The document discusses developments in modernist art in the early 20th century. It covers [1] post-World War I Expressionism in Germany and the intense realistic works dealing with the war's aftermath. It also discusses [2] the origins and content of Surrealism and fantasy art. Finally, it examines [3] utopian art movements like Suprematism, Constructivism, and De Stijl that aimed to use art to improve society, as well as the turn toward more organic forms in sculpture and architecture.

1. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
12e
Chapter 33
The Development of Modernist Art:
The Early 20th Century
1

2. European Expressionism after World War I
• Understand the intense realistic post-war expressionism of
German artists.
• Understand the European post-war malaise and the
importance of cathartic subject matter in Expressionist art.
• Examine the origins, development, methods and content of
Surrealism and Fantasy art.
2

3. Post-war Expressionism
• Understand the post-war expressionism of German artists.
3

4. Figure 33-38
GEORGE GROSZ, Fit
for Active Service,
1916–1917. Pen and
brush and ink on paper,
1’ 8” x 1’ 2 3/8”.
Museum of Modern
Art, New York (A.
Conger Goodyear
Fund). Copyright ©
Estate of George
Grosz/Licensed by
VAGA, New York, NY. 4

5. Figure 33-39 MAX BECKMANN, Night, 1918–1919. Oil on canvas, 4’ 4 3/8” x 5’ 1/4”.
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf.
5

6. Figure 33-40 OTTO DIX, Der Krieg (The War), 1929–1932. Oil and tempera on wood, 6’ 8 1/3”
x 13’ 4 3/4”. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister, Dresden.
6

7. Figure 33-42 WILHELM LEHMBRUCK, Seated Youth, 1917. Composite tinted and plaster, 3’ 4
5/8” x 2’ 6” x 3’ 9”. National Gallery of Art, Washington. (Andrew W. Mellon Fund). 7

8. Figure 33-43 ERNST BARLACH, War
Monument, from Güstrow Cathedral,
Güstrow, Germany, 1927. Bronze.
Schildergasse Antoniterkirche, Cologne.
8

9. Surrealism and Fantasy
• Examine the development, methods and content of
Surrealism and Fantasy art.
9

10. Figure 33-44 GIORGIO DE
CHIRICO, Melancholy and
Mystery of a Street, 1914. Oil on
canvas, 2’ 10 1/4” x 2’ 4 1/2”.
Private collection. 10

11. Figure 33-45 MAX ERNST,
Two Children Are Threatened
by a Nightingale, 1924. Oil on
wood with wood
construction, 2’ 3 1/2” high,
1’ 10 1/2” wide, 4 1/2” deep.
Museum of Modern Art, New
York (purchase). 11

12. Figure 33-46 SALVADOR DALÍ, The Persistence of Memory, 1931. Oil on canvas, 9 1/2” x 1’ 1”.
Museum of Modern Art, New York (given anonymously).
12

13. Figure 33-47 RENÉ MAGRITTE, The Treachery (or Perfidy) of Images, 1928–1929. Oil on
canvas, 1’ 11 5/8” x 3’ 1”. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
13

14. Figure 33-48 MERET OPPENHEIM, Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), 1936. Fur-covered cup, 4
3/8” in diameter; saucer, 9 3/8” in diameter; spoon, 8”. Museum of Modern Art, New York
(purchase). 14

15. Figure 33-49
FRIDA KAHLO,
The Two Fridas,
1939. Oil on
canvas, 5’ 7” x 5’
7”. Collection of
the Museo de
Arte Moderno,
Mexico City. 15

16. Figure 33-50 JOAN MIRÓ, Painting, 1933. 5’ 8” x 6’ 5”. Museum of Modern Art, New York
(Loula D. Lasker Bequest by exchange). 16

17. Figure 33-51 PAUL KLEE,
Twittering Machine, 1922. Watercolor
and pen and ink, on oil transfer
drawing on paper, mounted on
cardboard, 2’ 1” x 1’ 7”. Museum of
Modern Art, New York (purchase). 17

