Modern Art and the Subjective Film Experience
Modern Art
Modern art is a general term used for most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called Contemporary art or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then new approach to art where it was no longer important to represent a subject realistically — the invention of photography had made this function of art obsolete. Instead, artists started experimenting with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature, materials and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction.
[Wikipedia.com]
A genre of the fine arts created from the mid-19th century which strayed from traditional techniques and styles.
[Dictionary.com]
- Modern art got it's beginning at the start of the 19th century.
- The styles of modern art were used well into the mid-to-late 20th century (somewhere around the 1970's).
- Zeitgeist (or spirit of the time) was moving away from traditional art, creating a new way of artistic expression.
- Movement was preceded by romanticism.
- Romanticism was considered a reaction against enlightenment. It emphasized imagination and feeling, as well as demonstrated some actual knowledge for whatever object or meaning was being artistically expressed.
[Formalism]
Strict adherence to, or observance of, prescribed or traditional forms, as in music, poetry, and art.
[Dictionary.com]
- Characteristics of formalism include color, brushwork [in painting], form, line and composition.
- Film: Alfred Hitchcock
- Painting: Roger Fry
[Abstract Expressionism]
A movement in experimental, nonrepresentational painting originating in the U.S. in the 1940s, with sources in earlier movements, and embracing many individual styles marked in common by freedom of technique, a preference for dramatically large canvases, and a desire to give spontaneous expression to the unconscious.
[Dictionary.com]
- Characteristics of abstract expressionism include the use of colour and the variations on how colors should be presented, a focus on bold and bright colours in some works, and the artistic and creative process makes itself seen to the viewer. In other words, artistic expressionism ranged from patterns to completely randomized works of art.
- Film: Hans Richter
- Painting: Clyfford Still
[Structuralism]
A method of analyzing phenomena, as in anthropology, linguistics, psychology, or literature, chiefly characterized by contrasting the
elemental structures of the phenomena in a system of binary opposition
[Dictionary.com]
- Characteristics of structuralism include lighting, angle, shot duration, juxtaposition, cultural context, and a wide array of other elements. The combination of these elements creates a sort of code with meaning behind it.
- Film: D.W. Griffith
- Painting: Arroyo F.
[Bibliography]
