modern art

Information about modern art

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Dejeuner sur l'Herbe by Pablo Picasso
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At the Moulin Rouge: Two Women Waltzing by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
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The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1893
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I and the Village by Marc Chagall, 1911
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Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917
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Campbell's Soup Cans 1962 Synthetic polymer paint on thirty-two canvases, Each canvas 20 x 16" (50.8 x 40.6 cm), by Andy Warhol, Museum of Modern Art, New York


Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic work from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called Contemporary art or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then new approach to art which placed emphasis on representing emotions, themes, and various abstractions. Artists experimented with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction.

The notion of modern art is closely related to Modernism.

History of Modern art

Roots in the 19th century

By the late 19th century, several movements which were to be influential in modern art had begun to emerge: Impressionism and post-Impressionism, as well as Symbolism.

Influences upon these movements were varied: from exposure to Eastern decorative arts, particularly Japanese printmaking, to the colouristic innovations of Turner and Delacroix, to a search for more depiction of common life, as found in the work of painters such as Jean-François Millet. At the time, the generally held belief was that art should be accurate in its depiction of objects, but that it should be aimed at expressing the ideal, or the domestic. Thus the most successful painters of the day worked either through commissions, or through large public exhibitions of their own work. There were official government sponsored painters' unions, and governments regularly held public exhibitions of new fine and decorative arts.

Thus, breaking with idealization and depiction were not merely artistic statements, but decisions with social and economic results.

These movements did not necessarily identify themselves as being associated with progress, or art artistic freedom, but instead argued, in the style of the times, that they represented universal values and reality. The Impressionists argued that people do not see objects, but only the light which they reflect, and therefore painters should paint in natural light rather than in studios, and should capture the effects of light in their work.

Impressionist artists formed a group to promote their work, which, despite internal tensions, was able to mount exhibitions. The style was adopted by artists in different nations, in preference to a "national" style. These factors established the view that it was a "movement". These traits: establishment of a working method integral to the art, establishment of a movement or visible active core of support, and international adoption, would be repeated by artistic movements in the Modern period in art.

Early 20th Century

Among the movements which flowered in the first decade of the 20th century were Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism and Futurism.

World War I brought an end to this phase, but indicated the beginning of a number of anti-art movements, such as Dada and the work of Marcel Duchamp, and of Surrealism. Also, artist groups like de Stijl and Bauhaus were seminal in the development of new ideas about the interrelation of the arts, architecture, design and art education.

Modern art was introduced to the United States with the Armory Show in 1913, and through European artists who moved to the U.S. during World War I.

After World War II

It was only after World War II, though, that the U.S. became the focal point of new artistic movements. The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of Abstract Expressionism, Color field painting, Pop art, Op art, Hard-edge painting, Minimal art, Lyrical Abstraction, Postminimalism and various other movements; in the late 1960s and the 1970s, Land art, Performance art, Conceptual art and Photorealism among other movements emerged.

Around that period, a number of artists and architects started rejecting the idea of "the modern" and created typically Postmodern works.

Starting from the post-World War II period, fewer artists used painting as their primary medium; instead, larger installations and performances became widespread. Since the 1970s, new media art has become a category in itself, with a growing number of artists experimenting with technological means such as video art.

Art movements and artist groups

(Roughly chronological with representative artists listed.)

Modern art

End of 19th century

Early 20th century (before WWI)

WWI to WWII

After WWII

Important Modern art exhibitions and museums

For a comprehensive list see Museums of modern art.

See also

External links

  •  • [ e] Western art movements
Renaissance Mannerism Baroque Rococo Neoclassicism Romanticism Realism Pre-Raphaelite Academic Impressionism Post-Impressionism
20th century
Modernism Cubism Expressionism Abstract expressionism Abstract Neue Knstlervereinigung Mnchen Der Blaue Reiter Die Brcke Dada Fauvism Art Nouveau Bauhaus De Stijl Art Deco Pop art Futurism Suprematism Surrealism Color Field Minimalism Lyrical Abstraction Post-Modernism Conceptual art
For the periodical, see .
The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
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Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

- -
- The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called
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Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art
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Postmodern art is a term used to describe art which is thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general movements such as Intermedia, Installation art, Conceptual Art and Multimedia, particularly involving
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Abstraction is the process of generalization by reducing the information content of a concept or an observable phenomenon, typically in order to retain only information which is relevant for a particular purpose.
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Modernism describes a series of reforming cultural movements in art and architecture, music, literature and the applied arts which emerged in the three decades before 1914.
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Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists, who began exhibiting their art publicly in the 1860s. The name of the movement is derived from the title of a Claude Monet work,
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Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1914, to describe the development of European art since Monet (Impressionism). John Rewald, one of the first professional art historians to focus on the birth of early modern art, limited the
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Symbolism was a late nineteenth century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts.

Precursors and origins

Symbolism was largely a reaction against Naturalism and Realism, anti-idealistic movements which attempted to capture reality in its gritty
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Japonism, or Japonisme, the original French term, which is also used in English, is a term for the influence of the arts of Japan on those of the West. The word was first used by Jules Claretie in his book L'Art Francais en 1872 published in that year.
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Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775[1] – 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism.
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Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863) was the most important of the French Romantic painters.[1] Delacroix's use of expressive brushstrokes and his study of the optical effects of colour profoundly shaped the work of the
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Realism in the visual arts and literature is the depiction of subjects as they appear in everyday life, without embellishment or interpretation. The term is also used to describe works of art which, in revealing a truth, may emphasize the ugly or sordid.
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Jean-François Millet

Portrait of Millet by Nadar. Date unknown, 1850-1870
Birth name Jean-François Millet
September 4 1814(1814--)
Gruchy, Gréville-Hague, Normandy
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Les Fauves (French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and loose grouping of early 20th century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities, and the imaginative use of deep color over the representational values retained by Impressionism.
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Cubism was a 20th century art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. Analytic Cubism,
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Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, architecture and music.
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Futurism was a 20th century art movement. Although a nascent Futurism can be seen surfacing throughout the very early years of the twentieth century, the 1907 essay Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst
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Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.
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Anti-art is the definition of a work which may be exhibited or delivered in a conventional context but makes fun of serious art or challenges the nature of art.

A work such as Marcel Duchamp's Fountain of 1917 is a prime example of anti-art.
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DaDa
(1983) Constrictor
(1986) |

DaDa is a concept album by Alice Cooper, released in 1983. DaDa would be Cooper's last album until his sober re-emergence in 1986 with the album Constrictor.
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Birth name Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp
July 28 1887(1887--)
Blainville-Crevon, France
September 2 1968 (aged 81)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
French, becoming a U.S.
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Surrealism
Surrealism and film
Surrealism and music
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist techniques
Surrealist games
Surrealist humor
Surrealism[1]
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De Stijl (in English generally pronounced /də staɪl/ (IPA) after style; from the Dutch for "the style" – Dutch pronunciation: IPA
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Bauhaus   (help info ) is the common term for the Staatliches Bauhaus   (help info )
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the Armory Show refers to the "International Exhibition of Modern Art" that opened in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, on February 17, 1913, ran to March 15, and became a legendary watershed date in the history of
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Clockwise from top: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.
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Allied powers:
 Soviet Union
 United States
 United Kingdom
 China
 France
...et al. Axis powers:
 Germany
 Japan
 Italy
...et al.
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Allied powers:
 Soviet Union
 United States
 United Kingdom
 China
 France
...et al. Axis powers:
 Germany
 Japan
 Italy
...et al.
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worldwide view.


2nd millennium
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954
1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

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- The 1950s
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