Contemporary Art

Contemporary art is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first century. Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to ourselves, and the world around us. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition. Diverse and eclectic, contemporary art as a whole is distinguished by the very lack of a uniform, organizing principle, ideology, or ‘ism.’ Contemporary art is part of a cultural dialogue that concerns larger contextual frameworks such as personal and cultural identity, family, community, and nationality.

The classification of "contemporary art" as a special type of art, rather than a general adjectival phrase, goes back to the beginnings of Modernism in the English-speaking world. In London, the Contemporary Art Society was founded in 1910 by the critic Roger Fry and others, as a private society for buying works of art to place in public museums.^[3] 

A number of other institutions using the term were founded in the 1930s, such as in 1938 the Contemporary Art Society of Adelaide, Australia,^[4] and an increasing number after 1945.^[5] Many, like the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston changed their names from ones using "Modern art" in this period, as Modernism became defined as a historical art movement, and much "modern" art ceased to be "contemporary". The definition of what is contemporary is naturally always on the move, anchored in the present with a start date that moves forward, and the works the Contemporary Art Society bought in 1910 could no longer be described as contemporary.

20th Century Art

20th-century art and what it became as modern art began with modernism in the late 19th century. Nineteenth-century movements of Post-Impressionism (Les Nabis), Art Nouveau and Symbolism led to the first twentieth-century art movements of Fauvism in France and Die Brücke ("The Bridge") in Germany.

Artists explored extreme and varying themes in the years before and after World War I, and those same themes were revisited in the aftermath of World War II, creating an interesting parallel. This article is divided into two sections: 1900-1945 and 1945-2000 and focuses on art themes that captured the talents and ideas of some of the most well known artists around the world.

This movement is most well known for capturing the creations of such famous artists as Henri Matisse. The Fauvism movement eventually faded into the calmer, more thoughtful expressionistic art as Fauvism- which came from the word Fauves meaning wild beasts- lost popularity. The short movement characterized the years between 1904 and 1908, but engaged much of the first decade of the 1900's.

“Fruits” of the Eye

Recently, our class had an exhibit that showcased some of our artworks. There were drawings, paintings, sketches, and more. But of all these arts, there was one that stood out and outshined the rest.

It is a painting on a canvass showing different kinds of fruits, a bottle and glass of wine, and a vase of sunflower. It used acrylic paint and oil.

The said artwork was the favorite of many visitors who dropped by and checked the exhibit. Some were even interested to buy it. One of the reasons the painting was an apple of the eye is because it was the most colorful work in the exhibit. The colors of the fruits and the flowers made it look attractive and pleasing to the eyes.

It also piqued the interest of the viewers. Some were curious about the composition of the subjects. For instance, someone asked why the candle is at the corner of the table instead of the center. It also created some questions on what message the artist wanted to send.

All artworks surely have meanings. But sometimes you just can’t decode them and you can only look at the work and wonder about that.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Neoclassicism is the revival of a classical style from or treatment in art, literature, architecture and music. Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century. In its purest form, it is a style principally derived from the architecture of classical antiquity, the Vitruvian principles, and the work of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

 Romanticism An artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 1700s and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules. Realism was an artistic movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the late 18th century. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement.

Impressionism is a style of painting associated mainly with French artists of the late nineteenth century, such as Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Impressionist painting seeks to re-create the artist's or viewers general impression of a scene. The Impressionists loosened their brushwork and lightened their palettes to include pure, intense colors. They abandoned traditional linear perspective and avoided the clarity of form that had previously served to distinguish the more important elements of a picture from the lesser ones. For this reason, many critics faulted Impressionist paintings for their unfinished appearance and seemingly amateurish quality.

Expressionism a style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world. A theory or practice in art of seeking to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in the artist. Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.

Polynesian Art

The Polynesian Art combines a multitude of activities the undeniable sign of an ancestral know-how. Massaging, carving, tattooing… are part of the activities which have a very close original link with the period preceding the arrival of Christianity in Polynesia – the Polynesian way of life during that period, their social organization and beliefs. Many of their arts was made originally and improved as time goes.

These people were exceptional boat builders and sailed across the Pacific navigating by currents, stars and cloud formations. They were skilled fisherman and farmers, growing fruit trees and vegetables and raising pigs, chickens, and dogs. Islanders have also accomplished craftspeople and worked in wood, fiber, and feathers to create objects of power and beauty.

