TERM 3 Art Movements

Bianca
Darlane

SOI: "Representation styles of art from the past can influence the future artistic process."
Learning Objective: Inspire students to be creative. They will demonstrate their knowledge
and skills in making works of art and become pioneers in an art movement in the future.
Key Concept: Aesthetic, could be reflected in the result.
Related Concept: Style, representation. Use and apply in the process.
Global Context: Orientation in space and time. The era, period, timeline, history.
Approach To Learning Skills: Thinking skills, Research skills, Self-management skills.
Inquiry Questions:
Factual: What is the Art movement? How do art movements relate to the style of the artist's
artwork?
Conceptual: How can style represent the aspects of aesthetics in the artwork?
Debatable: Is conceptual art part of the Art?
MODERNISM
Modernism (late 19th Century - mid 20th Century) is a global art movement in the Western society due to significant changes such as the French
industrial revolution, new technologies, scientific discoveries, urbanization and the occurrence of WWI and WWII. Modernism resulted the
change of philosophies, culture, and beliefs of the people as they drift away from tradition and have new hopes and experiences for the modern
world.

Change in Art Promoted by Modernism

Modernism is a way of thinking that encourages people to create and express their own view of the surrounding environment through
experimentation of art. In this period, artists began to reject aspects of the culture in the Victorian era. Artists started opposing realism (creating
artwork out of truth without adding artificial or supernatural elements) because it was seen to have been created only by technical ability and
without inspiration. This is also because photography was invented, which means that people no longer needed realistic paintings for their
portraits. They also wanted to drift away from applying customs related to creating representational art. (meaning art copied directly from real
objects and subject matter) Modernists often convey their personal visions into their artworks, which is why color, composition and perspective
may seem distorted. The growing field of psychology at the time popularized the idea of dreams and the subconscious mind, which promoted art
movements like expressionism, abstract art, and surrealism. When modernism fully developed, artists had more time and freedom to create
personal artworks rather than painting only for commissions from wealthy patrons and churches, due to mass production and technology
making art materials more accessible. Advancements in printing also allowed posters of those artworks to be distributed widely, allowing artists
to more easily gain access to these idea, and get inspired by each other. Vast developments in technology made artists change their perceptions
related to romanticism (idealization of nature and emphasis on imagination and emotions) so that they could more accurately depict the change
of the surroundings caused by urbanization. For example, artists moved from villages to cities, meaning they would have a different landscape
than before. Other changes in daily life include more efficient modes of transportation, increase in economic growth which lead to a more
prosperous and consumeristic way of living, and changes of jobs due to industrialization. Despite all the societal progress achieved in this era,
there are dystopian aspects artists decided to depict. People have always thought of war to be about nobility and playing the hero, but after
experiencing the horrors of World War 1, they were disillusioned and questioned the purpose of urbanization (industrialization helped mass
produce weaponry as well), how they have ended up with destruction and millions of deaths. This caused a huge shift in art style and themes.
Themes and Characteristics

