13.

ART IN WESTERN WORLD 10

Cave paintings of pre-historic period –Art forms and shapes in

Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman and Italian Renaissance
periods –Birth of Modern arts, definitions of- impressionism and post
impressionism, art nouveau, cubism Dadaism, surrealism, abstract art,
expressionism, futurism & constructivism.

BIRTH OF MODERN ARTS

Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic production
from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art
production is more often called Contemporary art or postmodern art).
Modern art refers to the then new approach to art where it was no
longer important to represent a subject realistically.

By the late 19th century, several movements which were to be

influential in modern art had begun to emerge: Impressionism,
centered in Paris, and Expressionism, which first emerged in Germany.
These movements did not necessarily identify themselves as being
associated with progress, or personal artistic freedom, but instead
argued, in the style of the times, that they represented universal
values and reality.

Among the movements which flowered in the first decade of the 20th
century were Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and Futurism. World
War I brought an end to this phase, but indicated the beginning of a
number of anti-art movements, such as Dada and the work of Marcel
Duchamp, and of Surrealism.

Modern art was introduced to the United States with the Armory Show
in 1913, and through European artists who moved to the U.S. during
World War I. It was only after World War II, that the U.S. became the
focal point of new artistic movements. The 1950s and 1960s saw the
emergence of Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, Op art and Minimal art;
in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Land art, Performance art, Conceptual
art and Photorealism emerged.

IMPRESSIONISM

Introduction

Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose

association of Paris-based artists, who began exhibiting their art
publicly in the 1860s. The name of the movement is derived from the
title of a Claude Monet work, Impression, Sunrise , which provoked the
critic Louis Leroy to coin the term. It was an art of immediacy and movement, of
candid poses and compositions, play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of
color.

Characteristics of Impressionist painting include

• Visible brushstrokes,
• Open composition,
• Emphasis on light
• Ordinary subject matter,
• Inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human
perception and unusual visual angles.

Impressionist techniques

• Short, thick strokes of paint are used to quickly capture the

essence of the subject, rather than its details. The paint is often
applied using impasto technique.
• Colors are applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible,
creating a vibrant surface. The optical mixing of colors occurs in
the eye of the viewer.
• Grays and dark tones are produced by mixing complimentary
colors. In pure Impressionism the use of black paint is avoided.
• Wet paint is placed into wet paint without waiting for successive
applications to dry, producing softer edges and an intermingling
of color.
• The surface of an Impressionist painting is typically opaque.
• The play of natural light is emphasized. Close attention is paid to
the reflection of colors from object to object.
• In paintings made outdoors, shadows are boldly painted with the
blue of the sky as it is reflected onto surfaces, giving a sense of
freshness and openness that was not captured in painting
previously. (Blue shadows on snow inspired the technique.)

Subjects include:
• still life,
• portraits,
• landscapes,
• Realistic scenes of modern life.

Some important Impressionists were Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt,

Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Edouard
Manet and Berthe Morisot.
CLAUDE MONET

Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872/73)

This is the painting after which Impressionist Movement was named.

Monet depicts the harbor of Le Havre with very loose bush stroke. It
was indeed a landmark painting of the 19th century.

Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (1872/73) Claude Monet, The

Path among the Irises

At the beginning of his career, Monet used dark colors, as he did in the 'Studio Corner'
marked by black shades. His painting evokes Courbet and the Realist School. From 1860
on, Monet abandoned dark colors and worked from a palette limited to pure light colors.

Claude Monet, Studio Corner, 1861 Claude Monet, Red Boats in Argenteuil, 1875
Pure black is rarely used by the impressionist painters. Monet obtained an appearence of
black by combining several color : blues, greens and reds. He eliminated almost
completely black from his painting, even in the shadows. In the Red Boats, Argenteuil,
shadows are purple.

Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917)

Edgar Degas was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking
and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected
the term, and preferred to be called a realist. The art of Degas reflects a concern for the
psychology of movement and expression and the harmony of line and continuity of
contour. In the late 1860s he turned to contemporary themes, painting both theatrical
scenes and portraits with a strong emphasis on the social and intellectual implications of
props and setting. In the early 1870s the female ballet dancer became his favorite theme.
After 1880, Pastel became Degas's preferred medium. He used sharper colors and gave
greater attention to surface patterning.

