Art DecoThe art deco movement began in the 1920s. it fully embodies the spirit of the roaring 20s and its flourish of grandure and luxury. at the time it was based on modernism and turned it into a fashion. the fashion itself covered a wide range of art forms, including furniture, archetecture, and clothing . its defining traits lie in its use of symmetry to create a sleek and refined impression. The leading names in this movement were the likes of Jean Puiforcat (silversmith), Edward Mcknight Kauffer (graphic designer/artist), Shreve and Lamb (responsible for the empire state building!) and many more. The artistic pioneers of this age were no doubt driven by the economic boom at the time. Following the results of the first world war America was in a position of wealth and prosperity. To further this the development of electricity and production flourished, allowing easier and cheaper production of luxury items. Thus the infamous “roaring twenties” and its flamboyancy came about, expanding deeply into the art world. Personally, I’m rather drawn to the pleasing symmetry of many of the art deco works. It’s easy to fall into the romantisised world of smoky jazz bars, dapper gentlemen and alluring ladies as seen in the likes of Hollywood’s The great Gatsby.

Expressionism Expressionism is, as the name suggests, all about expressing feeling and emotion. It exaggerates and distorts that which is featured in it to convey the extremity of a mental state. A string wave of expressionistic work followed the events of the two world wars, using its distorted style to show the inhumanity and the horror of the desctruction left in their wake.

Kathe Kolwitz (1924) “Brot!”

CRY- Charis Psachos (Contemporary artist) Das Kabinett Des Doktor Caligari (1919) Hermann Warm

Hermann Warm was a German film director who worked from the 1920s to 1930s. He used expressionism in his creative set design. Having found his work I’m hooked on finding more of it, its stark use of black and white and early “gothic” style fits my personal tastes perfectly.

Max Pechstein

Vincent Van Gogh (1890)

The more common “look” for expressionism is bold colours and strong brushstrokes, most widley seen in the likes of Vincent Van Gogh’s work. While in theory I enjoy the raw emotion in thes brightly coloured works, I can’t appreciate the conveyal of emotion that the darker, monochrome works portray to me.

Brushflurlet- Hanna Hoch (1945)

Bouquet of eyes- Hannah Hoch (1930)

The art critic- Raoul Hausmann (1919-20)

Dada- the art of war and the absurd.A rejection of capitalism and the state of society post war.It questions all that society could handle.

In the words of Hans Arp: “While guns rumbled in the distance, we sang, painted, made collages and wrote poems with all our might.”This rejection to the war was fueled by the outcry of horror at the sheer monstrosity of it. As with most revolutionary art movements, it aimed to create new artistic standards and challenge all that preceeded it. In this particular movement, being a highly political one, it frequently used collages to create political satire using newspaper prints and existing art. Personally, I appreciate its message against the horrors of war and the corruption of society, however, the art itself is not that appealing to me. The art of collage has expanded so much into advertising in modern day settings that I cannot connect to the inherent creativity of it anymore.

Self-portrait of the dadasopher- Raoul Hausmann (1920)

Adoration of the cow- Francis Picabia

Modernism

Modernism

Yellow Islands- Jackson Pollock (1952)

Unlike other art movements, Modern-ism is a continuous collection of differ-ent art styles. Its ever changing goal is to challenge whatever artistic standard that has come before it. As the art world evolves at rapid pace it grows more and more abstract and bizzare.

swan - Mike Fields Bronzes

Historians believe that Modernism began with Alphonse Legros in 1877 and his painting “Le Repas des Pauvres” (above). He depicted a scene of daily life instead of the dramatic, often biblical works of art that came before it. The concept was revolutionary at the time, and thus the concept of “trying something new” was born.

Water Lillies- Claude Monet (1916)

Cubism

Pablo Picasso- The guitar player (1910)

Cubism was established by the infamous Pablo Picasso in the early 20th century. Picasso claimed to be infuenced by African tribal masks and the idea of drawing things from multiple perspectives. This concept had already been explored by Paul Cezanne but was expanded upon greatly by the cubism movement.Cubism challenged the traditional art standards of attempting to create a 3d illusion and perception of depth by instead emphasising on the flat 2d plane of the canvas. It was new and exciting leading to widespread interest, joining the wave of experimental new art movements of the time.Personally, I find the concept creative and something that seems fun to create, however, as a work of art it is not something I find that appealing or pleasing to observe.

