20 th Century Post WWII ‘Less is More’

1. 20th Century Post WWII‘Less is More’ Chapter 34

2. Abstract Expressionism • Movement from 1940’s-1950’s • Artists expressed their inner feelings through abstract paintings - with few identifiable objects. • NYC was the center of the movement • AH: 2 varieties – gestural abstraction and chromatic abstraction

3. Gestural Abstraction…. • Expressive application of paint leaving visible and often chaotic brushstrokes • Also called – “action painting” – Jackson Pollock & William de Kooning

4. Chromatic Abstraction… • Lacks energetic application of painting but uses blocks and lines of color to express complex feelings about the universe. • Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman are chromatic abstract expressionists. AH: have referred to their canvases as color field paintings; and also refer to the movement (A.E.) as the New York School.

5. Jackson Pollock • On a raw, unprimed canvas he dribbled, flinged, splashed and poured paint on the floor of his studio. • He walked around, even stepped on the canvas • Gave a feeling of actually being in the painting.

6. “Jack the Dripper” • Time magazine 1951 • No hidden meanings or symbols • Body movements and gestures. • Non-representation – Pollock’s paintings resemble (G.E.) Kandinsky – no depth • Kandinsky expressed spirituality – Pollock subconscious

7. William de Kooning • Dutch painter • Action painter • Inner thoughts/emotions • Reworked his canvases – wiping off layers and repainting • “Woman I” a piece from his series of large female images.

8. Mark Rothko • Huge blocks of color • Incorporated light hues and muted dark shades. • A.E. because he lacks identifiable imagery and uses color to express vision. • Saw life as a cycle of tragic and happy times. • Used abstract blocks of color of express deep feelings about life.

9. Barnett Newman • Used color to express feelings about humanity and relationship with the universe . • Painted the canvas 1 color, with stripes vertically through it- stripes were referred to as ZIPS. Concord, 1949Barnett Newman (American, 1905–1970)Oil and masking tape on canvas

11. Helen Frankanthaler • Combined Abstract Expressionism and a style referred to as POST-PAINTERLY ABSTRACTION • Although lacks subconscious expressiveness of action painting, Frankenthaler used Pollock’s method of laying canvas on the ground to do her work • She diluted her paints then poured the paint onto a raw, unprimed canvas, letting the colors soak in the material • AH: refer to the technique as color stains

12. Bay Side 1967

13. New York School Sculpture • The NY school artists also produced sculpture. • Resembled Abstract Expressionists paintings because they are primarily NONREPRESENATIONAL and express subjectivity of the artists that created them. • These artists used industrial materials such as metal and wood

14. David Smith’s Cubi Series • Welded pieces of metal together in abstract compositions. • The spaces between the lines of welded metal bear an interesting resemblance to the paintings of Pollock. • Smith’s influences included artists such as Picasso.

15. David Smith’s Cubi Series • As his career progressed, his style evolved • Most famous is the Cubiseries came out in the early 1960’s • Basic geometric shapes such as squares, rectangles, and circles • Welded in a way that the shapes are in a precarious way (as they would fall from the sculpture).

16. David Smith’s Cubi Series • They are cantilevered in space, similar to F. L. Wright implemented in his architecture • Smith uses machines with wire brushes to burnish the metal – gives a textural feel. • AH: Believe Smith’s Cubi series as having some human characteristics…life is a precarious balance

17. David Smith’s Cubi Series • Some critics also note Cubi’’s resemblance to Native American totem poles in their size and the way they are stacked. • This is plausible to due his interest in spirituality and Existential philosophy.

18. Louise Nevelson • Assemblage sculpture out of wood and welded metal • Russian born, raised in Maine, became acquainted with wood at the lumberyard her father owned • Became a part of the NYS • Showed UNITY with repeating shapes and color

19. Louise Nevelson • Her sculptures often consisted of stacked, boxlike compartments with a variety of shapes inside them. • Often painted her sculptures one color, so as to NOT distract the viewer.

20. Departure from Abstract Expressionism • Hard Edge OR Post Painterly Abstraction • Sought to extract the qualities of Expressionism, like action painting, while creating abstract canvases of crisp lines and solid colors.

21. Frank Stella’s Pinstripe Paintings • A famous Post Painterly Abstractionist • Developed canvases of solid color separated by areas of bare canvas • Canvases emphasized flatness with no sense of recessional space • From a distance it appears that his canvases actually have pinstripes… • Stella said “What you see is what you see.” • Used canvases of different sizes and shapes

22. Frank Stella’s Pinstripe Paintings • Some are shaped like protractors • Pinstripe motif

23. Minimalism…. ‘Less Is More’ • An American Movement 1960’s and 70’s • Emphasized hard shapes and straight edges (like the PPA) • Sculptors infused NO surface decoration, narrative elements, figures, or other imagery • Donald Judd, leading Minimalist, described the idea as “getting rid of the things that people used to think were essential to art” • These artists did not seek to create abstractions of figures, but like Stella, created geometric sculptures (so the viewer saw what they saw)

24. Minimalism…. ‘Less Is More’ • Their sculptures were typically large and made of metal • Removed visible signs of themselves in the work • Donald Judd, Untitled 1969 • Several metal boxes, in a vertical composition attached to a wall with steel brackets.

25. Minimalism…. ‘Less Is More’ • The boxes are evenly spaced and prefabricated • Did not hide his material • Polished brass; could see inside the boxes (used colored Plexiglas)

26. Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial • Maya Ying Lin’s Minimalist Masterpiece • While a college student won a commission to design the VVM, in DC • Designed as an angled, black wall that slowly increases to 10’ tall at the corner and gradually recedes back into the ground • “The Wall” is geometric and simple in appearance; made of black granite that is reflected and incised with the names of 58,000 casualties and missing American soldiers of the VW.

