Timeline for Modernism
Romantic opens the timeline something we called Modernism.
It started around the 1790 and lasted up till 1850.
From Romantic epoch personally I have seen a lot attending
to different art galleries but the one worth of mentioning is "Ramsgate"
painted by J.M.W Turner who was the son of William Turner and he painted this
art work around 1824. This painting was displayed in the Turner Contemporary in
Margate Kent London
Romantic is very interesting part of the art history that is
based on the emotions which were reflected in the paintings. It was also
focused on the nature by giving it an extra power just as it should be another
very important player in the picture. Artists also were showing some fears and
worries by personification and anthropomorphism of the nature and the animals.
A very good example of this could be a selection of art work by Spanish painter
Francisco Goya such as "Caprichos".
My passion for art started to develop from Pre-Raphaelite.
This is time where my fascination with paintings began. The Ashmolean
Museum Oxford Britain London
My heart started to be excited just when I say the name of
another period called Impressionism. We marked it on the timeline from the 1870
till 1890. It was only 20years but very important for the art.
We think of artists such as : Mary Cassatt, Eugene Boudin, Camille Pissarro.
I recently watched documentary program on Sky Arts about the
Impressionism from Musees De Luxemburg & Orsay
................................... and found few interesting information.
This secondary source was great way of refreshing my art knowledge gained
already at school as I may say long time ago.
Talking about the
Expressionism we think about the time from the 1910 till 1915. This
was very short time in the art history however also very important.
There are names such as : Egon Schiele, Franz Marc, Marc Chagall,
Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Edward Munch. This movement was based
on the emotional experience. It is very hard to make a judgement on
this period int the art as most of the artists created rather
disturbing images. They are sometimes uncomfortable to watch for us
as we have not been able to experience what they have seen. Saying
that I do wonder why? We live in such a cruel world and we have been
surrounded by media where the access to the current news is faster.
We can see current world afers and wars unfortunately. When the
Expressionism was established artists had enormous power to translate
their emotions on the canvas by this way the viewer could relate to
their emotions. Most of the models from the paintings look tired and
sad even depressed. There are many paintings about the death and
sickness.
Tate Modern was
exhibiting Norwegian artist Edward Munch work in June till October
2012. I was very impressed by his talent and the emotional impact he
made on me that time. I do remember when I had an idea to produce
some painting based on my experience while I was working in a care
home. Edward Munch painted very disturbing paintings of ill and sick
people which I could not forget as they looked so upsetting and
intriguing at the same time. I started to put some of my images which
I had in my memories hoverer I thought I would rather forget about
them than keep digging in the uncomfortable memories. At the end of
the day I was there to help elderly people not to use their difficult
and sad moments as an inspiration for my art work. I decided to keep
them to myself, although I thought it could be a good way of healing
and a type of therapy as this job was very hard physically and
emotionally. Maybe one day I will paint something what I have seen at
that time but for now I would rather forget and crate something that
would bring a smile on someone face. Talking about that exhibition I
was disappointed I could not see his famous painting called “The
Scream”, not knowing why it was not on display at that time.
Wassily Kandinsky is
another artist who impressed my with his work. Unfortunately I have
not been able to see any big exhibition of his work only managed to
look closer on his painting at the Vatican Museum a few year ago.
Tate Modern has also one of his paintings on display and is the
“Cossacks1910-1911. However his book under the title “Point and
line to plane” written by himself helped me to understand the
meaning of art of his time. It is easier to understand the art that
has just some images like portraits or landscapes rather than an
artwork constructed on the lines and some shapes therefore I could
recommend his books to everyone who has problems to red different
art.
Marc Chagall's art at
that time was gloomy, scarry and the shapes were more looking as a
cubs.
Fauvism is the next
movement and last only a few years from 1915 till 1920. This movement
decided not to copy anything that was created before them and took
massive step forward forgetting about the Impressionism. The surnames
that represent this movement are: Andre Derain, Henri Matisse, Raul
Duffy,
Henri Matisse was the
main artist standing behind this movement as he decided to use the
space of the canvas in a different way. He wanted to define the space
by the movement of the colours. He used a space and filled it with
mainly a one colour then moving to another part of the canvas and
using another colour. His models look like there are build from
different blocks and geometrics shapes. At the first glance we may
have an impression there was something wrong with their proportions
however when we look closely we find out that there were absolutely
fine. The style of his painting is rather messy and looks like
Matisse was satisfied with the painting at the first stage just like
he made a sketch and decided to move to another project. Why do I
have this impression? The canvas looks like has just one layer of the
paint and some spaces look like there is not enough of to cover the
canvas. It looks like he used too much of paint that was not thick
enough. However this is the style we fall in love with. His most
famous art work is: The open Window (1905), Women with The Hat
(1905), Blue Nude (1907), Dance I (1909).
