The creations and beginnings of modernism and modern art can be linked to the Industrial Revolution! This period of rapid changes in manufacturing, transportation, and technology began around the mid-18th century and lasted throughout the 19th, greatly affecting the social, economic, and cultural conditions of like in Western Europe, North America and eventually the rest of the world.
The unprecedented devastation from WW1 that developed, challenged the foundations of many cultures’ belief systems. However, on a more positive note, this led to a large detail of experimentation and exploration by artists with morality which helped in defining what exactly art should be and do for the culture. What then followed from this was a lot of artistic movements that strived to find their places in the quickly changing art world.
Fauvism
This famous avant-garde movement is largely credited with being one of the first of its kind to come to light in the 20th century. Mainly developed by Henri Matisse, Fauvism was a style of painting that flourished in France. Fauve artists used pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes giving the work’s texture and creating a sense of an explosion on the canvas.
Cubism
Possibly the best-known art movement of the Modernist era! Cubism has come to be associated with Pablo Picasso. However, Georges Braque was also a leader of the movement with Picasso, and they worked so well off of one another that at the height of Cubism, their paintings are almost indistinguishable from one another. The central aim of Cubism was to highlight the flat dimensionality of the canvas.
Futurism
Futurism may be one of the most controversial movements of the Modernist Movement. It likened humans to machines and vice versa, this was in order to embrace change, speed, and innovation in society while discarding artistic and cultural forms and traditions of the past. Futurism was limited to just one art form, but was also embraced by sculptors, architects, painters, and writers.
Expressionism
Expressionism is the artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events came to light within a person. The artist accomplishes this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, through vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application or elements. Popular artist in this movement includes Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor.
References – Images
https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-matisse/open-window-collioure-1905
https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/portrait-of-dora-maar-1937-1
https://www.wikiart.org/en/vincent-van-gogh/the-starry-night-1889
https://www.wikiart.org/en/david-burliuk/american-workers-1922
https://www.wikiart.org/en/georges-seurat/sunday-afternoon-on-the-island-of-la-grande-jatte-1886
References – Resources
Wanczura, Dieter. “Modern Art Movements.” Artelino, Artelino GmbH, 25 Dec. 2018, https://www.artelino.com/articles/modern_art_periods.asp.
“Fauvism Movement Overview.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/fauvism/
“Cubism.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubism.
“Futurism Movement Overview.” The Art Story, https://www.theartstory.org/movement/futurism/