0134484592 ch32

Copyright © 2018, 2014, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Art History
Sixth Edition
Chapter 32
Modern Art in Europe and the
Americas, 1900–1950

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
32.a Identify the visual hallmarks of modern European and American art
and architecture from 1900–1950 for formal, technical, and expressive
qualities.
32.b Interpret the meaning of works of modern European and American
art from 1900–1950 based on their themes, subjects, and symbols.
32.c Relate modern European and American art and artists from 1900–
1950 to their cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
32.d Apply the vocabulary and concepts relevant to modern European
and American art, architecture, artists, and art history from 1900–1950.
32.e Interpret a work of modern European or American art from 1900–
1950 using the art historical methods of observation, comparison, and
inductive reasoning.
32.f Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an
argument or an interpretation of a work of modern European or American
art from 1900–1950.

Pablo Picasso MA JOLIE
1911–1912. Oil on canvas, 39-3/8" × 25-3/4" (100 × 65.4 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest
(176.1945). © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. ©
2016. Digital Image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York//Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-01]

Europe and America in the Early
Twentieth Century (1 of 2)
• World War I transformed the politics, economics, and culture of
Western society.
• Communism, fascism, and liberal–domestic capitalism all struggled for
dominance as political ideology.
• The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression
exacerbated hostility between European countries.

Europe and America in the Early
Twentieth Century (2 of 2)
• Dramatic changes in scientific knowledge unlocked the utility of
nuclear energy.
• Many innovations in technology and manufacturing led to longer lives
and better transportation.
• Psychology advanced with the theories of Freud and Pavlov.

EUROPE, THE AMERICAS, AND NORTH AFRICA, 1900–1950
[Map 32-01]

Early Modern Art and Architecture in
Europe
• Modern art began as subversive and intellectually demanding as well
as radical.
• However, most art was still bound to the idea that works of art were still
precious objects.
– The Dadaist and Surrealist movements would challenge this idea.

The Fauves: Wild Beasts of Color
(1 of 3)
• The Autumn Salon in France opened to such avant-garde as that
produced by Derain, Matisse, and Maurice de Vlaminck.
– These young painters were described as "wild beasts," fauves
who created works with strong colors and expressive brushwork.

(2 of 3)
• Derain's Mountains at Collioure depicts a recognizable landscape that
is conscious of itself as a canvas covered with paint.
• Matisse explored a desire for "deliberate harmonies" in The Woman
with the Hat, presenting nonnaturalistic colors and blunt brushwork on
an otherwise ordinary subject.

André Derain MOUNTAINS AT COLLIOURE
1905. Oil on canvas, 32" × 39-1/2" (81.5 × 100 cm).
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. John Hay Whitney Collection. © 2016 Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Image courtesy the National Gallery of
Art, Washington. [Fig. 32-02]

Henri Matisse THE WOMAN WITH THE HAT
1905. Oil on canvas, 31-3/4" × 23-1/2" (80.6 × 59.7 cm).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Bequest of Elise S. Haas. © 2016 Succession H.
Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 32-03]

(3 of 3)
• Henri Matisse's Le Bonheur de Vivre transforms hedonistic pursuits
within a pastoral landscape into a vibrant arrangement.
– Colors contribute as much to the joyous mood of the naked
revelers as the figures themselves.
– The composition contains continual movement but simultaneous
serenity.

Henri Matisse THE JOY OF LIFE (LE BONHEUR DE VIVRE )
1905–1906. Oil on canvas, 5'8-1/2" × 7'9-3/4" (1.74 × 2.38 m).
The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania. (BF 719). The Bridgeman Art Library ©
2016 Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Bridgeman Images.
[Fig. 32-04]

Picasso, "Primitivism," and the Coming
of Cubism (1 of 8)
• Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque worked together to invent Cubism.
• This "ism" allowed artists to comment on modern life and explore the
choices involved in perception versus representation.

of Cubism (2 of 8)
• Picasso's Early Art
– During Picasso's Rose period, he painted Family of
Salimbanques, depicting psychologically withdrawn figures on an
empty landscape.
– Around 1906, Picasso began to incorporate African images into
his works.

Pablo Picasso FAMILY OF SALTIMBANQUES
1905. Oil on canvas, 6'11-3/4" × 7'6-3/8" (2.1 × 2.3 m).
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Chester Dale Collection (1963.10.190).
© 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy
the National Gallery of Art, Washington. [Fig. 32-05]

of Cubism (3 of 8)
– Primitivism describes European perceptions of relative cultural
superiority and inferiority.

of Cubism (4 of 8)
– Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was one of the most radical paintings
of the time.
 Simplified features and almond-shaped eyes show Iberian and
African influence.
 Picasso shows prostitutes from a brothel, somewhat in
response to Matisse's Le Bonheur de Vivre.

Pablo Picasso LES DEMOISELLES D'AVIGNON (THE YOUNG LADIES OF AVIGNON)
1907. Oil on canvas, 8' × 7'8" (2.43 × 2.33 m).
(333.1939). © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. ©
2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-06]

of Cubism (5 of 8)
• Analytic Cubism
– Georges Braque carried formal experiment by reducing a
landscape painting to basic geometric shapes, "little cubes."
– Braque's Violin and Palette shows gradual abstraction of deep
space and recognizable subject matter.
 Still-life items are pushed to the shallow picture plane and
fragmented.

Georges Braque VIOLIN AND PALETTE
1909–1910. Oil on canvas, 36-1/8" × 16-7/8" (91.8 × 42.9 cm).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. (54.1412) © 2016 Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation/Art Resource,
NY. [Fig. 32-07]

of Cubism (6 of 8)
• Analytic Cubism
– The Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler depicts Picasso's first art
dealer, a man who saved many artists from destitution by buying
their early works.
– This style of Cubism was named for the way artists broke objects
into parts, as if to analyze them.

Pablo Picasso PORTRAIT OF DANIEL-HENRY KAHNWEILER
1910. Oil on canvas, 39-1/2" × 28-5/8" (100.6 × 72.8 cm).
The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman in memory of Charles B.
Goodspeed. © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Photo © The Art Institute of Chicago. [Fig. 32-08]

of Cubism (7 of 8)
• Synthetic Cubism
– Picasso's La Bouteille de Suze (Bottle of Suze) is a collage
composed of pasted elements.
 It evokes both place and activity.
 Newspaper pieces contain references to the First Balkan War.

