Art Historical Photography

1. Art Historical Photography Cubism Abstract Expressionism Surrealism Expressionism

2. Abstract art, like photography itself, is largely a twentieth century phenomenon. In fact, one of the reasons why artists began to experiment with abstraction is because they felt that photographs could do the job of representing the world much better than a painter. What is abstraction? This painting by Picasso is obviously a landscape. We can see the shapes of houses and walls. But Picasso has distorted reality. The perspective is strange, almost as if he had moved around and recorded different views of the same scene in one picture.

3. Cubism “Le guitariste”, Pablo Picasso, 1910

4. Dates: 1907 - 1914 • Notable Artists: Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris • Characteristics: • objects are broken up and re-assembled in abstracted form • multitude of viewpoints to represent subject in greater context

5. instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context “Portrait of Picasso”, Juan Gris, 1912

6. often the surfaces intersect at random angles, removing a sense of depth nearly two-dimensional appearance; an inclusion of geometric angles, lines, and shapes “Woman with a Guitar”, Georges Braques, 1913

7. Cubist Photography

9. Surrealism “The Persistence of Memory”, Salvador Dali, 1931

10. Dates: 1924 - 1966 • Notable Artists: Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Rene Magritte • Characteristics: • element of surprise and unexpected juxtapositions • expose psychological truth by stripping ordinary objects of their normal significance

11. created compelling images that were beyond ordinary formal organization “The Elephant Celebes”, Max Ernst, 1921

12. a combination of the depictive, the abstract, and the psychological images were dream-like and unexpected “Indefinite Divisibility”, Yves Tanguy, 1942

16. Expressionism

17. Dates: 1905-1925 Notable Artists: Georges Rouault, Oskar Kokoschka EgonSchiele, Franz Marc, Edvard Munch Marc Chagall Characteristics: artist attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him. He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements

18. brushwork is typically free and paint application tends to be generous and highly textured

19. Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements.

22. Abstract expressionism

23. Dates: Early to mid 19th c Notable Artists: Jackson Pollack – De Kooning – Rothko - Still Characteristics: art that while abstract was also expressive or emotional in its effect. They were inspired by the Surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind

24. Two broad groupings: The action painters worked in a spontaneous improvisatory manner often using large brushes to make sweeping gestural marks. Pollock famously placed his canvas on the ground and danced around it pouring paint direct from the can or trailing it from the brush or a stick. In this way they directly placed their inner impulses on the canvas. The colour field painters were deeply interested in religion and myth. They created simple compositions with large areas of a single colour intended to produce a contemplative or meditational response in the viewer.

27. Task • You have been chosen to create an exhibition of photographs that link into one art historical movement • You must find at least 3 photographs to display alongside 1 exempla painting for your chosen movement • You must then write the exhibition blurb, explaining your choice and your movement