the mark of analytic Cubism as monochromaticism + broken facets

 

analytic cubism developed between 1908 and 1912. 

to understand the mark of "analytic" cubism you have to wear Cubist glasses.

let's try to understand its evolution from this monochromatic phase (known as "the Blue Period"),

 to this geometric splitting of facets,

except that in the middle, we need the mark of the African mask,

there's also the Iberian mask element,

the still-life component to it,

here's the mark through photoshop,😂 😂, 

what do we have here?

cubism breaks down subjects into basic geometric shapes like cubes, cylinders, and rectangles, simultaneously representing them from multiple viewpoints. 

no single viewpoint. instead cubism depicts objects from various angles, creating a more complete and complex representation. 

cubism rejected traditional perspective and shading, instead emphasizing the two-dimensional nature of the canvas, resulting in a flat, abstract appearance. 

cubism is divided into two phases: analytical Cubism (1910-1912) with its fragmented, muted palette and synthetic (after 1912) with brighter colors, simpler shapes, and the introduction of collage techniques. 

analytic cubism used a limited, muted palette of browns, grays, and blues. 

in the meantime we have pop culture: roaring 20s, USA

this is in the middle of probihition.........

and after the Hollywood's code,

this is my female heroine of the mid 1920s,

poster goes to WWI (our side of propaganda)

didactic,

message driven,

patriotic,

newsworthy,

propagandistic,

murnau's nosferatu and the expressionist influence in british and american cinema

                        the poster for f.w. murnau's nosferatu: eine symphonie des grauens. the film shot in 1921.

what's the importance of Nosferatu?

1. it's a key example of german expressionism, a film movement that rejected realism in favor of creating imaginary worlds where stylized and distorted set design expressed psychological states of fear and despair. 

2. the film's visual style, with its use of shadows, eerie lighting, and surreal landscapes, is a hallmark of the genre and continues to inspire filmmakers today. 

3. don't forget. this is a silent film! meaning it relies heavily on visual storytelling and atmosphere to create a sense of dread and terror. 

following some influences:

 psycho, 1960, alfred hitchcock

 downhill, 1931, hitchock photomontage

                                                                                 orson wells, citizen kane, 1941

 orson wells, lady from shanghai, 1947

 orson wells, citien kane, 1941

Bruno Taut's "outfit for the soul" Glass Pavilion

 

structure from outside

interior, 2nd floor

interior stairs and walls 

there are four elements things here: 

form: the pavilion was a multi-faceted, rhombic structure with a fourteen-sided base, designed to evoke the complex geometry of nature. 

cupola: each part of the cupola was designed to recall the complex geometry of nature. 

interior: the interior featured glass-treaded metal staircases, a seven-tiered cascading waterfall with underwater lighting, and prisms that produced colored rays from the outside sunlight. 

inscriptions: the frieze of the Glass Pavilion was written with aphoristic poems of glass by the anarcho-socialist writer Paul Scheerbart. 

So what's the importance of the Pavilion?  

Glass Pavilion is a prime example of Expressionist architecture.

Taut's work explored the idea of a "glass utopia," where architecture could foster a more spiritual and harmonious society. 

Tauts's design incorporated prisms and colored glass, creating a dynamic interplay of light and color to evoke a sense of wonder and transcendence. 

Glass Pavilion has inspired architects and designers, influencing the development of modern glass architecture and the use of glass as a structural and aesthetic element. 

foster + partners’ swiss RE building

EXPRESSIONISM!

click here for a short video, 

More Expressionism: DIE BRÜCKE

A group of young germans people, their names are: Fritz Bleyl (1880–1966), Erich Heckel (1883–1970), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884–1976).

they met at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (a technical university) in Dresden. 

they named themselves "die brücke" meaning "the bridge." 

they invented the printmaking technique of linocut, although they initially described it as traditional woodcuts, which they also made.

why printmaking?

1. printmaking allowed them to create and distribute art more quickly and affordably than painting.

2. the boldness, flatness, and simplicity of woodcuts resonated with the Expressionist movement's focus on emotional expression and simplification of form. 