The Dance Class (1873–1876) - oil on canvas - Musicians in the Orchestra, 1872,

POST IMPRESSIONISM

Introduction

Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in
1914, to describe the development of European art since Monet (Impressionism).
Post-Impressionism follows Impressionism. The artists involved were influenced by
Impressionism although their work shares few similarities. Post-Impressionism was both
an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of their limitations.

Characteristics of Post Impressionist painting include:

• Use of vivid colors,

• Thick application of paint,
• Distinctive brushstrokes
 • Real-life subject matter,
• More inclined to emphasize geometric forms,
• To distort form for expressive effect,
• Sense of order and structure to painting restored.
• Added emotion and symbolic meaning to the art.
• Use of bold, unrealistic colors and expressive brushstrokes
• Post-Impressionism is characterized by sharp, often outlined edges.

Some major Post-Impressionists were Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Auguste Rodin
and Paul Gauguin.

PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)

Cezanne began painting outdoors in 1872 .Cezanne focused on arrangements of

constructed forms. Cezanne developed a theory of what art should be and then attempted
to explain it through his paintings. He believed that there was hidden order in nature. His
paintings are abstract, yet objects within them are recognizable. Cezanne's revolutionary
theories and work lead to Cubism.

Still Life with Plate of Cherries, 1885 The Card Players, 1892

Cézanne's work demonstrates a mastery of design, color, composition and draftsmanship.

His often repetitive, sensitive and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and
clearly recognizable. Cézanne's paintings convey intense study of his subjects, a
searching gaze and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual
perception.

Vincent van Gogh (GOE) 1853-1890

Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-
Impressionist artist. Van Gogh turned to painting after disappointing attempts at other
careers. Supported by his brother Theo, he went to Paris where he associated with and
was influenced by the Impressionists. His paintings and drawings include some of the
world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces.

Initially, van Gogh worked only with somber colors, until he encountered Impressionism
and Neo-Impressionism in Paris. He incorporated brighter colors and style of painting
into a uniquely recognizable style, which was fully developed during the time he spent at
Arles, France.

The Potato Eaters, 1885 The Night Cafe, 1888

ART NOUVEAU

Introduction

Art Nouveau (new art) is an international style of art that peaked in popularity at the
beginning of the 20th century (1880-1914)This movement broke all connections to
classical times and brought down the barriers between the fine arts and applied arts. It
was a way of thinking about modern society and new production methods. It was an
attempt to redefine the meaning and nature of the work of art. This approach was
considered completely new and revolutionary.
An artist should work on everything from architecture to furniture design so that art
would become a part of everyday life. By making beauty and harmony a part of everyday
life, artists make people's lives better. This approach has been represented in painting,
architecture, furniture, glassware, graphic design, jewelry, pottery, metalwork, and
textiles and sculpture. Advertising posters were welcomed into art. This was a sharp
contrast to the traditional separation of art into the distinct categories of fine art (painting
and sculpture) and applied arts (ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects).
Art Nouveau flourished in a number of European countries, many of which
developed their own names for the style. Art Nouveau was known in France as style
Guimard, after French designer Hector Guimard; in Italy as the stile Floreale (floral
style); stile Liberty, after British Art Nouveau designer Arthur Lasenby Liberty; in Spain
as Modernisme; in Austria as Sezessionstil (Vienna Secession); and in Germany as
Jugendstil.

Characteristics of Art Nouveau

• Characterized by highly-stylized, flowing, curvilinear designs often incorporating

floral and other plant-inspired motifs,
• Dynamic, undulating, and flowing, lines creating rhythm,
 • Use of hyperbolas and parabolas,
• Conventional mouldings seem to spring to life and 'grow' into plant-derived
forms,
• Use of new materials, machined surfaces, and abstraction,
• Two-dimensional Art Nouveau pieces were painted, drawn, and printed in popular
forms such as advertisements, posters, labels, magazines,
• Glass making was an area in which the style found tremendous expression — for
example, the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York,
• Jewelery of the Art Nouveau period revitalized the jeweler's art, with nature as the
principal source of inspiration, complemented by new levels of virtuosity in
enameling and the introduction of new materials, such as opals and semi-precious
stones.
• Visual standards of the Art Nouveau style are flat, decorative patterns, intertwined
organic forms of stems or flowers.
• Principal subjects are lavish birds and flowers, insects. Abstract lines and shapes
are used widely as a filling for recognizable subject matter.
• Purposeful elimination of three-dimensions is often applied through reduced
shading.
• Art Nouveau artifacts are beautiful objects of art, but not necessarily very
functional.