Paul cezanne- Bibemus quary (1895)

Tommervik- cubist pooh bear painting (2018)

Futurism

Tato (Guglielmo Sansoni), “Flying over the Coliseum in a Spiral” 1930

Futurism was an Italian art movement that began in 1909, brought about by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The idea behind futurism was, like many other art movements of the time, a renouncing of the past tradition and embracing a bold new future. The key focus of the artists in this particular movement was the attempt to capture the industrial evolution of the world around them. For Italy at the time this was a highly optimistic outlook as their recent history was smothered with opression. This was the case until the aftermath of the wars to follow, leading to a ressurection of old traditional works, some calling it a “return to order” after the chaos of the war. One such artist was Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson. For a while he used the stark depiction of machines in futurism to show the inhumanity of war, but soon changed his approach as he no longer felt it depicted the gritty reality of it and instead turned back a more naturalistic approach. I myself enjoy the boldness of the metalic “rusty” futurism works, they speak to me of harsh, desolate landscapes in which to entertain fantasy scenarios with ragged characters. The more colourful ones, however, are often far too jumbled and messy to make sense of, I do not enjoy the feeling I get from them.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson- La Mitrailleuse (1915)

Luigi Russolo- The Revolt (1911)

Pop Art

Marilyn Diptych- Andy Warhol (1962)

Pop art is widely reguarded for its bright colours and comicbook style wacky appeal. Undoubtedly the most well known pop artist is Andy Warhol, leading its debut in the art world in 1950s and onwards. Alongside him was Roy Lichtenstein. Between the two of them they set the standards as to what would be recognised as pop art. In the words of Richard Hamilton these characteristics are “Popular (designed for a mass audience), Transient (short-term solution), Expendable (easily forgotten), Low cost, Mass produced, Young (aimed at youth), Witty, Sexy, Gimmicky, Glamorous, Big business.” To this day pop art manages to be all this, maintaining its popularity and easy production for the enjoyment of the majority.

“Oh Jeff... i love you too... but...”- Roy Lichtenstein (1964)

Post modernism

Your body is a battleground- Barbara Kruger (1989)

Look like us- Barbara Kruger

You are not youself- Barbara Kruger (1981)

Post Modernism is in itself anti-modernist. While Modernism looks toward a bright utopian future embracing change and development, Post-modernism is based upon the cynism against this. This makes it hard to define, as it does not hold onto one singular art form or message, that said, people believe it started in 1900s with AndyWarhol and his pop art works. Pieces like Marilyn Diptych (1962) are linked back to the earliest Post modern artworks. Two artists that caught my eye though, were Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman. Part of the post modern movement is a strong embodiement of feminism and rejection to racial inequality. Barbara Kruger uses her work to display the insanity and sexulisation in advertising and media. Ironically, the only way to share her art was to use the very media and production she was challenging. She herself acknowleged this and asks if we can ever truly escape society’s expectations. Her work is reflective of Dadaism in her use of collage and political statements. Cindy Sherman was another artist of the time, her work was photography based using herself as a model to illustrate and narrate certain characters. These characters are all based on female archetypes (The damsel in distress, the housewife, etc). Later, she went on to produce a series of photographs depicting highly sexual scenarios using prosthetic figures and limbs. These were intended to “shock” the viewer with their graphic content and implications.

Untitled 250- Cindy Sherman

Film still58- Cindy Sherman

1990s brit artThe key movement for young british artists was, quite simply, YBA (Young British Artists). This came about in the mid 80s, but grew into an established movement in the 90s. Those leading the movement were the likes of Damien Hirst, Maurizio Cattelan, and Jenny Saville. Similar to modernism, the YBA often challenges the norm through a variety of art techniques. Though unlike Modernism its act of challenging tends to feature around societal standards and political statements instead of simply the artistic standards of the time.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living- Damien Hirst (1991)

‘love lasts forever’, 1999© maurizio cattelan

One such artist from the YBA movement is Jenny Saville, her work part icularly appeals to me and my interests. Her work depicts “unpleasant” or even “gruesome” imagary of butchered animals or human figures. Her emphasis on flesh and fat is a rebellion against the male dominated idealisation of the female body presented in art throughout history. This blatant rejection of societal “perfectionist” figures is very powerfull, especially in the light of her far more brutal and up-front challenge of it. This brutality, however, is not supposed to be “ugly”, it is meant to challenge our own perception as to what is “ugly” and what is not. Saville herself says she is facsinated by the way fat works on a figure, and evidently delights in illustrating it in her works.

Torso 11- Jenny Saville (2004-5)

Propped- Jenny Saville (1992)

Fulcrum- Jenny Saville (1998-9)

SurrealismSurrealismSurrealism is the supposed embodiment of the subconscious imagination. It sprang up alongside many other new experimental art movements of its time (1910).It bases itself on the pyschological research of Sigmund Freud and the political ideas of Karl Marx. The art itself often depicts a collection seemingly unnrelated items and beings, frequently shown as transformative.

Tomasz Alen Kopera (contemporary artist)

Swans reflecting elephants- Salvador Dali (1937)

The barbarians- Max Ernst (1937)

Surrealism takes inspiration from Dadaism a decade prior.One such artist was Max Ernst, who changed his choice of art movement from Dadaism to surrealism.Max Ernst turned to personal mythology and childhood thoughts to represent his presumed fears of his modern day situations. The one here (to the right), is beleived to be a representation of his foreboding towards the oncoming world wars.

This use of personal symbols and images is very powerful and meanful to me, as a form of emotional communication I use myself.