Today we reviewed the last three weeks of the semester.

The second quiz will be on Wednesday, October 29.

Today we completed our look at expressionism by looking at some of the work by the German Franz Marc, the Russian Vasily Kandinsky, the Austrian Egon Schiele, and how the expressionist style evolved due to the influence of the radical new movement known as cubism.

Franz Marc "The Little Blue Horses" 1911

Marc and Kandinsky were members of a group known as The Blue Rider. This group was highly concerned with the spiritual: Marc with animals in nature and Kandinsky with his ventures into non-representational art to try to reach a higher spiritual visual plane.

Vasily Kandinsky "Composition VII" 1913

We also viewed a selection of work by Schiele and his work with portraiture, self-portraits, and other images around relationships, sex, and death.

Egon Schiele "Reclining Woman with Green Stockings" 1917

We then briefly looked at later expressionist work and how their styles were being influenced by cubism.

Franz Marc "Stables" 1913-14

We then began our discussion about cubism by discussing the artists, styles, and non-western art that influenced this ground-breaking style.

Next class we will focus primarily on cubism, Picasso, and Braque.

Viewings:

• Slides from Lecture 12

Readings:

• Chapter 8: Expressionism in Germany
• Chapter 10: Cubism

The corrected first exams were returned today with a brief discussion of some of the positives and negatives aspects regarding the results.

We then began looking at the next major trend in 20th century artistic thought: expressionism. These artists, primarily from Germany, were rejecting modern society and technological progress and sought a return to nature both in their lifestyles and the content of their art.

Emil Nolde, "The Last Supper" 1909

Two of the artists that were highly influential to the expressionists were Gauguin and Van Gogh. Stylistically, they were also influenced by the work of the symbolists, art nouveau, and fauvism. We focused on three of these artists: Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Kathe Kollwitz.

Ernst Ludwiz Kirchner, "Street, Dresden" 1908

The works produced by these artists were highly personal as they tried to convey their concerns which were both spiritual and, in many cases, political.

Kathe Kollwitz, "Death Seizing A Woman" 1934

Next class we will be visiting the Barnes-Wallace Gallery on-campus to view and discuss the work of Carianne Mack who will be present to talk and answer questions about her own work. This will also be an assignment.

Next Monday, we will wrap up our discussion of expressionism and move on to cubism.

Viewings:

• Slides from Lecture 10

Readings:

• Chapter 8: Expressionism in Germany

Today’s lecture was a review of the “isms” and styles covered during the past four weeks: realism, impressionism, post-impressionism, symbolism, art nouveau, expressionism, and fauvism. Additionally, the importance and impact of the new medium of photography was integrated into the review. All styles that comprise what we call modernism.

The review also focused on how to write for the assessment using basic techniques to focus on what is important in answering questions about specific works, styles. and comparison/contrasts of diverse styles and works.

The first exam will be Wednesday, October 1.

Chapter 7 was the subject of this class covering the style known as fauvism: the first avant-garde style of the 20th century. We focused on two artists that illustrate this colorful, painterly style: Andre Derain and Henri Matisse.

Andre Derain, "The Mountains at Collioure" 1905

We discussed how the work of these artists were a link between the impressionists and the post-impressionists. Further we alluded to how this style with its free use of color, loose brushwork, and simplified subject matter would be highly influential on the expressionists.

Henri Matisse, "The Red Madras Headress" 1907

We also had a sidebar discussion about the marketing of art and the importance of money and how that all influences how artists and works of art become well-known.

This concluded the first quarter of the course with the first assessment on Wednesday, October 2.

Viewings:

• Slides from Lecture 07

Readings:

• Chapter 7: Fauvism

This class we covered Chapter 5 looking and discussing art nouveau, examples of this style, and several artists who best illustrate this particular style such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Aubrey Beardsley, and Gustav Klimt.

Gustave Klimt, "Death and Life" 1916

Then we wrapped up the chapter by viewing and discussing a select group artists representing early movements towards expressionism – Edvard Munch and James Ensor.

Edvard Munch, "The Dance of Life" 1900

Next class we will continue with the first avant-garde movement of the 20th century: fauvism.

Viewings:

• Slides from Lecture 06

Readings:

• Chapter 5: Art Nouveau