaus school also published books called Bauhausbcher

art deco1920 - 1935

Art DecoCenter: Paris.Gained the title Art Deco from Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in 1925A new kind of decorative and elegant art.Reached its high point in the mid 20s mid 30s.Reaction to the forced austerity caused by WWI.

Characteristics of Art DecoGeometric shapesAlthough not the flowing swirls of Art Nouveau, had bolder curves and less fussy designs. Bold colors, and new ways of shading pictures. Idealistic images of the flaming youth of the roaring twenties.Carried a theme through pieces, especially in interiors and architecture.

Exposition Internationale des arts Decoratifs et Industriels ModernesApril November 1925Held in ParisTo show the world that France once again led the way in a new evolving international style Art Deco.Changed the perception of Bauhaus, Colonial Art and, predominantly, the Art Deco style as legitimate movements.

Important Art Deco ArtistsTamara de Lempicka (1898 1980)Erte - Romain De Tirtoff (1892 1990)William Van Allen (1883 1954)Cassandre - Adolphe Mouron (1901 1968)

Tamara de LempickaSleeping Girl1935

Tamara de LempickaPortrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress1929

Tamara de LempickaSelf Portrait in the Green Bugatti1925

ErteCostume Design for Les Pierres Precieuses1923

ErteDesign for Lanternbearer in Venise XVII1919

ErteLArc En Ciel (Cover for Harpers Bazaar)1929

CassandreCigarettes Celtique1935

CassandreLAtlantique1932

CassandreLIntransigeant 1925

early surrealism1920 - 1935

Surrealism Inspired by new psychology of two men:Sigmund Freud & Carl Gustav Jung

Basic PrinciplesFreud

Human development is best understood as changing objects of sexual desireWishes are repressed and emerge from the subconscious in accidental bursts Freudian slips.Neuroses are caused by repressed memories and unconscious conflicts.ID, Ego and Super Ego.Jung

Neuroses are caused by conflicts between individuals subconscious and greater world.Sexual desire does not play as huge a role.Must make a healthy relationship between the conscious and unconscious shouldnt be cut off from it, but shouldnt be swamped by it.

SurrealismDivided into two groups based on different interpretations of Freud and Jung the Automatists and the Veristic Surrealists. Automatists - suppress conscious in order to free the subconscious, inspired by more Dadaist ideals, shouldnt be overly analyzed. Veristic Surrealists - follow the images of the subconscious so they can be interpreted; art is a way to freeze ideas of the subconscious.

SurrealismLead by Andre Brenton, a French doctor who had served in the trenches during WWI. Subject matter was varied: some pieces show a complete dislocation from any sort of literal reality (for example, Max Ernsts works) -- other pieces show normal situations with a spark of absurdity (for example, Rene Magritte's works.) Bright colors among sometimes dull backgrounds.

Max ErnstHydrometric Demonstration Of How To Kill By Temperature1920

Max ErnstKupferblech1919

Max ErnstThe Elephant Celebs1921

Max ErnstThe Couple in Lace1925

Rene MagritteThe Menaced Assassin1927

Rene MagritteVoice of Space1931

Rene MagritteThe False Mirror1928

Rene MagritteThe Lovers1928

To summarize Post WWI art, a quote from its true founder

Tristan Tzara - leader of Dada movementThe beautiful and the true in art do not exist; what interests me is the intensity of a personality transposed directly, clearly into the workand in what manner he knows how to gather sensation, emotion, into a lacework of words and sentiments.Lecture on Dada [1922]