In the modern period artists recognized that the well-being of society and all its members were supported and enhanced by well-designed objects, buildings, and spaces.
Dr. Charles Cramer
The distinctive qualities of Japanese art offered striking new approaches to modern artists developing alternatives to the Western tradition of naturalistic representation.
A-level: Japonisme
Expression in art history is generally associated with non-rational states of mind.
A-level: Expression and modern art
By observing nature more closely, absorbing new scientific theories and spiritual investigations, many modern artists sought higher truths.
A-level: Modern art and reality
Gauguin’s paintings of Brittany are, in the end, more fantasies than accurate images of an authentic peasant culture.
The Pont-Aven School and Synthetism
The painting mocks humanity, as well as human beliefs and institutions, both civic and religious.
James Ensor, Christ’s Entry into Brussels in ...
Expression in art history is generally associated with non-rational states of mind.
Expression and modern art
The German Expressionist Emil Nolde was particularly explicit in linking himself to a Nordic tradition.
Expressionism as Nordic?
By observing nature more closely, absorbing new scientific theories and spiritual investigations, many modern artists sought higher truths.
Modern art and reality
The distinctive qualities of Japanese art offered striking new approaches to modern artists developing alternatives to the Western tradition of naturalistic representation.
Japonisme
Through their many forms of artistic production the Nabis expanded art into all areas of life.
The Nabis and Decorative Art
Art Nouveau artists and designers created a completely new style of decoration.
Art Nouveau
Symbolist artists embraced the spiritual significance of art while rejecting science and objectivity.
The Nabis and Symbolism
“Every word that is spoken and sung here says at least one thing: that this humiliating age has not succeeded in winning our respect.”
Dada Performance
For Bauhaus designers, beauty was achieved through careful choices of materials, proportions, textures, and colors for the functional features of the objects.
The Bauhaus and Bau
The Fauves created paintings that seem to celebrate the pleasures of painting as much as the pleasures of life.
Fauve Landscapes and City Views
Derain used a liberated Fauve approach to color and form to depict female figures in an exotic setting.
André Derain, The Dance
The Neo-Impressionists prided themselves on bringing scientific rigor to the hitherto largely intuitive Impressionist project.
Neo-Impressionist Color Theory
Although their subjects suggest carefree pleasure, there are undertones of social criticism in some Neo-Impressionist paintings.
Introduction to Neo-Impressionism, Part II
Cubist sculpture challenged the European sculptural tradition in terms of form, media, and often subject matter.
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