Module 11 Video Reviews

Abstract Expressionism and Pop: Art of the 50s and 60s

1.) I chose this video because the decades in the title stood out to me, I knew there would probably be a lot of colors involves and interesting pieces.

2.) Key concepts

• The painting “C and O” by Franz Kline in 1958 is meant to draw viewers back into it, described like “the strength of tonal contrast, of thin white lines painted on solid black, or the subtlety of other shades, green, blue, or brown, mixed in with ease”, the painting is one with the imagination.
• It is often with Kline’s abstract works color is meant to spark imagination, with his first paintings, this wasn’t the case.
• The painting “C and O” at first glance is not very colorful, once you look deeper into the painting you can sense differences, and “C and O’s” objective is to capture emotions.
• “C and O” is a form of an action painting, the gestures create abstraction and Kline made sure to focus on the surfaces of his paintings
• Helen Frankenthaler’s “Mountains and Seas” put her on the map in America
• The colors in the painting are described as “soft and pale”
• The elements of art like color and form are largely represented in “Mountains and Seas” Frankenthaler manages to make the figures come out of the surface of the painting
• Frankenthaler early in her career learned about the importance of the independence of an artist’s language, the language of line and shape.
• Pollock's method was to let the paint drip directly out of the tin onto the canvas, which was laid flat while he worked. Jackson Pollock is an action painter.
• “Mountains and Sea” is a landscape, the blue is meant to create a contemplative mood.
• Willem de Kooning’s “Morning, the Springs” creates a light, airy, and fresh feeling as nothing in the painting is recognizable straight away. A lot of the painting is monochrome, and it is like the featheriness of a Chinese scroll.
• Kooning’s “Woman” is representative of the dominance of the female sex. The painting took Kooning overnight as it was wild and made with vigor.
• Jasper John’s “Flag” is a devotion to abstract expressionism. The flag in this piece is meant to be as visually seductive as possible, it is described as “over a collage of strips of newsprint, his colors, oils from a tube, are applied in a solution of melted beeswax, a painting technique called encaustic”
• Lastly, Roy Lichtenstein’s “Girl with Hair Ribbon” expression is hurt yet surprised as she looks onto the viewer. The whole piece is centered around abstraction, he followed the comic book-like aggressiveness. His work was consistently appealing.

3. The origin of abstract expressionism was emotionally charged like Kooning’s “Woman”, and is meant to hold personal meaning. Deeply rooted images emerged from abstract expressionism as a whole. Kooning’s “Woman” can be looked at while imaging the action he took to make the painting, globs of paint and slashing gestures reveal the “action painting” he was going for.


4.) The film introduced me to some new artists and new paintings I have never seen. The in-depth explanations behind each painting really connected me to the pieces.

Dada and Surrealism

1.) The reason I picked this video is that I don’t know what Dada is, and I want to know more about Surrealism.

Key Concepts

• The video starts off by introducing artist Kurt Schwitters and his use of unconventional materials like cardboard, scraps of newspaper, and bits of strings.
• Schwitters first made a name for himself by painting still-lifes and portraits, around 1918 he turned to the abstract style of art.
• Dada is a form of art centered around World War I, the uncertainty the war left Germany in allowed for Schwitters to use this time to create unconventional art with random fragments he rummaged for.
• “he wanted his own art to embrace everything in the world.” Schwitter’s mindset while creating Dada pieces, his Dada work brought him into the public eye.
• Schwitter’s had a conventional lifestyle which was odd considering his art was so unconventional, his Merz painting which was a cubist painting mixed with goth architecture was destroyed in an air raid.
• Berlin artist Hannah Hoch created Dada works as a weapon against the society she detested
• Hoch’s art was angry, it “tore into society like an angry dog”, her work had chaotic energy. In her piece “Cut With the Kitchen Knife,” no one was spared, different materials collaged together like books, newspapers, and adverts.
• “For the Berlin Dadaists, as for the Italian futurists, it was important that the world of art should be combined with the world of technology.” This meant photomontages were introduced in Dada, in Hannah Hoch’s “Net of Stars” she used scraps of material and paper.
• Hoch’s art judges and surveys a changing world, she uses the techniques of mockery and caricature to represent her hatred for society in scandalous ways.
• George Grosz, born in Berlin, created clown-like white painted faces, he invented characters. His work found an excellent market in Berlin and went through several periods of uncertainty with his work.
• Before and during the First World War some artists showed rebellion. In 1926, Grosz re-emerged with his new works with colors, and “energy of bitterness”
• Grosz found subjects from the low-life of Berlin
• Joan Miro’s “Dutch Interior One” has patterns of colors, shapes, and lines. He deliberately alludes to Dutch 17th-century painting. The Dutch picture detailed yet abstract.
• Joan Miro was committed to the Avant-Garde, and pictures such as “Dutch Interior Two” represented all that was most detestable in the trickery of painting.
• Salvadore Dali set out to find the darkest regions of the human subconscious. 
• The “Burning Giraffe” introduces a world of bad dreams and it is shockingly small in real life. The body is dead looking, and her hand reaches out hopelessly.
• Dali was a master of psychological suspense.
• Man Ray’s name was a pseudonym, man as in mankind, Ray as in ray or spark of light.

4.) The film taught me what the style of Dadaism is, I didn't know it was war-related. Being to Spain before, I saw a lot of Salvadore Dali and Man Ray work in person, it was nice learning about them more.