Their societies were hierarchical, with the highest ranking people tracing their descent directly from the gods.  These gods were all powerful and present in the world.  Images of them were created in wood, feathers, fiber and stone.  One of the most important items in the Museum’s collections is a carved wood figure of the Hawaiian god, Ku-ka’ilimoku, which stands over two and a half meters tall.

Baroque Art: Exaggerated And Artistic

Baroque art and architecture style began in late 1600, mostly in Italy and Rome, and then spread to other parts of Europe. This period of art can be characterized by artistic style using exaggeration to portray drama, tension, grandeur and so on.

Baroque art and architecture can also be associated with the qualities of vitality, movement and sensuous richness. The term Baroque, which originated from the word barocco, came to be used to describe styles that are irregular, bizarre and out of ordinary.

Some of the arts and architecture during the Baroque period include the “The Triumph of the Immaculate” by Paolo de Matteis, “The Church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale” designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and St. Nicholas Church in Lesser Town in Prague that was founded in 1703 under the lead of Baroque architect Christoph Dientzenhofer.

RENAISSANCE

The Renaissance art refers to the painting, sculpture and decorative arts that were produced during the Renaissance period. Its root can be traced back in Italy.During that time, there was a great interest in rendering the natural world into arts such as painting, sculptures and decorative pieces

 At the height of the period, there were three names that made it big in Renaissance art—Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Sanzio.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa became the most famous painting up until today. Michaelangelo is known for his ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael’s Madonnas are still popular.

CLASSICAL AND CHRISTIAN ART

Greek artists tried to render human forms as realistic as possible during the early fifth century. Sculptures produced at that time show the model posing in a relax way, with one leg or shoulder slightly shifted so they do not look stiff.

Later on, the artists also attempted to depict the emotions of their subject, as well as the age of their body. Then the art transformed into more idealized realism. This means that they create an image of what is ideal, like a normal size of a head, when in reality that is not the case. The face was also depicted as calm.

The old techniques entail artists to do their work straight on a stone. But because they could not achieve realism through that, the use of modelling technique emerged. They used clay on armatures before they copy into stone.

Some of the classical arts include the Bronze Zeus from Cape Artemision, Youth (the ‘Kritian Boy) from Athens Acropolis, and Metope from the temple of Zeus, Olympia.

THE COLOSSEUM

One of the structural arts that had a big role in the ancient period is the Colosseum. It is a massive stone amphitheater commissioned by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the Roman people. The structure’s official name was Flavian Amphitheater, which hosted gladiatorial combats and wild animal fights.

Made of stone and concrete, the three-story Colosseum can sit 50,000 audiences. It was used for four hundred years before it fell into neglect, abandoned and destroyed over time.

Today, while two-thirds of the Colosseum had been destroyed by weather, neglect, vandalism, etc., the structure is a popular tourist destination. There were restorations efforts initiated in the 1990s and the following years.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Renaissance art refers to the painting, sculpture and decorative arts that were produced during the Renaissance period. Its root can be traced back in Italy.

During that time, there was a great interest in rendering the natural world into arts such as painting, sculptures and decorative pieces. At the height of the period, there were three names that made it big in Renaissance art—Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Sanzio.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa became the most famous painting up until today. Michaelangelo is known for his ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and Raphael’s Madonnas are still popular.

THE MONA LISA

Mona Lisa is dubbed as the world’s most famous painting, surrounded by mysteries and theories. The painting is a work of Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1506, up until 1517. It was a small portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Today, the painting is displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, which has been its home since 1797.

Leonardo da Vince was not the best painter during his time, and yet the Mona Lisa painting has been so popular. One of the things that made it so famous is the smile of the subject. It is often described as enigmatic, so mysterious that it has generated lots of theories and legends. Add that to her beauty and the use of the background, which is said to have changed art forever.

Another notable thing about the Mona Lisa painting is the lack of eyebrows, which resulted in speculations that da Vinci was not able to finish the artwork. Some say that it was done while other say it was abandoned. There were many studies and research already done to answer the mysteries of the painting. Still, mysteries remain and those make the painting even more famous.