1. Explain why you selected each of the 2 videos you choose from the selection listed above.
I chose these four videos, because I am not that interested in Impressionism, which were the majority of the other choices. I am more interested in the Dada, Surrealism, and Cubist movements. I feel as though they deal with more abstracted representations in art, in which I find that I can identify more with.
2. For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.
Matisse and Picasso
-Matisse shows hisWoman With Hatpainting, which causes a controversy. American Gertrude Stein buys the painting and recognizes Matisse’s greatness.
-The Steins also discover Picasso and arrange for the two to meet one another.
-Matisse had a logical approach and was very rational. Picasso acted like a worker with painting as his job. The two are often compared as individuals, as well as their work.
-Picasso’s Les Mademoiselles d’Avignon, a portrayal of prostitutes, is compared to Matisse’s painting of women.
-Both admire each other’s search for simplicity and reduction in painting.
-In 1912, Picasso creates his first collage and immerses himself in leading the Cubist movement.
-A Russian collector buys 50 of Picasso’s painting and 20 of Matisse’s pieces.
-The two have their first joint exhibition in Paris, 1918.
-Matisse becomes fascinated with odalisques and begins to paint them. The artist displays a passion for decorative pattern and motifs. Picasso imitates these works to provoke Matisse.
-Picasso creates in solitude and does not travel, while Matisse explores the world and creates artworks in a routine schedule.
-Matisse and Picasso are both greatly inspired by strong, beautiful women in their work. The “sleeping women” awaken their inspirations.
-While Matisse would rub out his day’s work, Picasso would paint atop of his work.
-Picasso uses lines borrowed from Matisse, and later, Matisse borrows subjects, color, or lines from Picasso.
-WWII affects Picasso’s work, while Matisse does not display as much violence during this time.
-France is liberated in 1945, and the two have an exhibition in London.
-Picasso and Matisse had long discussions about the mystery of opposites and choices. The two study each other’s paintings to learn or to do the opposite.
-Matisse designs the Vence Chapel, while Picasso paints “War & Peace.”
-Matisse and Picasso hold each other in the highest esteem. Matisse dies in 1954.
Dada and Surrealism
-Kurt Schwitters, a German artist, realizes the unlimited possibilities of collage in 1918. He is often considered a Dadaist, although he did not identify himself with this movement. In his apartment, he builds a house that fills three rooms.
-Schwitters includes many objects in his art. He starts a magazine called “Merz.” As time goes by, he begins to include rural objects in his artworks. He manipulates light within his pieces. He wanted his art to “embrace everything in the world.”
-Dada translates to “yes, yes” in Russian and “hobby horse” in French.
-Hannah Hoch, a Dadaist, uses art to attack the society she detests. Her photomontage, “Cut With the Kitchen Knife”, contains chaotic figures. It makes a monumental political statement. She is the only woman in the Dada movement.
-Hoch’s photomontage attacks the political figures of the Weimar regime. The energy and confusion of the modern city is represented in her photomontage of New York.
-George Grosz masquerades as “the saddest man in Europe.” He leaves Berlin in 1933 and the Nazis burn his art. He paints the collective, mechanical concept that mankind has become.
-In 1926, Grosz paints “Pillars of Society,” a bitter attack on his enemies. He paints a wide social range of Berlin’s subjects. He despairs that WWI did not end the old, wicked ways of government.
-Joan Miro, a Spanish surrealist, creates “Dutch Interior I” in 1928. This painting is a parody of a Dutch 17th century painting. He paints only the abstract structures of its composition. Miro bypasses traditional associations in his work.
-He then creates “Dutch Interior II,” which is made up of taut, curving lines. It is a parody of a painting by Dutch painter Jan Steen. In Miro’s paintings, one experiences two different ways of looking at the world.
-Dali, perhaps the most well known surrealist painter, probes the darkest regions of the human subconscious. Dali’s imagination conjures up a world in which nothing makes sense. Dali includes arid, barren landscapes in his work.
-Dali settles in Port Legat in 1930’s. Dali’s “Sleep” recalls the region’s rock formations. He includes crutches, one of his favorite fetishes, in his work. His paintings are questioned to be allegories and psychoanalytical.
-Man Ray, an American artist, creates “La Fortune.” Within the painting, individual components are true to life. Yet, other elements diverge from reality. He uses familiar objects that appear in an unfamiliar arrangement. Man Ray is also a photographer, film maker, and writer.
-Man Ray dedicates a series of works to Isidore Ducasse, a writer. Juxtaposition of unrelated objects fascinates Ray. “La Fortune” is open to many interpretations.
3. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
The videos related to the readings by demonstrating a more in depth look into some of the 20th century movements happening in the art world. People were questioning the traditional ways of representation in art and rejecting them. They were more affected by the political, social, and cultural changes around them. They also were influencing each other. Events like WWI and WWII also affect the world and the artists creating during those times.
4. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the readings and art concepts?
I really liked the Matisse and Picasso film, because it showed what influence of other artists is capable of. A lot of well-known artists making art during the same period, throughout history, rejected each other and kept a distance between them. With Matisse and Picasso, they identified with each other in some odd way and embraced the style of art they were both creating. It’s interesting to see that although they seemed to have a bit of a rivalry at first, that they somehow brought the other’s work to a greater level. I think this attributed to their innovation and greatness. They shared a unique perception of the world and the way they expressed it through art. I think that a lot of young artists could be more successful if they came together in this way, or were at least open minded.
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