M OD E R N A R T:

R A C T ER IS T IC S O F
CH A
R O M T H E V A R IO US
ARTS F
ART
M O V E M EN T S
PRE-ASSESSMENT
MULTIPLE CHOICE. CHOOSE THE LETTER OF THE CORRECT
ANSWER.
1. It is the most eye-catching
element of the Starry Night
painting by Vincent Van Gogh
but also the most ambiguous
part, mostly because of its size
and it’s dark and sinister
presence contrasting heavily
with brightly colored stars.
a. Cypress Tree
b. Moon
c. Stars
d. Sky
2. The focus of the
entire painting
“Impression,
Sunrise” by Claude
Monet.
a. Line
b. Color and light
c. Texture
d. Shapes
3. The strongest
element and most
apparent tool of Henri
Matisse’s Woman with
the Hat painting.
a. Color
b. Texture
c. Line
d. Space
4. The painting “I and the
Village” is one of Marc
Chagall’s earliest surviving
works. He chose to focus
this painting on the following
elements.
a. color, form, and shape
b. texture, line, and space
c. value, form, and texture
d. color, space, and line
5. The most striking feature of
the
painting “Persistence of
Memory” by
Salvador Dali.
a. The four clocks amid in a
desert.
b. The ants which seem to
gorge
upon the red clock.
c. The desert
d. The leaf-less olive tree
6. This is the main focus of the painting
“Miners’ Wives” by Ben Shahn.
a. The woman at right in the
foreground, wrapped in a thin shawl,
standing with arms clasped in front of
her.
b. A woman sits with a small child
on her lap.
c. A man’s jacket and pants hang
on a hook on the wall.
d. In the background, two male
figures in black coats and hats
stand facing a building some
distance visible through a
rectangular doorway in the wall.
7. What shapes do
they make in the
painting “Three
Musicians” by Pablo
Picasso?
a. Flat shapes
b. Abstract shapes
c. Angular shapes
d. All of the above
8. The painting
“The City” by Fernand
Léger immediately
catches the viewer’s
attention.
a. The enormous size
and vibrant color.
b. Lifeless planes
c. Patterned shapes
d. Noncongruent planes
and forms
9. This is the
principle of art that
activates the op-art
painting “Current”
by Bridget Riley.
a. Radial Balance
b. Proportion
c. Rhythm
d. Movement
*IMPRESSIONISM
• THE TERM PRECISELY CAPTURED WHAT THIS GROUP OF ARTISTS
SOUGHT TO REPRESENT IN THEIR WORKS: THE VIEWER’S
MOMENTARY “IMPRESSION” OF AN IMAGE.

• IMPRESSIONISTIC IMAGES ARE INTENDED NOT TO BE SHARP OR

PRECISE, BUT MORE LIKE A FLEETING FRAGMENT OF REALITY
CAUGHT ON CANVAS, SOMETIMES IN MID-MOTION, AWKWARDLY
POSITIONED AT OTHER TIMES—JUST AS IT WOULD BE IN REAL LIFE.
EDOUARD MANET (1832 -1883)
•WAS ONE OF THE FIRST 19TH CENTURY ARTISTS
TO DEPICT MODERN-LIFE SUBJECTS. HE WAS A
CRUCIAL FIGURE IN THE TRANSITION FROM
REALISM TO IMPRESSIONISM. A NUMBER OF HIS
WORKS CONSIDERED MARKING THE BIRTH OF
MODERN ART.
Argenteuil Café Concert
Edouard Manet, 1874 Edouard Manet, 1878
Oil on canvas Oil on canvas
CLAUDE MONET (1840 -1926)
• WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT
ALONG WITH HIS FRIENDS. AUGUSTE RENOIR, ALFRED SISLEY,
AND FRÉDÉRICK BAZILLE. HE WAS THE MOST PROMINENT OF THE
GROUP; AND IS CONSIDERED THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURE IN
THE MOVEMENT.

• IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS, PARTICULARLY

THOSE DEPICTING HIS BELOVED FLOWER GARDENS AND WATER
LILY PONDS AT HIS HOME IN GIVERNY.
Bridge Over a Pond of Water Irises in Monet’s Garden
Lilies Claude Monet, 1900
Claude Monet, 1899 Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas
 AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841 - 1919)
• ALONG WITH CLAUDE MONET, WAS ONE OF THE IMPRESSIONIST
MOVEMENTS' CENTRAL FIGURES.

• HISEARLY WORKS WERE SNAPSHOTS OF REAL LIFE, FULL OF

SPARKLING COLOR AND LIGHT.

