Chapter 17 - POSTWAR EUROPEAN ART

1. Chapter 17
Postwar European
Art

2. The largest European Cities have been destroyed by the aerial
bombings of World War II.
United States of America was insulated from the war. As a result
• the financial power of the world moved to New York.
• many artists fled to New York to escape the war.
In 1952 MOMA organized the exhibition “15 Americans” which
introduced the Abstract Expressionism, also called the New York
School. The exhibition had a global influence.
The post-war economic prosperity contributed to an unparalleled
collecting by institutions and wealthy individuals.
The State Department sponsored international exhibtiions.

3. Picasso
The Charnel House is Picasso’s
most direct political painted
commentary since Guernica of
1937.
The painting is a reference to the
killing of a Spanish Republican
family in their kitchen.
Picasso used a limited palette to
create the feel of newsreel film or
newspaper photographs.
This restrictive palette is a direct
reference to the Guernica, 1937.
Pablo Picasso. The Charnel House
Paris 1944–45, dated 1945. Oil and
charcoal on canvas. 6’ 6-5⁄8” × 8’ 2-1⁄2”
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Re-Evaluations and Violations:
Figurative Art in France

4. Giacometti
After the war Giacometti’s sculptures that
summed up his Existentialist views.
His figurative representations reflect the
alienation and anxiety of the period.
He employs the figure as a symbol of
suffering and post-war trauma.
Although he created paintings and
drawings, Giacometti is best known for
his sculpture.
Alberto Giacometti
Head of a Man on a
Rod/ 1947, Bronze
height 21-3⁄4”.
Private collection

5. Giacometti’s sculpture
embody the existential
doubts of the period after
the World War II.
Jean-Paul Sartre recognized
the existential tendencies in
Giacometti’s sculpture.
Alberto Giacometti. The Forest
(Composition with Seven Figures
and One Head). 1950. Painted
bronze. 22 × 24 × 19-1⁄4”. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York

6. Richier
Richier's early work consisted of human-
animal hybrids. After World War II she
exaggerated bodily deformations to
convey a greater sense of anguish.
This sculpture is a homage to the survival
of humanity in the face of the destruction
created by the Second World War.
Germaine Richier. Ouragane (Hurricane
Woman), 1948–49. Bronze, height
70-1⁄8”. Musée National d’Art Moderne
Centre d’Art et de Culture Georges
Pompidou, Paris.

7. Balthus was born in Paris, France. His mother
was a painter, his father a renown art historian,
and his older brother was a noted artist, author,
and philosopher.
His family’s circle included the poet Rainer Maria
Rilke, and Georges Bataille.
Balthus’ often disturbing images are done in a
very balanced classical style.
Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet experimented throughout four
decades of his career. He was productive until
his death, at 84.
He was inspired by art made children and the
mentally ill, which he classified as Art Brut.
Jean Dubuffet. Corps
de Dame—Château
d’Étoupe. 1950, Oil on
canvas. 45-1⁄16 × 34-
7⁄16”. Allen Memorial
Art Museum Oberlin
College Ohio

8. Fautrier, Van Velde, Hartung,
and Soulages
Jean Fautrier was one of the most
important artists associated with
Tachisme.
Van Velde was associated with Art
Informel, which emphasized spontaneity,
irrationality, and freedom of form.
The Lyrical Abstraction movement was
similar to Art Informel. Some European
artists practiced both movements.
The equivalent of these movements in
America was - the Abstract
Expressionism.
Bram van Velde. Paintin, 1955.
Oil on canvas, 4’ 3”× 6’ 5”.
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
A Different Art: Abstraction in France

9. Hans Hartung was one of the few artists
who spent their entire artistic career working
in an Informel manner.
The Informel style, developed between 1950
and 1960, was a reaction against cubism and
geometric abstraction.
Hartung developed spontaneous line
compositions. He was an important
forerunner of American Lyrical Abstraction,
Pierre Soulages uses thick black
brushstrokes against lighter backgrounds
since the late 1940s. The focus of his
compositions is on formal balance.
Hans Hartung.
T-1954-20, 1954. Oil on
canvas. 57-1⁄2 × 38-3⁄8”
National Gallery of
Australia, Canberra

