HH, Untitled, 1930
HH, Untitled, 1926
HH, Gallery invitation
There are so many themes to pick from:
Cubism (analytic and synthetic), Collage, Juan Gris, DADA, Paul Klee, Futurism, the onomatopoeic and its graphic side with Fortunato Depero, The Stijl, Cubofuturism, Plakatstil, Fehmy Agha, Surrealism, Rene Magritte, Surrealist female art (Remedios Varo & Leonora Carrington).
As usual, avoid the echo chamber effect! Go ahead.
18 comments:
Leonora Carrington and her surrealism work really caught my attention during last class. Not only does she create amazing art, but she was also an important figure with regards to the women’s liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s. Although Carrington is originally from Great Britain, she lived most of her life in Mexico City. Growing up, she got inspiration from many surrealist masters, but she ended up bonding really well with Max Ernst, a great German surrealist. Carrington is an important figure for the surrealism movement because she brought the perspective of a woman into a heavily male-dominated art movement. Most of this movement contained art where men tried to characterize female sexuality in their own interpretation rather than the experience of an actual woman. It was extremely important to Carrington that her work showed focus on the underlying theme of women and their role in the creative process of surrealism.
- John Kovacic
Plakatstil artists employ a meticulous technique when crafting posters. The style is somewhat reminiscent of Pop Art even though Plakatstil began in 1890s Germany. The aim is “standardization” with a bold, straight font with a very simple design. The shapes and objects are simplified, while the subject of the poster remains detailed. The smooth image allowed consumers to easily identify the product that was being advertised. Art Nouveau was popular in the 1890s and took center stage in design, especially in France. The Germans were able to employ their own style with Plakatstil; a more modern outlook on poster art. Lucian Bernhard was a German graphic designer, type designer, professor, interior designer, and artist during the first half of the twentieth century. Lucian Bernhard was good at making lots of different things like posters, logos, trademarks, textiles, packaging, furniture, and interior design. In the “Priester Match” poster, the composition is very simple and its colors are so vibrant that it immediately grabs the viewer's attention.
Hannah Hoch's art work and her creative nature with manipulating the human body in art stood out to me. Not only is it abnormal, it is innovative and horrific. It strikes fear when looked at kinda. It stood out to me because of some recent art I had created. It was very abnormal looking and had that horrific feel to it. Hannah being so ahead of her time for this art work is captivating.
Kevin, your comment is 75 words long. Comments are 150 words at minimum. Could you add a little bit more to it?
The word Cubism comes from the French word “cube” and it reflects how geometric forms and the breaking down of objects into basic shapes is emphasized in this art movement. Cubism was originated in France in the early 20th century and it was one of the most influential visual art styles of that time.
It was introduced by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque around 1908. Both artists lived in France at that time and they were greatly admirers of Paul Cézanne, whose landscapes and figures were made up of small planes and repeated brush strokes. We can see how this influenced the work of the Cubists. They challenged the traditional artistic norms by deconstructing and reassembling visual elements because they wanted to show things how they really are, by emphasizing the flatness of the picture surface depicting objects from different angles, and breaking objects down into geometric shapes. Juan Gris was a Spanish painter and illustrator who developed his activity mainly in Paris. He is considered one of the masters of cubism along with Picasso and Braque.
Fortunato Depero and the Italian Futurists heavily influenced the lives of as people invested in the world of design. Depero was so special because he revolted against the typical rules of design by establishing unique layouts and creating a language that transmitted through his art. Looking through some futurist art work, it stood out to me from other pieces or eras that we have studied because you can almost hear sounds within the art because of how the shapes/patterns are purposely presented. One particular piece that I enjoyed was the "Depero Futurista" in 1927 because I really loved the different fonts presented in the piece; it has a strong impact on the eyes as it is comes off as loud... it means something! I loved this chapter a lot!
I wanted to talk about Magritte. I discovered his work a few years ago and have loved it ever since. René Magritte's influence on art has been profound and enduring. His surrealistic approach, characterized by juxtaposing ordinary objects in unexpected ways, challenged conventional notions of reality and representation. During his lifetime, Magritte's work inspired a generation of artists to explore the subconscious mind and the realm of dreams in their art. His use of precise, realistic technique combined with imaginative, dream-like imagery created a unique visual language that continues to captivate viewers. Today, Magritte's influence can be seen in various artistic movements, from pop art to conceptual art. His legacy is evident in the work of artists who continue to push the boundaries of representation and explore the relationship between image and meaning. In summary, René Magritte's impact on art is undeniable. His innovative approach to surrealism continues to inspire artists to think differently about the world around them, ensuring that his legacy remains relevant in contemporary art.
