20th Century Art Movements

The twentieth century was one of particular worldwide upheaval, ranging from wars to
economic downturns to radical political movements. No one can disagree that the years
between 1900 and 2000 were years of extreme change for artists all over the world. These
changes were boldly reflected in the works of avante-garde artists throughout the century.
Classical art was being challenged more and more as waves of nationalism and imperialism
spread over the world in the early half of the twentieth century.
Artists explored extreme and varying themes in the years before and after World War I, and
those same themes were revisited in the aftermath of World War II, creating an interesting
parallel. This article is divided into two sections: 1900-1945 and 1945-2000 and focuses on art
themes that captured the talents and ideas of some of the most well known artists around the
world.

Art Movements Timeline from 1900-1945

Types of Art in 1900-1945

1.Fauvism

By the turn of the century, artists were rapidly making their departure from more classical
works and were seeking to express themselves through different means. Fauvism was the short
lived name for the longer-lasting art movement called Expressionism. From about 1905 to 1910
artists sought to explore emotions in new ways, employing the use of bright, vivid colors and
emotional images and subjects.
This movement is most well known for capturing the creations of such famous artists as Henri
Matisse. The Fauvism movement eventually faded into the calmer, more thoughtful
expressionistic art as Fauvism- which came from the word Fauves meaning wild beasts- lost
popularity. The short movement characterized the years between 1904 and 1908, but engaged
much of the first decade of the 1900's.
  Art of Fauvism

Luxe, Calme et Volupte (1904)

Artist: Henri Matisse
This early work by Matisse clearly indicates the artist's stylistic influences, most notably
Georges Seurat's Pointillism and Paul Signac's Divisionism, in the use of tiny dabs of color to
create a visual frisson. What sets this work apart from these more rigid methods, however, is
Matisse's intense concentrations of pure color. The oranges, yellows, greens, and other colors
all maintain their own discrete places on the picture plane, never quite merging to form the
harmonious tonality that both Seurat and Signac were known for, and instead heighten the
almost vertiginous effect created by the striking dots of paint. Matisse took this work's title,
which translates as "luxury, peace, and pleasure," from Charles Baudelaire's poem L'Invitation
au Voyage (Invitation to a Voyage).
This is an Oil on canvas - Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

2. Cubism
Pioneered by Pablo Picasso, Cubism sought to deepen the consideration that expressionist
artists had created by rendering objects and ideas from different angles, seeking to break up
and analyze things. Primitivism was similar by extension and was influenced by American
colonization and exploration in the early 1900s.
Featuring collages and works made of many different mediums, Cubism and Primitivism
explored the human relationship with the mundane and extraordinary and was characterized
by it's analytic and synthetic qualities. This art movement was also rather short and reached its
height in the years between 1907 and 1911, extending and intermingling with the Futurism
movement, although art scholars agree it had reached the end of its lifetime by 1919
  Art of Cubism

The Old Guitarist

By: Pablo Picasso
The Old Guitarist was painted in 1903, just after the suicide death of Picasso's close friend,
Casagemas. During this time, the artist was sympathetic to the plight of the downtrodden and
painted many canvases depicting the miseries of the poor, the ill, and those cast out of society.
He too knew what it was like to be impoverished, having been nearly penniless during all of
1902. This work was created in Madrid, and the distorted style (note that the upper torso of the
guitarist seems to be reclining, while the bottom half appears to be sitting cross-legged) is
reminiscent of the works of El Greco.
This is an oil painting on canvas, and the size is roughly 122.9 cm by 82.6 cm. It is currently
located at the Art Institute of Chicago

3. Futurism Movement
One of the lesser known art movements, the Futurism art movement did not produce any
works of art that are still widely known by the world today. However, futurism was an
important political tool used by artists in the years leading up to World War I. In fact, some
scholars believe the unrest associated with the futurism movement may have served as
propaganda for World War I.
The movement advocated societal revolution and changes in the way art was made and
produced. Largely an Italian movement, the Futurism movement featured growing unrest and
unhappiness with the economic climate that was producing larger separations between the
working and upper classes. The Futurism movement provided fuel for the later Dada
movement, despite it's lack of fame and longevity; the Futurism movement was ended by the
end of World War I.