Alienation: as a result of experiencing World War 1, people lost hope in the progression of humanity and felt
disconnected from reality due to the losses caused by the war and as an attempt to separate from the horrors. This
affected artist’s artworks to seem dark, disordered, and perhaps even brutal.
Transformation: a lot of technological inventions such as the steam engine, X rays, vaccines, and machinery for mass
production transformed society into becoming more prosperous, healthy, efficient, and consumptive. These
transformations are mostly visual (for example: more factories, urbanization) and can be depicted in backgrounds of
paintings, mostly as a utopia.
Nihilism: People began to depart religion (mainly Catholicism) because not only scientific discoveries essentially
replaced miracles and natural phenomena they used to perceive as gods, but also due to the rebellious attitude not
wanting to conform to a specific system or culture, and wanting go as further from the past as much as possible.
Existence was viewed as chaotic and full of randomness, in contrast to romanticism.
Experimentation: Due to mass production, there are a lot more resources for artists to create artworks. Artists are also
no longer restricted to create artworks for commissions, but for personal creation as well. Therefore, there is much
diversity in modernist artworks, using a variety of mediums, techniques, and styles.
Subjectivism & Relativity of truth: Scientific discoveries such as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and F. H.
Bradley’s theory that the human mind was more fundamental than matter shaped the public’s view of the uncertainty
of the real world. Sigmund Freud’s made a theory about the unconscious mind. These inspired artists to explore their
inner selves, and make artworks more distorted and less towards realism.
Freedom: as people rebel against conventional social norms and religious views, people have the right to believe
whatever they choose.
Surrealism (1924 - 1966) Pop Art (1950)
- European movement that explored the inner workings of the mind, the - Based on topics such as media, mass produced products, and pop
unconscious, dreams and the irrational mind. The main goal is to culture. This art is mainly found in advertisement posters.
combine conscious and unconscious realms of the human living - Has conceptually gotten influenced from Dadaism (based on humor
experience. The art later also placed importance on primitivism, which and absurdity) and a rejection of abstract expressionism
means the artistic idealization of the primitive experience (early - Richard Hamilton heavily influenced Pop art in Britain, and
determined the characteristics to be Short term Entertainment,
cultures/the “simpler times”) and having aspiration to go back to those
Popular, Young (made for a wide range of audience and mainly for
times. teens) and “Big Business”.
- Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s works on dreams and the subconscious - Main meaning of this movement is to show that art can be inspired
mind from any source and should not only be defined by culture.
- Artists include Paul Delvaux, who painted illusionary subjects and - Important Pop Art artists include Andy Warhol who specializes in
included women in bizarre situations (The Break of Day showed a photography and film, and makes Pop Art out of celebrities
(portraits) and advertisements. The most significant artwork of his
woman with tree like legs within vines), Max Ernst, one of the earliest
is the Campbell’s Soup Can, made from silk screening. Yayoi
Surrealists who specializes in collage art, famous for his work ‘Celebes’, Kusama, who makes installations and sculptures, best known for
Jean Arp, who is best known for biomorphic sculptures (meaning psychological artworks such as the infinity room.
imitating patterns shown in elements of nature) such as ‘Head and Shell’ - Art Style Characteristics: Repetition, Vibrant Colors, Figurative
- Art Style Characteristics: Imaginative, automatic, opposing realism,
bizarre placement, taboo subjects

“Campbell’s Soup Can” by Andy

Warhol. Source:
“Celebes” - Max Ernst.
https://paintingandframe.com/prints/a
Source:
ndy_warhol_campbell_s_soup_can_c
https://www.max-ernst.com/t
_1962_old_fashioned_tomato_rice-19
he-elephant-celebes.jsp
423.html
Surrealism
I chose this movement because it was interesting how artists developed surrealism out of absurd things that happened in the real world. The goal of surrealism is to find truth beyond logic and
reality. Its goal is to change the world through reimagining who we are.

History - Movement started in Paris after the end of WWI (1924), surrealism is an anti - art movement which states that surrealists aimed to free people from social and
political “oppressors”, such as middle class complacency, and also as political activism against Capitalism. Mainly motivated by the artist Andre Breton, who was also a
dadaist and wrote the book “The Surrealist Manifesto”, which defines surrealism as “psychic automatism” - meaning expression by true functioning of thought without
control of reason, morality, or aesthetic concern. The purpose of surrealism as he describes is to combine 2 seemingly contradictory states as one absolute reality. By this
time, Sigmund Freud have also had created theories and discoveries about the subconscious mind and how it affects emotion and human behavior, psychoanalytic
techniques such as free association (uncensorship of the contents of the unconscious mind in order to achieve complete flow of thought and discover oneself more) and his
book ‘Interpretation of Dreams’ encouraged artists to practice the psychoanalytic methods. When the Second World War happened in 1939, many of the surrealism artists
escaped into America (‘European Artists in Exile’) and spread the idea of creative processes about Surrealism there. The main surrealism artists are Max Ernst, Salvador
Dali, Frida Khalo, Paul Delvaux, Rene Magritte, and Joan Miro. Surrealism is anti colonialist and anti imperialist, and promotes liberation.

Art Style - Not concerned with aesthetic related problems such as linework and color. Applies automatism, meaning creating art without the rational mind and focus on
instinct. There are also surrealism artworks that approaches primitivism, meaning wanting to recreate and be in the original state of nature, and fantasy. There is
Figurative surrealism, which means making representational art (art out of something that is easily recognized by common people) that depicts reality and uses realism
(high amount of detail and an illusion of 3 dimensions). Then there is Biomorphic Surrealism, which consists of undefined shapes and unrecognizable objects. The colors
can only either be monochromatic or saturated, to form a feeling of dreamlike quality. Some of the paintings utilize juxtaposition, which means putting 2 unrelated objects
together in the same subject matter, and using symbolism that contradicts reality.

Major events that influenced this movement - World War 1: made artists lose faith in traditional values and norms and sought for a new reality, which also inspired the unsettling
imagery in the artworks. Dadaism: introduced the idea of absurdity, promoted the philosophy that nature and humankind is linked as one, and that art does not need to
have aesthetic value.