18. New Art for a New Society
• Understand the early 20th century belief that art could
contribute to improving society.
• Examine the art movements that espoused utopian notions
such as Suprematism and Constructivism in Russia, De Stijl
in Holland, and the Bauhaus in Germany.
• Examine the International Style in architecture and the
concept of modernism in architecture.
• Understand the geometric forms of Art Deco and Modern
Sculpture.
• Understand the desire for natural and organic forms in
sculpture and architecture.
18

19. The Utopian Styles
• Examine the forms and utopian notions in Suprematism,
Constructivism, and in De Stijl.
19

20. Figure 33-52 KAZIMIR
MALEVICH, Suprematist
Composition: Airplane Flying,
1915 (dated 1914). Oil on
canvas, 1’ 10 7/8” x 1’ 7”.
Museum of Modern Art, New
York (purchase). 20

21. Figure 33-53 NAUM GABO, Column, ca.
1923 (reconstructed 1937). Perspex, wood,
metal, glass, 3’ 5” x 2’ 5” x 2’ 5”. Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York.
21

22. Figure 33-54 Photograph of
Vladimir Tatlin with Monument to
the Third International, 1919–1920.
Annenberg School for
Communication, University of
Southern California, Los Angeles. 22

23. Figure 33-55
PIET
MONDRIAN,
Composition in
Red, Blue, and
Yellow, 1930. Oil
on canvas, 2’ 4
5/8” x 1’ 9 1/4”.
Private Collection. 23

24. Modernism in Architecture
• Examine the forms of Modernist designs and architecture of
the Bauhaus and in the International Style.
24

25. Figure 33-56 GERRIT THOMAS RIETVELD, Schröder House, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1924.
25

26. Figure 33-57 LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-
NAGY, From the Radio Tower Berlin,
1928. Gelatin silver print. The Art
Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
26

27. Figure 33-58
JOSEF ALBERS,
Homage to the
Square:
“Ascending”,
1953. Oil on
composition
board, 3’ 7 1/2” x
3’ 7 1/2”.
Collection of
Whitney Museum
of American Art,
New York
(purchase). 27

28. Figure 33-59 WALTER GROPIUS, Shop Block, the Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany, 1925–1926.
28

29. Figure 33-60 MARCEL BREUER, tubular chair, 1925.
29

30. Figure 33-61 GUNTA STÖLZL, Gobelin
tapestry, 1926–1927. Linen and cotton.
30

31. Figure 33-62 LUDWIG MIES VAN DER
ROHE, model for a glass skyscraper, Berlin,
Germany, 1922 (no longer extant).
31

32. Figure 33-63 LE CORBUSIER, perspective drawing for Domino House project, Marseilles,
France, 1914.
32

33. Figure 33-64 LE CORBUSIER, Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France, 1929.
33

34. Figure 33-65 WILLIAM VAN ALEN, Chrysler Building,
New York, New York, 1928–1930. Spire of stainless steel,
overall height 1,048’.
34

35. Erte
DIRECTOIRE
Bronze statue with hand painted
multicolored patina, 1985
23.0 in. by 13.0 in.
35

36. Natural and Organic Forms
• Reaction against mechanization and growth of technology.
• FLW worked under Louis Sullivan
• “architecture of democracy” – right to move in a “free” space
• Non-symmetrical designs interact spatially w/ natural surroundings
– adjust the building to its site
• **continuity**
• “prairie house” – reaching out toward the flatlands – no façade,
roofs extended beyond walls, wandering plan based around central
hearth, enclosed patios/strip windows – all give sense of motion
inside & out [Robie House]
• Fallingwater – enclosing space, not mass
• Usonian houses – less expensive, basis for suburban housing
developments post-WWII
36

37. Figure 33-66 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1907–1909.
37

38. Figure 33-67
FRANK
LLOYD
WRIGHT,
plan of the
Robie House,
Chicago,
Illinois, 1907–
1909. 38

39. Figure 33-68 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Kaufmann House (Fallingwater), Bear Run,
Pennsylvania, 1936–1939. 39

40. •Essence of flight
•Curving surfaces, ovoid forms
•Cycle of life
Figure 33-69 CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI, Bird in
Space, 1928. Bronze (unique cast), 4’ 6” x 8” x 6” high.
Museum of Modern Art, New York (given anonymously).
40

