The document provides an overview of modernist art in the early 20th century. It discusses the development of styles like Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism. Key events discussed include the influence of World War I, the Armory Show of 1913 which introduced modern European art to American audiences, and post-war Expressionist works by German artists like Beckmann and Dix addressing the trauma of the war. The document uses over 50 figures to illustrate important works in these styles by artists such as Matisse, Kandinsky, Picasso, Duchamp, and others.

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

2. Colonial Empires About 1900
2

3. Goals
• Understand the impact of war and economic instability as
catalysts for change in art.
• Understand the development of Modernism and other art styles
in the early 20th century.
• Understand the rejection of illusionist art in favor of abstraction
and spatial distortion.
• Recognize important artists and works of art of the early 20th
century
• Understand the artists search for new expressions in color, form,
time, and space.
3

4. 33.1 Expressionism
• Understand the evolution of Modernism and the growth of
the Avante-garde in the early 20th century.
• Examine the color and space issues of Fauvism.
• Examine the styles of the German Expressionists – Die
Brucke and der Blau Reiter.
4

5. The Art of the Fauves
• Explore the Fauves’ interest in color and in the altering of
space.
5

6. Figure 33-2 HENRI MATISSE, Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908–1909. Oil on canvas, approx. 5’ 11” x 8’ 1”. State
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.
6

7. Figure 33-3 ANDRÉ DERAIN, The Dance, 1906. Oil on canvas, 6’ 7/8” x 6’ 10 1/4”. Fridart Foundation, London.
7

8. The German Expressionists
• Examine the styles of the German Expressionists, especially
Die Brucke, Der Blau Reiter, and later abstractions.
8

9. Figure 33-4 ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER, Street, Dresden, 1908 (dated 1907). Oil on canvas, 4’ 11 1/4” x 6’ 6 7/8”.
Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchase).
9

10. Figure 33-5 EMIL NOLDE, Saint Mary of Egypt among Sinners, 1912. Left panel of a triptych, oil on canvas, approx. 2’
10” x 3’ 3”. Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
10

11. Figure 33-6 VASSILY KANDINSKY, Improvisation 28 (second version), 1912. Oil on canvas, 3’ 7 7/8” x 5’ 3 7/8”.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (gift of Solomon R. Guggenheim, 1937).
11

12. Figure 33-7 FRANZ MARC, Fate of the Animals, 1913. Oil on canvas, 6’ 4 3/4” x 8’ 9 1/2”. Kunstmuseum, Basel.
12

13. Figure 33-8 PABLO PICASSO, Gertrude
Stein, 1906–1907. Oil on canvas, 3’ 3 3/8”
x 2’ 8”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York (bequest of Gertrude Stein, 1947).
13

14. 33.2 The Beginnings of Abstraction
• Understand the rejection of Illusion and the development of
early Cubism
• Understand the Cubists dismissal of naturalistic depictions.
• Examine the forms and concepts of analytic and synthetic
Cubism.
• Examine the materials and forms of Cubist sculpture.
• Examine other forms of Cubism: Purism and Futurism.
14

15. Early Cubism
• Understand the fragmentation of form and the rejection of
illusion in early Cubism
15

16. Figure 33-9 PABLO
PICASSO, Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon, June–July 1907.
Oil on canvas, 8’ x 7’ 8”.
Museum of Modern Art,
New York (acquired
through the Lillie P. Bliss
Bequest).
16

17. The Development of Cubism
• Examine the concepts behind analytic and synthetic cubism,
and the other forms of cubism in the early 20th century.
17

18. Figure 33-10 GEORGES BRAQUE, The
Portuguese, 1911. Oil on canvas, 3’ 10 1/8” x 2’ 8”.
Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum,
Basel (gift of Raoul La Roche, 1952).
18

19. Figure 33-11 ROBERT DELAUNAY,
Champs de Mars or The Red Tower, 1911.
Oil on canvas, 5’ 3” x 4’ 3”. Art Institute of
Chicago, Chicago.
19

