Characteristics of nmodern art.
Modern Art, painting, sculpture, and other nforms of 20th-century art. Although scholars disagree as to precisely when the modern period nbegan, they mostly use the term modern art to refer to art of the 20th century nin Europe and the
Modern art comprises a remarkable diversity of styles, movements, and ntechniques. The wide range of styles encompasses the sharply realistic painting nof a Midwestern farm couple by Grant Wood, entitled American Gothic (1930, Art nInstitute of Chicago, Illinois), and the abstract rhythms of poured paint iBlack and White (1948, private collection), by Jackson Pollock. Yet even if we ncould easily divide modern art into representational works, like American Gothic, and abstract works, like Black and White, we would nstill find astonishing variety within these two categories. Just as the nprecisely painted American Gothic is representational, Willem de Kooning’s Marilyn Monroe (1954, private collection) might nalso be considered representational, although its broad brushstrokes merely nsuggest the rudiments of a human body and facial features. Abstraction, too, nreveals a number of different approaches, from the dynamic rhythms of Pollock’s nBlack and White to the right-angled geometry of Composition with Red, Yellow, nand Blue (1937-1942, Tate Gallery,
Roy Lichtenstein’s Drowning Girl (1963) odisplay at the Museum of Modern
Thus 20th-century art displays more than stylistic diversity. It is ithe modern period that artists have made paintings not only of traditional nmaterials such as oil on canvas, but of any material available to them. This ninnovation led to developments that were even more radical, such as conceptual nart and performance art—movements that expanded the definition of art to ninclude not just physical objects but ideas and actions as well.
In view of this diversity, it is difficult to define modern art in a way nthat includes all of 20th-century Western art. For some critics, the most nimportant characteristic of modern art is its attempt to make painting and nsculpture ends in themselves, thus distinguishing nmodernism from earlier forms of art that had conveyed the ideas of powerful nreligious or political institutions. Because modern artists were no longer nfunded primarily by these institutions, they were freer to suggest more npersonal meanings. This attitude is often expressed as art for art’s sake, a npoint of view that is often interpreted as meaning art without political or nreligious motives. But even if religious and government institutions no longer ncommissioned most art, many modern artists still sought to convey spiritual or npolitical messages. Russian painter Wassily nKandinsky, for instance, felt that color combined with abstraction could nexpress a spiritual reality beneath ordinary appearances, while German painter nOtto Dix created openly political works that criticized policies of the Germagovernment.
Grant Wood (1892-1942), American painter, born in
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), American abstract painter, who developed a ntechnique for applying paint by pouring or dripping it onto canvases nlaid on the floor. With this method Pollock produced intricate interlaced webs nof paint, as in Black and White (1948, private collection). Rapid and seemingly nimpulsive execution like Pollock’s became a hallmark of abstract expressionism, na movement that emphasized the spontaneous gestures of the artist.
Born in
The surrealism movement was another significant influence upon Pollock, nwhose ideas about the relevance of the unconscious to artistic creativity ncoincided with his own experience. As part of treatment for alcoholism, Pollock nunderwent psychoanalysis; his therapists, who followed the teachings of Swiss npsychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, encouraged him to analyze his drawings for clues nto his unconscious mental processes. Surrealist artists had also hoped to tap ninto the unconscious through automatism, a technique in which the artist’s hand nwanders across the painting’s surface with as little conscious control as npossible. In early works such as The She-Wolf (1943, Museum of Modern Art, New nYork City), Pollock combined surrealist automatism with subject matter that nreflects his interests in ancient sculpture, non-Western art, and the work of nSpanish artist Pablo Picasso.
After moving to a larger studio on Long Island in 1947, Pollock begacreating his characteristic large-scale abstractions. He placed the canvas othe floor, attacked it from all directions, and poured paint directly on it. nHis new method resulted in part from his interest in Native American sand npaintings, which are created on the ground with sand of various colors let nloose from the hand. Typical of this period, Autumn Rhythm (1950, MetropolitaMuseum of Art, New York City) is clearly abstract, since it makes no direct nreference to the external world. However, Pollock described his abstraction as nan attempt to evoke the rhythmic energy of nature (as the title Autumn Rhythm nindicates).
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), Dutch painter, who carried abstraction to its nfurthest limits. Through radical simplification of composition and color, he nsought to expose the basic principles that underlie all appearances.