10. Wols, Mathieu, Riopelle, and Vieira da
Silva
Painter and photographer Wols (Alfred Otto
Wolfgang Schulze) was born in Germany.
He has lived and worked mostly in France.
After the War ended, Wols embraced Art
Informel, Tachisme and Lyrical Abstraction.
Wols mixed elements from a number of
abstract art movements, and created his
own pictorial language.
He is considered the European equivalent
of Jackson Pollock.
Wols. Bird, 1949. Oil on
canvas. 36-1⁄4 × 25-3⁄8”
Menil Collection, Houston,
Texas

11. Georges Mathieu was a key figure of the
postwar art scene in Paris.
He practiced a mode of gestural
abstraction that had a decidedly
calligraphic character.
His paintings consisted of a matrix of lines
originating from a single point and moving
outward in every direction,
Mathieu occasionally introduced a
performance dimension to his painting in
the 1950s.
It consisted of painting large canvases
before the audiences. He preceded the
work of Yves Klein.
Georges Mathieu. Battle of the
Bouvines, 1954. Oil on Canvas

12. Jean-Paul Riopelle,
• was a Canadian Abstract Expressionist artist.
• is best known for his non-representational landscape paintings done
by squeezing paint directly from the tube and applied with a palette
knife.
• the surface of his paintings have a mosaic-like texture.
In 1947 he travelled to Paris. He became a part of the Surrealist group of
artists and writers. Later he was influenced by Jackson Pollock.
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva
• was born on June 13, 1908, in Lisbon;
• moved to Paris in 1928 to study art;
• her style was the result of mixing Cubism, Futurism, and
Constructivism;
• Her paintings are known for blurring the lines between representation
and abstraction;
• In the 1950’s her painting focused on the postwar environment.

13. de Staël
• Nicolas de Staël was born in
Russia.
• His family was forced to emigrate
to Poland in 1919 because of the
Russian Revolution.
• He studied art at the Brussels
Academy.
• During his painting career, which
spanned approximately 15 years,
he produced more than a thousand
paintings.
• He committed suicide at age 41.
Nicolas de Staël. Agrigente, 1954
Oil on canvas. 34-3⁄4 × 50-1⁄2”
Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles

14. Bill and Lohse
Swiss artist and designer Max Bill,
founded the Concrete Art movement.
Born in 1908 in Switzerland, he studied
at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich
from 1924–1927.
Between 1927–1929 he studied with
Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee at the
Bauhaus school in Dessau.
His interpretations of Constructivism
through painting and sculpture,
included the study of geometry and
mathematics.
Max Bill. Endless Ribbon
from a Ring I, 1947–49
executed 1960. Gilded
copper on crystalline base
14-1⁄2 × 27 × 7-1⁄2”
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
“Pure Creation” : Concrete Art

15. Richard Paul Lohse
• was a Swiss painter and
graphic artist;
• was a pioneers of modern
Swiss graphic design;
• In 1943 Lohse standardised the
pictorial means and started to
develop modular
• In 1953, he published the book
New Design in Exhibitions.
Richard Paul Lohse. Serial
Elements Concentrated in
Rhythmic Groups. 1949–56.
Oil on canvas. 35-3⁄8 × 35-3⁄8”
Kunsthaus Zurich

16. Morandi
• focused on the structure and order and the process of representation
•
• worked with a small selection of household objects
• his paintings balanced representational painting with a minimalist
aesthetic.
Giorgio Morandi. Still Life
1951 Oil on canvas
8-7⁄8 × 19-5⁄8”.
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-
Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Postwar Juxtapositions : Figuration
and Abstraction in Italy and Spain

17. Marini and Manzù
Marini
• studied painting and sculpture
at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Florence.
• created his first important
sculptures about 1928.
• In 1929 Marini travelled to Paris
where he met Maillol and
Picasso.
• In the late 1930s horses and
riders became the dominant
subject of his art
Giacomo Manzù
Large Standing
Cardinal, 1954
Bronze. height 66-1⁄2”
Smithsonian Giacomo
Institution
Washington, D.C.