20. Figure 33-12 PABLO PICASSO, Still Life with Chair-Caning, 1912. Oil and oilcloth on canvas, 10 5/8” x 1’ 1 3/4”.
Musée Picasso, Paris.
20

21. Figure 33-13 GEORGES BRAQUE, Bottle, Newspaper, Pipe and Glass, 1913. Charcoal and various papers pasted on
paper, 1’ 6 7/8” x 2’ 1 1/4”. Private collection, New York.
21

22. Figure 33-14 PABLO PICASSO,
Maquette for Guitar, 1912. Cardboard,
string, and wire (restored), 25 1/4” x 13” x
7 1/2”. Museum of Modern Art, New
York.
22

23. Cubist Sculpture
• Examine the materials and forms of Cubist sculpture.
23

24. Figure 33-15 JACQUES LIPCHITZ, Bather, 1917. Bronze, 2’ 10 3/4” x 1’
1 1/4” x 1’ 1”. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (gift of the
Friends of Art). Copyright © Estate of Jacques Lipchitz/Licensed by VAGA,
New York/Marlborough Gallery, NY.
24

25. Figure 33-16 ALEKSANDR ARCHIPENKO, Woman Combing Her Hair, 1915.
Bronze, approx. 1’ 1 3/4” high. Museum of Modern Art, New York (bequest of Lillie
P. Bliss).
25

26. Figure 33-17 JULIO GONZÁLEZ, Woman Combing Her Hair, ca. 1930–
1933. Iron, 4’ 9” high. Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
26

27. Figure 33-18 FERNAND LÉGER, The City, 1919. Oil on canvas, approx. 7’ 7” x 9’ 9 1/2”. Philadelphia Museum of
Art, Philadelphia (A. E. Gallatin Collection).
27

28. Figure 33-19 GIACOMO BALLA, Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912. Oil on canvas, 2’ 11 3/8” x 3’ 7 1/4”.
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, gift of George F. Goodyear, 1964).
28

29. Figure 33-20 UMBERTO BOCCIONI,
Unique Forms of Continuity in Space,
1913 (cast 1931). Bronze, 3’ 7 7/8” high x
2’ 10 7/8” x 1’ 3 3/4”. Museum of
Modern Art, New York (acquired through
the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest).
29

30. Figure 33-21 GINO SEVERINI, Armored
Train, 1915. Oil on canvas, 3’ 10” x 2’ 10 1/8”.
Collection of Richard S. Zeisler, New York.
30

31. 33.3 Challenging Artistic Conventions
• Understand the influence of the Dada movement with its
emphasis on spontaneity and intuition.
• Understand the issues of anarchy and chance as they apply to
form and content in visual art.
• Recognize the rejection of convention in Dada and its
reaction to world events.
31

32. Dada: A State of Mind
• Understand Dada’s emphasis on intuition, spontaneity,
anarchy and chance as elements in art.
• Recognize Dada’s rejection of artistic convention.
32

33. Figure 33-22 JEAN ARP, Collage Arranged
According to the Laws of Chance, 1916–1917. Torn
and pasted paper, 1’ 7 1/8” x 1’ 1 5/8”. Museum of
Modern Art, New York (purchase).
33

34. Figure 33-23 MARCEL DUCHAMP, Fountain, (second version), 1950 (original version produced 1917). Ready-made
glazed sanitary china with black paint, 12” high. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (purchased with proceeds from
the sale of deaccessioned works of art).
34

35. Figure 33-24 MARCEL DUCHAMP, The Bride Stripped
Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass), 1915-23.
Oil, lead, wire, foil, dust, and varnish on glass, 9’ 1 1/2” x 5’
9 1/8”. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
(Katherine S. Dreier Bequest).
35

36. Figure 33-25 HANNAH HÖCH, Cut with
the Kitchen Knife Dada through the Last
Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of
Germany, 1919–1920. Photomontage, 3’ 9” x
2’ 11 1/2”. Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche
Museen, Berlin. 36