 Art of Futurism
 The City Rises (1910)
Artist: Umberto Boccioni

he City Rises is often considered to be the first Futurist painting. Here, Boccioni illustrates the
construction of a modern city. The chaos and movement in the piece resemble a war scene as
indeed war was presented in the Futurist Manifesto as the only means toward cultural
progress. The large horse races into the foreground while several workers struggle to gain
control, indicating tension between human and animal. The horse and figures are blurred,
communicating rapid movement while other elements, such as the buildings in the background,
are rendered more realistically. At the same time, the perspective teeters dramatically in
different sections of the painting. The work shows influences of Cubism, Impressionism, and
Post-Impressionism, revealed in the brushstrokes and fractured representation of space.
This is an Oil on canvas - Museum of Modern Art

4. Dada art
By the end of World War I, artists were realizing that the Futurism movement was not the
answer to their problems. World War I left artists across the world disillusioned, angry and
bitter. Their art was irrational and their ideas were a radical departure from centuries of art
forms.
The art produced during the Dada movement was fascinating in the abstract principles and
ideas it sought to portray. Some call it 'anti-art' and some claim it is not art at all, because the
creators did not consider it as such. Often the artists of the Dada era sought to mock more
classical and conventional artists, as Marcel Duchamp did when he submitted an old urinal to
an art museum as a piece of work. Dada was the final explosion of the Futurism movement and
gave way to surrealism by 1924.
  Art of Dada Art

Fountain (1917)
Artist: Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp was the first artist to use a readymade and his choice of a urinal was guaranteed to
challenge and offend even his fellow artists. There is little manipulation of the urinal by the
artist other than to turn it upside-down and to sign it with a fictitious name. By removing the
urinal from its everyday environment and placing it in an art context, Duchamp was questioning
basic definitions of art as well as the role of the artist in creating it. With the title, Fountain,
Duchamp made a tongue in cheek reference to both the purpose of the urinal as well to famous
fountains designed by Renaissance and Baroque artists. In its path-breaking boldness the work
has become iconic of the irreverence of the Dada movement towards both traditional artistic
values and production techniques. Its influence on later twentieth century artists such as Jeff
Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, Damien Hirst, and others is incalculable.
This is now located at Urinal - Philadelphia Museum of Art

5. Surrealism
The anger after World War I gradually faded and was replaced by surrealism, a longer-lasting
art movement that explored the human psyche. Pioneered by such artists as Salvador Dali, the
surrealism movement followed in the footsteps of many leading psychologists of the day in
discovering dreams and exploring what made reality real.
Characterized by strange paintings and dream-like qualities, art of the Surrealism movement is
fascinating to look at and study today and is reminiscent of some of our strangest dreams and
ideas. Surrealism was the return to a calmer art movement that sought to dig deeper into
human consciousness, emotion and preference instead of overturning it.
  Art of Surrealism

Harlequin's Carnival (1924)

Artist: Joan Miró
Miró created elaborate, fantastical spaces in his paintings that are an excellent example of
Surrealism in their reliance on dream-like imagery and their use of biomorphism. Biomorphic
shapes are those that resemble organic beings but that are hard to identify as any specific
thing; the shapes seem to self-generate, morph, and dance on the canvas. While there is the
suggestion of a believable three-dimensional space in Harlequin's Carnival, the playful shapes
are arranged with an all-over quality that is common to many of Miró's works during his
Surrealist period, and that would eventually lead him to further abstraction. Miró was
especially known for his use of automatic writing techniques in the creation of his works,
particularly doodling or automatic drawing, which is how he began many of his canvases. He is
best known for his works such as this that depict chaotic yet lighthearted interior scenes, taking
his influence from Dutch seventeenth-century interiors such as those by Jan Steen.
This is an Oil on canvas - Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Art Movements Timeline from 1945-2000

