17: Art Between the Wars (WWI and WWII)
Introduction
World War I devastated Europe, and artists responded to the war by creating art that summed up the utter nonsensical nature of this brutality with the art movement called Dada. Dada and other visual art at this time often uses collage to visually communicate ideas. Modern art used for propaganda can be seen in the Russian Constructivist movement and similar art from the Dutch with the De Stijl movement. Exploration of the human psyche in the writings of Andre Breton is part of Surrealism and several artists are invited into this group, including Salvador Dali and René Magritte. Picasso continues his influence on art by combining aspects of Cubism with recognizable imagery. North American art in the United States and in Mexico are also recognized for originality. Female artists and photographers find success in male dominated fields and are also noted for their significant artistic contributions. Photography is now being recognized as both an art form and for its ability to document the world through popular publications like Life Magazine. Style comes into the American Industrial Age with the architectural style of Art Deco which had originated in Pris in the 1910s. In Germany, the Bauhaus, or house for building, becomes the most influential modern art school in Europe furthering the concepts of modern art, design, and manufacturing.
DADA: Anti Art (New York and Europe)
The Entombment of the Birds and Butterflies , Jean Arp 1916-17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wm0589mLbM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkqJmMECZCs
Fountain , 1917 Marcel Duchamp Mechanical Head , 1920 Raoul Hausmann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef5_PLKpEiE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABNwtDyx7T4
Dada Art Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany , 1919 Hannah Höch
Germany, A Winter's Tale, 1918 George Grosz
I Copper Plate I Zinc Plate I Rubber Cloth 2 Calipers I Drainpipe Telescope I Piping Man , 1920 Max Ernst Untitled, Man Ray 1922
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWAzhHQKX5c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26dRG-iAkWg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umyxWJslJY
Three Musicians , 1921 Pablo Picasso Three Dancers , 1925 Pablo Picasso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_D4pwe7NSI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHcg9U25yV0
Head of a Woman , 1929-30 Pablo Picasso Head , 1935 Julio González
Surrealism:
Andre Breton Manifesto
Breton wrote the manifesto of 1924 that defines the purposes of the group. He included citations of the influences on Surrealism, examples of Surrealist works and discussion of Surrealist automatism.
Dictionary:
Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.
Encyclopedia:
Surrealism. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.
- The mind unbounded. Complete freedom of expression without societal, religious moral constraints.
- Technique still important to communicate visual ideas.
- Painting, film, photography and sculpture media are used. There is certainly exaggeration of forms in this art movement! The following slides show several examples.
Att irement of the Bride , Max Ernst (1940) The Elephants Celebes , 1921 Max Ernst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BkXjea4NBc
Salvador Dali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA0RAPh2ZgU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH7xxDLexvw
The Persistence of Memory (Melting Clocks), 1931 Salvador Dali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHY9mBvlRec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mp-fBJNQmU
https://www.britannica.com/video/240496/Salvador-Dali-Persistence-of-Memory
Dali
Dali
The False Mirror, 1928 René Magritte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bX9cFGKm1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZCE3ot6lf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf3XhoVkRFI
Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare , Cartier-Bresson (1932)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsNnJLv1pkk
The Gift , Man Ray (1921)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vlyStRcxoQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcPJWZcxqvM
Object (Luncheon in Fur) , Méret Oppenheim (1936)
Sculpture
Lobster Trap and Fish Tail , 1939 Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEqg-nSu7M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUchd9wwBoI
Recumbent Figure , 1938 Henry Moore
Sculpture with Color (Deep Blue and Red) [6] 1943 Barbara Hepworth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PPM8foaH_k
Russian Constructivism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuefUigp0Ws
Monument of the Third International (Tatlin's Tower), 1919-20 Vladimir Tatlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KyWM9LrEcQ
Advertisement: "Books!" , 1925 Alexander Rodchenko
De Stijl Movement
Composition No. II/Composition No. I//Composition en Rouge, Bleu et Jaune (Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow), 1930 Piet Mondrian
Gerrit Rietveld, Interior of Schröder House, with "Red-Blue" chair, Utrecht, Holland 1924
Bauhaus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhXPQt8U3Zs
Walter Gropius, Werkbund housing development, Stuttgart, Germany (furniture by Marcel Breuer) 1927
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqK5K6qFJuI
Walter Gropius, Shop Block of the Bauhaus , Dessau, Germany 1925-26
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German Pavilion 1929 (Guggenheim International Exposition, Barcelona)
Interior of the German Pavilion, 1929
Reinforced Concrete
Auguste Perret, Notre Dame, Le Raincy, France 1923-24
Françoise Hennebique, System for reinforced concrete, 1892 (After Curtis)
Art Deco
The Voice of the City (New York Interpreted) , 1920-22 Joseph Stella (see below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7MzNE66TlI
Wire Wheel , 1917 Paul Strand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm7CEt2okuc
Photography by Margaret Bourke-White 1930s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzRbbCFeCA
My Egypt , 1927 Charles Demuth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDezhBHW4MM
William van Alen, Chrysler Building, New York, 1928-30
Painting and Photography in America
Black Iris III , 1926 Georgia O'Keefe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83ggxS21mFM
Pepper , 1930 Edward Weston
Vintage film covering Weston available in the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjSWgoRTn2Q
Photos by Edward Weston 1930s
https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/edward-weston-nature-is-the-great-stimulus/
American Gothic , 1930 Grant Wood
https://www.britannica.com/video/239225/interpretations-Grant-Wood-American-Gothic
In the North the Negro Had Better Educational Facilities , 1940-41 Jacob Lawrence
Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera
Man, Controller of the Universe , 1934 Diego Rivera
https://www.sfmoma.org/watch/how-diego-rivera-made-his-murals/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrT0uuZGxFU
The Two Fridas , 1939 Frida Kahlo
Edward Hopper
Early Sunday Morning , 1930 Edward Hopper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKIbT-4UFaE
Migrant Mother, California , 1936 Dorothea Lange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae1n1JQ0wKc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21nPEFybmtQ