Techniques - Frottage: putting the canvas sheet over a textured surface (wood, rock, etc.) and rubbing the sheet using pencil, charcoal or crayons, Grattage: using a textured
object layered with paint and scraping it on the canvas to give a texture effect. Decalcomania: when paint is applied between two surfaces to create a mirroring image.
Bulletism: shooting paint onto the surface, Eclaboussure: splatter paint and apply with sponge afterwards. Juxtaposition: meaning to combine 2 completely different
things in 1 subject matter as a visual contrast to create an unsettling feeling/humor.

Tools and Technologies used - Oil on canvas, collage

COMPARATIVE STUDIES Joan Miró (Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/miro-joan/)

- Specializes in sculpting and painting

Salvador Dalí (Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/dali-salvador/) - Miro was able to balance abstraction and representational styles in
a single artwork, and does not usually make completely subjective
- Dali applies Freudian Theory to hallucinate himself and actively artworks. This artwork is based on his past living experiences,
accessed his own unconscious mind, using a tactic he called
memories, and dreams.
“Paranoiac Critical.”
- Uses limited color palette, but colors were bold and expressive.
- Artwork topics include erotic imagery, death, using animals as
Paints flat backgrounds with unblended color. (In this case, the
symbolism (Lobster Telephone), and about his life events.
- He is interested in learning about Catholicism and Catalan culture, color ranges between blue, red, gray, black, and yellow only) There
and also made mathematical and scientific discoveries due to his are also not much gradients in the background.
interest in atomic theory, which gave him a personal conflict between - Includes biomorphic forms (as seen in the exaggerated looking
his beliefs and science. His artwork “Crucifixion” is based on that, as animals in the painting), pictorial signs, and geometric shapes (the
shown in the 4 - dimensional tessaract version of the cross of Jesus black triangle behind the window is supposed to be the eiffel
Christ. tower)
- Another religious symbolic painting of his which also happens to be
an autobiographical painting is ‘The Enigma of William Tell”, which is
based on the biblical story when Abraham sacrifices Isaac, but is
changed into a father holding a baby who has a lambchop on his head,
and eats him while the birds also want a share of his meat. This
reflects the time he got disowned by his father and had a bad
relationship.

Harlequin’s Carnival, 1924 - 1925

 Sources: https://artincontext.org/the-son-of-man-magritte
ARTWORK ANALYSIS - The Son
of Man by Rene Magritte, 1964
(45.67 x 35 inches, Oil on Canvas)
Formal Elements - The background has colors that are dark and dull, which also shows that the weather is about to rain. There seems to be a lot of blending
involved for the shading, such as the sky and the water, and the areas around the suit, to create smoother texture contrasting the rough brick wall. There is an
attempt to balance horizontal and vertical lines, such as the line of the horizon and the stone fence. The vertical ones are from the shape of the standing man.
The apple exceptionally has a round shape and curved lines, the only green colored object and made bigger than normal, in order to make emphasis. The
painting looks almost symmetrical (balance), except for the fact that one arm has its elbow pointing outwards, towards the viewer.

Personal and Cultural Context - This painting was supposed to be a commission for Harry Torczyner who at first requested a portrait, but as he experimented, he
was not able to produce portraits like how other people would traditionally make, as he does not see portraits like how others do and is a “problem of
conscience”. So, he responded to him in the letter regarding the problem and ended up creating this. Magritte was heavily influenced by surrealist artists such as
Giorgio Chirico and Max Ernst, however he adjusted his art style from the lighter version of surrealism because the World War 2 causes negativity to spread
throughout the country, and wanted to give out any remaining optimism. However, he then got into his vache period, meaning “cow” or “lazy person” because
he was feeling numb after the war and decided to create art related to questioning reality, being thoughtful about what is seen and unseen. The concept of this
painting has been replicated repeatedly in Magritte’s work, such as his paintings The Great War of Facade (a flower covering a woman’s face) and The Man in
A Bowler (a bird covering instead). The recurring theme is “hidden from true self”.

Function and Purpose - The clothing worn by the man is a bowler hat, the most common headwear at the time, and an overcoat, which is normal conservative
clothing everyone wore in the streets at that time. (It might also be due to his political side being more towards the communist party) The artist’s intended
meaning to hide the face is as a depiction of humanity, to show that there is always something hidden behind everything that we see. This painting also captures
human curiosity and the sense of conflict that comes when wanting to discover something that is partially hidden. It is titled “The Son of Man” which may be a
reference to Jesus Christ, the son of God, and the apple representing the fall of humanity due to temptation, referencing the story of Adam and Eve.
ARTWORK ANALYSIS - Battle of the Sources:
https://mrgntmthy.wordpress.com/2

