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| The Development of Modernist Art |
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| Revolution and World War :: Expressionism in Early 20th-Century Europe :: Embracing Abstraction :: Challenging Artistic Conventions :: Transatlantic Artistic Dialogues :: European Art in the Wake of World War I :: New Art for A New Society-Utopian Ideals :: Emphasizing the Organic :: Art As Political Statement in the 1930s :: Émigrés and Exiles: Energizing American Art at Midcentury | Images courtesy of Saskia Ltd. |
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| NEW ART FOR A NEW SOCIETY-UTOPIAN IDEALS Some avant-garde artists believed in art's ability to improve of society and all humankind. Suprematism and Constructivism in Russia, De Stijl in Holland, and the Bauhaus in Germany were among the art movements that promoted utopian ideals. Suprematism and Constructivism The supremacy of pure feeling: The Russian painter Kasimir Malevich developed a nonobjective abstract style to convey his belief that the supreme reality in the world is pure feeling. His Suprematist Composition: Aeroplane Flying shows brightly colored shapes within a white space. 33-52: KAZIMIR MALEVICH, Suprematist Composition: Airplane Flying, 1915 (dated 1914). Oil on canvas, 1' 10 7/8" x 1' 7". Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchase).
The Constructivist sculptor Naum Gabo explored the relationship of mass and space to suggest the nature of space/time. In Column, he opened up the column's circular mass so that viewers can experience the volume of space it occupies. 33-53: NAUM GABO, Column, ca. 1923 (reconstructed 1937). Perspex, wood, metal, glass, 3' 5" x 2' 5" x 2' 5". Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The "Culture of Materials": Art for Society: Vladimir Tatlin's design for Monument to the Third International called for a huge glass-and-iron building with three geometrically shaped rotating chambers. 33-54: VLADIMIR TATLIN, Monument to the Third International, 1919-1920. Model in wood, iron, and glass. Copyright © Estate of Vladimir Tatlin/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
The De Stijl (The Style) movement, which promoted utopian ideals and the integration of art and life, was co-founded in Holland by Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg. A "Pure Plastic Art": Mondrian sought to reveal the underlying eternal structure of existence through the manipulation of the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), the three primary values (black, white, and gray), and the two primary directions (horizontal and vertical). His Composition (Blue, Red, and Yellow) is a grid of lines and color planes arranged to create an internal cohesion and harmony. |
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| 33-55: PIET MONDRIAN, Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930. Oil on canvas, 2' 4 5/8" x 1' 9 1/4". Private Collection .
De Stijl style in space: Gerrit Thomas Rietveld applied De Stijl ideas to architecture in his open plan design for Schröder House in Utrecht, Holland. 33-56: GERRIT RIETVELD, Schröder House, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 1924. The Bauhaus As director of the Bauhaus, Walter Gropius advocated strong basic design and craftsmanship, promoted the unity of art, architecture, and design, and emphasized a thorough knowledge of machine-age technologies and materials. He hired innovative and avant-garde artists and thinkers to teach at the Bauhaus. Exploring space and time: The vertical aerial viewpoint of László Moholy-Nagy's From the Radio Tower Berlin presents viewers with a new perspective and new formal patterns and visual relationships. 33-57: LÁSZLÓ MOHOLY-NAGY, From the Radio Tower Berlin, 1928. Gelatin silver print. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. The primacy of design principles: Josef Albers's series Homage to the Square consists of hundreds of paintings that are color variations on the same composition of concentric squares. The series reveals the relativity and instability of color perception. |
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| 33-58: JOSEF ALBERS, Homage to the Square: "Ascending", 1953. Oil on composition board, 3' 7 1/2" x 3' 7 1/2". Collection of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (purchase).
The Bauhaus moves to Dessau: The building Gropius designed for the Bauhaus at Dessau visibly expresses his goals for architecture. 33-59: WALTER GROPIUS, Shop Block, the Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany, 1925-1926. Tubular steel Bauhaus furniture: An example of the reductive, spare geometric aesthetic of the Bauhaus is Marcel Breuer's design for a streamlined, tubular, steel chair. 33-60: MARCEL BREUER, tubular chair, 1925. Bauhaus fiber crafts: Gunta Stölzl's design for a tapestry is intricate and colorful with an emphasis on geometric patterns and clear intersection of verticals and horizontals. 33-61: GUNTA STÖLZL, Gobelin tapestry, 1926-1927. Linen and cotton.. "Less is more": Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed a model for a transparent glass skyscraper building composed of three irregularly shaped towers that flow outward from a central court designed to hold a lobby, a porter's room, and a community center. 33-62: LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, model for a glass skyscraper, Berlin, Germany, 1922 (no longer extant).
The Bauhaus, which was closed by the Nazis in 1933, greatly influenced art education. Its philosophy and aesthetic were disseminated widely, especially in the United States. The International Style The International Style Functional living spaces: Le Corbusier's drawing for his Domino House project is an example of the International Style. The whole building is raised above ground on short blocks so that the design uses the space underneath. Because the skeleton is supported by steel columns inside the perimeter of the structure's interior spaces, the bearing wall is eliminated and interior spaces can be subdivided according to whatever is desired. 33-63: LE CORBUSIER, perspective drawing for Domino House project, Marseilles, France, 1914. A "Purist" house: Much of the interior of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye is open space with thin columns supporting the main living floor and the roof garden area. An open central court on the second floor is lit by strip windows in the exterior walls. |
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| 33-64: LE CORBUSIER, Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France, 1929.
Humane city planning: Le Corbusier proposed three types of new communities: vertical cities for house workers and the business and service industries; linear-industrial cities for the people and processes involved in manufacturing; and separate centers for people involved in intensive agricultural activity. Art Deco Art Deco's "streamlined," elongated, symmetrical designs reflect the simple shapes and shallow volumes of modern architecture. Art Deco design was applied to buildings, interiors, furniture, utensils, jewelry, fashions, illustration, and many commercial products. A glittering spire: The stainless-steel spire, with its diminishing fan shapes, of William van Alen's Chrysler Building in New York City is an example of Art Deco design. 33-65: WILLIAM VAN ALEN, Chrysler Building, New York, New York, 1928-1930. Spire of stainless steel, overall height 1,048'. |
 
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| Revolution and World War :: Expressionism in Early 20th-Century Europe :: Embracing Abstraction :: Challenging Artistic Conventions :: Transatlantic Artistic Dialogues :: European Art in the Wake of World War I :: New Art for A New Society-Utopian Ideals :: Emphasizing the Organic :: Art As Political Statement in the 1930s :: Émigrés and Exiles: Energizing American Art at Midcentury | ||||