mid-late 20th century art
TRANSCRIPT
Mid-to-Late 20th Century Art
Modernism into Post-Modernism
Abstract Expressionism
• First major Avant-Garde art movement in USA (started in New York in late 1940’s)
• Abstraction expressing raw emotion
• New York becomes the center of the art world (no longer Paris)
Jackson Pollock
Action Painting
Focus on the creative process
Expressive feeling through action
Used sticks to “throw” paint onto the canvas (walked on the canvas) – artist literally “in” the painting
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, 1950, Oil, enamel, aluminum paint on canvas
Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, 1950, Oil, enamel, aluminum paint on canvas
Large scale painting with drips, splatters, and dribbles of paint
Controlled Randomness
Energetic
Oil Paint / Industrial Paints (house and car paint)
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950 – 1952, Oil on Canvas
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning, Woman I, 1950 – 1952, Oil on Canvas
Importance of Process – de Kooning repainted this painting many times (many layers)
“Rawness” and “Intensity”
Jumbled lines / Agitated patches of color
“Ferocious” looking woman
Later Abstraction
• More “controlled” forms of painting
• Symbolism of color
• Post-painterly abstraction
• Hard-edge Painting
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1961, Oil on Canvas
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1961, Oil on Canvas
Harmony and Spirituality / simple and pure
“Color field” painting
Focus on Color / Symbolism of Color / Emotion of Color
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, 1963, Oil on canvas
Ellsworth Kelly
Hard-Edged Painting
Focus on Color
Flatness – painting as two-dimensional
Absence of “the artist’s hand”
Ellsworth Kelly, Red Blue Green, 1963, Oil on canvas
Comparison
Op Art
Op Art, or Optical Art, is a style that makes use of optical illusions
Non-representational / Completely Abstract
Movement started in 1960s
Many of the Op artworks are black and white
Visual Movement, Flashing, Vibration, Hidden Images
Use of Pattern
Bridget RileyMovement in SquaresTempera on Board122 x 122 cm1961
Bridget RileyMovement in SquaresTempera on Board122 x 122 cm1961
Bridget Riley, from UK, is one of the most important artists in Op Art movement
Riley is fascinated with the act of looking
Visual movement and depth
Disorienting physical effect on the eyes
Pattern with variation
Minimal Art
• Sculptural Movement began in 1960’s
• “Limitation of sculpture”
• Geometric forms
• Very simple, pure aesthetic (less is more)
Donald Judd
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1961, Brass and Plexiglas sculpture
Donald Judd
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1961, Brass and Plexiglas sculpture
Power of the materials (“message in the medium”)
Basic geometric forms (simple and clear)
Sculpture not intended to be symbolic or metaphorical
Pop Art
• Movement began in UK in 1960’s (later became more popular in USA)
• Art based on popular culture
• Art “for the people”
• Reaction against Abstract Expressionism
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lictenstein, Hopeless, 1963,
Oil on canvas
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lictenstein, Hopeless, 1963, Oil on canvas
Art based on comic books
Melodramatic scene / Romance
“That’s the way it SHOULD have BEGUN, but it’s hopeless!”
Used dots to create the look of comic book printing “benday dots”
Andy WarholCampbell's soup can series
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Campbell's Tomato Soup Silkscreen on Canvas 1961
Andy Warhol
Mass-production
American Icon
Silkscreen (commercial form of printmaking used for t-shirts, etc.)
Connection to Graphic Design
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962, Oil, acrylic,
and silk-screen on canvas
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962, Oil, acrylic, and silk-screen on canvas
Marilyn Monroe, American Actress who committed suicide
Fame and tragedy
Warhol – artist celebrity
Reference to film and to Renaissance art
Comparison
Conceptual Art
• Intellectual Avant-Garde Movement begun in late 1960’s
• Idea is most important aspect
• Objects used to express a concept (finished product is less important than the idea)
• Questioning art and our understanding of art
Joseph Kosuth
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965, Wood chair, photograph of chair, photograph of dictionary definition
Joseph Kosuth
Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965, Wood chair, photograph of chair, photograph of dictionary definition
Language and Vision (Text and Image)
Idea of what is a chair
Challenged “what is art”
Comparison