QUARTER 1

ART 10
WEEK 3-4

In this lesson, you will come to discover the wonderful world of modern art. From its historical background, you
can make implications on the relationship of art based on the events happened. Also, this lesson prepares you to have a
deeper appreciation and understanding of modern art and it will strengthen your aesthetics to a new form of art.

LESSON 1: IMPRESSIONISM
The 20th century shows an array of varied ideas, beliefs, values and lifestyle that continues to harmonize people
in all parts of the world. From the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800s, the world brought the Electronic Age to the
Cyber Age that we belong now. Technological advancement in gadgets, transportation, medical procedures and
communication provides people of today the comfort and luxury of life.
However, along with these developments are issues and concern like over population, pollution and even
diseases that threaten humanity. There has been migration across the globe allowing different cultures, languages, skills
and even physical characteristics of different races to intermingle like never before. The art movement of the late 19 th
century to the 20th century captured and expressed everything; these were called Impressionism and Expressionism.
Artists expressed themselves in bold, and innovative ways. These were the key points of modern art of the 21 st century.
Impressionism was an art movement that emerged in the second half of the 19th century among Paris-based
artists. Sunico and Cabanban (2015, 190) enumerated the following descriptions of Impressionism:
• It lasted for less than 20 years from 1872-mid- 1880s.
• It is coined from the title of a work by French painter Claude Monet (Impression, Solleil levant) (English-
Impression, Sunrise).
• The term precisely captured what this group of artists sought to represent in their works: the viewer’s
momentary “impression” of an image.
• It is not intended to be clear or precise
• It is more like a fleeting fragment of reality

Influence of Delacroix
One of the major influences of impressionism was the work of French painter Eugene Delacroix. He was greatly
admired and emulated by the early impressionists – specifically for his use of expressive brush strokes, emphasis on
movement rather than on clarity of form and most of all, his study of the optical effects of color.

A. Areas which Impressionism Moved Away from Old Practice

Brush strokes and lines

The impressionists painted freely with brushed colors that conveyed more of a visual effect than a detail. They
used short broken strokes that were intentionally made visible. They also often place pure unmixed colors side by side.

Everyday Subject
Impressionists also began to break away from the creation of formally posed portraits and grandiose depictions
of mythical, literary, historical or religious subjects. They ventured into capturing scenes of life around them like
household objects, landscapes, and seascapes, houses, cafes, and many others. Further, they were not made to look
beautiful or lifelike as body parts could be distorted and facial features were merely suggested by a few strokes of the
brush.

Painting Outdoors
The workplace of the impressionist painters was also different. However, the impressionists found that they
could best capture the ever-changing effects of light on color by painting outdoors in natural light.

Open Composition
Impressionists also moved away from the formal, structured approach to placing and positioning their subjects.
They experimented with unusual visual angles, sizes of objects that appeared out of proportion, off-center placement
and empty spaces on the canvas.

B. Impressionism in Europe
It started with a group of French painters including Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir and
eventually spread to other countries such as Italy, Germany and The Netherlands.

1. Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Edouard Manet is one of the first 19 th century artists who depicted modern life subjects. He was a key figure in
the transition from realism to impressionism, with a number of his works considered as marking the birth of modern art.
2. Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Claude Monet was one of the founders of the impressionist movement along with his friends Auguste Renoir,
Alfred Sisley, and Frederic Bazille. He was the most prominent among the group and is considered as the most influential
figure in the movement. Monet is best known for his landscape paintings, particularly those depicting his beloved flower
gardens and water lily ponds at his home.

3. Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Aguste Renoir was one of the central figures of the impressionist movement. His early works were snapshots of
real life, full of sparkling color and light. By the mid-1880s, he broke away from the impressionist movement to apply a
more disciplined and formal technique of portraits of actual people and figure paintings.

C. Post-Impressionism
After the brief yet highly influential period of impressionism, an outgrowth movement known as post-
impressionism emerged. The European artists who were at the forefront of this movement continued using the basic
qualities of the impressionists. Before them were 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 face and body parts, and applying colors that were not necessarily realistic or natural.

1. Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

Paul Cezanne is a French artist and post-impressionist painter. His works exemplified transition from the late
19th century impressionism to a new and radically different world of art in the 20 th century paving the way for the next
revolutionary art movement known as expressionism.

2. Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Vincent Van Gogh is a post-impressionist painter from the Netherlands. His works were remarkable for their
strong, heavy brush strokes, intense emotions, and colors that appeared to almost pulse with energy. His striking style
was to have a far-reaching influence on 20 th century art, with his works becoming among the most recognized in the
world.

LESSON 2: EXPRESSIONISM
From brush strokes of colors put side by side, painting outdoors, to capturing natural light were very new. They
are far from the traditional artists from distant past. Now, art becomes bolder, more expressive and freer. Artists can
express themselves in a wilder imagination. They convey their emotions in almost unimaginable way.
Imagination that is almost limitless rather than showing naturalistic norms took place in the early 1900s. In the Western
art world arose a movement that came to be known as expressionism. 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 movement were:
1. Neoprimitivism
2. Fauvism
3. Dadaism
4. Surrealism
5. Social Realism

1. Neoprimitivism
Neoprimitivism is an art style that incorporated elements form the native arts of the South Sea Islanders and the
wood carvings of African tribes which suddenly became popular at that time. Among the Western artists who adapted
these elements was Amadeo Modigliani. The oval face and elongated shapes of African art in both sculpture and
paintings can be seen in his works.

2. Fauvism
Fauvism is a style that uses 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. Perhaps the most known
among them was Henri Matisse.

3. Dadaism
Dadaism style is characterized by dream fantasies, memory, and visual tricks and surprises as in the paintings of
Marc Chagall and Giorgio de Chirico. Although the works appeared playful, the movement arose from the paint that a
group of European artists felt after the suffering brought by the World War II. Wishing to protest against the civilization
that had brought such horrors, these artists rebelled against established norms and authorities, and against the
traditional styles in art. They chose the child’s term for hobbyhorse, dada to refer to their new “non-style”.
4. Surrealism
Surrealism is a style that depicted an illogical, subconscious dream world beyond the logical, conscious, physical
one. Its name 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. Many surrealist works
depicted morbid or gloomy subjects.

5. Social Realism
The movement expressed the artist’s role in the social reform. Artists used their works to protect against the
injustice, inequalities, immortality and ugliness of the human condition. In different periods of history, social realists
have addressed different issues like war, poverty, corruption, industrial and environmental hazards, and more in the
hope of raising people’s awareness and pushing society to seek reforms.
Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” has been recognized as the most monumental and comprehensive statement of
social realism against the brutality of war. Picasso’s outcry was against the German air raid of the town of Guernica in his
native Spain (Sunico and Cabanban, 2015, 207).

LESSON 3: ABSTRACTIONISM
The abstractionist movement arose from the intellectual points of view in the 20 th century. This intellectualism
was reflected even in art.
Abstractionism was logical and rational. It involved analyzing, detaching, selecting and simplifying (Sunico and
Cabanban, 2015, 208).
20th century abstractionism did not consider natural appearances important. Artists got away from the
geometrical shapes, patterns, and lines. Instead, abstractionists showed works that ranged from representational
abstractionism (objects or subjects are still perceived) to pure abstractionism (no recognizable object or subject).

1. Cubism
The cubist style was derived from a 3D geometrical figure composed of strictly measured lines, planes and
angles. Thus, a cubist art is composed of planes, and angles of flat surface. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter and sculpture
was among the known cubists.
Human figures were represented with facial and body parts showing both frontal and sideward angles at the
same time. This sense of imbalance and misplacement that created visual disturbance made cubism very unique. Today,
there are many variations of cubism being interpreted by different artists.

2. Futurism
In 1900s, an art movement called Futurism emerged in Italy. As the term implies, the futurists created art for a
fast-spaced, machine-propelled age. They liked the motion, force speed and strength of mechanical forms.

3. Mechanical style
Uses planes, cones, spheres and cylinders - all fit together exactly and neatly in their respective places. This is
very evident in the painting of Fernand Leger. Mechanical parts like crankshaft, cylinder blocks and pistons are
brightened only by the use of primary colors. If not, they would look lifeless. Human figures are mere outlines, rendered
without expression.

