de Beaufort AA ch23

1. 1
Between World Wars

2. 1
World War I
Promise of a new generation shattered
in the world's first experience of
mechanized mass killing (10 million
dead)
Permanent change of political and
cultural landscape
Revolutions-Russian, Mexican
Creation of “utopias”
Denouncement of present conditions
Marcel Duchamp. L.H.O.O.Q. 1919.
Pencil on reproduction of Leonardo’s
Mona Lisa. 7-3⁄4” × 4-3⁄4”.

3. 1
Dada
Begun in protest of horrors of WWI
More of a rebellious attitude than
cohesive movement
Play and spontaneity reflecting absurdity
of Western world’s situation
Reject all values
Marcel Duchamp
Readymades were mass-produced works
of art. Fountain, a signed urinal
L.H.O.O.Q.
Postcard of Mona Lisa
Mustache and beard drawn on
Outrageous irreverence
Marcel Duchamp. L.H.O.O.Q. 1919.
Pencil on reproduction of Leonardo’s
Mona Lisa. 7-3⁄4” × 4-3⁄4”.

4. 1
Man Ray
Dada leader in the United States
Gift
Assemblage of a useless and
dangerous object
Man Ray. Cadeau (Gift). c.1958.
Replica of 1921 original. Painted
flatiron, with row of 13 tacks, heads
glued to the bottom. 6-1⁄8” × 3-5⁄8” ×
4-1⁄2”.

5. 1
Photomontage
Cubist idea of collage expanded
with meaningful placement of
parts of photos Hannah Höch,
The Multi-Millionaire
“Art is dead”
Anti-aesthetic is new aesthetic
Hannah Höch. The Multi-
Millionaire. 1923.
Photomontage. 14” × 12”.

6. 1
Surrealism
Influenced by absurdity of Dada
Importance of the unconscious mind,
dreams, fantasies, and hallucinations
Psychology and Dadaism combined
Max Ernst, The Horde
Technique of frottage
Rubbing canvas over textured surface
to capture patterns and images
Silhouetted monsters in a violent scene
Max Ernst. The Horde. 1927.
Oil on canvas. 44-7⁄8” × 57-1⁄2”.

7. Abstract Surrealism
Suggestive, open-ended playful
elements that emphasize color and design over story
Automatism
Scribbling, doodling to probe unconscious
Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News
Playful imaginary creatures Wild, tormented quality
Joan Miró. Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News. 1938.
Oil on canvas. 31-1⁄2” × 10’4”.

8. 1
Representational
Surrealism
Salvador Dalí
Directly dealt with his
nightmares
Paintings highly illusionistic but
based on academic techniques
The Persistence of Memory
Warped time
Called a self-portrait
Startling juxtaposition of
unrelated objects
Salvador Dalí. The Persistence of
Memory. 1931.
Oil on canvas. 9-1⁄2” × 13”.

9. 1
René Magritte
Illogical form of realism
The Lovers
Couple in an impossible
kiss
Playful, slightly jolting
humor
René Magritte. The
Lovers. 1928.
Oil on canvas. 21-3⁄8” ×
28-7⁄8”.

10. 1
Expanding on Cubism
Suprematism
Evolution inherent in Cubism towards
complete abstraction
Kazimir Malevich
Focus on supremacy of shape and
color –ultimately no subject matter
Suprematist Composition: Airplane
Flying
Language of airplane so simplified
that it is an arrangement of flat
rectangles
Kazimir Malevich. Suprematist
Composition: Airplane Flying. 1915.
Oil on canvas. 22-7⁄8” × 19”.

11. 1
De Stijl
“The Style”
Dutch movement toward utopian
speculation
Goal: creation of a world of
universal harmony
Piet Mondrian
Austere style based on simple
visual elements and their harmony
Tableau 3
Reduced elements to line, shape,
color (primaries plus black), and
space
Piet Mondrian. Tableau 3 with
Orange-Red, Yellow, Black, Blue,
and Gray. 1921.
Oil on canvas. 19-1⁄4” × 16-3⁄8”

12. 1
Protest against fascism and dictatorship a common theme
Guernica, Pablo Picasso
Mass bombings on Basque town of Guernica that leveled 15 blocks
Mural-sized painting protesting brutality of all war
Painted in blacks, whites, and grays
Abstracted horse, human figures
Pablo Picasso. Guernica. 1937.
Oil on canvas. 11’5-1⁄2” × 25’5-1⁄4”.

13. Social realism
Politcally commited realist
art (for the common
person)
Mexican revolution
Diego Rivera, The Liberation
of the Peon
Mural speaking to people
about their long history and
revolution
Landlord’s house burns in
the background as soldiers
untie the scarred, naked
peon
Diego Rivera. The Liberation
of the Peon. 1931.
Fresco. 73” × 94-1⁄4”.

14. 1
Surrealist?
Realist?
Dual European/Mexican heritage
Frida Kahlo. The Two Fridas. 1939.
Oil on canvas. 5'8-1⁄2" × 5'8-1⁄2".

15. 1
American Regionalism
Search in the U.S. for national and personal identity
Feeling that art was merely provincial-focus on the local (Regionalism)
Edward Hopper
Portrayed loneliness of American life
Nighthawks
Emphasis on controlled light and shadow Highly organized composition
Edward Hopper. Nighthawks. 1942.
Oil on canvas. 33-1⁄8” × 60”.

16. 1
Style influenced by van Eyck and Dürer
Drew on stiff, long-exposure portraits
taken by 19th century photographers
American Gothic
Inspired by local carpenter’s version of
the Gothic style Artist’s sister and
dentist
Repeated vertical lines
Grant Wood. American Gothic. 1930.
Oil on beaverboard. 29-1⁄4” × 24-1⁄2”.

17. 1
Thomas Hart Benton
Realistic, easily-understood
style to depict American
themes
Muscular bodies and strong
curvilinear forms
Palisades from American
Historical Epic
A people’s history featuring
not a hero, but ordinary
people European colonizers
interacting with Native
Americans
Thomas Hart Benton.
Palisades. From the series
American Historical Epic.
c.1919–1924. Oil on cotton
duck on aluminum
honeycomb panel. 66-1⁄8” ×
72”.

18. 1
African-American Modernists
Harlem Renaissance
The New Negro, Alain Locke
Artistic movement attuned to cultural
heritage of African-based styles
Visual as well as written art
WPA Center in Harlem
Jacob Lawrence, General Toussaint
l’Ouverture Defeats the English at Saline
From a series of 41 paintings of the black
leader of the revolt in Haiti “Dynamic
Cubism”
Made own investigation of African art
and reinterpreted it
Jacob Lawrence. General Toussaint
l'Ouverture Defeats the English at Saline.
1937–38.
Gouache on paper. 19” × 11”.

19. 1
Archibald Motley,
Barbeque
Ebullient and full of
motion
Figures under artificial
light
All aspects of urban
black experience
including
gambling/drinking
Subject matter did not
endear him to
pretentious art
patrons
Archibald Motley Jr.
Barbeque. 1934.
Oil on canvas. 36-1⁄4”
× 40-1⁄8”.