Art Test 5 | Study Guide | Concepts/contexts

Front 1

Modernism

Back 1

In the arts, modernism developed as a wide-ranging reaction to Romanticism and realism.
It rejected conventional narrative content and conventional modes of expression to depict a world seen as altogether new and constantly in flux.
In architecture, a twentieth-century style characterized by the glass and steel rectangular skyscraper but including a variety of explorations of space and line, including curvilinear treatments and highly symbolic exploration of form.
In visual art, a variety of approaches following the introduction of cubism and other "modernist" works at the international exhibition of modern art in 1913. In dance, it characterizes the non-ballet tradition emphasizing angularity and asymmetry.

Modernism sought to express new ideas in new ways. Modernist artist believed that they could advance society by advancing art. In lecture, professor williams claims that manet's luncheon on the grass is accredited as the original modernist piece.

Front 2

Avant-Garde

Back 2

"At the front" (French)
The avant-garde or intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts, especially in the arts. These concepts and works are usually unconventional, daring, obscure, controversial, or highly personal ideas

Front 3

Abstraction

Back 3

A thing apart, that is, removed from real life. Also, an early to mid-twentieth century art movement that stressed non-representation

Front 4

Science ca. 1900

Back 4

- German physicist Max Planck developed a theory that enabled scientists to explain heat radiation and turned physics upside down
- Work by Einstein-- explained the movement of electrons within an atom.
Rontgen-- discovered x-rays--awarded noble prize for physics.
Onnes- discovered superconductivity led to the development now being seen in contemporary physical processes.
Mendel-- demonstrated that hereditary characteristics transmit via distinct elements today called genes. His findings combined with previous research formed the science of genetics.
Microbiology- Pasteur-- explained the fermentation process. Extended research to bacteria beginning in the field of bacteriology. Immune system became serious subject for scientific study.

Front 5

World War I

Back 5

The German Reich:
- German Reich- twenty-five German states united
- authoritarian
- attacked catholics, expelled the Jesuits and placed controls on the Roman clergy --campaign didn't succeed.
- Anti-socialist laws instituted
- Bismarck's foreign policy sought to consolidate Germany's position in Europe by forging a set of contradictory treaties

Front 6

Freudian subconsious

Back 6

Sigmund Freud believed that your conscious mind is merely the "tip of the iceberg" so to speak. Within your unconscious mind lies lots of information with is hidden. The subconscious has a will and purpose that is not known to the conscious mind.
-Also worth noting, Freud believed there to be 3 parts to the mind: Id, ego, and superego.
The id is one's primitive needs (food, sex, defense, etc)
Superego- one's sense of humanity and purpose
Ego- the mediator between one's larger sense of humanity and their need for basic things like sex, aggression.
Id- horse. Ego- rider. Superego- course.

Front 7

Automatism

Back 7

Drawing with your eyes closed

Front 8

Exquisite Corpse Drawing

Back 8

Each participant adds to the drawing in a piecemeal fashion. This is essentially an artist's version of the game telephone

Front 9

Armory Show (1913)

Back 9

Claimed as one of the most influential events in history of American art, the armory show showcased lots of modernist pieces such as Duchamp's nude descending a staircase.

Front 10

291 Gallery

Back 10

Art gallery in New york formed by a photographer named Alfred Stieglitz. This gallery is known for
1) increasing the reputation of photography to that of painting and sculpture
2) Presenting European avant-garde art to American citizens

Front 11

Works Progress Administration/Farm Services Administration

Back 11

Part of Roosevelt's new deal: art for public good; post great depression and stock market crash which led to a rise of nationalism; Dorothea Lange, who worked for FSA, graphically detailing the plights of people and land during great depression

Front 12

Biomorphic form

Back 12

Abstract shapes which evoke ideas of organic form

Front 13

"Degenerate Art" Exhibition

Back 13

Organized by Adolf Ziegler an the Nazi Part in Munich from july 19 to november 30 in 1937. The exhibition presented 650 works of art, confiscated from German museums, and was staged in counterpoint to the concurrent Great German Art Exhibition.
Works that "insult german feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill"

Front 14

Existentialism

Back 14

-insists on the actual existence of individuals as basic and important rather than relying on theories and abstractions. Sören Kierkegaard shaped existential ideas into a modern statement.
-word coined by Jaspers.
-became associated with a literary school i the 1940s with the writings of jean-Paul Sartre among others.
-stresses humankind’s basic elements, such as the irrationality of the unconscious and the subconscious acts, and they consider life dynamic and in a constate of flux. Human life constitutes not an abstraction but a series of consecutive movements.
-insist on the concrete rather than the abstract, on existence itself rather than the idea of existence.
-believe that in an absurd universe without meaning or purpose, individuals have freedom of choice and must take absolute responsibility for their actions. Thus, the individual must find meaning in his or her own existence rather than in some externally imposed dogma.
-Jean-Peal Sartre: “Existence precedes essence.”

Front 15

Art Criticism

Back 15

The discussion and evaluation of visual art

Front 16

Formalism

Back 16

The study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style.
Marked attention to arrangement, style, or artistic means (as in art or literature), usually with corresponding de-emphasis of content. Also applied to critics of literature who emphasize the formal aspects of work.

Front 17

Consciousness Raising

Back 17

Started by women in the 60s