• BYTHE MID-1880S, HOWEVER, RENOIR BROKE AWAY FROM THE

IMPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT TO APPLY A MORE DISCIPLINED,
FORMAL TECHNIQUE TO PORTRAITS OF ACTUAL PEOPLE AND
FIGURE PAINTINGS.
Dancer A Girl with a Watering Can
Auguste Renoir, 1874 Auguste Renoir, 1876
Oil on canvas Oil on canvas
*POST-IMPRESSIONISM
• THE EUROPEAN ARTISTS WHO WERE AT THE FOREFRONT OF THIS
MOVEMENT CONTINUED USING THE BASIC QUALITIES OF THE
IMPRESSIONISTS BEFORE THEM—THE VIVID COLORS, HEAVY BRUSH
STROKES, AND TRUE-TO-LIFE SUBJECTS. HOWEVER, THEY
EXPANDED AND EXPERIMENTED WITH THESE IN BOLD NEW WAYS,
LIKE USING A GEOMETRIC APPROACH, FRAGMENTING OBJECTS AND
DISTORTING PEOPLE’S FACES AND BODY PARTS, AND APPLYING
COLORS THAT WERE NOT NECESSARILY REALISTIC OR NATURAL.
PAUL CEZANNE (1839 -1906)

•WAS A FRENCH ARTIST AND POST-IMPRESSIONIST

PAINTER. HIS WORK EXEMPLIFIED THE
TRANSITION FROM LATE 19TH CENTURY—PAVING
THE WAY FOR THE NEXT REVOLUTIONARY ART
MOVEMENT KNOWN AS EXPRESSIONISM.
Harlequin
Paul Cezanne, 1888-1890
Oil on canvas
VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853 – 1890)

• WAS A POST-IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER FROM THE

NETHERLANDS.
• HIS
WORKS WERE REMARKABLE FOR THEIR ROBUST
AND HEAVY BRUSH STROKES,
INTENSE EMOTIONS, AND COLORS THAT APPEARED TO
ALMOST PULSATING WITH ENERGY.
The Sower
Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Oil on canvas
EXPRESSIONISM: A BOLD NEW MOVEMENT

• EXPRESSIONIST ARTISTS CREATED WORKS WITH MORE

EMOTIONAL FORCE, RATHER THAN WITH REALISTIC OR
NATURAL IMAGES. TO ACHIEVE THIS, THEY DISTORTED
OUTLINES, APPLIED STRONG COLORS, AND EXAGGERATED
FORMS. THEY WORKED MORE WITH THEIR IMAGINATION
AND FEELINGS, RATHER THAN WITH WHAT THEIR EYES
SAW IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD.
AMONG THE VARIOUS STYLES THAT AROSE WITHIN THE
EXPRESSIONIST ART MOVEMENTS WERE:
1. NEOPRIMITIVISM- WAS AN ART STYLE THAT
INCORPORATED ELEMENTS FROM THE NATIVE ARTS OF THE
SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS AND THE WOOD CARVINGS OF
AFRICAN TRIBES, WHICH SUDDENLY BECAME POPULAR.
AMONG THE WESTERN ARTISTS WHO ADAPTED THESE
ELEMENTS WAS AMEDEO MODIGLIANI, WHO USED THE OVAL
FACES AND ELONGATED SHAPES OF AFRICAN ART IN HIS
SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS.
Head Yellow Sweater
Amedeo Modigliani, c.1913 Amedeo Modigliani, 1919
Stone Oil on canvas
2. FAUVISM

•WAS A STYLE THAT USED BOLD, VIBRANT COLORS

AND VISUAL DISTORTIONS. ITS NAME WAS DERIVED
FROM LES FAUVES (“WILD BEASTS”), REFERRING
TO THE GROUP OF FRENCH EXPRESSIONIST
PAINTERS WHO PAINTED IN THIS STYLE.
Blue Window
Woman with Hat
Henri Matisse, c.1911
Henri Matisse, 1905
Oil on canvas
Oil on canvas
3. DADAISM

•WAS A STYLE CHARACTERIZED BY

DREAM FANTASIES, MEMORY
IMAGES, AND VISUAL TRICKS AND
SURPRISES
Melancholy and
Mystery of a Street
Giorgio de Chirico, 1914
Oil on canvas
4. SURREALISM
• WAS A STYLE THAT DEPICTED AN ILLOGICAL,
SUBCONSCIOUS DREAM WORLD BEYOND THE LOGICAL,
CONSCIOUS, PHYSICAL ONE. SURREALISM CAME FROM THE
TERM “SUPER-REALISM,” WITH ITS ARTWORKS CLEARLY
EXPRESSING A DEPARTURE FROM REALITY—AS THOUGH
THE ARTISTS WERE DREAMING, SEEING ILLUSIONS, OR
EXPERIENCING AN ALTERED MENTAL STATE.
Persistence of Memory
Salvador Dali, 1931
Oil on canvas
 5. SOCIAL REALISM
• EXPRESSED THE ARTIST’S ROLE IN SOCIAL REFORM. HERE,
ARTISTS USED THEIR WORKS TO PROTEST AGAINST THE
INJUSTICES, INEQUALITIES, IMMORALITY, AND UGLINESS OF
THE HUMAN CONDITION. IN DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HISTORY,
SOCIAL REALISTS HAVE ADDRESSED VARIOUS ISSUES: WAR,
POVERTY, CORRUPTION, INDUSTRIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL
HAZARDS, AND MORE—IN THE HOPE OF RAISING PEOPLE’S
AWARENESS AND PUSHING SOCIETY TO SEEK REFORMS.
Guernica
Pablo Picasso, 1937
Oil on canvas
ABSTRACTIONISM
• ANOTHER GROUP OF ARTISTIC STYLES EMERGED AT THE
SAME TIME AS THE EXPRESSIONIST MOVEMENT. IT HAD THE
SAME SPIRIT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OPENNESS
THAT CHARACTERIZED LIFE IN THE 20TH CENTURY, BUT IT
DIFFERED FROM EXPRESSIONISM IN CERTAIN WAYS. IN A
WORLD OF SCIENCE, PHYSICISTS WERE FORMULATING A NEW
VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE, WHICH RESULTED IN THE CONCEPTS
OF SPACE-TIME AND RELATIVITY.
GROUPED UNDER ABSTRACTIONISM ARE THE
FOLLOWING ART STYLES:

