Modern French Art   Term Paper ID:27499 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reviews 20th century developments in French art. Discusses turn of the century Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, the School of Paris, & Surrealism.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Reviews 20th century developments in French art. Discusses turn of the century Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, the School of Paris, & Surrealism. Paper Introduction: FRANCE French artists in this century continued a process started by the Impressionists in the last century by questioning the meaning of art and by trying to extend that meaning into new areas. Art is sometimes concrete in style and form and sometimes abstract, but the concept of "art" itself is an abstraction. Art is a form of personal expression that has meaning only in a social setting. Art communicates, and this means it must consist of an artist to shape the message, the medium in which the message is shaped, and the audience to whom the message is communicated. "Message" here may be only aesthetic principles which become art when they are recognized as such. In each era, the aesthetic principles will differ, with some ideas discarded and others newly accepted. There are Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Proponents of these new aesthetics often claim to have discoveredwhat art really is or should be, but in truth art is always in the act ofbecoming, leaving behind examples of each style and aesthetic on thecontinuum. Abstract art followed Cubism, with several specific manifestations ofthe larger movement. Again,this shift was part of a continuum and not an entirely new direction.The Dada artists proclaimed the uselessness of social action and thus brokewith the Futurists, and this reflected the feelings associated with thewar, viewed as a monstrous charade (Hunter and Jacobus 167). The Cubist Painters. Art communicates, and this means it must consist ofan artist to shape the message, the medium in which the message is shaped,and the audience to whom the message is communicated. The mechanical elements of Cubism and the abstract elements of theFuturists were tending toward the fantasy that was expressed next in theDada period, and this is related directly to the tenor of the times. Dadaemerged after the beginning of World War I, an the fantastic was unleashedin art in contrast to the reality of the war, a reality which includeddestructive drives and international tensions on a grand scale. There are rarely major breaks withthe past, and even those shifts that seem to be major breaks depend on theexisting aesthetic even if only as a counter for comparison. In 1933 Miró shifted frommaking collages and began "to see in his compositions of realistic details,torn and pasted together from newspapers, the possibilities of an organickind of abstraction that for him was new" (Hunter and Jacobus 227). Works CitedApollinaire, Guillaume. Abrams, 1992. Apollinaire says this will be an entirely new art that is purepainting. This new approach wasmore cerebral than sensual, requiring that the image be intellectuallycomprehended and dissected by the viewer as the model had been by theartist. Art is a form of personal expression that has meaning onlyin a social setting. The new art was preoccupied with geometry, and geometricalfigures were the essence of the artists' drawing. Subsequentartists took the language of Cubism and made significant innovations(Hunter and Jacobus 148-149). Inangry reaction to the Spanish Civil War, he painted his most naturalisticwork in some time in Still Life with Old Show in 1937: He riddled it with double images, as if the incorporation of Surrealist techniques of disassociation might expose the underlying hallucinatory character of solid material existence (Hunter and Jacobus 227). The School of Paris represented the period of art between the twoworld wars. Newaesthetics indicate not only a change in tastes but also in economics,social relations, politics, and other societal forces. Modern Art. Art is sometimes concrete instyle and form and sometimes abstract, but the concept of "art" itself isan abstraction. At the same time, Cubismproclaimed the absolute validity of its own pictorial world. New York: Prentice-Hall and Harry N. This school made a renewed emphasis on classicalclarity and order and a return to realism. In each era, the aesthetic principles will differ, with some ideasdiscarded and others newly accepted. "Message" here maybe only aesthetic principles which become art when they are recognized assuch. Some artist were able to give up traditional values, whileothers could not do this. There were some other artistic currents challengingcertain assumptions of the school of Paris, but the style itself has itsorigins in the previous period of artistic change--a counter action isderivative of a period of change just as would be a new change in direction(Hunter and Jacobus 215). Braque's Houses atL'Estaque from 19 8 was the historic painting that provoked the term Cubism, [and] Braque took the final step toward mature Cubism by selecting a hillside motif that eliminated every vestige of a horizon line. This permitted the entire visual field to be filled with a compact assortment of nothing but houses and trees, all simplified and analogized as if an elementary family of forms underlay every variety of phenomenon (Hunter and Jacobus 139).Apollinaire indicates that the modern artist repudiates most of thetechniques of pleasing that have been devised by the great artists of thepast and that the artist now seeks something more than the pleasure of theeye. It has posed the question of what is beautiful in itself (Apollinaire 16). Cubism abandoned the certitude of the Renaissance forambiguities and contradictions in both form and content, reflecting changesin the way society viewed itself and the world. The School of Paris can be seen as a counter-reaction to the experimental excesses and sense of intellectual excitementof the earlier period. Inart, however, these trends brought about a mood of caution, intellectualferment, and protest. The work of Juan Miró shows the transition from Surrealism to themodernist tradition of the School of Paris. The School of Paris was to adegree out of step with the tenor of its time given the reality of aworldwide depression and the growing threat of international fascism. Futurism was one of the approachessucceeding Cubism, and the Futurists derived their power from Cubism: While the Futurists wanted their paintings to express speed, violence, dynamic movement, and the passage of time, their technique nonetheless derived from the more static and contemplative art of the Cubists. In Anthology, 13-19.Hunter, Sam and John Jacobus. FRANCE French artists in this century continued a process started by theImpressionists in the last century by questioning the meaning of art and bytrying to extend that meaning into new areas. Apollinaire states: The modern school of painting seems to me the most audacious that has ever appeared. Apollinaire's definition of Cubism contains elements that could beapplied to any particular period of art: Cubism differs from the old schools of painting in that it is not an art of imitation, but an art of conception which tends towards creation (Apollinaire 14).Every type of art should be tending toward creation whether imitative ornot. Their militant program of action, however, vehemently opposed the Cubist spirit (Hunter and Jacobus 152). There have beenmany such shifts in aesthetic viewpoint in this century, each redefiningart in terms of the existing social relations and prevalent aestheticideas. Cubism was the product of a collaborative effort derived from thework of Braque and Picasso (Hunter and Jacobus 132). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.