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Period: to
Haussmann's reconstruction of Paris
Commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III, Haussmann (the prefect of the Seine) set about redesigning Paris through a vast public works program. This involved demolishing the narrow streets and replacing them with broad boulevards, creating a modern sewerage system and introducing gas lanterns. Poor people were displaced.
Further information: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/second-empire/a/haussmann-the-demolisher-and-the-creation-of-modern-paris -
Period: to
Modernism (?)
When was Modernism? What was Modernism? These questions don't have fixed answers. For our purposes, we can think of Modernism as the collection of cultural expressions of experiences of Modernity. -
Louis Leroy uses term "impressionistic"
The critic Louis Leroy inadvertently gives the Impressionists their name, describing their work as "impressionistic" (this was intended as an insult). He also said that “wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape” (referring to Monet's painting "Impression, Sunrise", 1872) -
Theosophical Society founded
Theosophy, founded by Helena Blavatsky, is an esoteric movement drawing on various philosophies and spiritual systems including Neoplatonism, Buddhism and Hinduism. Theosophical ideas were influential on many Modernists, including Kandinsky and Mondrian, particularly on their use of abstraction. -
The cardboard box is invented
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Women's suffrage enacted in New Zealand
Women's suffrage is enacted in New Zealand (the first country to do so). -
Claude Monet "Rouen Cathedral, Full Sunlight"
Monet painted this same scene multiple times, in varying qualities of light. Looking at the differences between each work, we see evidence of the idea that what an object looks like is contingent upon context; the colour of an object changes based on the quality of light, reflections from other objects, and how particular colours are juxtaposed. In a way Monet is not painting the building, but the action of light on the buildings surfaces. -
The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud
This book by Sigmund Freud (the originator of psychoanalysis) introduced theories about dream interpretation and the subconscious.
His ideas would become highly influential on the Surrealists. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/surrealism/tapping-the-subconscious-automatism-and-dreams/ -
From Eugène Delacroix to Neo-Impressionism, Paul Signac
In this book, the artist Signac claimed that the long struggle of artists to establish the primacy of colour began with Delacroix.
In it, he claims: "After the Romantic era, it became more and more obvious that in a beautiful painting, the strongest reason for the charm it exerted was the play of lines and colour," and “The comma-shaped touch of the Impressionists in some cases plays the same expressive role as Delacroix’s hatching does."
It's known that Kandinsky read this book. -
Hector Guimard "Entrance to Paris Metropolitain"
Hector Guimard , entrance to Paris Metropolitain (édicules), c1900, cast iron (painted green).
Further information: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/symbolism/v/hector-guimard-cit-entrance-paris-m-tropolitain-c-1900 -
Bloody Sunday Massacre
Tsarist troops in Russia open fire on demonstrators, killing and wounding hundreds. In response, riots and strikes break out throughout the city.
More information:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bloody-sunday-massacre-in-russia -
Theodore Duret on Monet (abstraction and music)
In 1906, Theodore Duret, talking about Monet’s work, said “having arrived at this degree of fluidity, painting rejoins music in a certain way, making analogous variations on a coloured theme. Monet has thus arrived at the last degree of abstraction and imagination allied to the real." -
Pablo Picasso "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon"
In this work the fragmented figures are interwoven with the drapery, so that space is an ongoing perception in time rather than a series of discrete objects. The influence of "Primitivism" can also be seen here, with the two figures on the right inspired by African art. Picasso would have seen African art in museum collections in Europe, a byproduct of colonialism. The three figures on the left are influenced by Iberian sculpture. -
Hitler rejected by art school
Adolf Hitler fails the entrance exam for the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna -
Period: to
Analytical Cubism
This is regarded as the first phase of Cubism, which lasted roughly from 1907-1911.
Key Artists: Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
Example: "The Portuguese”, 1911, Braque.
At this time, Picasso and Braque painted with subdued, monochromatic palettes. They disrupted the picture plane and traditional ideas about depth by reducing and fragmenting the surface into multiple planes, and by painting objects as seen from a number of different angles simultaneously. Objects are suggested, not described. -
Hitler rejected by art school (again)
Adolf Hitler fails entrance exam at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (a second time). -
Pierre Bonnard "Nude Against Daylight"
- oil on canvas. In this work, the viewer is positioned as a voyeur, looking in on an intimate domestic scene. The patchwork of colour and expressive handling is typical of Bonnard's work, and reflects his interest in capturing the effects of light. This interest links him to the Impressionists. The emphasis on textiles and furnishings reveals his links to the Nabis, who focused on the decorative effects of colour. The unexpected angles are reminiscent of Japanese Prints.
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The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism, F.T. Marinetti
In 1909, the Futurists published their first manifesto. Among other proclamations, they declared: "We affirm that the world's magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like a serpents explosive breath -- a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace" -
Georges Braque "The Portuguese"
This is an example of Analytical Cubism. There are figures in this work, but they exist through intersecting planes and from multiple, simultaneous viewpoints. It’s hard to grasp any solid form because of the shifting planes; the subject emerges only to be cancelled out almost immediately. Braque has simultaneously created depth and drawn attention to the picture surface. The rendering of three dimensions on a two dimensional surface was an important concern of the Cubists. -
Period: to
Synthetic Cubism
The second phase of Cubism was Synthetic Cubism, which began around 1911/1912 and lasted until 1914.