I was interested in Breuer's massive influence with chair design because I have an exact one in my own home. From Bauhaus, Marcel Breuer's use of bent tubular steel was inspired by his bicycle's handlebars. This led to the creation of the Wassily chair and eventually, the Cesca chair, also known as the B32 or B64 (with arms). The design's chrome structure, caned seat, and rich birch wood, achieved a balance of modernity and comfort. It was easy to mass-produce, thanks to its use of pre-made materials and a single length of steel bent multiple times. Thonet, a company known for mass-producing bent wooden chairs, began producing the B32 in large quantities. The chair, however, initially struggled with market acceptance due to its cost and ultra-modern design. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when the futuristic aesthetic became popular, that the Cesca gained widespread appeal. Gavina, an Italian modernist brand, rebranded it as the "Cesca," after Breuer's daughter Francesca. The lack of copyright on the Cesca design led to a surge in legal replicas, making it as common and popular as other mass-produced items of the time.
I was most interested in the part about surreal furniture. Surrealism originated in the early 1900s and was an art form that focused on creating scenes that made the viewer feel as if they were in a dream. The furniture stuck out to me because up to this point I only knew of surrealism in paintings. The artists conveyed unique feelings through their surreal paintings that I wasn't sure would transfer over to the furniture. However, the furniture gives me that same feeling that I would feel from the paintings. Salvador Dali’s Mae West Room stuck out to me the most because out of all the furniture shown, this one looked the least like furniture. It really challenges the viewer to perceive his work in a new way that is unique. I think it also shows how there are not only emotional layers to his work, but physical ones as well.
-Jackson Harris
Something that interested me from last class was the work of Lyonel Feininger and the cubist movement. Lyonel Feininger was a prominent figure of the Cubist movement and his work reflects the ideals and style of the movement. His work features fragmented forms, intersecting lines, and angular shapes. Cubism really interests me because I actually visited the cubism museum in Prague. I didn’t know much about the movement until going to the museum, but I was able to learn more about it and see cubist paintings, furniture, and architecture. Cubism emerged in the early 20th century and was characterized by geometric shapes, fragmented forms, and multiple perspectives. Cubism also incorporated collage and photography which hadn’t been used as much in art beforehand, which also tied into the idea of multiple perspectives and simultaneity. I was especially impressed by the cubist furniture, which featured really angular shapes in ways I had never imagined furniture could have.
Although Russian Futurism shares the name of the earlier and popular Italian Futurism movement, the ideas behind Russian Futurism were different and developed unaligned with the Italian movement. Whereas Italian Futurism rejected the past to lean into progress, especially technologically, and change Italian culture, Russian Futurism embraced their heritage and also romanticized technology, invention, and speed. Their rejection of the past only involved breaking free from conventional standards for art but they still saw the beauty in traditional art forms and created pagan sculptures and folk art. While some Russian Futurists used more "primitive" art forms, others created their own artistic theories. Some of the most prominent Russian Futurists were women. One of these women was Natalia Goncharova. She did not have a specific style but she explored both "primitive" and new art styles, even creating Rayonism with her partner Mikhail Larionov. I feel that she truly encompassed the ideals of Russian Futurism which allowed traditional and modern art forms to coexist in a sense that nothing lasts forever so she appreciated the past and looked forward to the future. She was her only critic. For example, in her work "Self-Portrait with Yellow Lilies," the flowers are painted with bold and bright oranges and reds and the shape of the flowers looks mostly organic and natural. In another work, "Rayonist Lilies," she still uses bold colors but the flowers are made with dynamic and sharp lines.
What stood out to me from last class was the evolution of analytic cubism through Picasso’s Blue Period. It was important to remember that people from the late 19th century to early 20th century had never seen anything like Cubism before. From 1901-1904 Pablo Picasso entered what we call the “Blue Period” where Picasso portrayed themes of grief, poverty, and solitude in his work. He notably used monochromatic color palettes of different shades of blue to portray his subject matters. The color blue evoked feelings of sadness and melancholy. By using a monochromatic palette Picasso was able to break apart an image into different shades of blue, just how Cubism is the geometric splitting of facets. After his “Blue Period” Picasso moved on to his “Rose Period” followed by his African-influenced period. Picasso’s use of monochromatic colors eventually transitioned into Cubism we know today.
