“Abstraction in painting and sculpture developed simultaneously in a number of European capitals during the first decade of this century. Its course, inextricably bound up with the formal developments of Post-Impressionism and Cubism, and with a desire to break with nature and infuse the resulting art with a profound spiritual content, has been extensively traced”.
I chose this quote because it highlights how abstraction in art wasn't just a stylistic choice but more of a cultural/spiritual choice. I like how the author describes it as a “desire to break with nature”. Because photography became a thing, artists no longer had to focus on representing what they saw but now how they feel. Its that perspective is what helps explain why things like cubism opened doors for artists to a whole new reality.
“In early 1923, the Union of Russian Artists in Paris organized an evening of dance, performance, and exhibition at the Bal Bullier (a popular dance hall frequented by avant-garde artists). The participants included Delaunay, Goncharova, Larionov, and Fernand Léger. Delaunay designed a booth of modern fashions which displayed her scarves, ballet costumes, embroidered vests, and coats. It was her first presentation of clothing and design in a fully unified exhibition setting, and the first of many fancy dress events of the 1920s in which artists and socialites joined, fusing production and consumption of the new image of the modern”.
I like this quote because it really captures how art and fashion began to merge, especially through events and blurred the lines between everyday things and creativity. I find it really cool that Delaunays booth wasnt just about showcasing clothes but it showed a new way of thinking, art became something people can now wear.
Ch10.
“During the 1930s, European artists like Barbara Hepworth and Germaine Richier also elaborated the connections between nature’s cycles of generation and erosion in abstract and representational works.[175, 176] Hepworth (1903–1975), one of England’s leading sculptors, studied at the Leeds School of Art and at the Royal College of Art in London where she and Henry Moore became fascinated by the interplay of mass and negative space”.
Its interesting because it shows how artists like Barbara Hepworth connected with natural forms to their abstract work. I also like how the quote points out how she focused on mass and negative space, because its suggests that she was exploring the relation between what's there and what's not.
“During the 1930s, women artists came to Surrealism in large numbers, attracted by the movement’s anti-academic stance and by its sanctioning of an art in which personal reality dominates”.
I think this is an important quote because it shows how surrealism gave women artists a space to express themselves more freely at a time when the art world was still very male dominated. But I believe the idea of Surrealism is like one's personal reality, which would explain why it appealed by so alot of women, that encouraged them to explore like dreams, or inner experiences.
Ch11.
“Explanations for why so few women attempted to align themselves with Abstract Expressionism during its early years must be sought in the confluence of historical, artistic, and ideological forces in American Modernism. Lee Krasner’s career during the 1940s and 1950s, for example, points up the precarious place of the feminine within the rhetoric and institutions of Abstract Expressionism. Krasner was involved in the search by New York painters for a synthesis of abstract form and psychological content from the beginning. She trained first at the Women’s Art School of Cooper Union and at the National Academy of Design.”
I chose this quote because it highlights the challenges women faced in being recognized with major roles in the art movements. It shows how gender bias shape who has allowed to be seen as a serious artist during that time.
The Artwork I chose is Isabel Bishop, Virgil and Dante in Union Square, 1932. What I see is two men, assuming from the painting name are Virgil and Dante walking through a busy City. I would also assume that its a working class area, with warm/gold tones. I think the fact that its focused on urban everyday life can be one example of why its a modernist painting. The second example is the fact that her human figures are a lot more defined and not so simplified
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