Modernist Art: A Departure From Realism

VIS18 Assignment 3: Presentation (Essay)

Modernism is typified by the rejection of tradition. Discuss this idea through the in depth analysis of three to five European art works from 1860-1935.

The era of modernism saw artists break from traditions in more extreme ways than any other period in art history. After defining the term modernism in the context of this essay, it is discussed how the invention of photography impacted art. The move away from realism began with the Impressionist movement, and Monet’s Impression – Sunrise is used as an example. Expressionism encompassed several movements that ventured painters even further away from realism. Edvard Munch’s The Scream was a landmark painting that paved the way for more abstract works of Expressionist art, such as Wassily Kandinsky’s Composition VII. It is argued that artists needed to reject traditions in art in order to remain relevant among the technological advancements that occurred during the modernist period.

To discuss modernist artwork, it is crucial to define the term modernism to avoid any confusion. While the term ‘modern’ is often synonymous with something that is most recent or new, modernism refers to “a title for a whole cultural movement and moment” (Williams 1992, 23) and is loosely believed to have had its greatest impact between 1890 and 1940. Technological and industrial change during this time ultimately changed the way people lived their lives and also changed their approach to art. Danto (1997, 4) notes, “modernism sets itself at a distance from the previous history of art”. The forward thinking modernist artists of the time “insisted that the arts should be founded upon new forms, practices and values derived from the contemporary moment and orientated toward the future” (Walz 2013, 3). In the artistic context, modernism refers to a period of history that saw the most radical changes in the approach to creating art within such a short time span.

Arguably, the primary impetus for these radical changes to the foundations of art was the invention of photography. According to Grøtta (2012, 80), “when the technique of photography was first introduced in 1839, it created a sensation”. Around this time, paintings displayed at the annual Salon exhibition in Paris generally adhered to the standard “irreproachably smooth surface, created with miniscule brushwork almost indiscernible to the eye” (Brodskaïa 2010, 13) (see example in fig. 1). Creating images that came as close to reality as possible dominated pre-modernist art. However, with the prospect of photography having the ability to create more realistic imagery than any master artist ever could, “the visual arts were faced with a brand new situation; the age of technological reproducibility” (Grøtta 2012, 80). As Greenberg (1992, 308-309) notes, “the arts could save itself from this levelling down only by demonstrating that the kind of experience they provide was valuable in its own right and not to be obtained by any other activity”. When the manual creation of imagery was threatened by such technology, artists began to experiment in ways that completely separated them from photographic images.

Fig. 1: Eugène Delecroix, La justice de Trajan, 1840. Oil on canvas, 495 x 396cm. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen.

With less emphasis on the need for realism, pioneering artists like Monet forged a new style of painting that came to be known as Impressionism. The subjects and attitudes of early impressionist artwork “undermined the whole concept of what art was, what art schools should teach, and how art exhibitions should be organized” (Herbert 2002, 92). This new stye of painting “lacked traditional finish and often resembled a rapid oil sketch” (Brodskaïa 2010, 25). Greenberg (1992, 309) says of modernist art that “realistic, naturalistic art had dissembled the medium, using art to conceal art; Modernism used art to call attention to art”. By using larger and more obvious brushstrokes in painting, for example, artists began to emphasise the medium they were using and not hide behind it. Art no longer became about representing the world in the ways in which we all see it, but creating imagery that represents how that particular artist sees it.

Fig. 2: Claude Monet, Impression – Sunrise, 1872. Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 62.8cm. Musée Marmottan, Paris.

An artwork that has come to symbolise the Impressionist movement, and has even been credited with giving the movement its name is Claude Monet’s Impression – Sunrise (Fig. 2). When the painting was exhibited in 1874, Monet “had rightly been singled out as the leader of the impressionists” (Lewis 2007, 227). Having been excluded from the Salon exhibition, Monet and other like-minded artists displayed their work in a self-organised, independent exhibition. In Monet’s representation of the port of Le Havre, “where the port could not be seen and where the essential element was the veil of morning mist” (Brodskaïa 2010, 75), the attempt to invoke an atmosphere overwhelms the desire to simply recreate the sight of the port. In this painting, the composition is created solely using colour and “nothing is clear cut and solid” (Honour and Fleming 2005, 704). Paintings like Impression – Sunrise demonstrate how Impressionist artists favoured providing their individual impression of a scene, rather than showing what everyone can see.