Pablo Picasso BOTTLE OF SUZE (LA BOUTEILLE DE SUZE)
1912. Pasted paper, gouache, and charcoal, 25-3/4" × 19-3/4" (65.4 × 50.2 cm). Mildred
Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University purchase,
Kende Sale Fund, 1946. © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Photo © Hans Hinz/ARTOTHEK. [Fig. 32-09]

of Cubism (8 of 8)
• Synthetic Cubism
– Mandolin and Clarinet was a work that introduced the idea of
assemblage, which combined found objects and nontraditional
materials in three-dimensional sculpture.

Pablo Picasso MANDOLIN AND CLARINET
1913. Construction of painted wood with pencil marks,
25-5/8" × 14-1/8" × 9" (58 × 36 × 23 cm).
Musée Picasso, Paris. © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée Picasso de Paris)/Béatrice Hatala.
[Fig. 32-10]

The Bridge and Primitivism (1 of 3)
• Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra describes humanity's potential as
a "bridge" to a more perfect humanity in the future and inspired a
movement of German artists.
• This movement responded to Germany's rapid and intensive
urbanization and the associated feelings of alienation and anxiety.

• Erich Heckel's Standing Child presents a stylized 12-year-old girl
staring at the viewer with a disturbing, confident sexuality.
• Emil Nolde joined the Bridge group and brought his studies of African
art.
– Masks juxtaposes complementary colors to intensify the painting's
emotionality.

Erich Heckel STANDING CHILD
1910. Color woodcut, 14-3/4" × 10-3/4" (37.5 × 27.5 cm).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG
Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Digital Image Museum Associates/LACMA/Art Resource NY/Scala,
Florence. [Fig. 32-11]

Emil Nolde MASKS
1911. Oil on canvas, 28-3/4" × 30-1/2" (73.03 × 77.47 cm).
The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. Gift of the Friends of Art (54-90)
© Nolde Stiftung Seebüll, Germany. Photo: Jamison Miller. [Fig. 32-12]

• Kirchner's Street, Berlin captures the paradox of barbarism on the
verge of being unleashed in urban life.
– Harsh, raw colors and tilted, brutal perspective convey immediacy.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner STREET, BERLIN
1913. Oil on canvas, 47-1/2" × 35-7/8" (120.6 × 91 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase (274.39). © 2016 Digital image The
Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-13]

Independent Expressionists (1 of 3)
• Käthe Kollwitz produced etches showing the German Peasants' War
– The Outbreak portrays fury of peasants who charge forward
armed with their tools, bent on revenge against their oppressors.
– This work formed a passionate picture of political revolt for social
change.

Käthe Kollwitz THE OUTBREAK
From the “Peasants' War” series. 1903.
Etching, 20" × 23-1/3" (50.7 × 59.2 cm).
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. © 2016. Photo Scala, Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für
Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin. Photo: Joerg P. Anders. [Fig. 32-14]

• Paula Modersohn-Becker trained at the Berlin School of Art for
Women.
– Evidence of Gauguin's influence is apparent in the Reclining
Mother and Child, from the prominent eyes to the nudity.

Paula Modersohn-Becker RECLINING MOTHER AND CHILD
1906. Oil on canvas, 32 × 49″ (82.5 × 124.7 cm). Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum,
Bremen, Kunstsammlungen Böttcherstrasse.
© akg/P.Modersohn-Becker Museum. [Fig. 32-15]

• Egon Schiele's Self-Portrait Nude emphasizes the artist's physical and
psychological torment.
– His father's death from untreated syphilis affected his sexuality
and his portrayal of women in art.
– The figure lacks both hands and genitals, representing self-
punishment for indulgence in masturbation.

Egon Schiele SELF-PORTRAIT NUDE
1911. Gouache and pencil on paper, 20-1/4" × 13-3/4" (51.4 × 35 cm).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982 (1984.433.298). © 2016. Image copyright The
Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-16]

Spiritualism of the Blue Rider (1 of 2)
• This movement began as homage to a popular image of St. George on
the city emblem of Moscow, Russia.
• The Large Blue Horses by Franz Marc shows the animals enjoying a
spiritual relationship with nature.
– The curves of their bodies reflect the curves of the background
and suggest a harmony with their surroundings.

Franz Marc THE LARGE BLUE HORSES
1911. Oil on canvas, 3'5-3/8" × 5'11-1/4" (1.05 × 1.81 m).
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Gift of T.B. Walker Collection, Gilbert M. Walter Fund,
1942 [Fig. 32-17]

Spiritualism of the Blue Rider (2 of 2)
• Vasily Kandinsky explored the relationship between painting and
music, especially through the work of Arnold Schoenberg.
• In Improvisation 28, Kandinsky painted without a subject matter.
– The artist wanted viewers to look at the painting as if they
responding freely to a symphonic experience.

Vassily Kandinsky IMPROVISATION 28 (SECOND VERSION)
1912. Oil on canvas, 43-7/8" × 63-7/8" (111.4 × 162.2 cm).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding
Collection (37.239). © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation/Art Resource, NY. [Fig. 32-18]

Extending Cubism and Questioning Art
Itself (1 of 8)
• Cubism resonated across Europe, Russia, and the United States,
where artists interpreted and broadened the visual message of the
movement.
• France
– Robert Delaunay fused his interest in color with Cubism.
– Homage to Blériot suggests movement through bright circular
forms.

Robert Delaunay HOMAGE TO BLÉRIOT
1914. Watercolor on paper, 31" × 26" (78 × 67 cm).
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Donation of Henry-Thomas, 1976. © 2016
White Images/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-19]

Itself (2 of 8)
• France
– Delaunay and his wife Sonia fused Analytic Cubism with Fauvist
color in what was labeled "Orphism."
 They declared their work to be defined by "simultaneity," a
"here and now" concept.
 Sonia created a decorated Citroën to match one of her fashion
ensembles.

Sonia Delaunay CLOTHES AND CUSTOMIZED CITROËN B-12 (EXPO 1925
MANNEQUINS AVEC AUTO)
From Maison de la Mode. 1925. [Fig. 32-20]

Itself (3 of 8)
• France
– Fernand Léger developed a Purist version of Cubism based on
machine forms, a style affected by his wartime experience.
– Three Women is a machine-age version of the academic reclining
nude.
 Their bodies, arranged within a geometric grid seem made of
interchangeable parts.

Fernand Léger THREE WOMEN
1921. Oil on canvas, 6' 1/2" × 8'3" (1.84 × 2.52 m).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. © 2016 Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern
Art, New York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-21]

Itself (4 of 8)
• Italy
– The Futurist movement was based on the thrill, speed, and power
of urban life.
– Following Marinetti's "Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism" was
the "Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting," stating that previous
subjects must be swept aside to show the love of steel.

