Assignment
This final stretch of the semester is marked by the diversity of artistic movements and styles-it seems like an explosion of different ideas and influences compared to the previous time periods! Many art movements have idealistic social platforms, and some even see art as a solution or response to political events. World War One and events leading up to WWII are the biggest social and political factors that artists responded to in this time period, although advances in science, psychology, and technology are also influences. Conflicting attitudes about modernity, both idealistic and despairing, continue to polarize many artists. Artists form close-knit groups, and often set out the goals and principles of these groups in manifestoes. Some artists, such as Picasso, cycle through many styles or phases, while others spend many years slowly refining one style. Many artists appropriate styles from other cultures as ease of travel, trade, and communications increase globalization and contact between cultures.
Topics include:
• Expressionism
• Cubism and related movements
• Dada
• Surrealism
Time for the seventh-inning stretch!! (okay, for those of you who are not baseball fans, that means it's time we all acknowledge that the game is nearly over, we have played hard so far, and it's time to get up and stretch so we have the stamina to finish STRONG.
We're moving into an arena that radically destabilizes all that has been assumed about art for literally thousands of years. Expressionism, and then Cubism, represent the complete and total liberation of art from traditional expectations.
We will be looking at Fauvism (Henri Matisse), the foremost pioneer who decided that his art would no longer conform to the expectations of society, but explore new and innovative ways of expressing emotion through color and composition, rather than representation of "reality."
This assignment will consist of a discussion centering on Fauvism. Please read the following articles in order to understand the fundamentals of Fauvism:
Then, watch the following video(s). This is a little tricky, because copywrite issues prevent the entire video from being available in full. However, if you start with the link below, short segments of the complete documentary will continue playing in order, until the final segment:
Youtube Video "Matisse - 01 - Raised In Textile Town of Bohain-en-Vermandois"
To watch the youtube video final segment: "Henri Matisse A Cut Above the Rest(2013 - 2014)"
It may not match up exactly, but you'll be able to finish the documentary by piecing these together. I urge you to watch these closely all the way through. The artworks and commentary are very touching and will help you form a strong connection with Matisse and contribute to your overall understanding of why we study the history of art. Try to imagine the courage that would have been required in order to break so completely with tradition, in such an enthusiastic and inventive manner. Matisse wanted to represent more than "reality," he sought to expose human emotion and vulnerability in the most generous and affectionate manner.
Part one: When you have finished the articles and videos, write your discussion post, covering the following points in three paragraphs:
Paragraph 1: Summarize the life of Matisse, writing at least five sentences with particular emphasis on how you think his life experiences contributed to his radical artistic innovations.
Paragraph 2: Choose one work by Matisse and analyze it carefully in at least five sentences. Embed an image of the work that you choose, and describe it in detail before you speculate on its artistic significance. Why did you choose it? Why should it matter? How did it change the art world? What does it mean?
Paragraph 3: Write completely in your own voice, whether that is casual or formal, about what you think of Fauvism. In at least five sentences, articulate what you think of Matisse and Fauvism in general. what did it do for the art world?
For the second part of your assignment, please reply three of your classmates' posts of no less than three sentences each.
(I will post the three posts of the classmate's later! Just do the first part first.)
Here are three classmates' posts
1. Matisse grew up in a gloomy town known as Bohain-en-Vermandois in Northern France. The town itself seems very dry and lacking in color, which is odd considering Matisse's artwork. The town however was a textile town, that produced some surprisingly stunning work. Growing up in this town gave Matisse a sense of pattern and color early on in his life. Matisse studied art in Paris, but never truly found himself until he traveled to southern France. In the fishing town Collioure, Matisse created some of his first famous works. I believe his time in this town is what gave him the insight to become the master he was. Many critiques did not like Matisse because of his breaking of barriers in the art world, but that did not matter much when a famous Russian collector, Sergei Shchukin, began purchasing all of Matisse's work in bulk. I think Sergei gave Matisse the confidence he needed to continue his work, and to continue broadening his use of color.
One of my favorite works by Matisse is Les toits de Collioure. It was painted in 1905 in that fishing town, Collioure. The piece has a very bright, vibrant color palette with many contrasting colors. The transition of colors gives the artwork a bit of fluidity. The town itself has very warm colors with hints of cooler colors, whereas the background has much cooler colors with hints of warmer colors. You can almost feel the weather that Matisse was sitting in when he painted this. The rough brush strokes make the piece look very spontaneous, which I think is what makes this such an important artwork. Matisse was reinforcing the ideology that not everything is perfect. Artwork doesn't have to be perfect. Something can be beautiful without having straight lines and solid colors.
