20th Century Art Movements

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves, a group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1904–1908. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain. Fauvism can use a realistic style mixed with bright colours to create an out of the ordinary image, or an impressionist style mixed with bright colours.

Futurism

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the aeroplane and the industrial city. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics,graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion,textiles, literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy. Key artists of futurism are Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Gino Severini, Bruno Munari and Luigi Russolo, Velimir Khlebnikov, Igor Severyanin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Almada Negreiros, and many more. Its members aimed to liberate Italy from the weight of its past, to glorify modernity. Futurism influenced art movements such as Art Deco, Constructivism, Surrealism, Dada, and to a greater degree, Precisionism, Rayonism, and Vorticism.

 

Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919 by an architect called Walter Gropius who aimed to  bridge the gap between art, design and industry and unifying all three.  It was a school where students received theoretical and practical training in all of the fine arts; ceramics, murals, stained glass, typography, metalwork, book binding, stone sculpture and furniture making, and learned to combine these fine art skills with new technologies to design and manufacture products that were both beautiful and practical. Its aim had been to bring artists and craftspeople together to ensure the survival of beautiful craftsmanship in the face of mechanized labour. Key figures in the Bauhaus movement include Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Max Bill, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius.

 

19th Century Art Movements

Symbolising

Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement from France, Russia and Belgium. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857) by Charles Baudelaire. The aesthetic was developed by Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine during the 1860s and '70s. In the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated by a series of manifestos and attracted a generation of writers. The name "symbolist" itself was first applied by the critic Jean Moréas, who invented the term to distinguish the symbolists from the related decadents of literature and of art. Distinct from, but related to, the style of literature, symbolism of art is related to the gothic component of Romanticism.
Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism, anti-idealistic styles which were attempts to represent reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal. Symbolism was a reaction in favour of spirituality, the imagination, and dreams. Some writers, such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, began as naturalists before becoming symbolists. This change represented his increasing interest in religion and spirituality.
Symbolists believed that art should represent absolute truths that could only be described indirectly. This is why they painted in a very metaphorical and suggestive manner, endowing particular images or objects with symbolic meaning.

This is a painting by Gustave Moreau in the symbolism style. It depicts a woman being watched by a sleeping man with an eye on his forehead. This symbolises that although nature appears to be dormant and lifeless it is always watching us though we do not notice.

Romanticism

Romanticism was based on emotion rather than rationale, and placed an emphasis on the individual rather than on society. These works are characterized by a brighter use of color and expressive brushstroke, and were meant to evoke emotion. Within the context of Romanticism, the Barbizon School of artists gained momentum in the middle of the 19th century and propelled painting towards realism and an increased emphasis on images of nature. Rather than serving as a backdrop, scenes of nature became the subject of more and more paintings. The tranquility that is depicted in these paintings is supposed to be an expression of how the artist was feeling when looking at the scene.

This is a painting by Eugene Delacroix called Collision of Moorish Horsemen. It is a good example of several characteristics of Romanticism  art. The subject is a reflection of the excitement of Eastern culture. Furthermore, the action in the painting is delineated by rapid brushstrokes, and there is an emphasis on colour.