Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (detail), oil on canvas, 1907
In the early 20th century, many artists are going to build off the avant-garde art movements from the late 19th century. Artists further abstract subject matter and experiment with ideas and materials until they eventually arrive at purely non-objective imagery.
With this new broad range of acceptable styles and subjects, artists are free to experiment in ways not seen before the 20th century. The 20th century art world is characterized by quickly changing overlapping and simultaneous movements that are often political or philosophical in nature.
Khan Academy: An introduction to Photography in the early 20th century (reading)
Expressionism and Cubism:
Expressionists and Cubists are going to continue to abstract and distort subject matter (especially the human figure) in the manner set forth by late 19th century artists such as Van Gogh, but to two very different ends. Expressionists are concerned with the personal and emotional, whereas the Cubists are concerned with the formal and analytical.
Interestingly, Cubist distortions of the human figure are often interpreted emotionally, as anguished and brutal depictions of human beings.
EXPRESSIONISM - Khan Academy: Schiele, Seated Male Nude (video - 2:59)
CUBISM - Khan Academy: Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (video - 7:44)
Nonrepresentational Art - Pure Form:
Painting undergoes a bit of a crisis in the early 20th century. What is the role of painting in a world where you can quickly capture a realistic image with the aid of a camera? The answer for some was that painting should celebrate the things that are unique to the medium - flatness, color, and most of all, paint. Artists like Mondrian were interested in taking painting down to its essence or pure form by limiting their shape and color usage, thereby emphasizing flatness and material.
Khan Academy: Mondrian, Composition No. II, with Red and Blue (video - 6:02)
Dada and Surrealism:
Dada was a direct reaction to the violence and atrocities of World War I. These artists embraced the nonsensical, wordplay, and irreverent humor as a critique of the "rational" culture that led to the irrational horrors of the war.
DADA - Khan Academy: Art as concept: Duchamp, In Advance of the Broken Arm (video - 10:07)
Dada was a short-lived movement, lasting from about 1914-1918. Many of the artists associated with Dada would become Surrealists. Surrealism built on the art of Dada. Influenced by psychoanalysis, Surrealists explored the worlds of dreams and dark desires.
Khan Academy: Surrealism, an Introduction (reading)
Khan Academy: Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus (video - 4:07)
Post World War II - Abstract Expressionism:
"We felt the moral crisis of a world in shambles, a world destroyed by a great depression and a fierce World War, and it was impossible at that time to paint the kind of paintings that we were doing—flowers, reclining nudes, and people playing the cello." - Barnett Newman (American Abstract Expressionist Artist)
Dada was a short-lived movement, lasting from about 1914-1918. Many of the artists associated with Dada would become Surrealists. Surrealism built on the art of Dada. Influenced by psychoanalysis, Surrealists explored the worlds of dreams and dark desires.
Khan Academy: Surrealism, an Introduction (reading)
Khan Academy: Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus (video - 4:07)
Post World War II - Abstract Expressionism:
"We felt the moral crisis of a world in shambles, a world destroyed by a great depression and a fierce World War, and it was impossible at that time to paint the kind of paintings that we were doing—flowers, reclining nudes, and people playing the cello." - Barnett Newman (American Abstract Expressionist Artist)
Barnett Newman, "Response to the Reverend Thomas F. Mathews," in Revelation, Place and Symbol (Journal of the First Congress on Religion, Architecture and the Visual Arts), 1969.
The Art Assignment: The Case For Mark Rothko (video - 4:19)
Khan Academy: The Impact of Abstract Expressionism (reading)
The Beginnings of Contemporary Art - Pop Art and Minimalism:
Pop Art and Minimalism represent two very different approaches toward art, but the movements happened at essentially the same time. Pop Art could be viewed as a reaction against Minimalism, although they actually have a similar goal - the removal of personal and emotional implications from art.
MINIMALISM - The Art Assignment: The Case for Minimalism (video - 4:36)
POP ART - The Art Assignment: The Case for Andy Warhol (video 3:41)
The Art Assignment: The Case For Mark Rothko (video - 4:19)
Khan Academy: The Impact of Abstract Expressionism (reading)
The Beginnings of Contemporary Art - Pop Art and Minimalism:
Pop Art and Minimalism represent two very different approaches toward art, but the movements happened at essentially the same time. Pop Art could be viewed as a reaction against Minimalism, although they actually have a similar goal - the removal of personal and emotional implications from art.
MINIMALISM - The Art Assignment: The Case for Minimalism (video - 4:36)
POP ART - The Art Assignment: The Case for Andy Warhol (video 3:41)