Noted Art Nouveau practitioners

Art Nouveau in Britain

• Walter Crane (Art, drawing, and graphics)
• Aubrey Beardsley (Art, drawing, and graphics)
Art Nouveau Belgium, Swiss and France
• Alphonse Mucha (Murals and mosaics)
• Émile Gallé (Glassware and stained glass)

Art Nouveau in Spain

• Antoni Gaudí ( Murals and mosaics)

Art Nouveau in Austria

• Gustav Klimt (Murals and mosaics)
• Koloman Moser

GUSTAV KLIMT

Gustav Klimt had a formal art training at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts. In 1882,
Klimt opened a studio of his own with his brother Ernst and Franz Matsch, a fellow
student. They specialized on executing mural paintings. Gustav Klimt's style is highly
ornamental. The Art Nouveau movement favored organic lines and contours. Klimt used
a lot of gold and silver colors in his art work - certainly a heritage from his father's
profession as a gold and silver engraver.

Klimt's works of art were a scandal at his time because of the display of nudity and the
subtle sexuality and eroticism. His best know painting The Kiss, was first exhibited in
1908. The artist created few paintings on traditional canvas. He saw himself more as a
mural painter and decorative artist. For his mural works Klimt used a wide variety of
media - metal, glass and ceramics.

The kiss , 1907-1908 Avenue in Schlob Kammer Park, (1902)

ALPHONSE MUCHA

Alfons Maria Mucha (or Alphonse Maria Mucha) was a Czech Art Nouveau, or
Secession painter and decorative artist. Alfons Maria Mucha was born in the town of
Ivancice, Moravia. He worked at decorative painting jobs in Moravia, mostly painting
theatrical scenery, then in 1879 moved to Vienna to work for a leading Viennese
theatrical design company, while informally furthering his artistic education.
In 1894, he produced the artwork for a lithographed poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt at
the Theatre de la Renaissance. Mucha's lush stylized poster art won him fame and
numerous commissions.

By this time Mucha had developed his own personal style - characterized by art
nouveau elements, tender colors and Byzantine decorative elements. Mucha produced a
flurry of paintings, posters, advertisements, and book illustrations, as well as designs for
jewelery, carpets, wallpaper, and theatre sets in what came to be known as the Art
Nouveau style. His works frequently featured beautiful healthy young women in flowing
vaguely Neoclassical looking robes, often surrounded by lush flowers. Mucha used
lithography as the printing technique for his posters.
Meditation c.1886 The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia (1861) 1914

CUBISM

INTRODUCTION

Cubism was a 20th century art movement that revolutionized European painting and
sculpture. It developed as a short but highly significant art movement between about
1907 and 1914 in France. There are two main types of cubism, analytical cubism and
synthetic cubism. Analytic cubism was mainly practiced by Braque, and is very simple,
with dark, almost monochromatic colours. Synthetic cubism was much more energetic,
and often made use of collage including the use of several two-dimensional materials.
This type of cubism was developed by Picasso. During the two artists' time of
collaboration from 1907 and ending with the First World War, their styles intermingled
and they painted the same subjects, making their works at times closely resemble each
other.

Characteristics of CUBISM

• In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an

abstracted form.
• Instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from
a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.
• Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles presenting no coherent
sense of depth.
• The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the
ambiguous shallow space

Notable Cubist artists

• Georges Braque
• Pablo Picasso
• Fernand Leger
• Piet Mondrian
 • Sir Jacob Epstein
• Juan Gris

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain, on October 2, 1881. He had always been an art
genius and had been painting since he was ten. Picasso studied in Barcelona where he
lived from 1895 to 1904. He showed prodigious artistic ability as a youth with very early
works reflecting Art Nouveau influences.

Blue Period

Picasso made three trips to Paris between 1900 and 1902. He finally moved there in
1904. This is where he went through what is known now as his blue period. During this
time he used mainly different shades of blue and portrayed the seedy parts of town
including beggars, alcoholics, and prostitutes.

The Rose Period

After he moved to Paris he met Fernande Oliver who influenced the mood of his work
from dark and gloomy blues to light and happy reds and pinks which led this period in
time to be called the Rose Period. At this time he painted many pictures of a circus that
he visited often during his stay in Paris.