Once the Impressionists had found their footing in the art world, artists strove to push the limits of art further and this led to the era of Expressionism. It is believed that the Expressionists had the most influence between 1905 and 1920 in Europe, “when political events and the social climate found their appropriate artistic expression in this particular style” (Dietmar 2002, 8). Progressive works of art were described as Expressionist until around 1912, with the term being “a catch-all phrase for the latest modern, Fauviste, Futuristic or Cubist art” (Bassie 2014, 7). Expressionist painters were artists who “endeavored to go beyond a mere perception of reality and who aimed at a psychological rendering of they impressions the perceived.” (Dietmar 2002, 10). Rather than sharing their impression of a scene, the focus for an Expressionist became portraying feeling and emotion through their imagery.

Fig. 3: Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. Oil, pastel and casein on cardboard, 91 x 73.5cm. National Gallery, Oslo.

An important work leading up to the Expressionist era that has since gained iconic status is Edvard Munch’s The Scream (Fig. 3). Bohm-Duchen (2001, 156) notes, “Munch’s radical stylistic approach anticipated the art of the German Expressionists in the very early part of the twentieth century”. In this image, “the despair and terror experienced by the foreground figure are made visible in the landscape and sky, which writhe with agonized streaks of arbitrary color” (Honour and Fleming 2002, 781). Munch was able to convey “intense feelings of anguish through swirling lines, undulating forms and spacial compression” (Bohm-Duchen 2001, 161). The Scream was a landmark painting that helped pave the way for the Expressionist movement and the more abstract variations of Expressionist art.

Fig. 4: Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913. Oil on canvas, 200 x 300 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Wassily Kandinsky’s Composition VII (Fig. 4), painted in 1913, is great example of an abstract artwork created during the period of Expressionism. As an Expressionist painter, “Wassily Kandinsky was probably the most radical example, because his expressionism just before 1914 led to abstract art in a series of consistent steps” (Dietmar 2002, 7). Far from being a composition of randomly organised shapes, Kandinsky created around thirty drawings and watercolours in addition to ten preparatory oil paintings to create Composition VII (Bassie 2014, 156). Kandinsky’s transition to abstract art allowed him to express his “innermost feelings and antimaterialistic values and thus [create] a true spiritual reality” (Honour and Fleming 2002, 780). When comparing this piece to pre-Modernist artwork, it is clear that traditions have been abandoned in the progression of art.

It has been argued that to remain relevant amongst the technological advancements that occurred during the modernist period, artists rejected the traditions of the past. Amongst the dramatic changes in industry and technology during modernism, photography was singled out as a major impetus for many artists departing from a realist style. The departure began with the Impressionists, led by the work of Claude Monet. The departure continued with the work of Edvard Munch and the many variations of the Expressionist style. This led to the complete abandonment of realism seen in abstract pieces by artists like Wassily Kandinsky. When the world of art was threatened by the world of technology, traditions were rejected so that art could stand completely separate and remain relevant in the world of image creation.

Reference List:

• Bassie, Ashley. 2014. Expressionism. New York: Parkstone International.
• Bohm-Duchen, Monica. 2001. Private Life of A Masterpiece. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Brodskaïa, Nathalia. 2010. Impressionism. New York: Parkstone International.
• Danto, Arthur Coleman. 1997. After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and The Pale of History. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Dietmar, Elger. 2002. Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art. Cologne: Taschen.
• Greenberg, Clement. 1992. “Modernist painting.” In Art in Modern Culture: An Anthology of Critical Texts, edited by Francis Frascina, 308-314. London: Phaidon.
• Grøtta, Marit. 2012. “Reading/Developing Images: Baudelaire, Benjamin, and the Advent of Photography.” Nineteenth-Century French Studies 41 (1): 80-90.
• Herbert, Robert, 2002. From Millet to Léger: Essays in Social Art History. New Haven, Yale University Press.
• Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. A World History of Art. Laurence King Publishing, 2005.
• Lewis, Mary Tompkins. 2007. Critical Readings in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: An Anthology. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Walz, Robin. 2013. Modernism. New York: Routledge.

Bibliography:

• Arnason, H. Havard, 2013. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography (7th ed.). London: Lawrence King.
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• Liu, Catherine. 2002. “Getting to the Photo Finish: Photography, Autobiography, Modernity”. The South Atlantic Quarterly 101 (3): 519-539.
• Murphy, Richard. 1999. Theorizing the Avant-Garde: Modernism, Expressionism, and the Problem of Postmodernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Papastergiadis, Nikos. 2006. “Modernism and contemporary art.” Theory, Culture & Society 23 (2-3): 466-469.
• Taminiaux, Pierre. 2009. The Paradox of Photography. New York: Rodopi.