Modern Art, Day 2327 March 2013

Paris Before World War I: Brancusi, Delaunay, Duchamp, Futurists

Brancusi, “The Kiss,” 1915-16 less sensuous feel than Rodin’s “The Kiss” more an emblem of unity earlier version was designed as a funerary monument to a woman in

Montparnasse who had killed herself over an unhappy romantic relationship

slight bulge on the left figure suggests breasts figures are within the block of stone rather than liberated from the

stone and carved out of it as is seen in Rodin’s work

Brancusi, “New Born,” 1915 arcing incision is supposed to represent the arc of the eyebrow and

nose doesn’t have a pedestal, giving it a bit of vulnerability; it’s as if it could

roll away so it needs the protection of the viewer

Delaunay, “Windows,” 1912 Orphic Cubism

“Duchamp,” Nude Descending a Staircase, No.2,” 1913 inspired by Jules Laforgue’s poem “Nude Ascending A Staircase” Duchamp has completely desexualized the figure wedges/planes of monochromatic color evoke motion underlying nihilism in Duchamp’s work Duchamp’s fellow cubists didn’t like this painting and discouraged him

from sending it to an exhibition; however Duchamp continued to paint this way

Duchamp, “The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass),” 1915-23

bride on the upper partition; is aroused which is symbolized by cloud that she emits

on lower partition are the bachelors which Duchamp calls “mallic molds” (rhymes with phallic; in their excitement they are able to activate the contraption around them and move the chocolate grinder (object that looks like a drum set)

yellowish colors and bumpy service in some parts is due to dust that Duchamp let accumulate on the glass which he then shellacked on

introduces chance into the piece with its transparency which will change how people see it, also by letting the accidental crack in the glass stay

colleagues worried that Duchamp’s work suggested he supported the Futurists

Boccioni, “States of Mind, Farewell,” 1911 futurists: condemn Mona Lisa and Nike of Samothrace, anarchists, play

little pranks to stick their noses at society, liked to make extreme propagandistic statements like “ban the moonlight,” very interested in motion and “universal dynamism”

when Futurists come to Paris and see cubism they adopt it as a mode for dematerializing forms

green figures represent people coming and going suggestion of communication towers in the background undulating line evokes motion in the painting

Severini, “Dynamic Hieroglyph of the Bal Tabarin,” 1912 Bal Tabarin was a nightclub affixed sequins to the surface of the canvas

Boccioni, “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space,” 1913 killed in the war, ironically although they supported it

Carra, “Patriotic Celebration/Free Word Painting/Manifesto for Intervention,” 1914

meant to mobilize support for war

reverberating composition

explicitly militaristic