Itself (5 of 8)
• Italy
– Armored Train in Action was probably based on a Belgian
photograph.
 Severini uses jagged forms and splintered overlapping
surfaces to depict a violent scene from a disorienting
viewpoint.
 The artist believed in the concept of war as a social cleansing
agent.

Gino Severini ARMORED TRAIN IN ACTION
1915. Oil on canvas, 45-5/8" × 34-7/8" (115.8 × 88.5 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Richard S. Zeisler (287.86). © 2016 Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of
Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-22]

Itself (6 of 8)
• Italy
– Umberto Boccioni's major work, Unique Forms of Continuity in
Space, was inspired by Cubist figure studies.
 It features exaggerated muscular curves and counter-curves
expressing the figure's force and speed.

Umberto Boccioni UNIQUE FORMS OF CONTINUITY IN SPACE
1913. Bronze, 43-7/8" × 34-7/8" × 15-3/4" (111 × 89 × 40 cm).
(231.1948). © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala,

Itself (7 of 8)
• Russia
– Natalia Goncharova adopted avant-garde French styles with
ambivalence.
 She created a new Russian style known as Rayonism with
Mikhail Larionov.
 Electric Light displays simplified Cubist shapes and dynamic
Futurist composition.
– It is a study in enhanced colors and a symbol of
technological advance.

Natalia Goncharova ELECTRIC LIGHT
1913. Oil on canvas, 41-1/2" × 32" (105.5 × 81.3 cm).
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou. ©
2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.
Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Droits réservés.
[Fig. 32-24]

Itself (8 of 8)
• Russia
– Kazimir Malevich emerged as the first artist of truly
nonrepresentational art.
 Suprematist Painting (Eight Red Rectangles) focused solely on
formal issues in an effort to "liberate" the essential beauty of all
great art.
– The Russian avant-garde supported the Revolution that broke out
in 1917.

Kazimir Malevich SUPREMATIST PAINTING (EIGHT RED RECTANGLES)
1915. Oil on canvas, 22-1/2" × 18-7/8" (57 × 48 cm).
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. [Fig. 32-25]

Toward Abstraction in Sculpture
• Constantin Brancusi admired semiabstracted forms of art and believed
that the artists of such works successfully captured the "essence" of
their subject.
• The Newborn relates the shape of a human infant.
• Torso of a Young Man distills the figure into three essential metal
cylinders.

Constantin Brancusi THE NEWBORN
1915. Marble, 5-3/4" × 8-1/4" × 5-7/8" (14.6 × 21 × 14.8 cm).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection. (195.134.10).
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. © 2016. Photo The
Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-26]

Constantin Brancusi TORSO OF A YOUNG MAN
1924. Bronze on stone and wood bases; combined figure and bases
40-3/8" × 20" × 18-1/4" (102.4 × 50.5 × 46.1 cm).
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Gift
of Joseph H. Hirshhorn 1966 (HMSG 66.61). © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/ADAGP, Paris. [Fig. 32-27]

Dada: Questioning Art Itself (1 of 6)
• Beginning with the opening of the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916, the Dada
movement mocked the senselessness of rational thought.
– It questioned art itself.
• Dada means different things in different languages; for example, baby
talk in German, "hobbyhorse" in French, or "yes, yes" in Russian.

• Hugo Ball and the Cabaret Voltaire
– Hugo Ball's performance Reciting the Sound Poem, "Karawane"
reflects the spirit of the cabaret.
 He recited the nonsense-sound poem solemnly while covered
in cardboard tubes.

HUGO BALL RECITING THE SOUND POEM "KARAWANE"
Photographed at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich. 1916.
© 2016 Kunsthaus Zürich. All rights reserved. [Fig. 32-28]

• Marcel Duchamp
– Dada spread from Zürich to New York, Barcelona, Berlin, Cologne,
and Paris.
– Marcel Duchamp created readymades that appealed to the mind
rather than the senses.
 Fountain, a porcelain urinal turned 90 degrees and signed
under a pseudonym, was the most controversial.

Marcel Duchamp FOUNTAIN
1917. Porcelain plumbing fixture and enamel paint.
Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Louise and
Walter Arensberg Collection (1998-74-1). © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/ADAGP, Paris. © 2016. Photo The Philadelphia Museum of Art/Scala, Florence/Art
Resource, NY. [Fig. 32-29]

• Marcel Duchamp
– The artist again challenged the French art world with L.H.O.O.Q.,
a postcard reproduction of the Mona Lisa with a mustache and
beard drawn on her face.
 The phonetic sounds of the title translates politely to "she's hot
for it," adding a crude sexual innuendo to the cheapened
image and spawning disgust from critics.

Marcel Duchamp L.H.O.O.Q.
1919. Pencil on reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa,
7-3/4" × 4-3/4" (19.7 × 12.1 cm).
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection.
© 2016. Photo The Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resouce/Scala, Florence. © 2016
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. [Fig. 32-30]

• Berlin Dada
– Kurt Schwitters used discarded rail tickets, postage stamps, ration
coupons, and other detritus to create visual poetry.
 Merzbild 5B in particular includes newspaper scraps that
comment on the postwar disorder of defeated Germany.

Kurt Schwitters MERZBILD 5B (PICTURE-RED-HEART-CHURCH)
April 26, 1919. Collage, tempera, and crayon on cardboard, 32-7/8" × 23-3/4" (83.4 ×
60.3 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. (52.1325). © 2016 Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation/Art Resource, NY. [Fig. 32-31]

• Berlin Dada
– Hannah Höch concentrated on pointed political commentary
through photomontage.
 Cut with the Dada Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-belly
Cultural Epoch in Germany shows women physically cutting
apart the German establishment through images and text from
the popular press.

Hannah Höch CUT WITH THE DADA KITCHEN KNIFE THROUGH THE LAST WEIMAR
BEER-BELLY CULTURAL EPOCH IN GERMANY
1919. Photomontage and collage with watercolor, 44-7/8" × 35-3/8" (114 × 90 cm).
Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin. © 2016 Photo Scala, Florence/BPK,
Bildargentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin. Photo Jörg P. Anders. © 2016
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. [Fig. 32-32]

Modernist Tendencies in America
(1 of 9)
• While some American artists did work in abstract or Modern ways,
most preferred a more naturalistic manner until about 1915.