De Stijl's movement consisted of mainly painters and architects from the Netherlands (Van Doesburg, Mondrian, Georges Vantongerloo and Vilmos Huszár.)The visual language of the De Stijl artists consisted of geometric forms that were precisely rendered. They were searching for the laws governing the harmony of the world and wanted to reveal them through their art – their lines, squares, and rectangles in primary colors. Aside from the most popular figure in the movement Piet Mondrian, Gerrit Rietveld held his own as an innovator in architecture and furniture design. Instead of diving into his life, I'd like to focus on his work as a designer. In his early work, Rietveld designed a lot of furniture based on the idea that construction, form, and material play an important part in the design process. Later, his furniture was often created as part of architectural commissions, such as the Steltman chair he designed for the jeweler of the same name in The Hague. His most famous piece of furniture was the Red and Blue chair, designed in 1917 encapsulating everything De Stijls stood for.
I was immediately stuck by the painted works of Remedios Varo, as her pieces pulled on the feelings of nostalgia and confusion that are inherently dreamlike to me. Her works include many figures incorporated into different forms, objects, and surfaces, and have a very distinct flow despite the differences between the individual paintings. Her use of muted, natural color makes her work far more evocative than the more well known surrealists like Dali, as the lack of bright colors makes it seem more realistic even though the subject is not, creating such a strong dichotomy that it is hard to look away. The discomfort brought into the viewer by this work is more serious, more nightmarish than many other works of surrealism, which takes it to an entirely different level. Her fluidity is juxtaposed with her subject matter and color choice, and the way in which she incorporates real and imagined elements in her compositions is seamless. Surrealism is by far one of my favorite art forms, so seeing a woman in this genre create pieces like this so effectively is fascinating and inspiring. - Abby Rogers
I find the conceptualization of futurism within various artworks to be unified in a way that I think isn't discussed enough. Whenever the concept of futurism Is discussed, the one thing I often see omitted from the conversation is the combined aesthetic found in the use of metallic shadings to convey the subconscious belief that "shiny and new" represents the future. Malevich's 'Morning After the Storm' perfectly encapsulates the metallic effect I'm talking about. The use of light and washed-out gradients to create the appearance of metal is quite synonymous with the aesthetic we as a culture have cultivated for what we believe the future looks like, despite us living and actively experiencing the future and the present all at once. I believe it speaks to our innate nature to crave fantasy in lieu of embracing reality because the imagination is a much more fun place to reside that acknowledging the struggles and dreary nature of the present.
Zieli Ennisacevedo
I was very intrigued by Paul Klee, a swiss-born German artist, and his individual style. He was highly influenced by artistic movements such as expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Paul experimented with and explored color theory, writing about it extensively, and gave lectures at the Bauhaus school of art, design, and architecture in Germany, on his Writing on Form and Design Theory. His art reflects his personal moods, beliefs, musicality, dry humor, and sometimes childlike perspective. Klee liked to interpret new art trends in his own way, being inventive in his methods and techniques. He worked in a variety of mediums, such as oil paint, watercolor, ink, pastel, etching, and many others, often combining methods/media. Not only did he use many different mediums to conduct the artwork, but he used a variety of bases not just on a canvas. He also used burlap, muslin, linen, gauze, cardboard, metal foils, fabric, wallpaper, and newsprint.
I was interested in learning about Hannah Hoch and looking at her impact and how she may have influenced artists to come. One of my favorite artists, Romare Bearden, seems to be directly influenced by her college works; his work is also influenced by aspects of the Cubism movement. Like Hoch, Bearden would often blend the faces in his compositions through collage. Both artists would often use African masks to distort their subjects' faces, which I find very interesting. It gives their work a surrealist aspect but also incorporates time and history in interesting ways. Bearden’s collage and use of African masks were commentary on fragmentation and a distorted sense of identity and history as a result of slavery. I was also interested in how Hoch’s also seems to be a very early version of pop art. Her piece, titled Indian Dancer, reminded me of Barbra Krugur’s work, Your Body is a Battleground.
- Benjamin Rosen-Cappellazzo
Hannah Hoch's artwork and her creative approach to manipulating the human body in art were truly groundbreaking and ahead of their time. Her innovative use of photomontage to distort and reconfigure the human form resulted in striking, unsettling images that challenged conventional notions of beauty and normalcy. The abnormal, almost horrific quality of her works evokes a sense of unease and discomfort in the viewer, forcing them to confront their own perceptions and biases.
Hoch's fearless exploration of the grotesque and the unconventional was a bold statement in an era when women artists were often marginalized and their work dismissed as mere "charming amateurism." Her ability to transform the familiar into something strange and disquieting through her deft manipulation of scale, perspective, and juxtaposition was a radical departure from traditional artistic practices. Hoch's legacy as a pioneering Dada artist and one of the first to fully embrace the subversive potential of photomontage continues to inspire and influence artists to this day, pushing the boundaries of what art can be and what it can communicate
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