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Chapter 33The Development of Modernist

Art:The Early 20th Century

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e

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Natural and Organic Forms

• Reaction against mechanization and growth of technology.

• FLW worked under Louis Sullivan• “architecture of democracy” – right to move in a

“free” space• Non-symmetrical designs interact spatially w/

natural surroundings – adjust the building to its site• **continuity**• “prairie house” – reaching out toward the flatlands

– no façade, roofs extended beyond walls, wandering plan based around central hearth, enclosed patios/strip windows – all give sense of motion inside & out [Robie House]

• Fallingwater – enclosing space, not mass• Usonian houses – less expensive, basis for

suburban housing developments post-WWII

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Figure 33-66 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1907–1909.

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Figure 33-67 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, plan of the Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1907–1909.

39Figure 33-68 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, Kaufmann House (Fallingwater), Bear Run, Pennsylvania, 1936–1939.

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Figure 33-69 CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI, Bird in Space, 1928. Bronze (unique cast), 4’ 6” x 8” x 6” high. Museum of Modern Art, New York (given anonymously).

•Essence of flight

•Curving surfaces, ovoid forms

•Cycle of life

41Figure 33-70 BARBARA HEPWORTH, Oval Sculpture (No. 2), 1943. Plaster cast, 11 1/4” x 16 1/4” x 10”. Tate Gallery, London.

• Pristine shape w/ organic vitality

• Conscious use of void or negative space

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Figure 33-71 HENRY MOORE, Reclining Figure, 1939. Elm wood, 3’ 1” x 6’ 7” x 2’ 6”. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit (Founders Society purchase with funds from the Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. Trustee Corporation).

• Organic forms + void use• Wood – use of wood grain• Metal/stone – hardness & solidity• Reclining female figure

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Figure 33-72 ALEXANDER CALDER, Untitled, 1976. Aluminum honeycomb, tubing, and paint, 29’ 10 1/2” x 76’. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Gift of the Collectors Committee).

• Inspired by Mondrian• Duchamp coined term

“mobiles”• Reality’s dynamism• Love of nature – suggest

clouds, leaves, waves, etc.

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Art as Political Statement

• Expressing emotions and facts of social injustice

• Guernica = grief• Propaganda = Soviet worker ennobled• Depression = WPA projects to support artists

(art for federal buildings)• Personifying conditions of displaced (Lange),

loneliness & isolation (Hopper), AA Migration (Lawrence)

• Regionalism (Wood) – nationalist feeling• Mexican muralists – mixing European w/

traditional images, pride in history

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Figure 33-73 PABLO PICASSO, Guernica, 1937. Oil on canvas, 11’ 5 1/2” x 25’ 5 3/4”. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.

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Figure 33-74 VERA MUKHINA, Worker and Collective Farm Worker. Sculpture for the Soviet Pavilion, Paris Exposition, 1937. Stainless steel, approx. 78’ high.

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Rebellion and Social Injustice as Subject Matter in Art

• Examine the depiction of social injustice, poverty, urban isolation and other social issues in art.

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Figure 33-75 DOROTHEA LANGE, Migrant Mother, Nipomo Valley, 1935. Gelatin silver print. Copyright © the Dorothea Lange Collection, The Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland (gift of Paul S. Taylor).

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Figure 33-76 EDWARD HOPPER, Nighthawks, 1942. Oil on canvas, 2’ 6” x 4’ 8 11/16”. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (Friends of American Art Collection).

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Figure 33-77 JACOB LAWRENCE, No. 49 from The Migration of the Negro, 1940–1941. Tempera on masonite, 1’ 6” x 1’. The Phillips Collection, Washington.

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Documenting Lives in Art

• Examine the political content of art resulting from African American migration along with the themes of Regionalism.

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Figure 33-78 GRANT WOOD, American Gothic, 1930. Oil on beaverboard, 2’ 5 7/8” x 2’ 7/8”. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (Friends of American Art Collection).

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Figure 33-79 THOMAS HART BENTON, Pioneer Days and Early Settlers, State Capitol, Jefferson City, 1936. Mural. Copyright © T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

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The Mexican Muralists

• Examine the art of the Mexican muralists along with their mediums, techniques, and methods.

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Figure 33-80 JOSÉ CLEMENTE OROZCO, Epic of American Civilization: Hispano-America (panel 16), Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, ca. 1932–1934. Fresco. Copyright © Orozco Valladares Family/SOMAAP, Mexico/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.

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Figure 33-81 DIEGO RIVERA, Ancient Mexico, from the History of Mexico fresco murals, National Palace, Mexico City, 1929–1935. Fresco.

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Discussion Questions

What caused artists in the early 20th century to reject observational naturalism in art?

How did Cubism influence other art styles in the early 20th century?

Why is art a powerful means for the expression of sociopolitical concerns?