Key artists: Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris.
Example: "Violin and Guitar", 1913, Juan Gris.
This phase of Cubism involved a reversal of the procedure of Analytical Cubism; rather than reducing objects to abstractness, artists built up images from fragments and assembled parts. Collage became an important method, and artists continued to utilise multiple simultaneous perspectives. -
Pablo Picasso "Still Life with Chair-Caning"
One of the major innovations of Synthetic Cubism was collage (from the French “coller” or “to stick”). In this painting, Picasso has introduced industrially printed material (a photolithographed pattern of chair caning) onto the picture surface. This calls into question what is real and what is fiction. The printed chair caning is an illusion, but it appears real; by contrast, the abstract forms have no pretense to illusion. Perhaps then the paint itself is more real? -
Juan Gris "Violin and Guitar"
This is an example of Synthetic Cubism. Gris wrote that "truth is beyond any realism, and the appearance of things should not be confused with their essence".
(oil on canvas, 100 x 65cm) -
Robert Delaunay "Political Drama"
oil and collage on cardboard.
In this part abstract/part figurative work, Delaunay is experimenting with colour. His work often rejected natural forms in order to explore the effects of pure colour, following his belief that harmonious colour evoked slow movement, and discordant colour speed. Their juxtoposition enabled rhythmic possibilities.
His work was part of a movement that became known as Orphism.
For more information: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.52397.html -
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World War One
World War One (WWI) was a global war that originated in Europe. -
Period: to
Dada
Dada began during WWI, around 1916. It was international and multi-disciplinary, developing in Zurich, Berlin, Paris, Cologne and New York, as well as other cities. Whilst diverse, Dada can perhaps be said to cohere through a shared sense of irrationality, a deliberate, often sarcastic attempt at the outrageous. Artists rejected what they saw as the established values underlying the war (such as Enlightenment rationality, which they saw as having led to mass mechanised slaughter). -
Marcel Duchamp "Fountain"
To make this Dadaist artwork, Duchamp has taken a urinal, put it on its side, and signed it "R. Mutt". This type of work is called a “readymade; Duchamp has removed an object from it's functional context and declared it to be art. The object wasn't chosen for it's aesthetic qualities, and isn't supposed to be interesting or beautiful. This poses many questions – is art anything the artist says is art? What makes something art? -
Period: to
Russian Civil War
Civil War breaks out in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Red Army (Bolsheviks) fight The White Army (a large group of loose allies including monarchists and foreign powers).
The Red Army is victorious in 1923, and establish the Soviet Union. -
February Revolution
The February Revolution begins in Russia, on 3rd March.
For more information:
https://www.history.com/topics/russia/russian-revolution -
Bolshevik Revolution (October Revolution)
On November 6 and 7, Bolshevik revolutionaries led by Vladimir Lenin launch a coup against the Duma's provisional government.
For more information:
https://www.history.com/topics/russia/russian-revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ55ZvBe07U -
Hannah Hoch, "Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany"
This is a Dadaist collage or “photomontage" by Hannah Hoch. Berlin Dada tended to be more political. Hoch has cut out the heads of German political leaders and put them on the bodies of exotic dancers. Her own head appears in the lower right next to a map of Europe showing the progress of women’s enfranchisement. Some of the Dadaists appear on the lower right, beside revolutionary figures like Marx and Lenin. Here Dadaism is still playful, but also political. -
First Surrealist Manifesto, Andre Breton
Andre Breton writes the first Surrealist Manifesto. https://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htm -
Period: to
Surrealism
Surrealism began in 1924 with Andre Breton's manifesto.
Sigmund Freud's ideas about dreams and the unconscious were influential on the development of Surrealism. Many Surrealist works deal with repressed images, fetishes and the uncanny.
In order to dissolve the boundary between fantasy and reality, Surrealists used chance, strange juxtapositions, and a process known as automatism, which was drawing automatically without thinking about what it is your doing. -
Sonia Delaunay "Girl in Swimming Costumes" 1928
Watercolour on paper
Through her use of bright colour, Delaunay sought a purity of expression akin to music. Along with Robert Delaunay, she developed a lyrical kind of Cubism that became known as Orphic Cubism, or Orphism.
Delaunay also designed costumes, fabrics, fashion and book covers. -
Naum Gabo "Construction in Space: Crystal"
1937.Perspex.
Perspex was a new material at the time Gabo made this work. The use of curves and spokes created a gentle rhythm, and the geometric abstraction links it to Constructivism. Gabo believed that sculptures could interact with space, and often made kinetic sculptures.
For more information: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gabo-construction-in-space-crystal-t06978 -
Joseph Cornell "Untitled (Ostend)"
c.1954. mixed media.
In this work, Cornell juxtaposes banal objects to create a poetic theatre of memory. His enclosed assemblages of strange groups of objects evokes a sense of mystery and nostalgia. From the mid-1930s he exhibited with the Surrealists, though he remained in the USA. -
Anthony Caro "Midday"
- painted steel. In this abstract construction, Caro has deliberately left the nuts and rivets visible, to accentuate the process and materials. Rather than mass, Caro has focused on space. In Britain, he revolutionised sculpture by removing the pedestal. More about the artist: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/1/72