(2 of 9)
• Stieglitz and the "291" Gallery
– The Ashcan School featured artists grouped because of their
interest in depicting scenes of gritty urban life in New York City.
– Alfred Stieglitz chose a different approach in photographing New
York in poetic images of romanticized urban scenes, such as in
The Flatiron Building.

Alfred Stieglitz THE FLATIRON BUILDING, NEW YORK
1903. Photogravure, 6-11/16" × 3-5/16" (17 × 8.4 cm) mounted.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of J.B. Neumann, 1958 (58.577.37)
© 2016 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © 2016.
Digital image, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 32-33]

(3 of 9)
• The Armory Show and Home-Grown Modernism
– In 1913, the Armory Show exhibit landed in New York featuring
more than 1,600 works.
 Matisse and Duchamp displayed works that caused a public
outcry, wherein civic leaders called for a morals commission to
investigate the show.

(4 of 9)
– Arthur Dove was an early American Modernist who painted
abstract nature studies.
 Nature Symbolized No. 2 reflects the artist's felt experience of
the landscape itself.

Arthur Dove NATURE SYMBOLIZED NO. 2
c. 1911. Pastel on paper, 18" × 21-5/8" (45.8 × 55 cm).
The Art Institute of Chicago. Alfred Stieglitz Collection (1949.533). Photo © The Art
Institute of Chicago. [Fig. 32-34]

(5 of 9)
– Marsden Hartley painted Portrait of a German Officer with boldly
colored shapes, patterns, and military imagery.

A CLOSER LOOK: Portrait of a German Officer by Marsden Hartley
1914. Oil on canvas, 68-1/4" × 41-3/8" (1.78 × 1.05 m).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949 (49.70.42). ©
2016. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 32-35]

(6 of 9)
– Georgia O'Keeffe's famous flower paintings were described by
critics as essentially feminine, vaginal forms, but she demanded
that her work not be treated as caricature.

(7 of 9)
– City Night marks O'Keeffe's shift to painting New York
skyscrapers.
 It is a celebration of lofty buildings portrayed from a low
vantage point.

Georgia O'Keeffe CITY NIGHT
1926. Oil on canvas, 48" × 30" (123 × 76.9 cm).
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Gift of funds from the Regis Corporation, Mr. and Mrs. W.
John Driscoll, the Beim Foundation, the Larsen Fund (80.28). © 2016 Georgia O'Keeffe
Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 32-36]

(8 of 9)
– Jack-in-the-Pulpit, No. IV reveals the hidden inner forms of the
flower rather than depicting it the way it actually appears to the
viewer.

Georgia O'Keeffe JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT, NO. IV
1930. Oil on canvas, 40 × 30″ (101.6 × 76.2 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington,
DC. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe 1987.58.3.
© 2016 Georgia O'Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image
courtesy the National Gallery of Art, Washington. [Fig. 32-37]

(9 of 9)
– Photographer Imogen Cunningham emulated O'Keeffe's abstract
patterns in Two Callas, which captured the subject of the flower
from a straightforward camera angle.

Imogen Cunningham TWO CALLAS
c.1925. Gelatin-silver print, 12 × 91⁄2″ (30.4 × 24.1 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2016 Imogen Cunningham Trust. [Fig. 32-38]

Early Modern Architecture (1 of 7)
• Innovations in materials and engineering allowed for buildings of
unprecedented height to be developed.
• Architects in America embraced plain geometric shapes and
undecorated surfaces.

• European Modernism
– Adolf Look of Vienna considered ornament to be a sign of cultural
degeneracy, and so created Steiner House without embellishment.

Adolf Loos STEINER HOUSE, VIENNA
1910.
Photo: Carlo Fumarola. [Fig. 32-39]

• European Modernism
– Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) was the leading Purist
figure.
– Villa Savoye is an icon of the International Style, with domino
construction.
 It incorporated curtain walls and ribbon windows on the
exterior.

Le Corbusier VILLA SAVOYE, POISSY-SUR-SEINE
France. 1929–1930.
© F.L.C./ADAGP, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2016. © 2016. White
Images/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-40]

• American Modernism
– Architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Frederick C. Robie
House in the Prairie Style.
 The center of the design is formed around a chimney.
 His influences of Japanese aesthetic and sense of space were
apparent in the lack of dividing walls, especially on the main
floor.

Frank Lloyd Wright FREDERICK C. ROBIE HOUSE, CHICAGO
1906–1909. Chicago History Museum. (HB-19312A2).
© 2016 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
© Universal Images Group North America LLC/DeAgostini/Alamy Stock Photo.
[Fig. 32-41]

Frank Lloyd Wright COLOR RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DINING ROOM,
FREDERICK C. ROBIE HOUSE
Courtesy of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. © 2016 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation,
Scottsdale, AZ/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. [Fig. 32-42]

– Frank Lloyd Wright advocated an "organic" approach exemplified
in Fallingwater, in rural Pennsylvania.
 He cantilevered a series of broad concrete terraces out from
the house.
 Bands of windows and glass doors offer spectacular views and
unite the outdoor and indoor spaces.

Frank Lloyd Wright FALLINGWATER (EDGAR KAUFMANN HOUSE), MILL RUN
Pennsylvania. 1937.
© 2016 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ/Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Thomas A Heinz, AIA, Photographer © Western Pennsylvania Conservancy 2007.
[Fig. 32-43]

– Mary Colter developed a style concurrent and separate from
Wright.
 Lookout Studio is the most dramatic example, built into natural
rock at the Grand Canyon National Park.

Mary Colter LOOKOUT STUDIO, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
Arizona. 1914. Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection.
Photo ©2008 Maria Langer www.flyingmphotos.com. [Fig. 32-44]

Elements of Architecture: The
Skyscraper
• The use of metal beams and girders, separation of the support
structure from the cladding, the use of fireproof materials, and
integration of elevators, plumbing, central heating, lighting, and
ventilation were vital to the birth of skyscrapers.
• The Empire State Building features Art Deco style exterior cladding.

ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE: The Skyscraper

• The American Skyscraper
– Cass Gilbert's design of the Woolworth building included Gothic-
style details and was nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce."
– This style followed a trend that rejected the utilitarian in favor of
historicizing, an approach that was still popular on the east coast.

Cass Gilbert WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK
1911–1913.
Photo © Andrew Garn. [Fig. 32-45]

Art Between the Wars in Europe
• Artists responded to the destruction of World War I by criticizing the
Europeans.
• Other artists focused on rebuilding from the loss of a generation of
young men.
• Russian artist Vladimir Tatlin combined avant-garde sculpture with a
fully utilitarian building to spread the spirit of communism.

