Modern Western Art World (Theory)

Neoclassicism art (mid 18th to the end of the 19th century) is quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture (usually that of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome): Jacques Louis David’s Painting of The death of Marat. Benjamin West’s The death of General Wolfe. George Stubbs’s Lion attacking a horse. Sculpture of Thomas Banks’s The death of Germanicus. Architecture of Claude Nicolas Ledoux’s Barriere de Vaillette Paris.

Romanticism art (second half of the 18th century) is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the Western Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution:  Francisco Goya’s The sleep of reason produces monsters, The third of May and The family of Charles. Theodore Gericault’s the raft of the Medusa and Portrait of The Madman.Jean Auguste Diminisque Ingres’s Odalisque. Delacroix’s The Massacre art Chios. Camille Corot’s Morning: Dance of the Nymphs. Theodore Rousseau’s A meadow bordered by trees. Jean Francois Millet’s The Sower. John Fuseli’s The nightmare. William Blake’s The ancient of Days. John Constable’s Hampstead Heath, The Haywain and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. Turner’s The slave ship and Rain, Steam, Speed. Cotman’s Durham Cathedral. Friedrich’s Abbey in an Oak forest. Thomas Cole’s View of Schroon Mountain. Sculpture of Carpeaux’s The Dance. Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty.    

Realism and Impressionism art In the early 19th century the face of Europe, however, became radically altered by industrialization. Poverty, squalor, and desperation were to be the fate of the new working class created by the "revolution." In response to these changes going on in society, the movement of Realism emerged. Realism sought to accurately portray the conditions and hardships of the poor in the hopes of changing society. Out of the naturalist ethic of Realism grew a major artistic movement. The Impressionists pioneered the use of light in painting as they attempted to capture light as seen from the human eye: Gustave Coubet’s painting of Studio of a painter. Manet’s The fifer and A bar at the Folies Bergere. Monet’s On the bank of the seine Bennecourt, Water Lilies and Red boats Argenteuil. Pissarro’s The Cote des Boeufs at L’Hermitage near Pontoise. Renoir’s Le Moulin de la Galette. Degas’s Prima Ballerina and The tub. Morisot’s La lecture. Cassatt’s The bath. Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix. Whistler’s The artist’s mother. Rodin’s Sculpture of The Thinker and The Kiss. Architecture of Gustave Eiffel’s The Eiffel tower. Morris’s Decorative art of Green dining room.

Post Impressionism: As a direct outgrowth of Impressionism came the development of Post-Impressionism: Cezanne’s Painting of A Modern Olympia, Self portrait, Still life with apples in bowl, Mont ste Victoire seen from Bibemus Quarry. Seurat’s A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jatte, Chahut, The Couple. Toulouse Lautrec’s At the Moulin Rouge, La Goulue. VanGogh’s The Potato Eaters, Self Portrait, Wheat field    and Cypress trees. Paul Gaugin’s The vision after the sermon, Where do we come from, Offerings of Gratitude.Edward Munch’s The Scream. Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. Picasso’s The Old Guitarist. Rousseau’s The Dream. Maillol’s Sculpture of Seated Woman. Sullivan’s architecture of Carson Pirie Scott and Company department Chicago. 

Fauvism (The 20th century): Following the Impressionists and the Post-Impressionists came Fauvism, often considered the first "modern" genre of art. Just as the Impressionists revolutionized light, so did the fauvists rethink color, painting their canvases in bright, wild hues: Henris Matisse’s Painting of The Joy of Life, The Red Studio. Rouault’s Head of Christ and The Old King. 

Expressionism: After the Fauvists, modern art began to develop in all its forms, ranging from Expressionism, concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art. Expressionism had deep historical roots as Fauvism exerted a decisive influence on the Expressionist movement that made it appealing to the Northern mind and lasted far longer in Germany at the same time. For this reason, Expressionism is sometimes applied to German art alone:  Die Brucke- Kirchner’s Self Portrait with Model, Winter Landscape in Moonlight. Heckel’s Woman before a mirror.  Kandinsky’s Sketch I for “Composition VII”, Accented Corners. Franz Marc’s Animal Destinies. Kokoschka’s The bride of the wind.  

Cubism: Expressionism, concerned with evoking emotion through objective works of art, to Cubism, the art of transposing a three-dimensional reality onto a flat canvas, to Abstract art. These new art forms pushed the limits of traditional notions of "art" and corresponded to the similar rapid changes that were taking place in human society, technology, and thought: Picasso’s Painting of Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon, Portrait of Ambroise Vollar, Still life with chair caning, Three Musicians, Mother and Child, Three Dancers, Guernica. Braque’s Collage of Newspaper, Bottle, Packet of tobacco.

Futurism: The short lived Futurist movement in Italy exemplifies the new style of geometric precision of engineering that made it uniquely attuned to the dynamism of modern life: Boccioni’s Dynamism of a Cyclist.

Dadaism: Giorgio de Chirico’s Mystery and Melancholy of a Street. Marc Chagall’s I and the Village. Duchamp’s The Bride and Nude Descending a staircase no. 2.

Surrealism is often classified as a form of Modern Art. However, the Surrealists themselves have objected to the study of surrealism as an era in art history, claiming that it oversimplifies the complexity of the movement (which they say is not an artistic movement), misrepresents the relationship of surrealism to aesthetics, and falsely characterizes ongoing surrealism as a finished, historically encapsulated era: Marx Ernst’s Painting of La Toilette de la Mariee, Collage of 1 Copper plate 1 Zinc plate 1 Rubber cloth 2 Calipers 1 Drainpipe telescope 1 Piping man. Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. Kahlo’s Self portrait with Thorn Necklace. Miro’s Composition. Klee’s Twittering Machine, Park near Lu.

Abstract Expressionism:  The Painting that prevailed for about 15 years following the end of World War II arose in the direct response to the anxiety brought on by these historical circumstances. Under the influence of Surrealism and existentialist philosophy, Action painters, the first of the Abstract Expressionists, developed a new approach to art: Gottlieb’s Painting of Descent into darkness. Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm: Number 30. Kooning’s Woman II. 

Pop Art: Other artists who made a name for themselves in the mid 1950’s rediscovered what the public continued to take for granted despite all efforts to persuade otherwise: Hamilton’s Painting of Just what is it that makes today’s home so different.