From Modernism to Postmodernism

I.  Mid-Twentieth Century

A.   Existentialism

1.  Philosophy: Sartre

2.  Theater of the absurd: Beckett

B.   Visual arts:

1.  Sculpture: Giacometti

2.  Abstract expressionism: Pollock

3.  Color field painting: Rothko

4.   Regional realism: Hopper

II.  World War II and After

A.    Modernism vs. Postmodernism

B.     Visual arts:

1.  Pop art: Warhol, Oldenburg, Indiana

2.  New Realism: Estes

3.  Total art

a.  Performance art: Cage, Klein

b.  Environmental art: Smithson, Christo and Jenne-Claude

I.  Mid-Twentieth Century

A.   Existentialism

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80)

“Existentialism,” 1945

A.    “Man is nothing but what he makes himself” (14); “existence precedes essence” (2-3)

B.     “man first of all is the being who hurls himself toward a future and who is conscious of imagining himself as being in the future” (20-22)

C.     “man is responsible for himself, . . . Not only . . . responsible for his own individuality, but . . . responsible for all men” (35-38)

(Fiero 430-32)

Theatre of the Absurd
Samuel Beckett (Irish, 1906-89)

Waiting for Godot (1948)

YouTube - Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot Act 2 (Part 7)

(from: http://www.pugwashnews.com/2011/04/review-godot-worth-waiting-for/)

B. Visual Arts

Sculpture: Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)

A.    Swiss

B.     In 1930, a Surrealist

C.     Post-WWII: existentialist

D.    Spindly solitary figures

E.     Designed set for first production of Waiting for Godot

(Fiero 441)

Giacometti ,”City Square.” bronze,1948. Khanacademy. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/giacometti.html

Giacometti, “Dog.” bronze, 1951. Moma. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80979

Giacometti. “Cat.” Bronze.1954. Wikipedia. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:'Cat'_by_Giacometti,_1954,_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art.jpg

Abstract Expressionism

A.    Leading style of art in the U.S. in the mid-twentieth century

B.     Rooted in:

1.      Abstraction of Picasso and Matisse

2.      Colorist experiments of Kandinsky

3.      Nonsense performance of Dada

4.      “automatic” art of Surrealism

C.    Characteristics: large (heroic) size, personal, spontaneous, free

(Fiero 436-37)

Jackson Pollock (1912-56)

A.    (American) “Jack the Dripper”

B.     Action Painting: canvas on the ground, Pollock working from all four sides

C.     Reminiscent of Navajo sand painting

D.    Paintings contain nails, sand, matches, pieces of bottles and even cigarette butts

E.     "It is impossible to make a forgery of Jackson Pollock's work“--Time magazine critic Robert Hughes (nga.gov)

(Fiero 437-38)

Pollock, “Number 1.” 1950. Nga. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.nga.gov/feature/pollock/painting1.shtm

Pollock, “Convergence.” 1952. About. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/action_abstraction/jm-aa_08_08.htm

Mark Rothko (1903-70)

A.    Color-field painting

B.     Translucent “fields of color” layered onto the canvas

C.     Described his paintings in terms of “religious experience”

D.    Rothko said his paintings should be viewed close-up, from 18 inches

(Fiero 439-40)

Rothko, Untitled [Blue, Green, and Brown],1952 (or 1951).
National Gallery of Art. Web. 25 October 2011
http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/classic4.shtm

Rothko, Untitled, 1968. National Gallery of Art. Web. 25 October 2011
http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/late4a.shtm

Abstract Expressionism and the Cold War

A.    During the 1950s-60s, the US government supported the exhibition of American Abstract Expressionism in Europe as kind of US cultural propaganda

B.     Showed that American society values freedom, experimentation, openness, democracy

C.     Offered a contrasting style to social realism of Soviet Union

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)

A.    American

B.     Realism (American Scene Painting)

C.     Urban and town life

D.    Artificial lighting

E.     Estranged characters, together but alone

F.      Strange cropping and points of view

(Fiero 440)

Hopper, “Nighthawks.” 1942. Artchive. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/nighthwk.jpg.html

Hopper, “Cape Cod Evening.” 1939. Artchive. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper/cape_cod_evening.jpg.html

Hopper, “Office at Night.” 1940. Wordpress. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://03varvara.wordpress.com/2010/06/19
/edward-hopper-office-at-night-1940/