Protocubism

In 1906, Picasso moved to Gosol, Spain where he changed his style. His new works
where influenced by Greek, Iberian, and African art. He began to use more geometrical
figures in his artwork. During this time he also made a picture that resembled fractured
glass.

Analytic Cubism

Between 1908 and 1911 Picasso and George Braque painted landscape paintings in a
new style. This style was termed cubism by a critic who described the work as being
made of "little cubes". They created this style by breaking down and analyzing an
object. The main color scheme was browns and other muddy colors (monochromatic
color).

Synthetic Cubism
In 1912, Picasso began to paste paper and pieces of oilcloth to his paintings and then
paint either on them or around them. This technique is called synthetic cubism. This is a
more decorative, colorful style of art. He has done some synthetic cubism, but not
particularly a lot.

Realist and Surrealist

Pablo Picasso has said that he was not a surrealist, but many of his pictures have a
surrealist feel to them. During this time (World War I) he went to Rome and met and
married Olga Koklova. He painted many realistic pictures of her. Later in the 1920's he
painted neoclassical pictures of women and pictures inspired by Greek mythology.

Bread, Fruit and Table 1908 The Mandolin,1910 Guitar,Sheet music and
(Early Cubist Period ) (Analytical Cubism ) Glass,1912 (S.CU)

DADAISM

Introduction

Dadaism was an art movement that followed Cubism, Expressionism, and Fauvism
Dadaism or Dada is a post-World War I cultural movement that began in neutral Zürich,
Switzerland. The movement primarily involved in visual art as well as literature (mainly
poetry), theatre and graphic design.
The Dadaists were mainly a group of ill-organized artists experimenting with bizarre art
and literature. The most notable Dada artists include Hugo Ball, Jean Arp, and Marcel
Duchamp. The artists wanted to take modern art into a direction that would broaden the
meaning of "what art was and could be". Dadaists felt that art and literature had been
exploited purely for money; and that artists had somehow lost the true identity of art.

Characteristics of DADAISM
 • Works were characterized by a deliberate irrationality
• Rejection of the prevailing standards of art
• According to its proponents, Dada was not art — it was "anti-art".
• It was anti-art in the sense that Dadaists protested against the contemporary
academic and cultured values of art.
• Where art was concerned with aesthetics, Dada ignored aesthetics.
• If art were to have at least an implicit or latent message, Dada strove to have no
meaning —
• Interpretation of Dada is dependent entirely on the viewer.
• If art is to appeal to sensibilities, Dada is to offend.
• The work was also absurd and playful but at times intuitive and even cryptic.
• Methods of production were unconventional, employing the chance technique,
and found objects.

Early practitioners
• Marcel Duchamp - France and United States
• Hugo Ball - Switzerland
• Max Ernst - Germany
• Hans Arp- Switzerland, France and Germany

ERNST MAX

Ernst, Max 1891–1976, was a German painter. After World War I, Ernst joined the Dada
movement in Paris and then became a founder of surrealism. Apart from the medium of
collage, for which he is well known, Ernst developed other devices to express his
fantastic vision. Ernst developed a fascination with birds that was prevalent in his work.
Constantly experimenting, in 1925 he invented a graphic art technique called frottage,
which uses pencil rubbings of objects as a source of images. In frottage he rubbed black
chalk on paper held against various materials such as leaves, wood, and fabrics to achieve
bizarre effects.
Dadaville, Max Ernst,1923-24 Aquis Submersus, Max Ernst,1919

JEAN ARP / HANS ARP

Jean Arp / Hans Arp (September 16, 1886 – June 7, 1966) was a German-French
sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper.
Arp was a founding member of the Dada movement in Zürich in 1916. In 1920, as Hans
Arp, along with Max Ernst, and the social activist Alfred Grünwald, he set up the
Cologne Dada group. However, in 1925 his work also appeared in the first exhibition of
the surrealist group at the Galerie Pierre in Paris.

'Forest' Hans Arp, 1916 'Configuration' Hans Arp, 1927-28

"Cloud Shepherd" Hans Arp (1953),

MARCEL DUCHAMP

Marcel Duchamp (July 28, 1887 – October 2, 1968) was a French artist ,whose work
and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post-World War II Western
art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art
world. Duchamp and Dada are most often connected by his submission of Fountain, a
urinal, to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917. s

Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917,

SURREALISM,

Introduction
Surrealism, a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century.
Surrealism was developed by the 20th-century literary and artistic movement. The
surrealist movement of visual art and literature flourished in Europe between World Wars
I and II. Surrealism grew principally out of the earlier Dada movement, which before
World War I produced works of anti-art that deliberately defied reason.