41. • Pristine shape w/
organic vitality
• Conscious use of
void or negative
space
Figure 33-70 BARBARA HEPWORTH, Oval Sculpture (No. 2), 1943. Plaster cast, 11 1/4” x
16 1/4” x 10”. Tate Gallery, London. 41

42. • Organic forms + void use
• Wood – use of wood grain
• Metal/stone – hardness & solidity
• Reclining female figure
Figure 33-71 HENRY MOORE, Reclining Figure, 1939. Elm wood, 3’ 1” x 6’ 7” x 2’ 6”.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (Founders Society purchase with funds from the Dexter M.
Ferry, Jr. Trustee Corporation).
42

43. • Inspired by Mondrian
• Duchamp coined term
“mobiles”
• Reality’s dynamism
• Love of nature – suggest
clouds, leaves, waves,
etc.
Figure 33-72 ALEXANDER CALDER, Untitled, 1976. Aluminum honeycomb, tubing, and paint,
29’ 10 1/2” x 76’. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Gift of the Collectors Committee). 43

44. Art as Political Statement
• Expressing emotions and facts of social injustice
• Guernica = grief
• Propaganda = Soviet worker ennobled
• Depression = WPA projects to support artists (art for federal
buildings)
• Personifying conditions of displaced (Lange), loneliness &
isolation (Hopper), AA Migration (Lawrence)
• Regionalism (Wood) – nationalist feeling
• Mexican muralists – mixing European w/ traditional images,
pride in history
44

45. Figure 33-73 PABLO PICASSO, Guernica, 1937. Oil on canvas, 11’ 5 1/2” x 25’ 5 3/4”.
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
45

46. Figure 33-74 VERA MUKHINA, Worker
and Collective Farm Worker. Sculpture for
the Soviet Pavilion, Paris Exposition, 1937.
Stainless steel, approx. 78’ high.
46

47. Rebellion and Social Injustice as Subject
Matter in Art
• Examine the depiction of social injustice, poverty, urban
isolation and other social issues in art.
47

48. Figure 33-75 DOROTHEA
LANGE, Migrant Mother,
Nipomo Valley, 1935. Gelatin
silver print. Copyright © the
Dorothea Lange Collection, The
Oakland Museum of California,
City of Oakland (gift of Paul S.
Taylor). 48

49. Figure 33-76 EDWARD HOPPER, Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 2’ 6” x 4’ 8 11/16”.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (Friends of American Art Collection).
49

50. Figure 33-77 JACOB LAWRENCE, No.
49 from The Migration of the Negro, 1940–
1941. Tempera on masonite, 1’ 6” x 1’. The
Phillips Collection, Washington.
50

51. Documenting Lives in Art
• Examine the political content of art resulting from African
American migration along with the themes of Regionalism.
51

52. Figure 33-78 GRANT
WOOD, American Gothic,
1930. Oil on beaverboard, 2’ 5
7/8” x 2’ 7/8”. Art Institute of
Chicago, Chicago (Friends of
American Art Collection). 52

53. Figure 33-79 THOMAS HART BENTON, Pioneer Days and Early Settlers, State Capitol,
Jefferson City, 1936. Mural. Copyright © T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/
Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. 53

54. The Mexican Muralists
• Examine the art of the Mexican muralists along with their
mediums, techniques, and methods.
54

55. Figure 33-80 JOSÉ CLEMENTE OROZCO, Epic of American Civilization: Hispano-America
(panel 16), Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, ca. 1932–1934. Fresco. Copyright
© Orozco Valladares Family/SOMAAP, Mexico/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. 55

56. Figure 33-81 DIEGO RIVERA, Ancient Mexico, from the History of Mexico fresco murals,
National Palace, Mexico City, 1929–1935. Fresco. 56

57. Discussion Questions
 What caused artists in the early 20th century to reject
observational naturalism in art?
 How did Cubism influence other art styles in the early 20th
century?
 Why is art a powerful means for the expression of
sociopolitical concerns?
57