4. Non-objectivism
Emerged as the geometrical style of abstraction. Derived from its term “non-object”, work under this style did
not use objects or figures. Instead, the style used lines, shapes, and colors in a cool, impersonal approach that aimed to
balance unity and stability. Black and white were the primary colors used. Piet Mondrian was one of the well-known
non-objectivists.

LESSON 4: ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, POP ART, OP ART

The New York School

During the 1920s to 1930s, aspiring artists from America traveled to Europe to widen their horizons. However, in
the dark days of World War II, there was a reverse migration of European scientists, architects and artists to America
particularly in New York which became a haven of newly arrived artists and counterparts of America. As a result, the
“New York School” came into existence as opposed to “The School of Paris”. These artists succeeded in making their
own artistic style and their synthesis of Europe’s cubist and surrealist. Their style was known as abstract expressionism.

1. Action Painting
A form of abstract expressionism can be seen in Jackson Pollock’s works which was termed as “action painting”.
Pollock painted on a huge canvas on the floor. Instead of the traditional careful application of color with paint
brush, he worked by splattering, squirting and dribbling the paint. The process was unplanned. As an effect, Pollock
created a very creative and unique playful movements of colors as if it was showing an “energy made visible”.
2. Color Field Painting
Color field painting emerged in contrast of the action painting style. Color field painters used different color
saturations. They aimed to show purity, vividness and intensity to create the desired effects. Some of their works were
huge fields of vibrant color like the works of Marko Rothko.

After “The New York School”

During the 1960s, the New York School slowly diminished. New group of artists emerged using lighter treatment
and flashes of humor.
The movements they brought were the following:
• Neodadaism and pop art
• Conceptual art
• Op art
 The new realism

1. Neodadaism, Pop Art, Op Art

The same as the dadaist movement that arose during the WW-II was the Neodadaism of 1960s which aimed to
make reforms in traditional values. It used common place, trivial, and nonessential figures. However, it did not follow
the angry, serious tone of the original dadaists. They seemed to enjoy nonsense for its own sake and simply aimed to
laugh at the world.
Art works of this style ranged from paintings, posters, to collages and 3D assemblages and installation. They
used easily recognizable objects and images from the consumer society like the works of Andy Warhol. His inspiration
were celebrities, commercials, billboards, and comic strips that were becoming commonplace at the time. Thus, the
term pop or popular art emerged.

2. Conceptual Art
The term implies what it means- conceptual art. Conceptual artists were not the traditional artist who used
canvas, colors and paint brush. These artists questioned the idea of arts as objects to be bought and sold. They brought
their ideas to life using unusual materials like blocks of ice, food, and even plain dirt.

3. Op Art
Optical art or known as op art emerged as another art movement in the 1960s in which lines, spaces and colors
were precisely planned and positioned to give the illusion of movement.

LESSON 5: CONTEMPORARY ART FORMS: INSTALLATION ART AND PERFORMANCE ART

The 20th century kept on surprising people in the world of arts. New art forms that are far different from
traditional art works emerged. Examples of these were installation art and performance art. Installation art uses space
and materials in truly innovative ways, while performance art uses human body, facial expression, gestures and sound.
Both of these art works speak powerfully regarding contemporary issues, challenging their viewers to react or respond.

Installation Art
Installation art is a contemporary art form using sculpture materials and other media to modify the viewer’s
experience on a space. It is usually life-size or sometimes even larger. It does not always require gallery space; it can be
built, constructed or positioned in everyday public or private spaces, either indoor or outdoor.

Performance Art
This specific modern art requires the actual action of a person or a group in a particular place and time
contributing to the art work itself. It can happen or performed in any situation involving time, space, performer’s body
and the relationship between performer and audience.
The following are the basic elements of performance art:
• Time
• Space
• The performer’s body
• A relationship between performer and audience
Performance art reflects theatrical elements like dance, music, mime, juggling and gymnastics. However, performance
art is loyal to have deep sense of being avant garde, unorthodox, and “unexpected” activities that aims to capture the
attention of audience