18. During World War II, Manzù created
a series of artworks to express his
opposition to Fascism.
Afro
• had developed a unique style of
abstraction based on intersecting
geometric planes
• in the 1950s focused his attention
to the American art scene.
• in 1968, he is appointed professor
at the Accademia di Belle Arti in
Florence.
Giacomo Manzù. Death by
Violence, 1952–64
Bronze from “Doors of Death”
at St. Peter’s Vatican City

19. Fontana
Lucio Fontana
• was an Italian painter, sculptor and
ceramist,
• was the founder of the Spazialismo
movement.
Born in Argentina, Fontana lived in Italy
between 1905 and 1922.
He returned to Italy in 1928 and joined the
group Abstraction-Création in 1935.
Spent the period between 1939 and 1947 in
the Argentine. During this period he worked
in a figurative style.
Lucio Fontana. Spatial
Concept: The End of
God, 1963. Oil on
canvas, 70 × 48-1⁄2”
Gallerie dell’Ariete
Milan

20. In 1946 Fontana helped to
found the avant-garde Altainira
Academy in Buenos Aires, and
published the Manifiesto
Blanco.
In 1947 he returned to Milan
and shortly afterwards issued
the first Manifesto Spaziale.
Capogrossi, Crippa, Dova,
Peverelli and other young
artists, joined the Spazialismo
movement founded by
Fontana.
Lucio Fontana. Spatial Concept #2,
1960 Oil on canvas. 19-7⁄8 × 28-3⁄4”
Albright-Knox Art Gallery

21. Burri
• Alberto Burri was born on March 12, 1915 in Citta di Castello, Italy,
• Associated with the Arte Povera movement, he is perhaps best
known for his sacchi (“sacks”) series
• he studied medicine and Servedn in Mussolini’s army during World
War II as a doctor.
Tàpies
• Tàpies was a leading figure in Spain’s art world of the second half of
the twentieth century.
• Studied law for 3 years,
• from 1943 onwards he focused only on his painting.

22. The art group CoBrA, was a post-World War II
European avant-garde movement. The name
derived from the initials of the members’ home
cities: Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Jorn
• was a founding member of the avant-garde
movement COBRA and the Situationist
International.
Appel
• Karel Appel, was a cofounder (1948) of the
COBRA
• pursued diverse formal explorations as a
comment upon the human condition.
Alechinsky
• His work is related to Tachisme, Lyrical
Abstraction, and Abstract Expresionism.
Asger Jorn. The Enigma
of Frozen Water, 1970. Oil
on canvas. 63-3⁄4 × 51-
1⁄8”, Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam
“Forget it and Start Again”: The CoBrA
Artists and Hundertwasser

23. Hundertwasser
• was born in Vienna in 1928.
• follows in the tradition of the Viennese
Seccesionstil, the Austrian expression of
the French Art Nouveau and German
Jugendstil, continuing their purpose of
employing art as decoration.
• Color was an essential, element of all his
work.
• Hundertwasser uses the six colors almost
exclusively, with no particular preference.
• Spirals are predominant in his paintings.
Hundertwasser
House which was born
in Stockholm, died in
Paris, and myself
mourning it, 1966. Mixed
media, 32 × 23-2⁄3”
Private collection

24. Barbara Hepworth Group III (Evocation)
1952 Marble 11 × 26-1⁄2 × 9”
base: 2 × 30 × 13”. Piers Arts Centre, Orkney
Barbara Hepworth
• by the early 1930s, her
sculpture was entirely
abstract.
• she concentrated on the
relationship between mass
and space.
• the interior space is as
important as the mass
surrounding it.
• she painted the interior of her
later pieces to emphasize the
relationship between the
negative and positive space
The Postwar Body: British Sculpture
and Painting

25. Moore
His sculpture of the postwar period
• represent the victory over Fascism.
• focuses on optimism, of humanist
values embodied in modernism
This sculpture was made around the
time of Elizabeth II’s coronation.
Its focus was:
• not the modern constitutional
monarchy,
• the ancient conception of the
monarch as a divinely blessed
being.
Henry Moore. King and Queen
1952–53, Bronze height 63-1⁄2”
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C.