1. CUBISM.

- CUBIST DERIVED ITS NAME FROM THE CUBE,

A THREE-DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRIC FIGURE
COMPOSED OF STRICTLY MEASURED LINES,
PLANES, AND ANGLES.
Three Musicians
Pablo Picasso, 1921
Oil on canvas
2. FUTURISM
• THE MOVEMENT KNOWN AS FUTURISM BEGAN IN
ITALY IN THE EARLY 1900S. AS THE NAME IMPLIES,
THE FUTURISTS CREATED ART FOR A FAST-PACED,
MACHINE-PROPELLED AGE. THEY ADMIRED THE
MOTION, FORCE, SPEED, AND STRENGTH OF
MECHANICAL FORMS.
Armored Train
Gino Severini, 1915
Oil on canvas
3. MECHANICAL STYLE

•INTHIS STYLE, BASIC FORMS SUCH AS

PLANES, CONES, SPHERES, AND
CYLINDERS FIT TOGETHER PRECISELY AND
NEATLY IN THEIR APPOINTED PLACES.
The City
Fernand Léger, 1919
Oil on canvas
4. NONOBJECTIVISM
•A STYLE FROM THE LOGICAL GEOMETRICAL CONCLUSION OF
ABSTRACTIONISM. FROM THE VERY TERM “NON-OBJECT,”
WORKS IN THIS STYLE DID NOT MAKE USE OF FIGURES OR
EVEN REPRESENTATIONS OF FIGURES. THEY DID NOT REFER TO
RECOGNIZABLE OBJECTS OR FORMS IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD.
• THEPAINTER USE LINES, SHAPES, AND COLORS IN A COOL,
IMPERSONAL APPROACH AIMED AT BALANCE, UNITY, AND
STABILITY.
New York City
Piet Mondrian, 1942
Oil on canvas
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
• ACTION PAINTING
-ONE OF THE FORMS OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM.
JACKSON POLLOCK CREATED THROUGH WHAT CAME TO BE
KNOWN AS “ACTION PAINTING.” POLLOCK WORKED ON
HUGE CANVASES SPREAD ON THE FLOOR, SPLATTERING,
SQUIRTING, AND DRIBBLING PAINT WITH (SEEMINGLY) NO
PRE-PLANNED PATTERN OR DESIGN IN MIND.
Autumn Rhythm
Jackson Pollock, 1950
Oil on canvas
 POP ART
• THEIRWORKS RANGED FROM PAINTINGS TO POSTERS, TO
COLLAGES, TO THREE DIMENSIONAL “ASSEMBLAGES” AND
INSTALLATIONS. THESE MADE USE OF EASILY RECOGNIZABLE
OBJECTS AND IMAGES FROM THE EMERGING CONSUMER
SOCIETY.
• THEIR INSPIRATIONS WERE THE CELEBRITIES,
ADVERTISEMENTS, BILLBOARDS, AND COMIC STRIPS THAT
WERE BECOMING COMMONPLACE AT THAT TIME.
Twelve Cars Manilyn Monroe
Andy Warhol, 1962 Andy Warhol, 1967
Art print Silkscreen print
 CONCEPTUAL ART
• IT WAS THAT WHICH AROSE IN THE MIND OF THE ARTIST,
TOOK CONCRETE FORM FOR A TIME, AND THEN
DISAPPEARED (UNLESS IT WAS CAPTURED IN PHOTO OR
FILM DOCUMENTATION).
• THEY BROUGHT THEIR ARTISTIC IDEAS TO LIFE
TEMPORARILY, USING SUCH UNUSUAL MATERIALS AS
GREASE, BLOCKS OF ICE, FOOD, EVEN JUST PLAIN DIRT.
One and Three Chairs
Joseph Kosuth, 1965
An actual chair (center), with a
photograph of the same chair and an
enlarged copy of a dictionary definition
of a chair
OP ART
• THIS WAS YET ANOTHER EXPERIMENT IN VISUAL
EXPERIENCE—A FORM OF “ACTION PAINTING,” WITH
THE ACTION TAKING PLACE IN THE VIEWER’S EYE. IN
OP ART, LINES, SPACES, AND COLORS WERE
PRECISELY PLANNED AND POSITIONED TO GIVE THE
ILLUSION OF MOVEMENT.
Current
Bridget Riley, 1964
Synthetic polymer paint on
composition board