Among the various topics we covered last class I was interested in the Dada movement. I remember being introduced to it in my Contemporary art history class a few years back. I have to be honest and admit that my first thought was “How can this be art?” As Paula (my professor) explained the movement I began to understand is importance in the history of art and how much it influenced several artists after, and I began to appreciate it more. I believe that Dada really pushed the limits of what is considered art. It sparked creativity and helped others see things differently. I researched more about Dada and discovered that Dada artists were among the first to intervene with mass media. They would cut out photographs from the daily press and recontextualized them in their collages. In the end, I feel like modern art wouldn’t exist without the Dada movement.
Below I have included some works from Dada artist Kurt Schwitters I found his work interesting because of his combinations of painting and collage.
The lecture drew my attention to Magritte's work and the different forms of perspectives he allowed in his graphic designs. His extensive fans included many rock bands which are famous for having illustrious and way out there album covers. This proves that Magritte's work is unique and outstanding. The different perpectives, such as that of the man facing the mirror to only see the reflection of the back of his head lead directly to my intrigue of the unique furniture such as the Wassily Chair. The designs are art within themselves and just having the piece in a room instantly makes it a work of art. This time period lead to sharp edges and geometrical shapes in the furniture, the art, the advertisements, and design. The Bauhaus graphics are edgy and modern for the time, incorporating steel and endless possibilities. I like these pieces of work because there was no limit on what the artist could do, it was the polar opposite of say the renaissance era where imitation was all that was considered art.
I found the World War II propaganda posters we viewed last class to be extremely interesting. In addition to the artists' incredible creativity, they reminded me of the drastic changes in advertising techniques over the last 75+ years. While the intention of these posters was to shock the viewer into changing their "selfish" ways and helping the war effort, I can't imagine today's government putting out such drastic adds into the public sphere. Surely with the Internet and all the different vocal activist groups they would have been extremely ridiculed and eventually rescinded by government. I think advertisements like these make more of impact on the viewer than the ones we have today. The evidence is clear, we are currently involved in a number of overseas wars, yet the home front effort is basically nonexistent. If the American public were to be constantly reminded of the events overseas, the wars would be much more talked about and undoubtedly end sooner with the public’s disapproval and more importantly action.
One part of the last lecture that interested me was your excerpt on Dadaism. Art has no boundaries and anything could be considered art, but it's amazing that art has been able to evolve to the point where a urinal on a stand could be considered art. What's more amazing is that I understand the appeal. After exploring more into Dada, I found out that it started in switzerland and moved to Berlin, New York, and Paris. After visiting or living in all of these cities, some parts are obviously pretty and appealing but others are also grungy and dark, which is the appeal that Dadaism has. The graffiti displayed in all of these cities also have a very Dada feel to them and are often obscure and have no logic. Looking at the history of art, it began with sacred paintings and observing how art has evolved, Dada is almost the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
One of the components of the lecture that interested me was the discussion of the works of Jan Tschicold. His designs were very aesthetically pleasing to me. He seemed to follow the modernist construct that less is more but his use of diagonal lines gave his works a sense of dynamism that is lacking from many of the Bauhaus architectural designs. Also the way that he placed the text and figures out of the center of the piece was unique and reminded me of many of the designs that are now created in computer programs by designers. The templates for things like resumes and presentations use many of these un-centered and diagonal layouts. His use of color is also unique in that he uses warmer colors that catch the eye very well like reds and yellows. They bring a sense of urgency to his designs and direct the eye of the viewer immediately to the message he is trying to convey. Overall his designs are very modern and avant-garde and even today they seem like a design that could be used in posters or other campaigns.
I liked the discussion about collage and remeber when I was a child how me and my friends use to create collages and give away to eachother as bithday gifts. It was a great gift because one could really use one`s imagination and creativity to the fullest and the gift and collage was also extremely personal to the person it was created. I lovge the idea of collage as art in its purest form because one can use anything to create the art as you mentioned in last class, even a piece of paper from a candy bar can be used in the creation and I believe that is fantastic. It truly demonstrate what you also said : Art is everything or everything is art.
