ART DECOART DECOArt Deco, also known as Style Moderne, was an art movement originating in the 1920s which focussed on infusing functional objects with artistry.

It stood to represent mod-ernism through crafting geometric and stylised works with man-made materials. They were striving to convey wealth and sophistication through their works to counter

traditionalism. Those who grew up during the time of World War I and the generation of the 1920s, known as the ‘lost generation’, wanted more from life in the name of glamour and luxury.

St. Louis Gateway Arch by Eliel Saarinen

Femme Ailée en Bronze by Émile Jacques Ruhlmann

Table Mirror by Émile Jacques Ruhlmann

Amidst the chaos of WWI, artists in various cities throughout Germany used expressionism to convey the anxiety that laid within the idea of how modern life consisted of spiritual disconnect from the earth and nature and the cynical atmosphere in which they dwelled.

These paintings are characterised by their visual intensity through the use of jagged, distorted and rapid brushwork as well as shocking colours. Partakers of this movement were interested in African wood carvings and were influenced by Renaissance artists, Neo-Impressionism and Fauvism. The roots of this movement began in 1885–1900 with the works of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor that used line and colour to connote ideas of fear, horror, and the grotesque and ‘celebrate nature with hallucina-tory intensity’. The main development of this move-ment began in 1905 with an association that came together under the name Die Brücke (The Bridge).

I personally find that the bold shapes and colours used successfully catch the eye and make for an exciting viewing experience. However, the emotion conveyed through the subjects and abstract interpre-tations give you an insight into how some of these artists experienced their circumstances, communities and encounters.

Edvard Munch Self Portrait

Most active between 1909

and 1944, futurism is an avant-gar-de Italian art movement which celebrated

the machine age and sought to create dynamic visions of future life. Portrayals of urban landscapes,

modern technology such as planes and cars were created in many different artforms. Ideas were manifested into paint-

ings, architecture, sculptures, literature, theatre, music pieces, and even food.

A key idea used in these works was the depiction of motion and speed. This art style could be characterised through the use of blurring, re-peated shapes and direc-tional lines that signified force. A large majority of futurists supported Fas-cism who were passion-ate about nationalism and excited by violence with strong beliefs in opposing the parlia-mentary democracy.

Futurism took influence

from neo-impressionism and cubism. A few of the more notable partakers of this movement were Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, and Giacomo Balla.

Personally, I admire the idea of depicting move-ment in the way in which these artists did. It allows you to then think of the artwork as a process as well as just a finished piece due to the fact that the contents of the artwork is also trying to convey a journey in it self.

The Tram (1911) by Carlo Carrà

The City Rises (1910) Umberto Boccioni

“I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming

to my own taste.” - Marcel Duchamp

Dada was an art movement originating in Switzerland which came to fruition as a reaction to WWI and the patriotism that was believed to fuel it. Artists used poet-ry, photography, sculptures, painting, and collage to con-vey ideas that opposed the middle-class culture. They were eager to create a space in which people could heal and freed from the madness of their time.

Dada was founded in 1916 in Zurich as WWI raged throughout Europe. A few of the more notable dadaists included Jean Hans Arp, Hugo Ball, and Francis Picabia.

I admire the accidental side of these artworks as it show-cases products that weren’t put together meticulously that can still express the passionate messages that the artists were eager to share.

It reintroduces how exper-imental you can truly be with art because, although individuals can express themselves in endless ways within art, there are still labels, genres, categories and more that can become in-timidating when your idea is not as clear-cut as someone else’s might be.

Dances at the Spring (1912) by Frances Picabia

untitled (squares arranged according to the laws of chance) 1917

by Jean Hans

Creat-ed by the artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914, Cubism is a visual arts style that looked to combat the traditions of perspective, modelling and fore-shortening. Their fragmented pieces of artwork emphasise a 2D plane where backgrounds and foregrounds appear to merge.

Artists of this style looked to highlight the architecture and geometry of form within their works of everyday objects, landscapes, and people through painting and collage. They aimed to depict modernity during their transition differently by dismissing

perspective

and thus,

presenting an abstract

point of view of the subjects in their works.

In the early stages of Cubism and its development, inspiration was taken from

Paul Cézanne’s landscape works. The pioneer artists of this movement were Pablo Picasso

and Georges Braque as they brought this movement to fruition. The artist

Juan Gris also had some impactful artworks.

THE LOVERS I (1928)René Magritte

Surrealism was an art movement that developed in the early 1920s during the time between World Wars I and II where artists aimed to merge the com-plex world of dream and fantasy into daily life to combat the rationality that they believed led Europe into the perilous events of World War I. They looked to express the true nature of thoughts and the un-conscious mind through

paint-ings, sculp-tures, film, photography, lithography, etching, film and other mediums. Some of the most notable artists included Jean Arp and René Magritte with the poet André Breton.

Modernism is a move-

ment that took place worldwide

within society and culture from the late 19th century and the early 20th century as the world experienced the development of industrial life.

