Art between the world wars

1. Art between the world wars WH ~ Ms. Justice & Mr. Demianiw

2. DADA • Dada artists believed that reason and logic had been responsible for the Great War • Therefore, they sought to express absurdity, spontaneity, and free-will in their art • Dada had only one rule: Never follow any known rules. • The name “Dada” was chosen at random from a French dictionary – it means “rocking horse” and seemed to go along with their desire for something irrational and nonsensical

3. CUBISM • Cubist artists were absorbed in the problem of finding a new way to represent figures • Pablo Picasso was the most famous of the Cubists • He typically fractured the shapes of figures and interwove them with equally jagged planes • He was also inspired by ancient Iberian and African sculptures

4. SURREALISM • Surrealism focused on the unconscious mind • Surrealist artists wanted to capture inner visions, fantasies, and nightmares • Key characteristics: • Juxtaposing familiar objects with unfamiliar objects • Depicting irrational and bizarre scenes that defy common sense

5. FUTURISM • Began over outrage about the political and cultural decline of Italy • Futurists called for a radical innovation in the arts • Interested in the speed and dynamism of modern technology • Art focused on motion in time and space

6. AMERICAN ART • American artists often reflected the Depression-era mindset of loneliness and isolation • Others felt that paintings should embody the American qualities of strength, dignity, fortitude, and integrity • Focused on strictly American subjects and rejected the avant-garde modernism of Europe and New York