Dadaism is something that I love learning about in art history. It’s a movement that gets at the heart of what art is to people and always brings great discussion. Everyone approaches it differently and I really enjoyed the way you did; not analyzing and just enjoying it because really anything goes. The way you paralleled it to cubism really helped me understand it, that cubism and Dadaism are successful because they are about our everyday lives but Dadaism shows it in a chaotic manner.
Being from the Tampa Bay area, I grew up with the Dalí museum. He has always fascinated me as an artist. The surrealist movement was to me one of the most creatively imaginative movements. With Freud’s work in dream analysis on their side it seemed anything was possible. But what made it special is that they used everyday imagery but abstracted it that so that things were almost recognizable but not at the same time.
I found it thought-provoking that you said “Anything can be art if you make it and call it art.” I think that’s very true because art is subjective. You can consider something to be bad art, but it’s still art. I looked up the definition of art and it means “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”. People express themselves in different ways and have different ideas and tastes on what is good art or bad art. Art is not just paintings, drawings, and graphic design. Art includes music, literature, dance, and many other forms. Everyone has different opinions on what is considered good, but it’s ignorant to not consider something music or art because you don’t understand it or like it. For example, someone once said to me… electronic music isn’t real music because it’s not produced with real instruments. It does not matter what means of production you use to produce art or music or whatever, what matters in the expression of the self in it. Skill and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I really enjoyed the art that “trapped the eye.” The way you explained it, I began to see the plan these artists’ had behind creating this art. It’s a mystery and there are these certain clues that are hidden within the marks of it. I never realized the reasoning behind the artist’s plan for each work until you interpreted it. I began to see it was like a game for them, to trick and intrigue the viewers. I began to play along with the game as I analyzed these paintings and it was so interesting to see what was hidden within. I always enjoyed your interpretation of Futurists. I never thought of Italians as futurists but it makes so much sense because Italy is so old, they are yearning for modernization. They want the future. I also thought that video of the holy mountain was crazy and I showed it to several of my friends. The weird content and vibe of that video was so unique to anything that I’ve seen lately. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I especially enjoyed the portion of your lecture on Dadaism, specifically the mention of geometric shapes in Dadaism. I believe it’s fair to say geometric shapes have a strong influence on graphic design as well as on Dadaism. The original Dadaist, Hugo Ball, supports this by performing at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916 in his Bishop Costume. In essence, the costume was actually made of cardboard formed into geometric shapes. He created the look of a bishop’s attire by placing a cylinder on his head, body and legs, and a triangular shape on his shoulders. This use of simple geometric shapes went on to influence collage art and photomontages during the Dada period and even further today in all graphic design. Can’t all our fonts, designs even chairs be broken down into simple geometric shapes?
I thought it was really interesting to hear that you collect chairs. It seems like such a peculiar thing to collect considering how big they can be. I never though of chairs as something to collect because they are so functional, but after seeing the chairs you posted it became obvious that collecting a chair is exactly the same thing as collecting art. Someone engineered the chair and planned it with more thought and precision than most art and that should be appreciated. Additionally someone was inspired to create the chair in the design that you chose. I was also very interested to learn that Dada had created anti- Nazi propaganda. I decided to look into this and discovered than in Nazi Germany, all modern art was termed “Degenerate art” on the grounds that it was un- German or Jewish in nature. It makes sense that the German’s banned modern art because it was used as propaganda against them. Instead they encouraged “traditional art that promoted the values of racial purity, obedience and militarism.