37. Figure 33-26 KURT SCHWITTERS, Merz
19, 1920. Paper collage, approx. 7 1/4” x 5
7/8”. Yale University Art Gallery, New
Haven, (gift of Collection Société Anonyme).
37

38. Figure 33-27 JOHN SLOAN, Sixth Avenue and 30th Street, 1907, 1909. Oil on canvas, 26 1/4” x 32”. Private Collection
(Mr. And Mrs. Meyer P. Potamkin).
38

39. Figure 33-28 Installation photo of the Armory Show, New York National Guard’s 69th Regiment, New York, 1913.
Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
39

40. 33.4 Early 20th Century Art in America
• Understand the importance of the Armory Show and its
influence on American art, artists, and art patrons.
• Examine the creation and display of photography as an art
form.
• Understand the artistic directions of the Harlem Renaissance
• Examine the new lively, colorful, and precisionist forms of
Cubism in America.
40

41. The Remarkable Armory Show
• Examine the art and artists of the influential Armory Show.
41

42. Figure 33-29 MARCEL DUCHAMP, Nude Descending a
Staircase, No. 2, 1912. Oil on canvas, approx. 4’ 10 “x 2’ 11”.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia (Louise and Walter
Arensberg Collection).
42

43. Figure 33-30 ALFRED STIEGLITZ,
The Steerage, 1907 (print 1915).
Photogravure (on tissue), 1’ 3/8” x 10
1/8”. Courtesy of Amon Carter Museum,
Fort Worth.
43

44. Figure 33-31 EDWARD WESTON, Nude, 1925. Platinum print. Collection, Center for Creative Photography, University
of Arizona, Tucson.
44

45. American Art Forms
• Examine the distinctive American art forms seem in
photography, art of the Harlem Renaissance, and precisionist
forms of Cubism.
45

46. Figure 33-32 MAN RAY, Cadeau (Gift), ca. 1958
(replica of 1921 original). Painted flatiron with row
of 13 tacks with heads glued to the bottom, 6 1/8”
high, 3 5/8” wide, 4 1/2” deep. Museum of
Modern Art, New York (James Thrall Soby Fund).
46

47. Figure 33-33 MARSDEN HARTLEY, Portrait of a
German Officer, 1914. Oil on canvas, 5' 8 1/4” x 3' 5 3/8”.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Alfred
Stieglitz Collection).
47

48. Figure 33-34 STUART DAVIS, Lucky Strike, 1921. Oil on canvas,
2’ 9 1/4” x 1’ 6”. Museum of Modern Art, New York (gift of The
American Tobacco Company, Inc.). Copyright © Estate of Stuart
Davis/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
48

49. Figure 33-35 AARON DOUGLAS, Noah’s Ark,
ca. 1927. Oil on masonite, 4’ x 3’. Fisk University
Galleries, Nashville, Tennessee.
49

50. Figure 33-36 CHARLES DEMUTH,
My Egypt, 1927. Oil on composition
board, 2’ 11 3/4” x 2’ 6”. Collection of
Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York (purchase, with funds from
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney).
50

51. Figure 33-37 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE, New York, Night, 1929. Oil on
canvas, 3’ 4 1/8” x 1’ 7 1/8”. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln,
Nebraska (Nebraska Art Association, Thomas C. Woods Memorial
Collection).
51

52. 33.5 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.
52

53. Post-war Expressionism
• Understand the post-war expressionism of German artists.
53

54. 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. 54

55. Figure 33-39 MAX BECKMANN, Night, 1918–1919. Oil on canvas, 4’ 4 3/8” x 5’ 1/4”. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-
Westfalen, Düsseldorf.
55

56. 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.
56

57. 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).
57

58. Figure 33-43 ERNST BARLACH, War Monument,
from Güstrow Cathedral, Güstrow, Germany, 1927.
Bronze. Schildergasse Antoniterkirche, Cologne.
58