26. Unlike Giacometti, Moore’s work
during the WWII was not influenced
by Existentialism.
Moore’s drawings of shelters made
during WWII were formal exercises
rather than a philosophical
meditations.
These studies were inspired,
according to the artist, by a journey
he took on the London Underground
during the bombardments of 1940-41.
People used the subways as a
shelter from night raids.
Henry Moore. Study for Tube
Shelter Perspective, 1940–41
Pencil, wax crayon, colored
crayon, watercolor wash, pen
and ink, 10-1⁄3 × 6-1⁄2”
Collection Mrs. Henry Moore

27. Bacon
Francis Bacon painted some of the most iconic
images of wounded and traumatized humanity.
He created a style that is uniquely his. He is
one of the most recognized artists of figurative
art in the 1940s and 1950s.
Bacon was Influenced by:
• Surrealism,
• film,
• photography,
• and the Old Masters,
Bacon portrayed his subjects distorted,
isolated, and tormented by existential
dilemmas.
Francis Bacon
Painting, 1946. Oil on
canvas. 6’ 6” × 4’ 4”,
The Museum of
Modern Art, New York

28. Francis Bacon
Study after
Velazquez's Portrait of
Pope Innocent X, 1953
VELÁZQUEZ,
Portrait of Innocent X
c. 1650. Oil on canvas,
141 x 119 cm
Galleria Doria-Pamphili,
Rome
Bacon
• established his
mature style in the
late 1940s
He borrowed from:
• depictions of motion
in film
• photography, (studies
of figures in action).
• Old Masters,
particularly Diego
Velazquez's Portrait of
Pope Innocent X
(c.1650) which Bacon
used for his own
famous series of
"screaming popes."

29. Still from Sergei
Eisenstein’s film
The Battleship
Potemkin, 1925
Bacon borrowed from:
• Eisenstein’s film The Battleship
Potemkin, which Bacon used for his
series of "screaming popes.“
This image inspired screams and
anguish in other of his paintings.

30. In this painting Bacon
depicted the death of his
companion George Dyer,
from an intentional
overdose.
This painting is not based
on observation. It is
imagined .
The day of Dyer’s overdose,
Bacon was occupied by the
retrospective opening that
took place that evening.
Francis Bacon Triptych—May–June 1973,
1973 Oil on canvas each panel 6’ 6” × 4’
10”. Private collection

31. Graham Southerland
• English artist notable for his work in
• glass,
• fabrics,
• prints
• and portraits.
• His work was influenced by
• landscape
• religion,
Southerland lived in France for an extended period of time. Interest in
his work was renewed after a visit to Pembrokeshire in 1967. The visit
inspired the artist’s creativec output.

32. Lucian Freud
• Was he grandson of
Sigmund Freud,
• was a German-born British
painter.
• From the 1950s, he began to
paint portraits, often nudes.
• By about 1960, Freud had
established the style that he
used, with minor changes,
for the rest of his career.
Lucian Freud. Girl with White Dog,
1951–52, Oil on canvas. 30 × 40”
Tate, London

33. Lucian Freud, Naked Man,
Back View. 1991–92, Oil on
canvas, 72-1⁄4 × 54-1⁄8”.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
Lucian Freud:
• painted from life
• worked for long periods of time
with one subject,
• demanded the model's presence
even while working on the
background of the portrait.

34. Josef Sudek
• was a Czech photographer
• best known for his black-and-white
images of
• Prague,
• interiors,
• still lifes,
• and landscapes of Bohemian
region forests.
Many of Sudek’s best images were taken
from the window of his small studio,
Werner Bischof
• His photographs of post-World War II
European and Asian cultures
contributed to the development of
photojournalism since 1945.
Werner Bischof
Cologne, 1946
Marvels of Daily Life: European
Photographers

35. Doisneau
Robert Doisneau was
• a French photographer
• a pioneer of :
• photojournalism
• and street photography
• photographing on the streets
unaware subjects
• Freelancing for Vogue and Life
magazines.
Robert Doisneau. From the
series. The Sideways Glance
1949, Gelatin-silver print