To The Age It?s Art, 1870 1920 Essay, Research Paper

To The Age It?s Art, 1870 – 1920

Dada is the artistic and literary movement reflecting a widespread nihilistic protest against all aspects of Western culture in the late 19th century. In their efforts to express the negation of all-current aesthetic and social values, the Dadaists frequently used artistic methods that were deliberately incomprehensible. Although the Dadaists employed revolutionary techniques, their revolt against standards was based values on a profound belief, stemming from the romantic tradition, in the essential goodness of humanity when uncorrupted by society. The art of the age mocked conventional modes of expression. Expressionism, in arts, is a movement or tendency that strives to express a subjective view of the world through feelings and emotions rather than to depict reality or nature objectively.

Sources 1 and 2 represent conventional artwork from the late 19th century. Ingres gave the human figure rhythmic flow and included harmony in his paintings, which exemplified the traditional values and modes of expression. Seurat, Georges was a French painter, who practiced neoimpressionism. He rejected the soft, irregular brushstrokes of impressionism and was in favor of pointillism. Pointillism digresses from the lifelike paintings of the previous era. In source 3, for example, little attention is paid to the individual characteristics of the people. This may have embodied Durkheim and Weber?s theories of the authority of the individual by the state causing a loss in human creativity and personal autonomy. Van Gogh?s work represents the ideal of expressionism, which is the idea of emotional spontaneity in painting. Source 4 tries to capture the human essence and emotions of his subjects. In source 5 expressionism, the subject matter represents Gauguin?s interest in dreams and unconscious. Source 6 shows imaginative subject matter and depictions of fantasy. This demonstrated Freud?s theory of sexual desire, repressed feelings, and impulses. The Dream shows a nude woman reclining on a couch in a vividly colored jungle full of enormous plants, glaring lions and other animals nearby. In source 7, Edvard Munch portrayed the inner turmoil of his subjects. The Scream, with its sinuous forms, violent colors, and screaming subject embodied Freud?s theory of the unconscious mind. He used violent colors and exaggerated lines to obtain intense emotional expression. In source 8 Gustav Klimt portrays a brief moment of passion between two people with an abundance of symbolism, which made his painting controversial. The eroticism and desperation expressed in the painting is shown with the phallic symbols where he uses rectangles and ovals to symbolize the genital organs of the subjects. Source 9 was very radical in style for that time?its picture surface resembles fractured glass?that it?s hard to isolate individual subjects. Here spatial depth is invalidated and the ideal form of the female nude is restructured into harsh, angular planes.

The end of the 19th century and early 20th century brought an end to traditional conventional artwork. The artist is not concerned with reality as it appears but with its inner nature and with the emotions aroused by the subject. The subjects in the artwork is frequently caricatured, exaggerated, distorted, or otherwise altered in order to stress the emotional experience in its most intense and concentrated form. The artwork conveyed the shifting modes, changes, and disturbance of customary thought during that era.