Types of Art in 1945-2000

1.Existentialism Art
Existentialism was a renewed social, cultural and artistic craze that followed World War II. It
concerned a specific set of ideas related to human existence, thought and ideas that were
abstract and were generally unique to each individual. Existentialism in art was similar to
expressionism and renewed the same sort of cynical ideas about human existence.
Art focused on angst, despair, reason, failings and many complex, dark and difficult emotions.
Many of the artists were atheists and centered around what one art history textbook calls the
"absurdity of human existence" (Gardner). Francis Bacon is a noted artist from this time period
with his work simply called "Painting" that portrayed a gruesome slaughterhouse scene and
symbolic meaning in the life of man.

 Art of Existentialism Art

The Card Players (1890-92)

Artist: Paul Cézanne
In "Cézanne's Doubt," an important and influential essay by philosopher Maurice Merleau-
Ponty, related tenets of Phenomenology and Existentialism that were brought to bear on
painting. Merleau-Ponty argued that Cézanne's painting demonstrated art's interest in
subjective perceptions and experiences – indeed the first level of those experiences, before the
mind had time to process and reflect upon them. In this sense, Merleau-Ponty suggested, art is
opposed to science, which is more interested in analyzing and rationalizing those experiences.
Cézanne painted five versions of The Card Players, all towards the end of his life, and each of
the pictures might serve as an opening on to themes of Existentialism and Phenomenology, not
least because each of Cézanne's players is wholly self-involved, absorbed in his own game.
This is an Oil on canvas located now in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

2. Abstract Expressionism
In the late 1940s, Abstract Expressionism sprang up with the idea of expressing a state of mind.
Considered the birth of "modern art", artists who painted during the Abstract Expressionism
movement wanted viewers to really reach deeply for understanding of an image. They wanted
the ideas about the painting to be free of conventional thinking and believed that their images
would have a unique, instinctive meaning for each viewer.
Some of the famed artists during this time period were Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, using
splatter-paint and other unusual methods to create abstract works of art. The Abstract
Expressionism movement moved into the "Post-Painterly Abstraction" movement which
attempted to create a brand of "purity in art", but the movement died out by the mid 1950's

 Art of Abstract Expressionism

Number 1 (Lavender Mist) (1950)

Artist: Jackson Pollock
Number 1 (Lavender Mist) is one of thirty-two paintings that debuted in Pollock's 1950 solo
exhibition at Betty Parson's New York gallery and was the only painting that sold. In it, a chaotic
composition of black, white, russet, orange, silver and stone blue industrial paint is built up in
random web-like layers that blend visually together to give off the illusion of a lavender glow.

The piece is exemplary of Pollock's famous "drip" works in which paint was poured, splattered
and applied by the artist in an extremely physical fashion from above to a canvas which lay on
the ground. This process of expressing an internal emotional turbulence through gesture, line,
texture, and composition represented a breakthrough for Pollock in his career and helped put
the New York School of painters to which he belonged on the map. These paintings became the
impetus for critic Rosenberg's coining of the term "action painting." This type of unlikely
combination of chance and control became tantamount to Abstract Expressionism's evolution.
This is an Oil on canvas located now in National Gallery, Washington DC

3. Pop Art
A new brand of art called Pop Art emerged in the 1950s as a surprising break-away from
previous movements. Artists in the Pop Art movement felt that Abstract Expressionist art was
alienating the audience and sought to use their art to communicate more effectively with the
viewer.
Roy Lichtenstein was the famed pioneer of this movement and used his art in a commercial
way, expressing emotion and ideas in a very vividly appealing way that his audience could easily
understand and relate to. The Pop Art movement is one of the most recognized movements of
the twentieth century and as it morphed and expanded, famed artists like Andy Warhol became
well known for their own similar brands of work.