Vladimir Tatlin MODEL FOR THE MONUMENT TO THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL
1919–1920. Wood, iron, and glass. Destroyed.
© Vladimir Tatlin. [Fig. 32-46]

Utilitarian Art Forms in Russia (1 of 3)
• After socialist Bolsheviks turned to civil war during the 1917 Russian
Revolution.
• Constructivism
– Alexander Rodchenko helped establish a post-revolutionary group
of artists who worked together for the good of the state.

• Constructivism
– Worker's Club was a model designed for ease of use. It made use
of the Soviet wood industry
– Engineer El Lissitzky used Malevich's formal vocabulary to create
"Prouns," some of which were early examples of installation art.

Aleksandr Rodchenko WORKERS' CLUB
Exhibited at the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Paris.
1925. Art © Estate of Aleksandr Rodchenko/RAO, Moscow/VAGA, New York. [Fig. 32-47]

El Lissitzky PROUN SPACE
Created for the Great Berlin Art Exhibition. 1923, reconstruction 1971.
Collection Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Photo: Peter Cox,
Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
[Fig. 32-48]

• Socialist Realism
– Art in the Socialist Realism style was made to be more universally
accessible and politically useful.
 It was supported by the Association of Artists of Revolutionary
Russia, founded in 1922.
– Worker and Collective Farm Woman shows two figures as equal
partners holding up a hammer and sickle.

Vera Mukhina WORKER AND COLLECTIVE FARM WOMAN
Sculpture for the Soviet Pavilion, Paris Universal Exposition. 1937.
Stainless steel, height approx. 78' (23.8 m).
Art © Estate of Vera Mukhina/RAO, Moscow/VAGA, New York. [Fig. 32-49]

De Stijl in the Netherlands (1 of 2)
• Piet Mondrian led the De Stijl movement, which addressed two kinds
of beauty: sensual and rational.
– Composition with Yellow, Red, and Blue shows his restriction of
formal vocabulary to the primary colors and neutrals.
 He called it "dynamic equilibrium," and it introduced a universal
style with applications beyond art.

Piet Mondrian COMPOSITION WITH YELLOW, RED, AND BLUE
1927. Oil on canvas, 14-7/8" × 13-3/4" (37.8 × 34.9 cm).
The Menil Collection, Houston. © 2012 Mondrian/Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International
USA. [Fig. 32-50]

De Stijl in the Netherlands (2 of 2)
• Architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld created the Schröder House in
Utrect in the Modern movement known as the International Style.
– Dynamic equilibrium was applied to the entire house.
– The famous "Red-Blue" Chair in the bedroom is shown in a
partitioned bedroom.

Gerrit Rietveld SCHRÖDER HOUSE, UTRECHT
The Netherlands. 1925.
© Ger Bosma/Alamy Stock Photo. [Fig. 32-51]

Gerrit Rietveld INTERIOR, SCHRÖDER HOUSE, WITH "RED-BLUE" CHAIR
1925.
Photo: Jannes Linders. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/c/o Pictoright
Amsterdam. [Fig. 32-52]

The Bauhaus in Germany (1 of 5)
• Gropius designed the building when the Bauhaus moved to the city of
Dessau.
– Technology advances meant no need for walls as structural
supports, so he replaced them with glass panels on some sides.
• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe directed the Bauhaus from 1930 on.
– Adolf Hitler forced its closure in 1933.

Walter Gropius BAUHAUS BUILDING, DESSAU
Anhalt, Germany. 1925–1926. View from northwest.
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. ©
stockeurope/Alamy Stock Photo. [Fig. 32-53]

• The Bauhaus was the brainchild of Walter Gropius and at first, it did
not have a formal training program.
– Learning was rooted in doing.
• The workshops were reoriented under Moholy-Nagy to create sleek,
functional designs suitable for mass production.
– An example is Marianne Brandt's Tea and Coffee Service.

Marianne Brandt COFFEE AND TEA SERVICE
1924. Silver and ebony, with Plexiglas cover for sugar bowl.
Tray, 13" × 20-1/4" (33 × 51.5 cm).
Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst,
Bonn. [Fig. 32-54]

Anni Albers WALL HANGING
1926. Silk, three-ply weave, 5'11-5/16" × 3'11-5/8" (1.83 × 1.22 m).
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Association Fund. © 2016 The Josef
and Anni Albers Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Bridgeman Images.
[Fig. 32-55]

• The International Style
– The "International Style," developed beginning in 1927, was
focused on three principles:
 The conception of architecture as volume rather than mass
 Regularity rather than symmetry as the chief means of
ordering design
 Arbitrary applied decoration

• Suppression of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
– A principal target of suppression was the Bauhaus school of art
and design.
– After Adolf Hitler came to power, the Bauhaus was forced to close
for good.
 Nazis attacked Modernist painters, whose intense depictions of
German soldiers were considered unpatriotic.

• Suppression of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
– Nazi leadership organized the "Degenerate Art" exhibition
intended to erase banned Modern works.
– By the time World War II began, German authorities burned
countless "subversive" works from throughout the country.
– Many artists fled the country.

THE DADA WALL IN ROOM 3 OF THE "DEGENERATE ART"
("ENTARTETE KUNST") EXHIBITION
Munich. 1937. Art © Estate of George Grosz/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Akademie
der Künste/Archiv Bildende Kunst/George Grosz-Archiv. [Fig. 32-56]

Surrealism and the Mind (1 of 6)
• Initially formed as an off-shoot of Dada and born from the mind of
André Breton, Surrealism reflected Freud's theory of warring forces in
the unconscious mind.
• It was an escape from logic and an effort to improve a war-sick society.

• Automatism
– This technique was the releasing of the subconscious to create
work without rational intervention.
– Frottage was a technique of rubbing a pencil or crayon over a
textured surface.
– Grattage involved layers of paint being laid on a textured surface
and emphasizing imagery seen in the natural paint.

• Automatism
– Max Ernst, who developed the automatist technique, created a
nightmarish scene in The Horde.

Max Ernst THE HORDE
1927. Oil on canvas, 44-7/8" × 57-1/2" (114 × 146.1 cm).
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP,
Paris. Collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. [Fig. 32-57]

• Unexpected Juxtapositions
– Salvador Dalí paints somewhat recognizable figures and forms but
in a style he called the "paranoid–critical method."
– Key themes of Dalí's work include sexuality, violence, and
putrefaction.
 Birth of Liquid Desires illustrates all of these without an
aesthetic or moral purpose.