Characteristics of Surrealism

• The works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions

• Stressing the subconscious or no rational significance of imagery arrived at by
automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.
• Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of
experience so completely, that the world of dream and fantasy would be joined to
the everyday rational world in "an absolute reality, a surreality."
 • Continued thought processes and investigations into the mind produce today
some of the best art ever seen.

The Surrealist circle was made up of many of the great artists of the 20th century,
including Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Man Ray, Joan Miro, and Rene
Magritte.Salvador Dali is the best-known Surrealist artist.

SALVADOR DALI

Salvador Dali, (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), was a Spanish (Catalan) surrealist
painter.Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking, bizarre, and beautiful
images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of
Renaissance masters. His best known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed
in 1931.

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931,

Dali often mixed images of the real world with dream-like images. They talked about
things in one's unconscious mind that, for many, seem often more real than the world
around them. It concentrated on the idea of the powerful nature of a dream.

In 1931, Dalí painted one of his most famous works, The Persistence of Memory.
Sometimes called Soft Watches or Melting Clocks, the work introduced the surrealistic
image of the soft, melting pocket watch. The general interpretation of the work is that the
soft watches debunk the assumption that time is rigid or deterministic, and this sense is
supported by other images in the work, such as the wide expanding landscape and the
ants and fly devouring the other watches.

ABSTRACT ART

Introduction

Abstract Art is art that is not an accurate representation of a form or object.

This representation can be differed in many ways including the shape, color, and form.
The artist takes the object and then either simplifies it or exaggerates it using these things.
Abstract art began in the avant-garde movements of the late 19th century –
Impressionism, neo-Impressionism, and post-Impressionism. These styles of painting
reduced the importance of the original subject matter and began to emphasize the creative
process of painting itself. In the first decade of the 20th century, some painters in Europe
began to abandon the established Western conventions of imitating nature and of
storytelling and developed a new artistic form and expression.

There are many different abstract styles. There are three forms of abstraction
that really stands out: Cubism, Neoplasticism, and Abstract Expressionism. There are
many abstract artists who painted in these styles. Some of the most famous cubist were
Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Abstract art has dominated western art from 1920 and
has continued to produce many variations. In the 1940s it gained renewed vigour in the
works of the abstract expressionists, and in the 1950s minimal art developed as a more
impersonal, simplified style of abstraction.

Characteristics of an Abstract art

• The artist takes the object and then either simplifies it or exaggerates it using
these things.
• This representation can be differed in many ways including the shape, color, and
form.
• ‘Abstraction’ - no longer reflect a conventional reality, and nonobjective, or
‘pure’, art forms, without any reference to reality.
• Abstract art is now generally understood to mean art that does not depict objects
in the natural world.
• Used to describe art—keeping only an allusion of the original natural subject.
• Such paintings were often claimed to capture something of the depicted objects'
immutable intrinsic qualities rather than its external appearance.
• Abstract art could be termed as, "non-figurative art," "non-objective art," and
"non-representational art".
• Ornamental art without figurative representation.

Abstract artists
Vasily Kandinsky is generally regarded as the first abstract artist. From 1910 to 1914
he worked on two series, Improvisations and Compositions, in which he moved
gradually towards total abstraction. His highly coloured canvases influenced many
younger European artists. In France around 1907, the cubists Pablo Picasso and
Georges Braque also developed a semi-abstract style; their pictures, some partly
collage, were composed mainly of fragmented natural images. By 1912 Robert
Delaunay had pushed cubism to complete abstraction.
 Wassily Kandinsky, On White 2, 1923
Kazimir Malevich, Black square 1915

EXPRESSIONISM (1905 - 1945)

Introduction
Expressionism as a general term refers to art in which the image of reality is more or less
heavily distorted in form and color in order to make it expressive of the artist’s inner
feelings or ideas about it. Originating in Germany, expressionism developed during the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. Expressionist sought to reveal inner, spiritual and
emotional foundations of human existence, rather than the external, surface appearances
depicted by the Impressionists. More generally the term refers to art that expresses
intense emotion.

