ART.

This word has no definition. ---

Ambrose Bierce

Modern & Contemporary Art

Major Points

• Before modern art• What changed?• Critics and criticism• Comfort and ease in the galleries

• Practice

Tell me what you see…

Tell me what you see…

Before Modern Art

Popular and accepted subjects:

• Portraits• Religion • Everyday life• Historical events• Landscapes• Still lifes

What changed?

• Photography• Decline of art patronage allowed artists freedom which led to…

Synchromy in Purple Minor

• Artist experimentation with form and color

• Interest in the inner rather than the outer

• Reflection on world around them

Paul Gauguin demanded “breaking

of all the old windows, even if we cut our fingers on

the glass.”

Think about the 20th Century

• Einstein’s theory on relativity (1905)• Two world wars with mass destruction and tremendous loss of life (1914, 1939)

• U.S. women win right to vote (1920) • Great Depression (1929)• The atomic bomb (1945)• U.S. Supreme Court outlaws segregation (1954)

• Rock & Roll (1956)

Famous and Infamous Moments

• Impressionism- 1874

• Armory Show-1913• Degenerate Art Show (Entartete Kunst)- 1937

• Nazis burn 5,000 works of art at a Berlin fire station- 1939

Until 1940, Paris was the undisputed capital of modern art. After the Nazi invasion and the ravages of World War II, the eyes of

the art world shifted and focused on New York City.

Elysium, 1960

AB EX

• Also called NY School

• Energy, action, kinetic, frenetic

• Relied on instinct to make art

• Allowed for impulse• The act of painting itself was the art

Hofmann (1880-1966)

• Early advocate of freely splashed pigment

• Influential teacher

• Push-Pull Theory• Known for high-keyed contrasting colors, rectangles

Critics and Criticism

• I can’t tell what it is supposed to be.

• Anyone could do that.

• I don’t understand it.

• It shouldn’t be in a museum.

Responses?

• There are multiple interpretations to a work of art. There is no right or wrong answer. Art is personal.

• Creativity and the process of creation is as interesting and important as technical “correctness.”

• Modern art still touches on the subjects of more traditional art: nature, still life, portraiture.

• The role of art is always changing.

Engaging in Conversation

• What choices did the artist make? Consider materials, size of canvas, point of view.

• What would you change about the work of art?

• What risks did the artist take?• What might the artist be trying to tell us?

• What do you think the artist was trying to do or accomplish? Was he or she successful?

Frankenthaler (b. 1928)

• Began taking art classes as a teenager

• Studied with Hofmann

• Developed “stain” technique as a departure from Pollock

• Influenced Morris Louis’s technique

Over the Circle, 1961

• Canvas on floor• Used a diluted oil paint which was poured or applied w/palette knife, roller, cloths.

• Stepped on canvas, kneeled in circle

• Lifted and pulled edges of canvas

Over the Circle, 1961

• Stain painting:– Combo of Pollock & Marin’s watercolor

– Oil thinned to consistency of watercolor

– Used sail cloth

• “I think accidents are lucky only if you know how to use them.”

• Shapes float

Is it OK to say,

“I don’t like this.”

Light Pink Octagon, 1967

Fourth Copper Corner, 1975

Minimalism

• Originally meant to explore the cube• Started with Frank Stella’s 1960 exhibition in which he rejected flashy colors of AB EX

• Paintings became object like- stripes, lines, eccentric canvas shape…

• Most Minimalist sculptors started as painters- became a school of sculpture

Philosophy of Minimalism

• Art stripped to basic components

• Art becomes part of the space around it

• Liked industrial production of their objects

• Commercial factories would make their sculptures

Carl Andre (b. 1935)

• “Carpet” of industrial metal plates, formed grids

• Influenced by Brancusi and Stella, Stonehenge

• Also dabbled in Concrete Poet

• Infamous trial over the death of his wife, artist Ana Mendieta; Andre acquitted

Richard Tuttle (b. 1941)

• Uses “humble” materials of cloth, string, bubble wrap, plywood

• Influenced by calligraphy- power of the line

• Interested in the placement of the object

Light Pink Octagon

• Part of a well-known series

• Sewed it himself, hemmed edges

• Dyed it pale pink with Tintex fabric dye

• No front, back; can be put on floor, pinned to wall

You and Modern Art

• Explore your own comfort level.• Start by finding one or two works of art that you just like- is it the color? The shapes? You read about the artist?

• Think about your responses to commonly heard comments about modern art. Be prepared.

Your Attitude Influences your

Audience!

You don’t have to like it all, but you should try to be

open-minded and accepting.

Want More?

• http://www.moma.org/education/• http://www.tate.org.uk/learnonline/• http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/splash.htm • Why Is That Art?, Terry Barrett• Why a Painting is Like a Pizza, Nancy G.

Heller• How to Look at Modern Art, Philip Yenawine