Salvador Dalí BIRTH OF LIQUID DESIRES
1931-1932. Oil and collage on canvas, 37-7/8" × 44-1/4" (96.1 × 112.3 cm).
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 1976
(76.2553 PG 100). © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York 2016. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation/Art Resource, NY.
[Fig. 32-58]

• Unexpected Juxtapositions
– Meret Oppenheim produced the disquieting assemblage, Object
(Le Déjeuner en Fourrure) both to attract and repel the viewer.

Meret Oppenheim OBJECT (LUNCHEON IN FUR)
1936. Fur-covered cup, diameter 4-3/8" (10.9 cm); fur-covered saucer, diameter 9 3/8"
(23.7 cm); fur-covered spoon, length 8" (20.2 cm); overall height, 2-7/8" (7.3 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/ProLitteris, Zurich. © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New
York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-59]

• Bimorphic Abstraction
– Joan Miró, in contrast, silhouettes shapes against a hazy
background in Composition.
 Biomorphic curves evoke organic forms with fluctuating
identities.

Joan Miró COMPOSITION
1933. Oil on canvas, 51-3/8" × 64-1/8" (130.49 × 162.88 cm).
Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, Connecticut. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin
Sumner Collection Fund, 1934.40. © Successió Miró/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/ADAGP, Paris 2016. Photo: Allen Phillips/Wadsworth Atheneum. [Fig. 32-60]

Unit One in England (1 of 2)
• This group promoted hand-crafted, Surrealist-influenced biomorphic
sculptural forms and was founded by Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore,
Paul Nash, and Herbert Reed in 1933.
• Hepworth's Forms in Echelon consists of two shapes carved in highly
polished wood that allowed viewers to imagine their own meanings.

Barbara Hepworth FORMS IN ECHELON
1938. Wood, 42-1/2" × 23-2/3" × 28" (108 × 60 × 71 cm).
Tate, London. Presented by the artist 1964. Works by Barbara Hepworth copyright
Bowness. © Tate, London 2016. [Fig. 32-60]

Unit One in England (2 of 2)
• Henry Moore's Recumbent Figure, inspired by the chacmools of
Mayan art, orients natural striations to the design harmoniously.
– Certain elements are defined while others flow together in an
undulating mass more resembling a hill than human.
– An open cavity emphasizes the relationship of solid and void.

Henry Moore RECUMBENT FIGURE
1938. Green Hornton stone, 35" × 52" × 29" (88.9 × 132.7 × 73.7 cm).
Tate, London. © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS
2016/www.henry-moore.org. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation.
© Tate, London 2016. [Fig. 32-62]

Picasso's Guernica
• Pablo Picasso's 1937 painting commemorates the mass bombing of
civilians in the Basque city of Guernica.
• The restricted palette of black, gray, and white reflected newspaper
photographs that publicized the atrocity.
• Distorted victims evoke a heartfelt comment on an international
scandal.

Pablo Picasso GUERNICA
1937. Oil on canvas, 11'6" × 25'8" (3.5 × 7.8 m).
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. On permanent loan from the Museo
del Prado, Madrid. © 2016 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York. [Fig. 32-64]

Art Between the Wars in the Americas
• The United States, as a large nation with diverse, multiple "identities,"
encountered a need for a national visual identity separate from an
Anglo-Saxon, male profile.
• Works of art by women, African Americans, immigrants, and other
outliers came to the fore.

The Harlem Renaissance (1 of 4)
• The Great Migration of agricultural Southern African Americans to the
North prompted the "New Negro" movement.
• The intellectual leader of the movement was Alain Locke, a critic and
philosophy professor urging black artists and writers to seek their
artistic roots in the traditional arts of Africa.

• James VanDerZee created positive, non-stereotypical images that
proclaimed racial pride and social empowerment.
– He depicted the "New Negro" man and woman in Couple Wearing
Raccoon Coats with a Cadillac.

James Van Der Zee COUPLE WEARING RACCOON COATS WITH A CADILLAC,
TAKEN ON WEST 127TH STREET, HARLEM, NEW YORK
1932. Gelatin-silver print.
© Donna Mussenden VanDerZee. [Fig. 32-65]

• Aaron Douglas developed an abstract style based on silhouetted
figures from African art.
– He limited his palate to subtle hues that varied in value.
– Aspects of Negro Life... intended to awaken a sense of the African
American's place in history.
 The heroic orator at center remains the focus, encouraging
continued efforts.

Aaron Douglas ASPECTS OF NEGRO LIFE: FROM SLAVERY THROUGH
RECONSTRUCTION
1934. Oil on canvas, 5' × 11'7" (1.5 × 3.5 m).
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. Art © Heirs of
Aaron Douglas/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. Schomburg Center, NYPL/Art

• Sculptor Augusta Savage was denied a scholarship at Cooper Union
because of her race.
– La Citadelle: Freedom portrays a female figure balancing on her
toes as a symbol of the promise of equality.
• Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series narrates the exodus of African
Americans to the north in 60 panels.

Augusta Savage LA CITADELLE: FREEDOM
1930. Bronze, 14-1/2" × 7" × 6" (35.6 × 17.8 × 15.2 cm).
Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. © Augusta Savage. [Fig. 32-67]

Jacob Lawrence THE MIGRATION SERIES, PANEL NO. 1: DURING WORLD WAR I
THERE WAS A GREAT MIGRATION NORTH BY SOUTHERN AFRICAN AMERICANS
1940–1941. Tempera on masonite, 12" × 18" (30.5 × 45.7 cm).
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. © 2016 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight
Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 32-68]

Rural America (1 of 2)
• American Scene Painting, especially under the Regionalists, took
sympathetic attitudes toward subjects.
– Grant Wood, in his iconic American Gothic, shows a pair with a
pitchfork standing in front of a "Carpenter Gothic"-style house, a
sincerely affectionate portrait of small-town Iowa.

Grant Wood AMERICAN GOTHIC
1930. Oil on beaverboard, 29-7/8" × 24-7/8" (74.3 × 62.4 cm).
The Art Institute of Chicago. Friends of American Art Collection, 1930.934. Art © Figge Art
Museum, successors to the Estate of Nan Wood Graham/Licensed by VAGA, New York,
NY. Photo © The Art Institute of Chicago. [Fig. 32-69]

Rural America (2 of 2)
• Federal Patronage for American Art During the Depression
– The Farm Securities Administration (FSA) began to hire
photographers to document the problems of farmers and migrant
workers in 1935.
 Dorothea Lange collaborated, touched by the struggles of the
poor and unemployed; her most famous picture is Migrant
Mother, Nipomo, California.

