sayre2e ch38 integrated_lecture_pp_ts-150679

Duane Hanson. Supermarket Shopper. 1970.Height: 65”.

Europe After the War: The Existential Quest

What is existentialism?

• Christian Existentialism: Kierkegaard, Niebuhr, and Tillich — In the face of countless deaths, pessimism reigned, and ideological conflict between the Western po0wers and the Eastern bloc exacerbated a growing sense of meaninglessness, alienation, and anxiety. Christianity found itself in crisis as well. Kierkegaard had argued that Christians must live in a state of anguish caused by their own freedom of choice. Niebuhr and Tillich further articulated this position of Christian existentialism in America.

• The Philosophy of Sartre: Atheistic Existentialism — Sartre argued for what is termed atheistic existentialism. Living in a universe without God, and thus without revealed morality, individuals must nevertheless choose to act ethically.

• De Beauvoir and Existential Feminism — Simone de Beauvoir argued that women had passively allowed men to define them rather than creating themselves.

• The Literature of Existentialism — The Stranger by Albert Camus offers an antihero who refuses to admit to feelings that are absent even though it condemns him. The Theater of the Absurd is a theater in which the meaninglessness of existence is the central thematic concern as is seen in Sartre’s No Exit. The most popular of the absurdist plays is Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

• The Art of Existentialism — Faced with the lack of life’s meaning that Sartre’s existentialism proposed, painters and sculptors sought to explore the truth of this condition in their own terms. Alberto Giacometti produced City Square which was admired by Sartre. The French artist, Jean Dubuffet created art brut, “raw art” from those unaffected by or untrained in cultural convention.

• Discussion Question: What are the existentialist themes in the work of Camus and Beckett?

Alberto Giacometti. City Square (La Place). 1948.8-1/2" × 25-3/8" × 17-1/4”.

America After the War: Triumph and Doubt

What is Abstract Expressionism?

• The Triumph of American Art: Abstract Expressionism — The individualistic spirit of Abstract Expressionism was seen as the antithesis of communism, and their work was meant to convey the message that America had not only triumphed in the war, but in art and culture as well. New York, not Paris, was now the center of the art world.

• Jackson Pollock plumbed the depths of the psyche and de Kooning represents the psyche’s encounter with the world. Although excluded from the inner (male) circle, a number of the women associated with Abstract Expressionism were painters of exceptional ability. Both Elaine de Kooning and Lee Krasner developed their own styles separate from their husband’s. Joan Mitchell was obsessed with water and was influenced by Monet.

• Both Rothko and Frankenthaler offered viewers a more meditative and quiet painting based on large expanses of relatively undifferentiated color. Calder and Smith demonstrated that sculpture could partake of the same gestural freedom and psychological abstraction as Abstract Expressionist painting. It could become a field of action.

• Discussion Question: What role did women play in Abstract Expressionism?

Jean Dubuffet. Corps de Dame. 1950.10-5/8" × 8-3/8”.

Jackson Pollock. Guardians of the Secret. 1943.4’ 3/8" × 6’ 3-3/8”.

Richard Hamilton, John McHale, and John Voelcker. Closer Look: Pavilion for the “This Is Tomorrow” exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.

Closer Look: Richard Hamilton, Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?

MyArtsLabChapter 38 – After the War

Richard Hamilton. Closer Look: Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?. 1956.

10-1/4" × 9-3/4”.

Jackson Pollock. Number 27. 1950.4’ 1" × 8’ 10”.

Video: Jackson Pollock at Work

Willem de Kooning. Seated Woman. ca. 1940.54-1/4" × 36”.

Willem de Kooning. Pink Angels. 1945.52" × 40”.

Willem de Kooning. Excavation. 1950.81" × 100-1/4" (unframed).

Lee Krasner. White Squares. ca. 1948.24" × 30”.

Grace Hartigan. River Bathers. 1953.5'9-3/8" × 7'4-3/4”.

Joan Mitchell. Piano mécanique. 1958.78" × 128”.

Mark Rothko. Green on Blue. 1956.89-3/4" × 63-1/4”.

Helen Frankenthaler. The Bay. 1963.6’ 8-3/4" × 6’ 9-1/2”.

Alexander Calder. Black, White, and Ten Red. 1957.33" × 144”.

David Smith. Blackburn: Song of an Irish Blacksmith. Frontal view. 1949-50.

46-1/4" × 49-3/4" × 24”.