I think Fauvism was an important part of art history. Artists such as Matisse opened the worlds eyes to the abstract arts. I believe Matisse went through some rough patches in his life, trying to find himself and find what he wants in life, and those are what helped fuel his artistic senses. His emotions weren't straight lines and solid colors, they were sporadic and wildly contrasted, just like his artwork. Matisse saw the world differently than others and I respect that quite a lot. It isn't easy to open yourself up in a world where everyone follows the same guidelines.
2. Matisse was a dreamer growing up in a small french town. At the age of 19 he became depressed and his mother and caretaker gave him the gift to change his life, a set of paints. The town in which he grew up was filled with textiles which could have been a color inspiration however, he began his paintings with average dulled colors. Once he moved to Paris he met Picasso who became a lifelong friend and mutual inspiration. In the middle portion of his life he painted with color that was filled with life and skill. But, as he got older fell ill to cancer this changed his life. After he survived the surgery he had a new outlook on life and this showed through in his work. His medium changed from paints to colorful and meaningful cutouts. They were driven by the world all around and he expressed it all within these cutout works.
The Snail was one of Matisse's final works completed in 1953 it is a large (2864 x 2870 mm) cut out image. The cut outs are placed on a white background in a seemingly playful fashion. You are given a border of a yellow-orange with the top left hand corner containing an almost lavender purple and the top right hand corner containing a teal. The center has the spiral of color cut outs that protected the illusion of the snail and the snail head is depicted in a small orange cut out. The base holds a blue rectangle on the left and a green fluid cut out on the right. Each piece holds white in between allowing for negative space. I find this work enticing as it very large for what it is depicting as well as how Matisse not only created it but the state he was in when creating this piece. It is lively with color but more so I see the upper right and left hand corners as the unstoppable clouds that loom. While the earth in the bottom stand firm so that the snail can still make his way, slowly but surely. This I find representational of Matisse and his health, he was slowing down and death was imminent but he was still moving regardless of speed.
I see Fauvism to be both casual and formal. While the colors can be childlike thus, casual. The placement is formal and derived from deep thoughtfulness to create the images. I am attached to Fauvism paintings not just for the color use but also the ease of the brush strokes. There is a deep connection that can be made with these images unlike that of mythical and historic images of Baroque. Fauvism is for the viewer to feel something and to be drawn to it not just for the story but for the experience. These images helped the world experience happiness in times of great sadness and in my opinion they help heal sadness by allowing the viewer to be understood and a validated by the depictions of these emotional pieces.
3. Henri Matisse was born December 31st, 1869 in Bohain-en-Vermandois, Picardy France. The first son to a family that owned a flower shop (seed store). He wasn't ambitious towards a goal in life until he was gifted a set of paints by his mother when he was ill. His color infatuation was influenced by the textile and fabric companies in town, which other then that the town was hues of grey. But he yet knew of the slow acceptance of bright colors until He left for paris. In the 1890's he had a daughter with one of his models and then married another girl while studying art. He found his muse in 1905 in the south of france, where he tried to capture his "feelings" of the town Collioure. With him saying "a gram of green is more green than half a gram of green" adding to his style of heavy colors and big shapes. Matisse became the "Badboy" of art because he chose a color palette opposite of that of the Van Gogh (yellows and blues) and painted scenes that provoke emotion. When Russian philanthropist Sergei Shchukin's avid collection of Matisse artwork is when he started to get high recognition. After Shchukin's collection getting confiscated by communist and then re-emerged into the public, is when it influenced artists, fashion designers and textilers. Matisse used his travels and emotions along with bright colors as a reflection onto the canvas.
I Chose "Le bonheur de vivre" Because i feel that this is a huge culmination of Henri Matisse's work. With bright contrasting and complimentary colors. Solid filled in shapes and detailing lines. And a sense of presence. By figures doing multiple things. As if many still lifes of emotion put into one painting. This painting changed the artworld because it wasn't a quick impression of a scene, nor was it an academic standard of historical painting. It was a scene of emotion by color.
For me, I personally took post-impressionist and fauvist works lightly. Because If you did not know the context or artist, then you did not understand the painting and it would uphold no meaning. I saw a true Van Gogh once, but this was before i knew the greatness i was looking at. Anywho As for Fauvism on the art community/world. It was the last straw that broke the camel's back, in a sense. It was the final key to freedom of expression. Art didn't have to visually make sense anymore. Because now it's not just a visual representation of reality, but it is a visual representation of emotion. You are able to paint with passion and not just purpose.