Born in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, on March 7, 1872, and originally nnamed Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, nMondrian embarked on an artistic career over his family’s objections, studying nat the Amsterdam Academy of Fine Arts. His early works, through 1907, were calm nlandscapes painted in delicate grays, mauves, and dark greens. In 1908, under nthe influence of the Dutch painter Jan Toorop, he nbegan to experiment with brighter colors; this represented the beginning of his nattempts to transcend nature. Moving to Paris in 1911, Mondrian adopted a ncubist-influenced style, producing analytical series such as Trees (1912-1913) nand Scaffoldings (1912-1914). He moved progressively from seminaturalism nthrough increased abstraction, arriving finally at a style in which he limited nhimself to small vertical and horizontal brushstrokes.
In 1917 Mondrian and the Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg nfounded De Stijl magazine, in which Mondriadeveloped his theories of a new art form he called neoplasticism. nHe maintained that art should not concern itself with reproducing images of nreal objects, but should express only the universal absolutes that underlie nreality. He rejected all sensuous qualities of texture, surface, and color, nreducing his palette to flat primary colors. His belief that a canvas—a plane nsurface—should contain only planar elements led to his abolition of all curved nlines in favor of straight lines and right angles. His masterly application of nthese theories led to such works as Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue n(1937-1942, Tate Gallery, London), in which the painting, composed solely of a nfew black lines and well-balanced blocks of color, creates a monumental effect nout of all proportion to its carefully limited means.
When Mondrian moved to New York City in 1940, his style became freer and nmore rhythmic, and he abandoned severe black lines in favor of lively chain-link npatterns of bright colors, particularly notable in his last complete nmasterwork, Broadway Boogie-Woogie (1942-1943, Museum nof Modern Art, New York City).
Conceptual Art, an art form that developed in the mid-1960s, in which nthe concept takes precedence over the actual object. As American conceptual nartist Sol LeWitt notes in a 1969 article, not all nideas for art need to take physical form. Le Witt argued that art criticism is nno longer necessary because artists can and should write their own analysis of nart; these writings are themselves as legitimate an art form as painting or nsculpture. Around the same time, another founder of the conceptual movement, nJoseph Kosuth, declared that conceptual art is based non an inquiry into the nature of art itself.
Early conceptual art took several forms. LeWitt nprovided how-to instructions for creating drawings, specifying types of lines nby length, curvature, color, and so forth. The instructions constituted the nsalable artwork; the drawings themselves were only a secondary result of the noriginal creative concept. In 1965 Kosuth exhibited nsingle objects—a chair, hammer, or saw, for example—alongside a life-size nphotograph of the object and a dictionary definition of the object printed on a nplacard. This presentation questioned the relationship between objects, images, nand words.
Another investigation of the link between art and language occurs in the nwork of American artist Lawrence Weiner. By lettering phrases about material nconditions like scale, position, color, and even price, directly on gallery nwalls, Weiner made art out of language. For his No. 051 (1969, Solomon R. nGuggenheim Museum, New York City), Weiner had the words “1000 GERMAN MARKS nWORTH MEDIUM BULK MATERIAL TRANSFERRED FROM ONE COUNTRY TO ANOTHER” printed othe gallery wall. Weiner instructed that the phrase be presented “alongside the nmaterial referred to.” Weiner’s instructions are purposely open-ended, so that nin one installation it might include a pile of fabric with a value of 1000 nGerman marks, and in another, a pile of bricks with this value. Then again, iWeiner’s conception, the piece need not be built at all; the words could simply nbe spoken and the piece imagined. Hanne Darboven, a nGerman conceptualist, has been working with numerical and chronological nprogressions since 1965, creating serial installations that examine the nature nof time. In her Kulturgeschichte 1880-1983 (1996, Dia Center for the Arts, New York City) 1,589 panels of nuniform size and format trace more than a century of history, using texts, nnumbers, photographs, and postcards.
In practice, many conceptual works were reduced to the documentation of nan event or activity through written instructions, photographs, or video nfootage. Additionally, some conceptual artists executed or gave directions for nperformance art. A 1970 work by Japanese American performance artist Yoko Ono nconsisted of the simple written instruction: “Draw an imaginary map and follow nit down an actual street.” This piece demonstrates the difficulty of connecting nan abstract idea (the imagined place) and a visual representation of it (the nmap) to the real world (the actual street).
