“Realmente quisiera que leyeras cada uno de los escritos que escribí pensándote; o los que encuentro por allí y me hacen recordarte. Para que vuelvas, para que me des una señal de que aún piensas en mi. Pero luego recuerdo que todavía me queda algo de amor propio y me lo prohíbo.
No mereces saber cuanto me dañaste.”
I’m a big art and art history fan. Unfortunately,
between college, work, and other commitments I don’t get to create to a decent
standard as much as I’d like to but I hope to return to that once the little
issue of getting a degree is out of the way. Through time spent looking for work
to blatantly plagiarise and actually studying artists’ work for the Leaving
Cert., I’ve picked up a decent amount of art history knowledge. If I ever need
to give a TED Talk style presentation on something it would be on my favourite
art history movements. Although who can tell whether this is because I’m
actually a little knowledgeable this field or I’m just incredibly stupid in
others.
Regardless, below is a brief outline
of not only four of my favourite art movements, but four of the most important and
significant art movements in history. Designed to give the art history rookie a
decent understanding into art’s biggest movements, you can now be confident
that if you ever find yourself in an art gallery, you can charm your way to impressing
whatever party you may find yourself with.
Impressionism
Characterised by: Small, visible brushstrokes, use of light, ordinary subject matter, use
of and representation of movement
Championed by: Claude
Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissaro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Impressionism is a 19th
Century art movement which came about essentially when a group of artists,
tired of the stuffy and outdated standard of art expected in Paris at the time,
decided to go in a different direction, in terms of subject matter, technique
and style. To make any sort of decent living as an artist at Paris at the time
(the place to be for art, what’s changed?) your best bet was to submit a piece
of work to the French Salon, Paris’s
official art exhibition. However, the selection committee for the Salon were
quite particular in what they would display, preferring art done using
traditional styles perfected by the old masters and specific subject matter
(generally religious or inspired by monarchy in some way). Meaning that anyone
who dared to submit anything that varied from this strict set of ideals was
fresh outta luck.
Édouard Manet was the artist
responsible for bridging the gap between the previous major art movements of romanticism
and realism, and the new movement, impression. His piece Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (the luncheon on the grass, pictured below)
caused a fair bit of a stir in the art community at the time. Mostly because of
the naked prostitute in the forefront (Pro Art History Tip: if there’s a naked
woman in a painting from the 19th century, you can be fairly
confident she’s a prostitute). This did not sit well with our stuffy friends at
the Salon, who when upon seeing this exclaimed “Oh my word, what is this?!” while clutching their pearls (or so
I’d like to imagine). It was described as “ugly” and “risqué” in terms of its
subject matter (to which I’d say no sh*t Sherlock, that’s the point”). But it
did pave the way for true impressionists to make their mark (while Manet was a
key figurehead in the impressionist movement, he wasn’t actually an
impressionist painter himself).
Claude
Monet is the father of Impressionism. His piece Impression Sunrise, featured below, inspired the name of the art
movement and truly captures the characteristics of the movement:
Interestingly, a lot of these Impressionist artists were
active in Paris at the same time and would often hang out in Parisian bars
drinking absinthe (inspiring a Degas piece by the same name). When they all (predictably)
were rejected from the Salon, they gave them the ultimate f*ck you by setting
up Salon des Refusés, which literally
translates to “the exhibition of rejects”, where they could display their work.
This went down about as well as you’d expect given the circumstances. Ballers.
Post Impressionism
Characterised By: A more developed use of colour than that of
impressionists. Post-impressionists use colour as a way of expressing emotion
and are less concerned that things are accurately represented colour-wise.
Subject matter is quite ordinary and are not always depicted to scale.
Championed By: Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh,
and Georges Seurat.
Despite the (ironically) less than creative name, post
impressionism is a really interesting point in art history’s timeline. Impressionism
marked the moment that art really started to change rapidly.
Post-impressionists rejected the limitiations that impression presented but
still took influence from it. Post-impressionism artists continued using vivid
colours, often thick application of paint, and real-life subject matter, but
were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, distort form for expressive effect,
and use unnatural or arbitrary colour.
Arguably the most famous post-impressionist (and my personal
favourite artist) was Vincent Van Gogh, whose huge arsenal of work is
recognisable worldwide. Van Gogh famously suffered with mental illness during his
lifetime and this is evident in his work, which can border on sinister at
times. If you can deal with science-fiction, I’d recommend the Van Gogh episode
of Doctor Who (Episode title “Vincent and the Doctor”, season 5), which does an
excellent job of portraying Van Gogh’s inner turmoil and why his work remains
so influential today. Also, if you’re ever in Amsterdam, do yourself the
biggest favour and go to the Van Gogh museum. Splurge and get the audio guide.
It’s an incredibly enriching and educating experience. I had a moment in that
gallery, I’m not going to lie.
If you don’t have time to watch that Doctor Who Episode in
its entirety, at least watch this clip from it (although why they didn’t film
this scene in the freaking Van Gogh museum remains a mystery to me):
Vincent Van Gogh “Wheat field with Crows”
Georges Seurat “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”
Cubism
Characterised By: Subject matter that is rounded, reassembled
and almost 3D looking.
Championed By: Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso
Cubism followed post-impressionism and is considered one of
the most influential art movements of the 20th Century. In Cubist
artwork, objects are analysed, broken up and reassembled in an abstracted
form—instead of depicting objects from a single viewpoint, the artist depicts
the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a
greater context. Cubism was a turning point in the art world, leading to
multiple diverse art movements that would have been unprecedented before.
The most famous artist of this movement was Pablo Picasso.
Some people (who are wrong) may put forward the (incorrect) viewpoint that
Pablo Picasso wasn’t a very talented artist. These people are (you guessed it)
wrong, and if you hear anyone verbalising such an opinion you are responsible
to hit them with the FACTS. Pablo Picasso was an incredibly gifted artist, and
this included his technical skills. Even as a child he could paint images so
realistic you’d think they were a photograph. But he (and pretty much all the
other artists I mention here) didn’t limited in the way they created and wanted
to branch out in different directions. Some people may look at a piece of art
and say that it required no technical skill to complete (which I can place a
firm bet that if they tried to do so they’d fail – not because they’re
untalented but because we’re talking about the greatest artists of all time
here) but that isn’t the point. The point is that these artists we the first
people to create art in this style. It’s easy to say it’s nothing special now,
after 100 years of looking at this style. But truth be told movements like
cubism were nothing short of ground breaking.
Pablo Picasso “Three Musicians”
Pop Art
Characterised By: Influence of mass culture – comic books,
advertising, cultural figures and mundane cultural objects.
Championed By: Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard
Hamilton and Robert Rauschenberg
Pop Art is an art movement that took place throughout the
mid to late 1950’s that uses elements of popular culture as inspiration. Pop
Art is widely recognisable and remains a popular movement in not just art but
fashion, TV and social media. Pop Artists often use their work to express
certain beliefs (sometimes political), which differentiates it from movements
previously discussed here. Its use of recognisable images and people really
shifted the direction that modern art was heading in.