 Art of Pop Art

President Elect (1960-61)

Artist: James Rosenquist
Like many Pop artists, Rosenquist was fascinated by the popularization of political and cultural
figures in mass media. In his painting President Elect, the artist depicts John F. Kennedy's face
amidst an amalgamation of consumer items, including a yellow Chevrolet and a piece of cake.
Rosenquist created a collage with the three elements cut from their original mass media
context, and then photo-realistically recreated them on a monumental scale. As Rosenquist
explains, "The face was from Kennedy's campaign poster. I was very interested at that time in
people who advertised themselves. Why did they put up an advertisement of themselves? So
that was his face. And his promise was half a Chevrolet and a piece of stale cake." The large-
scale work exemplifies Rosenquist's technique of combining discrete images through
techniques of blending, interlocking, and juxtaposition, as well as his skill at including political
and social commentary using popular imagery.
This is an Oil on masonite located now in Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

4. Neo-Expressionism and Feminism

Superrealism crumbled beneath the powerful emotions that Neo-Expressionism and the
Feminist movement sought to invoke with their works of art. Neo-expressionism was a return
to the cynical artwork of the 1940s and the Futurism movement but lacked the same angry feel.
Instead, artists of this era wanted to produce a more careful, serious examination of emotion
and expression. They wanted the viewer to be curious and think deeply instead of being
enraged.
However, this movement rapidly reverted to the anger and change that it's earlier predecessors
had desired as the Feminist movement got its hands on the ideas. Communication via art
became political again and portrayed the female body provocatively as the feminist movement
made its brief resurgence, fighting for equality in all areas of women's rights. With legislation
like Title IX passed and other victories for the feminists, the art movement gradually gave way
to the 1990s and Performance Art.
  Art of Neo-Expressionism and Feminism

Adieu (1982)
Artist: Georg Baselitz
Baselitz, who grew up in post-World War II East Germany, was the earliest and most senior
member of the group of Neo-Expressionists. His works were distinctive in that he frequently
painted his figures upside down as if to create a modern-day counterpart to the seventeenth-
century paintings of a world "topsy-turvy." Though the artist denied ascribing any particular
meanings to his works, he nonetheless contributed meaningful figures that served as visual
analogues to the upheavals of recent German history. The figures here seem to have no point
of origin and are suspended awkwardly between the top of the picture and the empty space
beneath their heads, existing in a sort of horrifying limbo. The title of the picture also suggests a
separation, confirmed by one figure moving away from the other. Their bodies are sites of
violence as indicated by the ferocious and expressive brushwork, and their organic and
vulnerable bodies contrast with the abstract geometry of the background -- a background that
reflects the figures' emotional states in its intensity of color and paint handling, but which
seems also to function in a way that suggests the indifference of a universal pattern.
This is an Oil on canvas located now in Tate Gallery, London

5. Performance Art
The last decade of the twentieth century featured art that was largely labeled as Performance
Art. This art characterized the growing use of personal computers and art was used liberally in
new video games, movies, and other technological advances. Art was being used for
performances sake and to catch the eye and appeal of the buyer. Art was largely commercial in
this last decade before the dawn of the twenty first century.

 Art in Performance Art

 Cut Piece (1964)
Artist: Yoko Ono
oko Ono’s Cut Piece, first performed in 1964, was a direct invitation to an audience to
participate in an unveiling of the female body much as artists had been doing throughout
history. By creating this piece as a live experience, Ono hoped to erase the neutrality and
anonymity typically associated with society’s objectification of women in art. For the work, Ono
sat silent upon a stage as viewers walked up to her and cut away her clothing with a pair of
scissors. This forced people to take responsibility for their voyeurism and to reflect upon how
even passive witnessing could potentially harm the subject of perception. It was not only a
strong feminist statement about the dangers of objectification, but became an opportunity for
both artist and audience members to fill roles as both creator and artwork.
It was performed at Yamaichi Concert Hall, Kyoto, Japan 1964