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Conceptual art has important precedents in the early 20th century. nFrench American artist Marcel Duchamp exhibited an upside down but otherwise nunaltered Bicycle Wheel in 1913, asserting that it and other everyday objects nare sculpture if an artist declares them to be so. Duchamp soon followed the nbicycle wheel with a bottle rack, snow shovel, and most famously, a urinal. The nattitude of Duchamp and other members of the dada movement who shared his nrevolutionary views about art reemerged in the early 1960s through ainternational group of artists calling themselves Fluxus. nWorking under the spiritual guidance of American composer John Cage, Fluxus artists sought to erode the barriers between art and nlife and allow randomness and chance to guide their work. Another important nprecedent to conceptual art is minimal art, a movement that developed in the nlate 1950s and early 1960s. In minimal art simple geometry often determines the nshape of a sculpture or painting, and the mathematical specifications for aartwork can be as important as its execution.
Conceptual artists originally attempted to rid art of all so-called objecthood and thus of its commercial value as well, and ntheir endeavor survived for only a few years in its purest form. But nconceptualism’s heirs thrive. In the 1970s a number of artists, including nAmericans Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer and Germaartist Lothar Baumgarten, nbegan using words in their art to explore visual and verbal conventions. The nlegacy of conceptual art is a belief that thought expressed in words can be nart.
Richard Hamilton. Just What Is It That Makes nToday’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? (1956) is one of the earliest works nto be considered “pop art”.
Performance Art, presentational genre, usually involving some degree of nimprovisation, in which an artist draws upon dance, music, drama, and sometimes nmotion pictures, customarily mixing these forms of expression. The terms nhappenings, mixed-means theater, action art, or simply performance are nsometimes used to describe this art form. All performance art shares two nelements: First, the various parts of the performance function disharmoniously, nin the tradition of visual-art collage, which is based upon assembling elements nnormally found apart; second, a piece of performance art must be live, because na recorded piece, whether on film or audio tape, has no spontaneity. nPerformance art may also incorporate elements of shock, social criticism or nprotest, and audience involvement.
Performance art has its origins in the work of several avant-garde nartists of the late 1950s. American artist and professor Allan Kaprow coined the term happenings to describe a one-time nevent, generally held outdoors, in which people come together to execute ninstructions they had not seen before. Central to such happenings are the nelements of discovery and surprise. Happenings later took place within a nperformance space. An example of this was Moviehouse n(1965), a piece by American sculptor Claes Oldenburg, nin which several artists performed in the seats of a movie theater while nspectators watched from the aisles. American composer John Cage explored nperformance art differently. In his pioneering 45-minute untitled piece, staged nin 1952 at Black Mountain College, one person read a text, another performed nchoreography, and a third produced sounds, all with minimum rehearsal.
In the 1970s the term performance art came to describe more modest ntheatrical events, often involving only one person who was not only the nperformer but also the writer and director. The cross-discipline trends beguin the 1960s continued in these performances. Performers often used media npreviously unfamiliar to them: Someone trained in theater or writing might use nmotion-picture images or choreographed movements, or a performer trained idance might use more language than movement in the performance. Performance art nafter 1975 reflected the influences of minimal art, which focused on extreme nsimplicity, and of conceptual art, which considered the creative process more nimportant than the finished product (see Modern Art).
The most innovative and influential contributions to performance art ithe 1990s came from women initially trained in dance, including German Pina Bausch, who incorporated sound and setting igrandiose spectacles, and American Elizabeth Streb, nwhose theatrical pieces mixed dance with gymnastics and circus acrobatics. nOther successful performance artists include Americans Anna Halprin, nMeredith Monk, and Yvonne Rainer, all of whom trained initially in dance; nAmerican Laurie Anderson, who combined music, video, speech, and electronics iher work; American Robert Wilson, who contributed text and spectacular decor to nhis performances; and American David Moss, who experimented with percussive nvocal sounds in his solo works.
Ongoing excavation in Egypt continually reshapes the views of nscholars about the origins of Egyptian civilization. In the late 20th century narchaeologists discovered evidence of human habitation before 8000 bc in an area in the southwestercorner of Egypt, near the border with Sudan. Nomadic peoples may have beeattracted to that area because of the hospitable climate and environment. Now nexceptionally dry, that area once had grassy plains and temporary lakes that nresulted from seasonal rains. The people who settled there must have realized nthe benefits of a more sedentary life. Scientific analysis of the remains of ntheir culture indicates that by 6000 bc nthey were herding cattle and constructing large buildings.