3. the different graphic techniques, especially woodcuts, enabled a more direct and forceful communication of emotions, which was a key goal of the Brücke artists.

what do we have here?

1. NOT OBJECTIVE EMOTIONS, 
2. SUBJECTIVE EXTREME EXPRESSION, THROUGH
3. EXTERNAL DISTORTION & CLAUSTROPHOBIC SPACES, 

Der Blaue Reiter, what a gang!

Franz and Maria Marc, left, Heinrich Campedonk (second from right), Kandinsky seated, 1911

franz marc, blue horse, 1911

To Ed Schmid, the Expressionists were not photographers but people overcome by visions, concerned with catching not the "momentary effect of a situation" but "its eternal significance."

 

Don't try to describe us. We're concerned with the force of experience. Expressionist creation is a constant aura of never-ending excitement (From Bernard S. Myers's German Expresionists: A Generation in Revolt).

 

Poster by Max Pechstein

 

 

what are they doing? 

* blue is the color of spirituality (Kandinsky),

* the connection between music and the arts,

* they are into European medieval art and primitivism, 

* the contemporary, non-figurative art scene in France: Cubism, Fauvism, and Rayonism,

* an inclination towards abstraction.

Aleksey von Jawlensky, early 1900s

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, the mystic primitif

Christ has not manifested , 1918

The miraculous draught of fishes, 1918

portrait of Emy, 1919

In 1912 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff had an epiphany. He participated in the graphic exhibition of the Blaue Reiter in Munich & his art changed into mystical imagery.

Deutscher Werkbund: the path to german modern standardization

 

The Deutscher Werkbund was founded in 1907 in Munich as a response to widely held worries that Germany's rapid modernization was coming at the cost of its national culture. It brought together professors, craftsmen, industrialists, fine artists, politicians and designers. 

The group’s main intellectual leaders were Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde. 

werkbund exhibition, 1914, bruno taut, gas pavillion, 

Werkbund was greatly influenced by William Morris' Arts and Crafts movement which proposed that industrial crafts be revived as a combined effort between both designers and craftsmen. 

Yet, The Werkbund was primarily interested in the link between the artistic and the economic aspects of mass production. The Werkbund was against revivalism and believed that architecture should be a representation of the spirit of the age (zeitgeist).

Here we have a middle point: The Werkbund set out to produce architecture that utilized mass production while still utilizing craftsmanship.

The Werkbund saw the potential of mass production and wanted German designers to take advantage of it. 

1. It was believed that mechanized production was incompatible with ornamentation (see Adolf Loos' influence here) and that products should be simplified to their basic forms. To attempt to introduce its ideas, the Werkbund implemented a program of product certification.

factory building, office building, walter gropius, 1914 

2. There were two camps, and each had its issues, which is why Werkbund split into two different factions: 

The first, led by Muthesius, championed the most excellent possible use of standardization and mechanical mass production. 

Van de Velde headed the other faction and maintained the notions of individual artistic expression.

Muthesius' ideas won. 

¿Werkbund's motto? Vom Sofakissen zum Städtebau.

see how the mark of "symbolism" mutates between romanticism and modernism (gaugin, redon, munch)

what unites these different different marks is the emphasis on emotions, feelings, ideas, and subjectivity rather than realism. the work is personal and expresses the artist's own will to reveal truth. symbolists combined exotic, religious mysticism, the perverse, the erotic, and the decadent.

Gaugin goes for the exotic.

Symbolist subject matter is typically characterized by an interest in the occult, the morbid, the dream world, melancholy, evil, and death.

Redon goes for the bizarre.

Instead of the one-to-one, direct-relationship symbolism found in earlier forms of mainstream iconography, the Symbolist artists aimed more for nuance and suggestion in the personal, half-stated, and obscure references called for by their literary and musical counterparts.

symbolism provided a transition from Romanticism in the early part of the nineteenth century to modernism in the early part of the twentieth century.

Munch goes for the decadent,

In addition, the internationalism of Symbolism challenges the commonly held historical trajectory of modern art developed in France from Impressionism through Cubism.