Hopper, “House by the Railroad.” 1925. Ibiblio. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/landscapes/railroad/

Hopper, “New York Movie.” 1939. Ibiblio. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/interior/

Hopper, “Rooms by the Sea.” 1951. Ibiblio. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/interior/

II. World War II and After

A. Modernism vs. Postmodernism

(Fiero 482)

Leonardo da Vinci, “Mona Lisa.” 1503-07. Wikipedia. Web. 23 July 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa.jpg

Yvaral, “Mona Lisa Synthetisee.” 1989. Tripod. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://m97e.tripod.com/414.html

Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

Robert Colescott (1925-2009)

Charles Moore, Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, 1976-79. Idehist. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.idehist.uu.se/distans/ilmh/pm/moore-piazzaditalia.htm

I.M Pei, Louvre Pyramid, Paris, 1988. Blogspot. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://nonstop80s.blogspot.com/2011/09/louvre-pyramid-1989.html

B. Visual Art: Pop Art

Andy Warhol (1931-87)

A.    American

B.     Themes:

1.      Celebrity

2.      Popular Culture

3.      Advertising

4.      Mechanical Reproduction

(Fiero 487-89)

from left to right:  Warhol, “Self-Portrait.” 1986. Wordpress. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://kellydevinethomas.wordpress.com/2008/12/23/authenticating-andy-warhol/

Warhol, “ Green Marilyn.” 1962. Spartacusartgallery. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.spartacusartgallery.com/2011/03/andy-warhol-turquoise-marilyn.html

Warhol, “Mao.” 1973. About. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/americanevolution/corcoran_0308_21.htm

Warhol, “Vegetarian Vegetable.”1969. artvalue. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--warhol-andy-1928-1987-usa-vegetarian-vegetable-1946827.htm

Warhol, “Orange Car Crash.” 1969. Book530. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.book530.com/painting/93709/Orange-Car-Crash-.html

Oldenburg, “Floor Burger.” 1962. Art21. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://blog.art21.org/2009/09/09/where-am-i/

Robert Indiana , LOVE (Philadelphia), 1976.
Museumwithoutwallsaudio. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://museumwithoutwallsaudio.org/interactive-map/love

New Realism

A.    a.k.a. neorealism, hyperrealism, photorealism

B.     Rejects narrative content

C.     “indifference to moral, social, and political issues” (Fiero 492)

D.    Representational, but representing artificial camera image, not reality

(Fiero 492-93)

Richard Estes (1932-)

Estes, “Café Express.” 1975.
Arts-in-company. Web. 23 July 2011.
http://arts-in-company.com/Art-Apprec-Survey/artistpages/e/Estes-richard.htm

Estes, “Central Savings.” 1975.
Sai. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.sai.msu.su/cjackson/e/p-estes2.htm

Total Art

A.    Art beyond studio and gallery

B.     Process/performance oriented

C.     Temporary (to various degrees) preserved in photographs and video

D.    Communal rituals

E.     Types:

1.      Performance art: Cage, Klein

2.      Happenings

3.      Earthworks: Smithson, Christo and Jenne-Claude

(Fiero 494-97)

John Cage (1912-92)

4’33’’ (1953)

-For 4 min. and 33 sec., pianist sits at piano without playing it

-The sound: pianist breathing, audience shifting, hum of traffic outside

-aleatory: based on chance and random method

                                       (Fiero 446-47)

YouTube - John Cage - 4'33" by David Tudor

Yves Klein (1928-62)

Anthropometry, 1960

-Performance art

YouTube - Yves Klein "Anthropometries of the Blue Period" y "Fire Paintings" [1960]

Robert Smithson (1938-73)

A.    Spiral Jetty, 1970: an earthwork

B.     in water polluted by oil mines

C.     1500 ft. spiral, made of local black basalt, limestone, and earth

D.    Symbolism: eternity (spiral) and origin of life in salty water—looks back to ancient Neolithic earthworks

E.     Ecological message: balance between the cultural and the natural

(Fiero 510)

Robert Smithson, “Spiral Jetty.” 1970. Robertsmithson. Web. 23 Oct 2011. http://www.robertsmithson.com/earthworks/spiral_jetty.htm

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, “Running Fence.”
Sonoma and Marin counties, CA, 1972-76, 24.5 miles (earthwork).
(Photo: Wolfgang Volz) ChristoJeanneClaude. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/major_fence.shtml

Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition. Vol. 2. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.