Chapters 14.3 Sculpture

14.4 Fantasy & Surreal Art 14.5 Photography

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)

Rumanian sculptor in Paris.

He wanted to reveal the essential shape

hidden in everything we see,

simplifying and eliminating detail. His work affected most of the major sculpture trends

which followed him in time.

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) Rumanian sculptor

The Kiss, 1912, Limestone, 23” tall

Constantin Brancusi (1876-

1957) Rumanian sculptor

Bird in Space Bronze cast

54” tall, 1927

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) Rumanian sculptor

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) Rumanian sculptor

Aristide Maillol

(1861-1944) French

sculptor Summer,

1910, bronze, 65” tall

Ernst Barlach (1870-1938) German sculptorFrenzy, 1910, bronze, 21 x 27”

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)

Swiss sculptor His emaciated and elongated forms

were first created in plaster over a wire

armature. The stick-thin figures have

come to be recognized as a

powerful symbol of the loneliness and

alienation of humanity in the 20th century. The visual look

could be considered Expressionist.

Man Pointing, 1947, bronze, 71”

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) Swiss sculptor

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) Swiss sculptor

Alberto Giacometti (1901-

1966)Swiss sculptor

14.4 SurrealismA style of 20th century art in which artists combine normally unrelated objects and

situations.

Their painted scenes are often dreamlike, or set in

unnatural surroundings. These artists were influenced

by Sigmund Freud’s analysis of the human subconscious

and examination of dream psychology.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Spanish, Oil on canvas

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Spanish, Oil on canvas

Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

Russian/ JewishBorn in Belarus (then Russian

Empire), naturalized

Frenchin 1937.

Chagall's Surreal,

haunting, exuberant, and poetic images have enjoyed

wide popular appeal.

I and the Village Oil on canvas

1911, 76 x 60”

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Russian Jewish

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Russian Jewish

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), Italian“The Delights of a Poet,” Oil on canvas, 28” x 34” 1913

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), Italian

Oil on canvas

Paul Klee (1879-1940)The Twittering Machine Watercolor, pen and ink

192225 x 19”

Swiss-born, lived in Germany

His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Klee experimented with and mastered color theory, and wrote extensively about it. His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes child-like perspective. He and his friend, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art and architecture.

Paul Klee (1879-1940), Swiss in Germany

Paul Klee (1879-1940), Swiss in Germany

Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Belgian. Time Transfixed, 1938, oil on canvas, 58 x 38 “Magritte’s work often displays a mingling of ordinary objects in unusual contexts, giving new meaning to familiar things.

The representational use of objects as other than what they seem is typified in his painting. In Magritte’s painting of an apple, he painted the fruit realistically and then used an internal caption to deny that the item was an apple. Magritte points out that no matter how closely, through realism-art, we come to depicting an item accurately, we never do catch the item itself.

Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Belgian

Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Belgian

Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Belgian

Joan Miró (1893-1983) Spanish

His work is considered Surrealist, filled with childlike imagery referring to the subconscious mind.

Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods which he viewed as supporting bourgeoise society, and famously declared an "assassination of painting" in favor of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.

Joan Miro (1893-1983), Spanish

Joan Miro (1893-1983), Spanish

Meret Oppenheim (b.1913), Object, 1936, Fur-covered sculpture, 3” height

DadaFormed by a group of intellectual artists who

escaped to Zurich, Switzerland in 1915, during World War I.

They attacked the meaninglessness of war and all forms of cultural standard and artistic activity, and

gave themselves this nonsense name. The movement spread to New York, Berlin, Paris...and

its impact is still strongly felt today.

DADA ARTJean Hans Arp(1887-1966),

French/GermanSculptor and

collagistCollage Arranged According to the

Laws of Chance

19 x 14” 1916Torn and pasted

papers

Arp created collages by cutting bits of paper and floating them to

the floor; he made the resulting accidental

arrangement permanent by

gluing the pieces to a sheet of

paper.

Jean Arp (1887-1966) French/GermanBirds in an Aquarium, 1920 Painted wood relief,

10 x 8”

Jean Hans Arp

(1887-1966)French/Germ

an Sculptor and

collagist

Arp began cutting

random bits of wood with a band saw, gluing them together and adding paint

to create relief

sculpture.

Max Ernst (1891-1976) German“L’Ange du Foyer” Oil on canvas, 1937

Ernst developed a fascination with birds that was prevalent in his work. His alter ego in paintings, which he called Loplop, was a bird. He suggested this alter-ego was an extension of himself stemming from an early confusion of birds and humans.

Max Ernst (1891-1976) GermanOil on canvas

Kurt Schwitters(1887-1948) German

Construction for Noble Ladies, 1919, Mixed-media assemblage of wood, metal

and paint 40 x 33”Dada was a protest against

traditional art forms.

Schwitters gathered found objects, glued them down,

added paint, and called these partially 3-dimensional

objects “assemblages.”

Such use of found materials was a challenge to the

artistic tradition in the early 20th century. This format is no longer considered avant-garde, and has become part

of our ongoing pictorial tradition.

Schwitters’ influence is very apparent in the

contemporary work of Robert Rauschenberg

Kurt Schwitters(1887-1948)

GermanAssemblage collage with

paint and found materials

Kurt Schwitters(1887-1948)

GermanAssemblage collage with

paint and found

materials

Kurt Schwitters

(1887-1948) German

Assemblage collage with

paint and found

materials

Kurt Schwitters

(1887-1948) German

Assemblage collage with

paint and found

materials