war and fascism in early modern art

Mr. Mark Gonzalez

Grace Christian Academy

Mr. Mark Gonzalez

Grace Christian Academy

Themes in Early Modern ArtThemes in Early Modern Art1. Uncertainty/

insecurity.

2. Disillusionment with modern society and the wars.

3. Dream-like.

4. Overly sexual.

5. Violence & savagery.

Early Modern Art Forms

Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)

1. Expressionis

m: Using bright colors to express a particular emotion.

Abstract-paintings should contain no indications of “real” objects or persons, but should instead represent the artist’s own innermost feelings and emotions

Georges Braque: Violin & Candlestick (1910)

Georges Braque: Violin & Candlestick (1910)2. CUBISM (1908-

1919) Simplify forms seen in real life into geometric planes, lines, and shapes on the canvas

Inclusion at one time on a single surface as many different perspectives, angles, or views of the object painted as possible

Picasso-rejected the idea that paintings should constitute a window into the real world

Georges Braque: Still Life: LeJour (1929)

Georges Braque: Still Life: LeJour (1929)

Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

Picasso: Studio with Plaster Head (1925)

Picasso: Studio with Plaster Head (1925)

Pablo Picasso:

Woman with aFlower(1932)

Pablo Picasso:

Woman with aFlower(1932)

Paul Klee: Senecio (1922)Paul Klee: Senecio (1922)

George Grosz Grey Day

(1921)

George Grosz Grey Day

(1921)3. DaDa

(Dadaism) began in neutral Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1920.

Made fun of contemporary culture & traditional art forms.

a protest against the middle class-imperialistic interests which many Dadaists believed were the root cause of the war, and against the cultural and intellectual conformity — in art and more broadly in society — that corresponded to the war.

The collapse during WW I of social and moral values.

Nihilistic.

So what is Nihilism?

• Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is a philosophical position which argues that our existence is without meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Nihilists generally say some or all of the following:

1. There is no reasonable proof or argument for the existence of God or gods.

2. Absolute Morality does not exist; do what you believe is right. (Moral relativism)

• Existence of anything has no higher meaning. • Nietzche (philosopher) is considered the Father

of Nihilism

Friedrich Nietzche (1844-1900)

• “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

• – Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125

George Grosz:

Daum Marries Her Pedantic AutomatonGeorge in

May, 1920, John

Heartfield is Very Glad of II

(1919-1920)

George Grosz:

Daum Marries Her Pedantic AutomatonGeorge in

May, 1920, John

Heartfield is Very Glad of II

(1919-1920)

• Otto Dix• Grosstadt

(1927-28)• Criticized and

celebrated the decadence of life in Berlin in the Weimar Era

Raoul Hausmann: ABCD (1924-25)Raoul Hausmann: ABCD (1924-25)

Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (1917)Marcel Duchamp: Fountain (1917)

Salvador Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War),

1936

Salvador Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War),

1936 4. Surrealism Late 1920s-1940s.

(great depression and WW 2 Art)

Came from the nihilistic genre of DaDa.

Dream-like

Confusing & startling images like those in unconscious thoughts and dreams.

Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Salvador Dali: The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Salvador Dali: The Apparition of the Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach

(1938)

Salvador Dali: The Apparition of the Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach

(1938)

Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire

1940

Salvador Dali. Self Portrait as Mona Lisa. 1954

The Philadelphia Museum of Art used a surreal entrance display including its

steps, for the 2005 Salvador Dalí exhibition

Artistic Reactions to War in the Modern World

Activity

Salvador Dali: Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of a New Man

(1943)

Salvador Dali: Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of a New Man

(1943)

Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937)

Thomas Hart Benton’s The Sowers, from Year of Peril, (1941–42)

Boris Artzybasheff’s The Witches Sabbath (1944)

Boris Artzybasheff’s

As I See(1941-45)