The descendants of these people may well have beguEgyptian civilization in the Nile Valley. About 2,000 years later, when the nclimate changed and the southwestern area became more arid, it is possible that nthey chose to migrate eastward to the Nile. Some of the distinctive ncharacteristics of their society, such the structures they built and the nemphasis they placed on cattle, support this theory. By 4000 bc there were settlements in Upper nEgypt, at locations such as Hierakonpolis (ancient Nekhen), Naqada, and Abydos.
Such a theory, however, explains only part of the picture nof the early Egyptian civilization. A culture known as Badarian nis represented as early as 5000 bc nin Upper Egyptian settlements. Moreover, in Lower Egypt, Neolithic settlements nin the Al Fayyūm area date from more than 1,000 nyears earlier. Several sites in that area show evidence of agriculture by naround 5000 bc. Merimde, at the Nile Delta’s western border, may have beealmost as old, and a settlement at Buto appears to ndate from around 4500 bc. The nstyle and decoration of the pottery found at these sites differ from those of npottery found in Upper Egypt. The northern type eventually fell out of use. nOther differences between the peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt include nthe nature of their architecture and the arrangements for burial of the dead, nthe latter perhaps signifying differing religious beliefs.
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B |
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Unification and Early Dynastic Period |
By 3500 bc, the settlement nof Hierakonpolis, located on the west bank of the Nile nbetween Luxor and Aswān, had become a central nsite of Predynastic culture—that is, the culture that nexisted before the time of the first Egyptian dynasties, or families of rulers. nHierakonpolis soon became a large and important nadministrative and economic center. Its religious rituals took place in a nstructure that is now seen as a primitive form of later Egyptian temples. A nlarge brick tomb, constructed underground, apparently was the burial site of aearly local ruler. Some of its decorations and images, such as a scene of the nruler smiting his enemies, are the same as those used in the times of the nEgyptian kings. Many elements of the culture at Hierakonpolis, nincluding the division into social classes, were typical of other settlements nalong the Nile. The archaeological evidence makes it clear that the culture of nUpper Egypt, not that developing in Lower Egypt, was exerting influence and nperhaps some control over an expanding geographic area.
It is possible that a center such as Hierakonpolis or Abydos, also in Upper Egypt, began to nexert control over other settlements and that the unification of ancient Egypt nwas in reality the gradual growth of one center’s influence. Several king nlists, or lists of rulers, some of which were prepared after 1550 bc and are quite complete, as well as nhistories dating to the Classical Age (500-323 bc), indicate that a ruler named Menes was Egypt’s first nmonarch. He reigned around 3100 bc. nHowever, some of these documents refer to earlier rulers or even to a series of ndemigods (mythical beings who were partly divine and partly human). This ninformation, as well as the archaeological evidence, implies that rival small nkingdoms existed in the late Predynastic period, just nbefore 3000 bc. Eventually one of ntheir rulers established control over Upper Egypt and then perhaps became npowerful enough to exert dominance over both the north and the south.
No one knows which, if any, of the rulers whose nnames are preserved from this period can be identified with Menes. Perhaps it nis Aha or Narmer, whose names are recorded on some of nthe oldest artifacts. An image of Narmer appears ohis Palette, a large ceremonial slate slab that dates to around 3100 bc and was found at Hierakonpolis. nOn it Narmer wears two crowns: on one side, the white ncrown of Upper Egypt; on the other side, the red crown of Lower Egypt. He is nthe first individual to be depicted with the royal headgear of both Upper Egypt nand Lower Egypt. Other insignia and images later associated with the Egyptiamonarch also appear on the palette, and Narmer is nshown triumphant over enemies, including, in a symbolic manner, the delta. The nscene on the palette is sometimes interpreted as ritual imagery, but it may nhave some historical truth. Excavations in the late 20th century at the Upper nEgyptian site of Abydos, where the early kings were buried, may provide some nsupport for the historical interpretation. A small ivory label found in the ntomb of Narmer has a carved scene that appears also nto represent that king’s victory over the delta. Moreover, the same expeditiouncovered a structure dating from around 3250 bc. nIn that structure were found a scepter, wine jars from the nearby land of nCanaan, and more labels, some of which were records of products from the delta. nThis material supports the idea that Upper Egypt came to dominate Lower Egypt neven earlier than 3100 bc and ncontrolled trade with the east.