Andre Derain created
Regent Street, Fishing Boats and many more. The Regent Street is very
charming painting with loads of movements and running horses. The
colours are bright and light. His srt work looks like from the
Impressionism rather than the Fauvizm.
Cubist started from the
1920 up till 1925 with two main artists Georges Braque and Pablo
Picasso. They used the subjects that were recognizable in normal day
life. In Tate Modern Gallery we can get close to the paintings fro
this movement such as : “Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass,Guitar and
Newspaper” or “Still Life” by Pablo Picasso. “Clarinet and
Bottle of Rum on the Mantelpiece” by Georges Braque. Speaking about
Pablo Picasso I cant forget the exhibition I have seen at the Museum
of Picasso in Barcelona in 2014. This museum has an amazing
collection of his work and it is really worth of going there once you
are in Barcelona.
The main Polish
artists who represented this movement was Tadeusz Makowski and I
can proudly say I am a graduate of his school in Lodz. This school is
called Tadeusz Makowski School of Fine Arts in Lodz. One of the
paintings created by him were:”Palacze fajek”, “ Three Children
Near a Road Sign”, “ The Shoemaker”, “ Winter”. His
paintings are very much like the kids were painting them not and
adult therefore he has never been taken as someone as good as Pablo
Picasso for instance.
Surrealism 1925 till
1930 thinking about this time we have the artis such as Marcel
Duchamp, Joan Miro, Dorothea Tanning.
Bauhaus starts from
1930 till with the artist such as Paul Klee, Lazslo Moholy-Nagy,
Naum Gabo.
Research point
Laurence Stephen Lowry
Laurence Stephen Lowry in documentary movie about his art work expressed his passion towards the art in such a simply way. He often says that he paints what he sees and he likes what he sees. He was incredible good in executing the urban composition and in such a naïve but yet charming way he knew how to paint people walking and moving from one place to another. He was also painting on the white background many times.
My plan for this exercise is to go to the nearest town and sit down on the fence to paint a couple of little quick paintings. I will go to Harlow Town with my little easel and acrylic paints as they dry quicker and they are nearly as good as oil paints. I am not sure how will I paint surrounded by people but it will be good experience for me as a developing artist.
This first one does not look very impressive to me I have to admit. What should I change ? What do I like about it? The first thing I am pleased with is the freshness where the brush line is till looks like it needs to be corrected it makes it look as it is just a sketch. I am pleased with the colour of the background the reason for this is the medium I have used by this I mean a small cardboard. What I do not like is look of the people where I can not show their small individual characters. It is not easy to paint while you are sitting on the edge of the fence in the busy shopping street. I will use different colour to paint the people on the street.
This one looks more interesting and the people have great look. Much more specific than on my first attempt. I am very impressed how much different it looks by only changing the colour. I decided to paint only a shape of some people I have met on the street. If gives a charm to this naïve small sketch.
This third one is much more advanced in my opinion as I already knew what to do to guide my brush in the way how I liked. I am very impressed and really happy with this little painting.
Research point –
practical
Matisse
I was not aware of
Matisse creative carrier life. After a little research I found out
that the most important for us pieces were created when he was bit
older and he was not able to paint as he use to do it when he was
young and healthy. It was really inspiring to read about him and how
devoted to the art he has. Not many artists can do something like not
giving up on dreams and keep creating despite of disability and
limitations of different kind. I do remember when I broke my left
wrist and was off from work for six months I was so determined to not
to waste that time and I created the biggest paintings and most
colourful from my all collection. The mind try to take away you from
the worries and physical pain that you can be in that is why
creativity is very helpful to survived the difficult times.
How did I do with my attempt of crating an art work based on Matisse cut out style? I admit I had lots of fun with quick cutting out some round shapes and placing them on the big paper. Actually it did not make me think of some childish paper art work as I thought at the beginning. It was a great relaxing creative time.
Research Point
Automatism in art.
Automatism in art is all about letting your unconscious mind to create whatever it wants. I had no idea how does it work until I decided to try sketch a few pages wile my little one was watching a telly. After w while my hand was drawing some amazing shapes I had no idea of existing in my head. Some of them are bit sharp and some shapes are loose and soft. It is bit like with dancing when your body to relax and you just let go then body creates some new moves.