This term is featured within a vast range of different art movements and so it wouldn’t be singled out by itself but rather used to help describe the nature of other art styles. This includes movements like Cubism, Impressionism, Dada and many more.

Due to the versatility of modernism, artists using greatly differing styles could use it to create their artworks. Some works could be very geometric and simplistic whilst others within this same genre could be naturalistic with bold colour and complex tonal work. This is what I admire about how artists have explored modernism – there are endless modernist art movements that each have their own interpretation of an ever-evolving global revolution.

André Derain (1905) by Henri Matisse

abstract the she wolf (1963) by jackson pollock

expressionism was an art movement that developed in New York in the 1940s. Inspired by the surrealist idea of art from the unconscious mind, artists of this movement explored abstract interpretations of emotion within their work.

There were three types of abstract painting: action painters like Jackson Pollock looked to record spontaneous and improvised pieces of work, using loose, rapid or forceful handling of paint

paired with an impulse to guide the process of the artwork. Painting by chance also included letting the paint drip directly on the canvas.

The second kind was characterised by several styles, where artists like Philip Guston would use delicate imagery created by shapes with �uidity or on the other hand, shapes appeared to be structured and assertive.

Artists like Mark Rothko used large planes of �at colour and translucent paint to convey a subtle and noiseless e�ect.

I feel that the variety of styles within this one movement speaks for how ‘abstracted’ can mean many things. Personally, I �nd the use of colour in Jackson Pollock’s action painting paired with the sporadic brushwork appealing as even amongst the chaos of impulse, there is harmony within the colours used.

elements (1980) philip guston

no. 16 - red, brown, and black (1958) mark rothko

Pop art is

an art move-

ment that developed

in the 1960s in America and

Britain. Its artwork was characterised by its use of

commonplace objects, me-dia icons and the comic book

art style alongside their other in-fluences such as film, television and

ad-ver-

tising.

This movement

came about as a counter towards

the principles of what defined high-end

and low-end art. On their journey towards introducing

the idea that hierarchies amongst culture did not exist, they utilised

and brought distinction to various aspects of popular culture with their sim-

plistic yet eye-catching style. Artists created their bright and vibrant works with silkscreen printing, lithography, collage and many more methods, often in conjunction.

From my point of view, it seemed as though artists adopted an impersonal attitude towards their artworks so as to mimic the nature of their modern society and how sub-jects of favoured customs were mindlessly mass-produced due to the ease and as well as to satisfy the people of the community. Artists demonstrated how this way of life progressed to the extent where originality within culture and individuality amongst people was cast aside.

Post-modernism was an art movement that emerged in the 1970s. The idea of post-modernist art was to question the way in which modernists portrayed the supposed ‘utopia’ that society had developed.

Rather than express admiration for the contemporary environment, post-modernists looked to depict their scepticism of the modernists’

beliefs in the idea that the indus-trial revolution was absolute and

purely positive for human life and progression.

They believed that the way in which modern-

ism was described through artworks

with simplicity and clarity

was an inaccu-

rate

representation of how it should be viewed overall. They took on the intention to express that the individual experiences of those who encountered modern development in their lives could all be very different from one another and created artworks that encouraged viewers to forge their own interpreta-tions. The questioning of reason adds more layers than ‘simplicity and clarity’ to modernism and its development.

Some say that this movement’s approach to modernist ideals was similar to the way in which Pop Art communicated a darker side to modern society with the way that mass-production took over various aspects of life whether it be food, drink or entertainment.

I admire the way in which these artists go against the current to shed light on their true beliefs and present a realistic side to what artists had yet to fully ex-press. These bold statements are present for all to see and so it gives the consum-

ers a chance to step in and formulate their own opinion of the world

through their artistry.

Green Coca Cola Bottles (1962) by Andy Warhol Shuttlecocks (1994) by Claes Oldenburg

Young British Artists (YBA) was a term used for young artists in Britain who emerged in 1988 with a newfound openness to all kinds of materials and processes as well as an entrepreneurial attitude. They appeared at a time where Britain had been pointed out to be lacking an art culture with meaning and vibrancy in comparison to the postmodern movements taking place in America and Germany – this fact caused the group to react with vigour and take on the challenge to place a spotlight on Britain’s art scene. I find that these artists’ confidence to touch the untouched and do the unthinka-ble is admirable in a way that can empower other young people no matter the generation as they were able to provoke and reel audiences in. At this time, they managed to

play an important part in revolution-ising the future of postmodernist art through sheer hard work and willingness.However, I find that the exhibitions of the preserved dead animals could cause many to question the morality behind this type of work. Although the work is made to have shock factor, some may insist that they still need to have caution when choosing what to present to the world so that work of this nature doesn’t become heavily and negatively controversial. Whilst I believe that it is important to be wary of your audiences, I do believe that, if YBAs were to think within too much of a careful mindset, they may not have been able to make an impact that was as ground-breaking as it was.