The Egyptian priest Manetho, nwho lived in the 3rd century bc, nrecorded the royal history by organizing the country’s rulers into 30 ndynasties, roughly corresponding to families. Some Egyptologists (people nwho study ancient Egypt) now suggest altering his list of dynasties by adding nat the beginning a Dynasty 0, which may have lasted about 150 years, from about n3100 to about 2920 bc. During nthis period, Egyptian unification appears to have taken place, the structure of nthe Egyptian state seems to have been formed, and writing first appeared. The n1st and 2nd dynasties, which cover a time span of about 300 years, from around n2920 to around 2650 bc, brought nthe further development of a complex society, the rise of the state, and nEgypt’s emergence as a power in the ancient world.
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C |
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Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period |
Fairly early, perhaps during Dynasty 0, the administrative ncenter of Egypt shifted to Memphis, which is located just below the southertip of the delta. It is not known when Memphis was founded. Memphis was well npositioned to be the seat of government of the now unified land. The royal ncemetery continued to be located at Abydos, in the south. The last ruler of the n2nd Dynasty, Khasekhemwy, was responsible for the nconstruction of the last royal tomb of this period there. This ruler, who also nbuilt a monument at Hierakonpolis, may have nconstructed a funerary monument at Şaqqārah n(Sakkara) as well, thus paving the way for the establishment of the royal ncemetery at that northern location. Şaqqārah nwas to serve as the royal cemetery for much of the Old Kingdom, a period that nsome scholars believe began with the 3rd Dynasty (about 2649-2575 bc) and others believe began with the n4th Dynasty (about 2575-2467 bc). nThe Old Kingdom lasted until around 2134 bc nand was followed by the First Intermediate Period.
The size of the funerary monuments of Egypt’s nroyalty still impresses visitors today. These huge burial complexes provide a nwealth of information about the society and culture of the people who produced nthem. Imhotep, the architect for Djoser, nsecond king of the 3rd Dynasty, constructed what appears to be the world’s nfirst monumental stone building for the eternal resting place of a king. Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Şaqqārah nis perhaps one of the earliest in a series of burial complexes that culminated nin the pyramids at Giza, which date to the 4th Dynasty. The largest of these npyramids, known as the Great Pyramid, was built for King Khufu, the second king nof the 4th Dynasty. These construction projects required a huge workforce of nseveral hundred thousand laborers over a period of many years. The successful ncompletion of the pyramids depended on a stable and well-developed economy, a nwell-established administrative bureaucracy, and immense public support. nMoreover, Egypt had to be at peace with its closest foreigeighbors to nprovide the necessary concentration for this work. Unskilled workers toiled othe projects during the months of the Nile flood, when they could not farm, but ncraftspeople, artisans, stonemasons, managers, and others worked year-round. nDevotion on the part of all the people to the king and his burial project was nan important element in the success of the project. The royal office was nconsidered divine, and the ruling king was believed to be a god on Earth, a nmediator between humankind and the deities. Working for this god and securing nhis place among the divinities for all eternity could be interpreted as aexpression of the religious devotion of the people.
From the end of the 5th Dynasty in about 2323 bc, the interiors of the pyramids ncontained texts carved on the walls. This collection of hymns, spells, ninstructions on how to act in front of the gods, and rituals, now called the nPyramid Texts, is the oldest body of religious literature yet discovered. As ntime went on, the size and the quality of pyramid construction diminished, ilarge part as a result of financial strain on the treasury. In addition, the nnation had to deal with hostile neighbors, and a change in climate apparently ncaused serious droughts, references to which are found in texts and scenes.
By the end of the 6th Dynasty in about 2150 bc, the chiefs of the provincial areas, nor nomes, were becoming increasingly powerful. nEventually the chiefs, called nomarchs, established nhereditary offices and became local rulers, thus paving the way for internal nrivalries and hastening the breakdown of the central administration. The First nIntermediate Period ensued. It lasted from about 2134 to about 2040 bc and included the next several ndynasties. During this period the nomarchs of Herakleopolis, in the northern part of Upper Egypt, rose to npower. However, another rising power, based in the south at Thebes, challenged ntheir authority and succeeded in reuniting the land.