59. Surrealism and Fantasy
• Examine the development, methods and content of
Surrealism and Fantasy art.
59

60. 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.
60

61. 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).
61

62. 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).
62

63. 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 (purchased with funds provided by the Mr. and Mrs. William Preston
Harrison Collection). 63

64. 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).
64

65. 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.
65

66. Figure 33-50 JOAN MIRÓ, Painting, 1933. 5’ 8” x 6’ 5”. Museum of Modern Art, New York (Loula D. Lasker Bequest
by exchange).
66

67. 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).
67

68. 33.6 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.
68

69. The Utopian Styles
• Examine the forms and utopian notions in Suprematism,
Constructivism, and in De Stijl.
69

70. 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). 70

71. 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.
71

72. 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.
72

73. 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. 73

74. Modernism in Architecture
• Examine the forms of Modernist designs and architecture of
the Bauhaus and in the International Style.
74

75. Figure 33-56 GERRIT THOMAS RIETVELD, Schröder House, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1924.
75

76. Figure 33-57 LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY, From
the Radio Tower Berlin, 1928. Gelatin silver print.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
76

77. 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).
77

78. Figure 33-59 WALTER GROPIUS, Shop Block, the Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany, 1925–1926.
78

79. Figure 33-60 MARCEL BREUER, tubular chair, 1925.
79

80. Figure 33-61 GUNTA STÖLZL, Gobelin tapestry,
1926–1927. Linen and cotton.
80

81. Figure 33-62 LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, model for
a glass skyscraper, Berlin, Germany, 1922 (no longer extant).
81

82. Figure 33-63 LE CORBUSIER, perspective drawing for Domino House project, Marseilles, France, 1914.
82

83. Figure 33-64 LE CORBUSIER, Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France, 1929.
83

84. Figure 33-65 WILLIAM VAN ALEN, Chrysler Building, New York,
New York, 1928–1930. Spire of stainless steel, overall height 1,048’.
84

85. Natural and Organic Forms
• Understand the desire for natural and organic forms in
sculpture and architecture.
85

86. Figure 33-66 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1907–1909.
86

87. Figure 33-67
FRANK LLOYD
WRIGHT, plan
of the Robie
House, Chicago,
Illinois, 1907–
1909. 87

88. Figure 33-68 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Kaufmann House (Fallingwater), Bear Run, Pennsylvania, 1936–1939.
88

89. 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).
89

90. Figure 33-70 BARBARA HEPWORTH, Oval Sculpture (No. 2), 1943. Plaster cast, 11 1/4” x 16 1/4” x 10”. Tate
Gallery, London.
90

91. 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).
91

92. 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).
92

93. 33.7 Art as Political Statement
• Understand issues of rebellion and the depiction of social
injustice in art.
• Examine the art of the Depression, the depiction of
displaced workers, poverty and urban isolation, along with
the beginnings of government support for art in the WPA
programs.
• Examine the political content and form of art resulting from
African American migration in the United States.
• Understand the themes of Regionalism in American art.
• Examine the political statements of the Mexican muralists
along with their mediums, techniques, and methods.
93

94. 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.
94

95. Figure 33-74 VERA MUKHINA, Worker and
Collective Farm Worker. Sculpture for the Soviet
Pavilion, Paris Exposition, 1937. Stainless steel, approx.
78’ high.
95

96. Rebellion and Social Injustice as Subject
Matter in Art
• Examine the depiction of social injustice, poverty, urban
isolation and other social issues in art.
96

97. 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). 97

98. 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).
98

99. 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.
99

100. Documenting Lives in Art
• Examine the political content of art resulting from African
American migration along with the themes of Regionalism.
100

101. 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).
101

102. 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.
102

103. The Mexican Muralists
• Examine the art of the Mexican muralists along with their
mediums, techniques, and methods.
103

104. 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. 104

105. Figure 33-81 DIEGO RIVERA, Ancient Mexico, from the History of Mexico fresco murals, National Palace, Mexico
City, 1929–1935. Fresco.
105

106. 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?
106