Dorothea Lange MIGRANT MOTHER, NIPOMO, CALIFORNIA
February 1936. Gelatin-silver print. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Courtesy the
Library of Congress. [Fig. 32-70]

Canada (1 of 3)
• The subject of Canada's untamed wilderness became a point through
which Canadian artists could assert independence from European art.
• Some painters employed academic realism while others utilized
Impressionism.

Canada (2 of 3)
• Landscape and Identity
– Tom Thomson's The West Wind features a lone, stylized pine tree
rising from a landscape with reverential divinity.
 It became an icon in Canadian art.
 The artist often made numerous oil-on-board sketches for the
basis of paintings that he executed during winter.

Tom Thomson THE WEST WIND
Winter 1916/1917. Oil on canvas, 451⁄2 × 54″ (120.7 × 137.9 cm).
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Gift of Canadian Club of Toronto, 1926 #784. © akg-
images. [Fig. 32-71]

Canada (3 of 3)
• Native American Influence
– As a partner to the Group of Seven, Emily Carr developed a dark,
brooding style.
 Big Raven shows a surviving, carved raven that originally
marked a mortuary house.

Emily Carr BIG RAVEN
1931. Oil on canvas, 34-1/4" × 44-7/8" (87 × 114 cm).
Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust. Vancouver Art Gallery, Photo:
Trevor Mills . [Fig. 32-72]

Mexico, Brazil, and Cuba (1 of 5)
• The Mexican Revolution of 1910 brought ten years of political
instability.
• Artists entered service of the state with several public building mural
commissions.

• Prominent in the Mexican mural movement was Diego Rivera, who
studied Synthetic Cubist style.
– The Great City of Tenochtitlan was painted for a mural cycle
portraying the history of Mexico in the National Palace in Mexico
City.

Diego Rivera THE GREAT CITY OF TENOCHTITLAN (DETAIL)
Mural in patio corridor, National Palace, Mexico City. 1945.
Fresco, 16'1-3/4" × 31'10-1/4" (4.92 × 9.71 m).
© 2016 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York. © 2016. Photo Art Resource/Bob Schalkwijk/Scala,

• More private, introspective statements were made by Mexican artists
on easel paintings.
– Frida Kahlo presented a split ethnic identity in The Two Fridas.
 Between the two Fridas (one dressed in Victorian dress, and
the other in Mexican clothing), an artery runs between them,
beginning at a miniature portrait of Diego Rivera, whom she
was divorcing.

Frida Kahlo THE TWO FRIDAS
1939. Oil on canvas, 5'8-1/2" × 5'8-1/2" (1.74 × 1.74 m).
Museo de Arte Moderno, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City. © 2016 Banco
de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York. © 2016. Photo Art Resource/Bob Schalkwijk/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 32-74]

• Brazil
– Art in other parts of Latin America was dominated by the academic
tradition of the nineteenth century.
– Modern Art Week was an event Brazilian artists used as a way to
declare independence from Europe.
– Tarsila do Amaral created the abstract Abaporú (The One Who
Eats) in homage to Léger and Brancusi.

Tarsila do Amaral THE ONE WHO EATS (ABAPORÚ)
1928. Oil on canvas, 34" × 29" (86.4 × 73.7 cm).
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano, Buenos Aires. Courtesy of Guilherme Augusto do
Amaral/Malba-Coleccion Constantini, Buenos Aires. © Tarsila do Amara. Collection of
MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. [Fig. 32-75]

• Cuba
– "Minority" artists pursued a popular, Modern art with Cuban roots.
– Amelia Peláez studied popular and folk arts with a focus on the
woman's realm and national identity.
 The visual language of Marpacífico is Cubist, but shows
recognizable objects and pure color.

Amelia Peláez HIBISCUS (MARPACÍFICO)
1943. Oil on canvas, 45-1/2" × 35" (115.6 × 88.9 cm).
Collection OAS Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC. Gift of IBM. © Amelia
Pelaez Foundation. [Fig. 32-76]

Postwar Art in Europe and the Americas
• The devastation of World War II led to the deaths of over 30 million
people and displacement for yet 40 million more.
• Churchill described Europe as "a breeding ground of pestilence and
hate."

Figural Responses and Art Informel in
Europe (1 of 2)
• Most immediately postwar art involved figural or abstracted works
attempting to cope with the horrors of war.
• Francis Bacon's Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef portrays Pope
Innocent X as an anguished and insubstantial man.
– It was directly inspired by Diego Velásquez's work of the same
subject.

Francis Bacon HEAD SURROUNDED BY SIDES OF BEEF
1954. Oil on canvas, 50-3/4" × 48" (129 × 122 cm).
The Art Institute of Chicago. Harriott A. Fox Fund (1956.1201). © The Estate of Francis
Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS, London/ARS, NY 2016. Photo © The Art Institute of
Chicago. [Fig. 32-77]

Figural Responses and Art Informel in
Europe (2 of 2)
• Art informel (tachisme) was a distinct movement born of the sentiment
that art should comprise of simple, honest marks to express postwar
humanity.
• Wols's Painting represents a disease-ridden and violent world through
its semiabstracted form that resembles a cell or bacterial growth.

Wols (Wolfgang Schulze) PAINTING
1944–1945. Oil on canvas, 31-7/8" × 32" (81 × 81.1 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of D. and J. de Menil Fund (29.1956). © 2016
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. © 2016. Digital Image, The
Museum of Modern Art/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-78]

Experiments in Latin America
• Wifredo Lam brought issues of heritage, identity, and discovery to his
art in Cuba.
– Zambezia, Zambzia recalls European Modernism but represents a
santería ritual.
• Torres-García's Abstract Art in Five Tones and Complementaries fuses
Inca imagery and mason patterns.

Wifredo Lam ZAMBEZIA, ZAMBEZIA
1950. Oil on canvas, 49-3/8" × 43-5/8" (125 × 110 cm).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Gift, Mr. Joseph Cantor, 1974 (74.2095).
© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. The Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation/Art Resource, NY. [Fig. 32-79]

Joaquín Torres-García ABSTRACT ART IN FIVE TONES AND COMPLEMENTARIES
1943. Oil on board mounted on panel, 20-1/2" × 26-5/8" (52.1 × 67 cm).
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Armand J. Castellani, 1979. Art

Abstract Expressionism in New York
(1 of 12)
• The United States did not experience quite as much trauma as did
Europe.
• In its recovery, New York was able to "steal the idea of Modern art," as
art historian Serge Guilbault asserts.