Fishes by Andre Masson, 1926 (sand, 014/02/09/andre-massons-battle-of-

fishes/

oil, charcoal, gesso on canvas, )

Formal Elements - Uses cool colors (mainly blue) to make the painting have a scary and ungentle mood, but warm red color to show blood. The
coral reefs are shown by the spiky lines on the ocean’s surface. The rough texture is made from glueing sand onto the canvas. There is not much
difference in value, possibly to make the artwork look more chaotic. Most of the shapes look like deformed eclipses instead of normal shapes,
representing the distortion in the mind when trying to take a look at the situation. It can be imagined that there is a movement between the fishes,
that they are rushing towards each other, due to the lines showing the swimming motion of some of the fish.

Personal and Cultural Context - During the World War in France, Andre Masson wanted to fight for his country and did not worry about his own
survival. However, he ended up getting badly injured in the second wave of war against Germany. He was one in a few who survived, many of the
French troops got brutally killed. He got an everlasting trauma seeing the people he know dying in the war, got a serious injury in his chest, and
had to be rehabilitated for a long while before his life went back to normal. After all this, he moved into another city in France and met well known
surrealist artists in an exhibition he was a part of, one of them being Andre Breton, then joined his group of artists. He was inspired by the
technique of automatism, and put his own twist into it by using sand. He also paints in a semi - abstract manner and learned to selectively use
bold brush strokes for the things he wanted to focus on more. After his journey, this painting was created, then put into a museum.

Function and Purpose - Depicting the situation of WWI. The fishes are supposed to represent the soldiers battling each other until death. After the
fish run out of smaller fish to be eaten, the large ones are becoming hungry and bite each other. Some of the fish are shown to be dying or
stranded. The random placement of lines and including sand was to depict destruction.
 Sources:
ARTWORK ANALYSIS - The https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2016/
Persistence of Memory by Salvador may/10/salvador-dalis-the-persistence-of-memory-ex
plained/
Dali, 1931 (Oil on Canvas, 24.1 x 33cm) https://youtu.be/gA0RAPh2ZgU

Formal Elements - Forms of ordinary objects are distorted to depict the irrationality of being in a hallucinatory state. Combines the real and dreamed world by
using real life objects but in a completely different context and photorealistic textures. The lack of varieties in the background and foreground (just a flat
plane) was to create a sense of space surrounding the event going on. Emphasis was put on the pocket watch to be a bright colored orange, in contrast with
the black ants (representing juxtaposition). The painting attempts to balance the composition by putting a mountain in the background instead of negative
space, a tree in the foreground, and the character in the middle.

Personal and Cultural Context - Salvador Dalí stated that the melting objects was inspired by cheese melting in the sun. He had this technique to create
surrealism art called Paranoiac Critical Method, meaning he hallucinated himself to access his subconscious thoughts in order to make this artwork. This is
done by taking micro naps during the day while holding a heavy object, and dropped the object in the state when he was just about to dream. This would make
him dream and be fully conscious at the same time. (hypnagogia) The history of this artwork is that after Dali got kicked out of his family’s home at a young
age, he and his went to live inside a fishing shack in Port Lligat, Catalonia near a shore and Mount Pani, which is the setting in the painting. He was poor at
the time, and eventually this painting gained popularity. The painting may have been inspired by ‘The Enigma of a Day’ by Giorgio de Chirico, in terms of the
use of space and placement of objects. The dead olive tree is inspired by Francisco Goya’s ‘Disaster of War’(1815) painting, where a dying person hanging on
a tree branch is replaced with the watch. The idea for the ants was based on a dream a year ago about parasitic ants which was also featured in a movie, and
when he saw animals decomposing in his childhood. The olive tree that symbolises peace is now dead, referencing to the political unrest before the war.

Function and Purpose - The ants on top of the balloon represents the decay and inevitability of death, also present in his other artworks such as ‘Art Face’ (1937).
The bending of clocks is to show helplessness, the fluidity of time, because time is subjective, meaningless, and does not matter when one is in an
unconscious state, and the melting body at the bottom is a portrait of Dalí. The pocket watch is the only thing that cannot break down, to show that the ants
will one day deteriorate themselves as well due to the lack of crumbs for food. The pocket watch is facing downwards, which might mean that nothingness is
inevitable, because death means the non - existence of time. The large area covered by shadow is to give an unsettling feeling (most likely from Mount Pani),
that something bad is about to happen. There is also a fly, which symbolises disease and a reminder of the temporary nature of human life.
 SKETCH PROCESS
Sketch 2 (CHOSEN FOR FINAL)