Since coming to study art at University of Miami, my definition of art has changed drastically. I remember once during the summer, I was visiting the Tacoma Art Museum and there was a blue tarp on the wall. I had just come from the Renoir section so my first thought was what is this...is this section under construction? And I saw the little paint drips on the tarp and the little mounted card on the wall next to it saying who the artist was and the date. I was dumbfounded and thought it was really stupid. I wish I had taken another minute or two to look at it so I could remember it better now, but it is instances like that that remind me of your statement, 'anything is art if you make it art.' While I'm still not positive how I feel about the blue tarp, I have come to consider many different forms of media as artistic forms. Like the chairs, there are so many steps and details to the process, it is not an object merely for function. I consider the way people decorate their homes an art, I consider ashtrays made out of coke cans an art, and I consider some graffiti an art. If you enjoy the process, and you put a part of your mind into it, if it reflects something you wish to say or not say, it can be an art, there is no set guideline.
As we ventured into Duchamp, and Dada, I'm left to ponder what is the legacy of R. Mutt's urinal? With readymades, can anything be art? If anything can be art, why do we call anything art? Why do we need the term art? Or for that matter, artists?
As we saw the works of the surrealists, I recalled one of my favorite Dali works: his illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dali created these in the 1950s, commissioned by the Italian government to commemorate the 700 anniversary of Dante’s birth. He illustrated each Canto from each of the three books in woodblock and engraving, drawing inspiration from Gustav Dore’s set of Divine Comedy illustrations from the 1850’s.
I think for the last lecture the most interesting topic is the Dadaism. Actually, before you said anything can be art if you make it and call it art, I don’t think dada is a kind of art. But now I can understand the definition of art better. Art is different in everyone’s thought. The most popular art maybe is not the best one, on the other hand, some very good art maybe is not so popular. In some way, Dadaism is not only the art genre, it is kind of artistic thought. The thought aspire insignificance, freedom. The understanding to dada art project more depend on the taste of the audience. In this point explain that everything can be art, the only thing is you think it is art. Even Dadaism didn’t last very long time, but Dadaism has the significance for the modern art.
16 comments:
Among the various topics we covered last class I was interested in the Dada movement. I remember being introduced to it in my Contemporary art history class a few years back. I have to be honest and admit that my first thought was “How can this be art?” As Paula (my professor) explained the movement I began to understand is importance in the history of art and how much it influenced several artists after, and I began to appreciate it more. I believe that Dada really pushed the limits of what is considered art. It sparked creativity and helped others see things differently. I researched more about Dada and discovered that Dada artists were among the first to intervene with mass media. They would cut out photographs from the daily press and recontextualized them in their collages. In the end, I feel like modern art wouldn’t exist without the Dada movement.
Below I have included some works from Dada artist Kurt Schwitters
I found his work interesting because of his combinations of painting and collage.
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A5293&page_number=2&template_id=1&sort_order=1
Elina Diaz
The lecture drew my attention to Magritte's work and the different forms of perspectives he allowed in his graphic designs. His extensive fans included many rock bands which are famous for having illustrious and way out there album covers. This proves that Magritte's work is unique and outstanding. The different perpectives, such as that of the man facing the mirror to only see the reflection of the back of his head lead directly to my intrigue of the unique furniture such as the Wassily Chair. The designs are art within themselves and just having the piece in a room instantly makes it a work of art. This time period lead to sharp edges and geometrical shapes in the furniture, the art, the advertisements, and design. The Bauhaus graphics are edgy and modern for the time, incorporating steel and endless possibilities. I like these pieces of work because there was no limit on what the artist could do, it was the polar opposite of say the renaissance era where imitation was all that was considered art.
I found the World War II propaganda posters we viewed last class to be extremely interesting. In addition to the artists' incredible creativity, they reminded me of the drastic changes in advertising techniques over the last 75+ years. While the intention of these posters was to shock the viewer into changing their "selfish" ways and helping the war effort, I can't imagine today's government putting out such drastic adds into the public sphere. Surely with the Internet and all the different vocal activist groups they would have been extremely ridiculed and eventually rescinded by government. I think advertisements like these make more of impact on the viewer than the ones we have today. The evidence is clear, we are currently involved in a number of overseas wars, yet the home front effort is basically nonexistent. If the American public were to be constantly reminded of the events overseas, the wars would be much more talked about and undoubtedly end sooner with the public’s disapproval and more importantly action.
