Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pablo Picasso, 1907 Oil on Canvas, The Museum of Modern Art
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Andalusia, Spain. Picasso learned art at a very young age as his father was an artist who mentored Picasso and allowed him to travel and study art (Art in Context). During Picasso's time, the world is coming out of the romantic and renaissance period which saw humanism and accuracy in body tones and shape. Advanced knowledge of the human body and math and science have always influenced art, from geometry to the discovery of Pompeii. Picasso received formal training, yet this piece far from represents the lessons of his predecessors. Their painting is of five women at a famous brothel in Barcelona (Art in Context). This painting represents the beginning of an Era. It was an Era where the rules of the previous societies was being thrown out. Picasso isn't representing his subjects in a 3D model with proportionate body parts. The women are flat, their bodies are constructed of jagged shapes and straight lines. The subjects appear nude but the environment is contrasting the nude natural appearance with a backdrop of contrasting colors and angles. The faces of the women are based on primitive masks, as Picasso was exposed to Primative art styles in his travels (Art in Context). This to me represents the life of these women in the brothel, they expose their bodies for survival but protect their souls, their minds. That is hidden, a sacred part of themselves.
Fountain, Marcel Duchamp, 1917 Porcelain, New York, New York
Controversary was every where in the early twentieth century. There was an industrial revolution had just swept the United States, immigration was high as there was an immense opportunity to be taken in the United States as compared to the older countries set in their rituals and old rules. Marcel Duchamp was born on July 28, 1887 in Blainville, France. Duchamp became an artist young and had struggled prior to World War 1 with the acceptance of his work. In 1915 he relocated to the United States where he soon helped found the Society of Independent Artists. Marcel had a complicated relationship with art at this point and wanted to make his career in other forms (Britannica). Duchamp submitted this urinal he purchased to the Society of Independent Artists from a company called Mott, he rotated the urinal and signed it with a pseudonym (Harris & Zucker). This piece from Duchamp separated the art world, it prompted questions such as what the definition of art is, and how do we perceive art. This Fountain leads the viewer into the Dada style which emerged as a challenge to the art world. It was seen as a separation from tradition, the art was often irrelevant, unaesthetic, and utilized ready made objects. Duchamp's Fountain added the to Era of Anxiety. The fundamentals of the world were questioned and explored to a depth that created an irreversible movement that changed art as the world knew it.
Several Circles, Wassily Kandinsky, 1926 Oil on Canvas, Guggenheim Museum
Kandinsky was born on December 16, 1866 in Russia and was initially trained as a musician. He was traditionally trained in art school and even taught at the Bauhaus school in Germany (Biography). This piece by Kandinsky is made of one shape, circles. Each circle is unique, some circles overlap, and the size varies. Kandinsky enjoyed bringing a spiritual aspect to his art, therefore each circle to me represents a part of life. Life is not one experience untouched, your relationships can be complex or simple, each person or thing can bring different values and emotions. Kandinsky represents this by contrasting colors in the circles, the texture of the circles varies as much as our experiences, and the spacing marks different places in our lives. Some circles are one color, simple, and overlapped. These circles appear smaller than the others, less complicated. As the circles gain multiple colors, textures, and depth, it represents the messier parts of life's experience. They are often messier because of all the added components but the beauty is then exemplified in the rich color and contrasting tones.
The Beginning of the twentieth century was full of radical social change, war ravaged populations, information was becoming widely accessible, the world was expanding at an unprecedented rate. Like all art that came before, art in the Early Modern Era represents the science and discovery of the time, but it also represents the philosophical questions presented because of these discoveries.
Works Cited
Artincontext. “‘Les Demoiselles d’avignon’ Picasso - A Pablo Picasso Artwork Analysis.” Artincontext.Org, 14 Oct. 2022, artincontext.org/les-demoiselles-davignon-picasso/.
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