David Smith. Blackburn: Song of an Irish Blacksmith. Profile view. 1949-50.46-1/4" × 49-3/4" × 24”.

The Beat Generation

Who are the Beats?

• The Beat generation sought a heightened and, they believed, more authentic style of life, defined by alienation, nonconformity, sexual liberation, drugs, and alcohol.

• Robert Frank and Jack Kerouac — Frank published a book of photographs as The Americans in 1958. The photographs captured everyday, mundane things that might otherwise go by unseen, with a sense of spontaneity and directness. Kerouac’s real-life adventures are described in On the Road.

• Ginsberg and “Howl” — The work that best characterizes the Beat generation is “Howl” by Allen Ginsberg. The publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was charged with obscenity; he was eventually acquitted.

• Cage and the Aesthetics of Chance — Ginsberg showed that anything and everything could be admitted into the domain of art. Composer John Cage “set about discovering means to let sounds be themselves.” His composition 4’33” admits all manner of ambient sound—whatever sounds happened during its performance were purely a matter of chance. Rauschenberg began to make combine paintings, works in which all manner of materials are combined to create the work. Theater Piece #1 inaugurated a collaboration between Cunningham (dance, Cage (music), and Rauschenberg (décor and costume) that would span many years. Jasper Johns focused on the most common, seemingly obvious subject matter. Cage’s aesthetic of diversity and inclusiveness also informs the inventive multimedia pieces of Alan Kaprow.

• Architecture in the 1950s — The design of Frank Lloyd Wright for the Guggenheim Museum in New York represents the spirit if architectural innovation that still pervade the practice of architecture to this day.

Robert Rauschenberg. Bed. 1955.6’ 3-1/4" × 31-1/2" × 8”.

Merce Cunningham. Summerspace. Set and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg. 1958.

Jasper Johns. Three Flags. 1958.30-7/8" × 45-1/2" × 5”.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Farnsworth House, Fox River, Plano, Illinois. 1950.

Frank Lloyd Wright. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. 1957-59.

Pop Art

What is Pop Art?

• In the early 1960s, a number of artists created a “realist” art that represented reality in terms of the media—advertising, television, comic strips—the imagery of mass culture. The term Pop Art quickly became attached to work such as Warhol’s famous paintings of Campbell’s Soup cans. Roy Lichtenstein enlarged comic strip paintings. Claes Oldenburg opened The Store, filled with life-size and over-life-size sculptures of everything from pie a la mode, to hamburgers, hats, and 7-Up bottles.

• Discussion Question: How is pop art a rejection of commercialism?

Andy Warhol. Campbell’s Soup Cans. Installation at Ferus Gallery. 1962.

Tom Wesselmann. Still Life #20. 1962.48" × 48" × 5-1/2”.

Andy Warhol. Marilyn Diptych. 1962.6’ 8-7/8" × 4’ 9”.

Closer Look: Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych

Studio Technique Video: Silkscreen

Roy Lichtenstein. Oh, Jeff . . . I Love You, Too . . . But. . . . 1964.4' × 4’.

Roy Lichtenstein. Little Big Painting. 1965.70" × 82" × 2-1/4”.

Claes Oldenburg. Soft Toilet. 1966.52" × 32" × 30”.

Frank Stella. Pagosa Springs. 1960.99-3/8" × 99-1/4”.

Minimalism in Art

What is Minimalism in art?

• Nothing could be further from the onslaught of mass-media images in the culture of consumption than Minimal Art’s almost pure and classical geometries. Minimalist artists were intrigued with utilizing the processes of mass production, the use of ready-made materials, the employment of modular units. Minimalism invites the active engagement of the viewer in experiencing it. Frank Stella’s Pagosa Springs, draws attention to one of the fundamental properties of painting—the support. The room installation by Sol LeWitt began as a set of instructions to be followed by workers who execute the work independently of the artist.

Carl Andre. Altstadt Copper Square. 1967.Each unit: 3/16" × 19-11/16" × 19-11/16"; Overall: 3/16" × 197" × 197”.

Sol LeWitt. Wall Drawing #146A: All two-part combinations of arcs from corners and sides, and straight, not straight, and broken lines within a 36-

inch (90 cm) grid. 2000, June.

Continuity & Change: The Civil Rights Movement: One of the "Little Rock Nine," Elizabeth Eckford, braves a jeering crowd. 1957, September 4.

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art of existentialism

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jackson pollock

art brut

raw art

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closer look

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