- Subject Matter & Technique- World War 1 but represented by fish in roles of certain weapons and technologies in the war
- Subject Matter & Technique - While WW1 is (poison gas, guns, tank, submarine, etc.) This sketch shows marine creatures fighting each other inside a swimming
going on, A soldier from the enemy country is pool, outdoors will it is snowing. The top of the pool is frozen due to the snow. Metamorphosis is shown when a gun
cooking up something using mustard gas in head is combined with a shark’s body, and a torpedo replacing the swordfish’s nose. Dislocation is shown by putting a
order to attract people, so they could be killed gas mask onto the octopus, it is because the octopus is releasing mustard gas, and also a swimming pool in a random
easier. spot of the forest. Has a sense of absurdity due to the placement of all sea creatures in a small swimming pool. The
- The idea can be expanded by adding more traits of the fishes and sea are symbolic to the actual functions of the weapons/technologies. For example, the stone
things to the background, including the fish on the surface of the pool is poisonous, therefore represents poison gas used in war, and also the fact that squids
activities of war such as bombing, flying, and inject ink, which the effect could be substituted for mustard gas spread all over the pool.
other soldiers. - The idea could be expanded by including more types of sea creatures, mainly for types of technologies that are
- This is not necesarily inspired by a famous transportations. (submarine, tank, etc.) Could also include effects such as blood, attacking, and water ripples in order to
surrealist artist, but it has themes taken such as show each of the fishes’ special traits.
the deterioration of life from the war. - I chose ‘Battle of the Fishes’ by Andre Masson as my main reference. The aspects that are inspired is the fact that the
fish are attacking each other until they get eaten or lose a lot of blood, and showing them in a limited space, meaning
Sketch 1 the fishes get more desparate after every kill.

Material and Medium - Canvas (40 x 60), brush (3 sizes), oil paint, palette

Techniques - dislocation/Juxtaposition, Levitation, Change in Scale, Symbolism, Metamorphosis, Double Images

REASON FOR FINAL DECISION:It is more creative in expressing the message, more
surrealist techniques achieved,
PROCESS 2 - sketched most
of the sea
1 - I have creatures, finished
drawn the the snow
base of the background, paint
swimming the frozen ice
pool and the sheet on top of
background, the swimming
and started pool, and started
coloring the painting the shark
snow. - gun fusion.

3 - Finished coloring all

the sea creatures (also 4-
added the sea turtle, the Color
piranha, and the smaller the
fishes, and swimming backgro
ladder, which were not und of
available in the original
the pool
sketch) Have also
added effects such as and
the electricity from eel, more
the mustard gas from effects.
squid, the blood from
dying fish.
MEANING & REFLECTION
This painting is to depict World War 1 by using marine animals. A
handful of marine creatures and fish are put into a small swimming pool
in the middle of a snowing forest. (snowing, just like when the actual war
happened) Since the upper part of the pool is frozen and fishes are
naturally either a predator and prey, they have no choice but to fight each
other until only a few remains left. This is just like how soldiers have no
choice but to continue fighting the enemy country. The electric eels
represents the electric fencing present as defense, the stonefish represents
spreading poison, the octopus spreads mustard gas as ink, wearing a gas
mask to protect itself, the stonefish has a nose tip of a torpedo because it
is fast and deadly, and does a lot of damage if one gets into contact with
it, the sea turtle represents the submarine to carry the vulnerable fish, the
shark naturally has a gun for its head, and the piranha’s teeth are like
knives. (The piranha is inspired by the triangular fish in “Battle of the
Fishes” painting. It can be seen that the smaller fish die first by the
stabbing and floating with blood coming out, and red concentrated water.

I think I did quite good in this artwork, although it is rushed and could have been more realistic and improve in the quality of
shading, to make it look more surreal. It can be seen that there are a lot of unfinished parts. The swimming pool could have
been colored fully, and have a more 3D sense of space by taking more time in the placement of each fish. There could be
more sense of chaos added, in order to give the sense of automatism, by purposely drawing things in a more untidy matter.
JING SI APHORISM
A life filled with desire and expectation is one with pain and affliction.
Bibliography
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism
https://www.britannica.com/art/Modernism-art
https://youtu.be/ditRRDm8e_Q
Modern Art - An Exploration of the 20th Century Modernist Movement (artincontext.org)
MoMA | What Is Modern Art?
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fauvism
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/pop-art-guide#origins-of-the-pop-art-movement
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-surrealism-183312
https://artschaft.com/2018/01/10/joan-miro-harlequins-carnival-1924-1925/
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/grattage
https://schoolworkhelper.net/surrealism-artists-characteristics/