One part of the last lecture that interested me was your excerpt on Dadaism. Art has no boundaries and anything could be considered art, but it's amazing that art has been able to evolve to the point where a urinal on a stand could be considered art. What's more amazing is that I understand the appeal. After exploring more into Dada, I found out that it started in switzerland and moved to Berlin, New York, and Paris. After visiting or living in all of these cities, some parts are obviously pretty and appealing but others are also grungy and dark, which is the appeal that Dadaism has. The graffiti displayed in all of these cities also have a very Dada feel to them and are often obscure and have no logic. Looking at the history of art, it began with sacred paintings and observing how art has evolved, Dada is almost the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
James Ahearn
One of the components of the lecture that interested me was the discussion of the works of Jan Tschicold. His designs were very aesthetically pleasing to me. He seemed to follow the modernist construct that less is more but his use of diagonal lines gave his works a sense of dynamism that is lacking from many of the Bauhaus architectural designs. Also the way that he placed the text and figures out of the center of the piece was unique and reminded me of many of the designs that are now created in computer programs by designers. The templates for things like resumes and presentations use many of these un-centered and diagonal layouts. His use of color is also unique in that he uses warmer colors that catch the eye very well like reds and yellows. They bring a sense of urgency to his designs and direct the eye of the viewer immediately to the message he is trying to convey. Overall his designs are very modern and avant-garde and even today they seem like a design that could be used in posters or other campaigns.
Brittany Tyson
I liked the discussion about collage and remeber when I was a child how me and my friends use to create collages and give away to eachother as bithday gifts. It was a great gift because one could really use one`s imagination and creativity to the fullest and the gift and collage was also extremely personal to the person it was created. I lovge the idea of collage as art in its purest form because one can use anything to create the art as you mentioned in last class, even a piece of paper from a candy bar can be used in the creation and I believe that is fantastic. It truly demonstrate what you also said : Art is everything or everything is art.
jenny finnman leanderson (above text)
Dadaism is something that I love learning about in art history. It’s a movement that gets at the heart of what art is to people and always brings great discussion. Everyone approaches it differently and I really enjoyed the way you did; not analyzing and just enjoying it because really anything goes. The way you paralleled it to cubism really helped me understand it, that cubism and Dadaism are successful because they are about our everyday lives but Dadaism shows it in a chaotic manner.
Being from the Tampa Bay area, I grew up with the Dalí museum. He has always fascinated me as an artist. The surrealist movement was to me one of the most creatively imaginative movements. With Freud’s work in dream analysis on their side it seemed anything was possible. But what made it special is that they used everyday imagery but abstracted it that so that things were almost recognizable but not at the same time.
I found it thought-provoking that you said “Anything can be art if you make it and call it art.” I think that’s very true because art is subjective. You can consider something to be bad art, but it’s still art. I looked up the definition of art and it means “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”. People express themselves in different ways and have different ideas and tastes on what is good art or bad art. Art is not just paintings, drawings, and graphic design. Art includes music, literature, dance, and many other forms. Everyone has different opinions on what is considered good, but it’s ignorant to not consider something music or art because you don’t understand it or like it. For example, someone once said to me… electronic music isn’t real music because it’s not produced with real instruments. It does not matter what means of production you use to produce art or music or whatever, what matters in the expression of the self in it. Skill and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Kateryna
I really enjoyed the art that “trapped the eye.” The way you explained it, I began to see the plan these artists’ had behind creating this art. It’s a mystery and there are these certain clues that are hidden within the marks of it. I never realized the reasoning behind the artist’s plan for each work until you interpreted it. I began to see it was like a game for them, to trick and intrigue the viewers. I began to play along with the game as I analyzed these paintings and it was so interesting to see what was hidden within. I always enjoyed your interpretation of Futurists. I never thought of Italians as futurists but it makes so much sense because Italy is so old, they are yearning for modernization. They want the future. I also thought that video of the holy mountain was crazy and I showed it to several of my friends. The weird content and vibe of that video was so unique to anything that I’ve seen lately. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I especially enjoyed the portion of your lecture on Dadaism, specifically the mention of geometric shapes in Dadaism. I believe it’s fair to say geometric shapes have a strong influence on graphic design as well as on Dadaism. The original Dadaist, Hugo Ball, supports this by performing at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916 in his Bishop Costume. In essence, the costume was actually made of cardboard formed into geometric shapes. He created the look of a bishop’s attire by placing a cylinder on his head, body and legs, and a triangular shape on his shoulders. This use of simple geometric shapes went on to influence collage art and photomontages during the Dada period and even further today in all graphic design. Can’t all our fonts, designs even chairs be broken down into simple geometric shapes?