(2 of 12)
• The Center Shifts to New York
– Displaced artists including Breton, Dalí, Léger, Mondrian, and
Ernst found a new home in New York.
– Abstract Expressionism describes a wide range of artists who
worked in the city and wished to express their profound social
alienation following the war.

(3 of 12)
• The Center Shifts to New York
– Formalist critic Greenberg argued that the best paintings did not
reference the outside world but rather told their own internal
narrative.
– Abstract Expressionism became divided in what critics called
Action painting and Color Field painting, although the artists
themselves believed these designations were simplistic.

(4 of 12)
• The Formative Phase
– The Armenian Arshile Gorky created works honoring memories of
the people and places he lost in his life.
 Garden in Sochi contains forms referring to a garden featuring
a wishing rock and a "Holy Tree."

Arshile Gorky GARDEN IN SOCHI
c. 1943. Oil on canvas, 31" × 39" (78.7 × 99.1 cm).
(492.1969). © 2016 The Arshile Gorky Foundation/The Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York. © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 32-81]

(5 of 12)
• Jackson Pollock and Action Painting
– Influenced by the works of Jung, Pollock created works on
unprepared canvases on the floor by throwing, dripping, and
dribbling paint in abstract, overlapping lines.
– Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) was recorded on film and shows
Pollock's transformation of the idea of painting itself.

(6 of 12)
• Jackson Pollock and Action Painting
– The scale of Autumn Rhythm is about 9 feet tall by 17 feet wide.
– Pollock also drew inspiration from improvisational jazz music and
Native American art.

Jackson Pollock AUTUMN RHYTHM (NUMBER 30)
1950. Oil on canvas, 8'9" × 17'3" (2.66 × 5.25 m).
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. George A. Hearn Fund, 1957 (57.92). © 2016
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © 2016. Image
copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 32-82]

(7 of 12)
• Krasner, de Kooning, Mitchell, Riopelle, and Frankenthaller
– Lee Krasner took over Pollock's art studio and created large
gestural paintings such as The Seasons.
 Woman I by Willem de Kooning was a move away from the
artist's usual style of abstraction.
– The grotesque, passionate portrait was scraped and
repainted about 200 times.

Lee Krasner THE SEASONS
1957. Oil on canvas, 7'8-3/4" × 16'11-3/4" (2.36 × 5.18 m).
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Purchased with funds from Frances and
Sydney Lewis (by exchange), the Mrs. Percy Uris Purchase Fund, and the Painting and
Sculpture Committee (87.7). © 2016 Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York. [Fig. 32-84]

Willem de Kooning WOMAN I
1950–1952. Oil on canvas, 75-7/8" × 58" (192.7 × 147.3 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art,
New York/Scala, Florence. © 2016 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 32-85]

(8 of 12)
– A second generation of painters in this style emerged during the
1950s, including Joan Mitchell.
 Ladybug captured energetic but controlled rhythms.

Joan Mitchell LADYBUG
1957. Oil on canvas, 6'-7/8" × 9' (1.98 × 2.74 m).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Estate of Joan Mitchell. Purchase (385.1961).
© Estate of Joan Mitchell © 2016. Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New
York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 32-86]

(9 of 12)
– In Canada, Jean-Paul Riopelle experimented with squeezing paint
directly on the canvas before spreading it, as seen in Knight
Watch.

Jean-Paul Riopelle KNIGHT WATCH
1953. Oil on canvas, 38" × 76-5/8" (96.6 × 194.8 cm).
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/SODRAC, Montreal. National Gallery of Canada. [Fig. 32-87]

(10 of 12)
– Helen Frankenthaler sought to create more lyrical versions of
action paintings with thinner washes of paint that soaked the
canvas.
 Mountains and Sea was inspired by the coast of Nova Scotia
where the artist frequently went to sketch.

Helen Frankenthaler MOUNTAINS AND SEA
1952. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 7'2-3/4" × 9'8-1/4" (2.2 × 2.95 m).
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc., on loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
DC. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. © 2016 Helen
Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 32-88]

(11 of 12)
• Color Field Painting and Sculpture
– Mark Rothko had little formal training but created paintings such
as Untitled (Rothko Number 5068.49) as "ideas" with colors
bleeding into one another in shapes that sought to evoke
meditation.
– Barnett Newman created Vir Heroicus Sublimis, a broad red field
without any form that is only interrupted by zips of other colors.

Mark Rothko UNTITLED (ROTHKO NUMBER 5068.49)
1949. Oil on canvas, 6′9-3⁄8″ × 5′6-3⁄8″ (2.1 × 1.4 m).
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher
Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy the National Gallery of
Art, Washington. [Fig. 32-89]

Barnett Newman VIR HEROICUS SUBLIMIS
1950–1951. Oil on canvas, 95-3/8" × 213-1/4" (242 × 541.7 cm).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller. © 2016 The Barnett
Newman Foundation, New York /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. The Museum of
Modern Art. © 2009 Digital Image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala,

(12 of 12)
• Color Field Painting and Sculpture
– David Smith became a sculptor after learning to weld and rivet at
an automobile plant.
 His Cubi series featured stainless-steel sheets with surfaces
that showed the gestural marks of the artist's tools.
 Forms were vaguely anthropomorphic, becoming more organic
at a closer range.

David Smith CUBI
Cubi series shown installed at Bolton Landing, New York, in 1965.
Cubi XVIII (left), 1964. Stainless steel, 9'8" (2.94 m). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Cubi
XVII (center), 1963. Stainless steel, 9'2" (2.79 m). Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Cubi XIX
(right), 1964. Stainless steel, 9'5-3/8" (2.88 m). Tate, London.
Art © Estate of David Smith/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. [Fig. 32-91]

Think About It (1 of 2)
• Discuss the goals and interests of the painters associated with
Abstract Expressionism. Characterize the role played by Surrealism
and other early twentieth-century avant-garde art movements in the
formation of this new direction in Modern art.
• Explain the impact of the two world wars on the visual arts in Europe
and North America. Use two works from this chapter—one European
and one American—as the focus of your discussion.

Think About It (2 of 2)
• Summarize the events of the Great Depression and discuss its impact
on American art.
• Explain how Dada and Surrealism changed the form, content, and
concept of art. Which two works discussed in this chapter would you
choose to represent these movements? Why?

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