Expressionism gained significance between years 1905 and 1918. The Expressionist
movement took inspiration from Symbolism, Fauvism, and Cubism in its departure from
accurate subject matter. Expressionism found its roots in two groups of German painters,
Die Bruecke and Der Blaue Reiter. Later in the 20th century, the movement influenced a
large number of other artists, including the abstract expressionists, the latter consisting
primarily of American artists such as Jackson Pollock. The neo-expressionists were a
revival movement in Germany beginning in the 1970s,involving artists Anselm Kiefer
and Georg Baselitz. At the tail end of the 20th century, a group of artists in the American
South developed a style known as Southern expressionism.

Characteristics of Expressionism
• Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional
effect; it is a subjective art form.
• The subjects of expressionist works were frequently distorted, or otherwise
altered.
• Landmarks of this movement were violent colors and exaggerated lines.
• Use of bold colors, distorted forms, painted in a careless manner.
• Application of formal elements is vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic.
 • Two-dimensional, without perspective, and based on feelings rather than rational
thought
• Expressionists were trying to pinpoint the expression of inner experience rather
than solely realistic portrayal.
• Expressionists focused on capturing vivid emotional reactions through powerful
colors and dynamic compositions instead.

Major Expressionists include:

• Vincent van Gogh
• James Ensor
• Edvard Munch
• Oskar Kokoschka
• Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

James Ensor,1896
The Family of Saltimbanques Death chasing the flock of mortals

FUTURISM

Introduction
Futurism was an international art movement founded in Italy in 1909. Futurism was a
largely Italian and Russian movement although it also had adherents in other countries,
England for example. The Futurists explored every medium of art, including painting,
sculpture, poetry, theatre, music, architecture and even gastronomy.

Characteristics of Futurism

• Emphasized the dynamism, speed, energy, and power of the machine and the
vitality, change, and restlessness of modern life in general.
• Futurist painting and sculpture were especially concerned with expressing
movement and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms.
• Brilliant colors and flowing brush strokes also additionally were creating the
illusion of movement.
• Futurists mixed activism and artistic research.
 • Futurism influenced many other 20th century art movements, including Art Deco,
Vorticism, Constructivism and Surrealism.

Some major futurists were:

• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

• Giacomo Balla
• Carlo Carra
• Umberto Boccioni
• Gino Severini

Five points of Futurists artists:

• Abstract light and color

• Movement and Speed
• Dynamism of form
• Interpenetration of subjects where different elements of work merge into each
other
• The Prismatic or shattering effect

Giacomo Balla (Italian, 1871-1958) Street Light 1909,

Abstract Speed- The Car has passed Abstract light and colour

Luigi Russolo, 1912-1913 Marcel Duchamp ,1912

Dynamism of an Automobile The passage from
Virgin to Bride
CONSTRUCTIVISM

Introduction

Constructivism means to construct art. Constructivism was first created in Russia in 1913
when the Russian sculptor Vladimir Tatlin, during his journey to Paris, discovered the
works of Braque and Picasso. When Tatlin was back in Russia, he began producing
sculptures out of assemblages, but he abandoned any reference to precise subjects or
themes.

Characteristics of Constructivism

• Constructivism art refers to the optimistic, non-representational relief

construction, sculpture, and painting.
• Constructivism was one the first movements to adopt a strictly non-objective
subject matter.
• The movement’s work was mainly geometric and precisely composed,
sometimes through mathematics and measuring tools.
• They favored the basic shapes of squares, rectangles, circles and triangles.
• Two of the main facets upon which the basis of constructivism was originally
conceived were functionalism and non-representation in art.
• Russian Artist depicted art that was mostly three dimensional
• Constructivists used an array of materials including wood, celluloid, nylon, plexi-
glass, tin, cardboard, and wire welded or glued together.
• They constructed art from materials such as steel, glass, rope etc.

The most notable constructivist artists were Vladimir Tatlin, El Lissitzky, Kazimir
Malevich, and Aleksandr Rodchenko. Most art historians would consider the token piece
of soviet constructivist art to be Tatlin's "Monument to the Third International" which
was made out of iron and glass and meant to be a monument to soviet artists. The
intricately abstract structure was eventually supposed to be a building which would
enclose lecture halls and rooms for meetings and conferences, but the Soviet government
deemed the model too abstract to be made into a real building.
 Tatlin "Monument to the Third International" c. 1920

El Lissitzky "Proun" c. 1922-1923 Malevich "Untitled" c. 1916