-Ana Calderone
I thought it was really interesting to hear that you collect chairs. It seems like such a peculiar thing to collect considering how big they can be. I never though of chairs as something to collect because they are so functional, but after seeing the chairs you posted it became obvious that collecting a chair is exactly the same thing as collecting art. Someone engineered the chair and planned it with more thought and precision than most art and that should be appreciated. Additionally someone was inspired to create the chair in the design that you chose. I was also very interested to learn that Dada had created anti- Nazi propaganda. I decided to look into this and discovered than in Nazi Germany, all modern art was termed “Degenerate art” on the grounds that it was un- German or Jewish in nature. It makes sense that the German’s banned modern art because it was used as propaganda against them. Instead they encouraged “traditional art
that promoted the values of racial purity, obedience and militarism.
Since coming to study art at University of Miami, my definition of art has changed drastically. I remember once during the summer, I was visiting the Tacoma Art Museum and there was a blue tarp on the wall. I had just come from the Renoir section so my first thought was what is this...is this section under construction? And I saw the little paint drips on the tarp and the little mounted card on the wall next to it saying who the artist was and the date. I was dumbfounded and thought it was really stupid. I wish I had taken another minute or two to look at it so I could remember it better now, but it is instances like that that remind me of your statement, 'anything is art if you make it art.' While I'm still not positive how I feel about the blue tarp, I have come to consider many different forms of media as artistic forms. Like the chairs, there are so many steps and details to the process, it is not an object merely for function. I consider the way people decorate their homes an art, I consider ashtrays made out of coke cans an art, and I consider some graffiti an art. If you enjoy the process, and you put a part of your mind into it, if it reflects something you wish to say or not say, it can be an art, there is no set guideline.
I really like Dada and Marcel Duchamp.
As we ventured into Duchamp, and Dada, I'm left to ponder what is the legacy of R. Mutt's urinal? With readymades, can anything be art? If anything can be art, why do we call anything art? Why do we need the term art? Or for that matter, artists?
As we saw the works of the surrealists, I recalled one of my favorite Dali works: his illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dali created these in the 1950s, commissioned by the Italian government to commemorate the 700 anniversary of Dante’s birth. He illustrated each Canto from each of the three books in woodblock and engraving, drawing inspiration from Gustav Dore’s set of Divine Comedy illustrations from the 1850’s.
Check out Dali’s illustrations here:
And here are Gustav Dore’s illustrations.
I think for the last lecture the most interesting topic is the Dadaism. Actually, before you said anything can be art if you make it and call it art, I don’t think dada is a kind of art. But now I can understand the definition of art better. Art is different in everyone’s thought. The most popular art maybe is not the best one, on the other hand, some very good art maybe is not so popular. In some way, Dadaism is not only the art genre, it is kind of artistic thought. The thought aspire insignificance, freedom. The understanding to dada art project more depend on the taste of the audience. In this point explain that everything can be art, the only thing is you think it is art. Even Dadaism didn’t last very long time, but Dadaism has the significance for the modern art.
xiaodong chang
The dada rant was mine... Eddy.
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