27. Pop Art • A reaction to the AE movement, Pop Art was developed • Pop Art strived to attempt to meet people’s demand for more recognizable art • Popular in the 1960’s – based on recognizable imagery drawn from POPULAR CULTURE; such as advertising, consumer products, comic books and celebrities • In the 50’s the U.S. economy became increasingly consumer based

28. Pop Art • Artists produced artwork that reflected the consumerism of American Society • Pop Artists developed graphic art techniques; like photographic transfer to create images, supplying color by using benday dots and silkscreens • BUT, Pop Art was not a new phenomenon since Dada artists incorporated imagery from the 1910’s culture with photomontages and ready-mades …

29. Richard Hamilton • British created Just What Is It That Make’s Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing? • Small collage with pop culture references • Expressed mass media with the TV, a newspaper, and a theater marquee • Included advertising with Hoover vacuums, Ford cars…

30. Richard Hamilton • Hormel canned ham, and Tootsie pops • To express pop culture, he used images of a famous bodybuilder (Charles Atlas); and an image from an erotic magazine • Viewers felt that they were stepping into a display of a department store window • The expression of the mundane elements of pop culture became the new avantgarde

31. Jasper Johns • Influenced the the development of Pop Art in the United States • Created his famous Target with Four Faces, painted plaster casts of 4 faces from the nose down with a target painted below • Johns presents only parts of the faces, and their juxtaposition with the target encourages the viewer to think about the piece.

32. Jasper Johns -Flag • Recognizable imagery • Encaustic painting of an American flag 3’6”x 5’ 5/8” • Under the flag are newspaper clippings (unusual context); because the wax is translucent one can see the newspaper

33. Robert Rauschenberg • Used scraps of newspaper, photographs and discarded materials to make his assemblages • Collected items from the environment • “Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in the gap of the two).”

34. Robert Rauschenberg • Combed the streets of NYC for materials to use in his assemblage paintings, which he called combines. • He “combines” multiple meanings in his works • Recognizable objects and images of objects may seem odd when juxtaposed, but on closer view his arrangements have connections • Canyon

35. Canyon, 1959 • A stuffed eagle placed on a pedestal shares a connection with the pillow suspended by fabric from the pedestal; the eagle is covered with feathers while the pillow is stuffed with them… • A photograph with a young boy, hand is raised; echoes the pose of a postcard of the Statue of Liberty holding the torch.

36. Roy Lichenstein • Comic-strip-style paintings • Often used images from romantic comic strips and war comics • Re-created a melodramatic moment in his paintings • His paintings have flat areas of color surrounded by heavy black lines • His trademark – BENDAY DOTS …name derivative of Benjamin Day printer, who used the method of dots for printing color on cheap paper.

37. Roy Lichenstein“Hopeless” • Benday dots are solid dots of color; RED on WHITE give flesh tone; BLUE on WHITE give the impression of light blue • When looked at from a distance it looks a solid block of color • Lichenstein used this method for an authentic comic book feel

38. Andy Warhol • Went to art school where he designed newspaper advertisements for shoes • Influenced him to develop the art of the commodities – objects that are bought and sold • Used graphic arts production methods such as photographic transfer and silkscreen… • These methods allowed him to make multiple copies of consumer items such as Campbell’s Soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, and Brillo Pad boxes.

39. Andy Warhol • Even named his studio “The Factory” • Produced images of 1960’s pop icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley

40. Superrealism (Photorealism) • Still-life’s or portrait paintings with photographic accuracy during the 1960’s and 70’s • Audrey Flack and Chuck Close

41. Audrey Flack • Realistic still-life paintings that resemble 17th century Dutch vanitas paintings in both tromp l’oeil and Symbolism • MM real name was Norma Jean; symbolism that tells the story of her life from childhood photograph as well as references that her life was cut short at age 36

42. Audrey Flack • Flack included fruit, symbolizing life, some of which a partially peeled • Dutch vanitas paintings often had fruit partially peeled to show how life is slowly being peeled away • An hourglass and pocket watch = passage of time; calendar page of August month she died; red lipstick perfume and pearls – her trademark • The glass and small Dutch cup reference the Dutch influence

43. Audrey Flack • She commented…. images she saw were almost exclusively photographic quality. She remarked that much of how we see the world is through photographs • Flack used airbrush to blend away and trace of brushstrokes.

44. Chuck Close • Painted images of average people, usually friends and family • Close revived portraiture “Big Self Portrait” • Based on a photograph • Very distinct and recognizable

45. Duane Hanson • Sculptor of the Superrealist style, whose work reflects American pop culture • Created average American people of the 1960’s and 70’s • Tourists – a man and woman in gaudy attire • The man is overweight and balding, the woman is slightly taller with thick lipstick and sunglasses • Perhaps a retired couple?

46. Duane Hanson • What is he saying about Americans? His he presenting a stereotype of American tourists? • He created many Realistic sculptures, a boxer, weightlifter, a supermarket shopper and a sun bather • Took casts of the bodies of real people and made either a bronze/polyester resin sculpture of their forms • Used real hair and clothes

49. Art and Politics • Feminist and Earth Art!! • Exemplify the politically charged climate of America during the 1960’s and 70’s • The era of the Cold War and the Vietnam War • Peace protests criticizing our military involvement in Vietnam • “Sex, Drugs,Rock & Roll” – Rock music proliferated; social more became more relaxed as younger generations experimented with sexuality and drugs (Think Forrest Gump movie)

50. Art and Politics • America was forced to come to grips with social racial and gender inequality, that caused protests and riots • Amidst the political turmoil, many Americans artists sought to use an unconventional way to express their reactions