When discussing the wide array of variety that is abstract exoressionism, Franz Klein is an important yet complicated character. One might say that he is the epitome of the genre— with his bold, semi brutalist brushstrokes. On the other hand, another might add that he is not like his counterparts, and creates a category of his own, standing apart from the abstract community entirely.
“Cardinal”
Klein is most well known for his black and white pieces that have oddly enough been linked to the New York skyline. It definitely takes an eye of an artist to see this in his work. His work is bold, and the definition of conceptual. An average onlooker would not be incorrect if they were to exclaim, “Well I could have done that. Throw some black paint on a canvas and anyone can be an artist.”
“Orange and Black Wall”
But you see, that statement in itself is what gives Klein’s work its captivating quality, its deep and unyielding sense of mystique. The thing is, is that truly, anyone could have created Klein’s pieces, but they didn’t. Simple as they may be, the works are a departure from the though out pop art of the 40’s and 50’s, and even the abstract expressionism of his fellow counterparts, Klein truly put emotion on to a page. His work appears to be the visual representation of instinct, energy, and much more.
Klein starred his artistic career as a realist, as many do, coming from a strict academic background. His moving to New York, a newly deemed cultural hub for activity and outrageous personalities, influenced him to convert to pure abstraction. He was particularly influenced by Willem de Kooning. This change served him well, as he received international praise for his simplistic yet immensely bold pieces.
Klein also sets himself apart from the expressionists, claiming that his work is less so an expression of himself rather than a way to “physically engage the viewer.” To put it simply—Klein was not one for hidden meaning or whimsical artistic influence. As stated by theartstory.com, Klein’s “powerful forms of his motifs, and their impression of velocity, were intended to translate into an experience of structure and presence which the viewer could almost palpably feel.” The absence of secret meaning in his work would later go on to influence the minimalists of the 20th century as well.
Untitled
On a more personal note, it took some effort to come around to abstract expressionism and pop art. For the most part, I must say it’s not for me, and when searching for artists to work on this week I was struggling to find one that captivated my attention. When I came across Klein though, I was fascinated. How bold and defiant and new his work seems! Even today, when we as the audience have unlimited access to all different types of art, his work seems refreshing. I will always have respect for those who simply follow their minds eye. I find myself especially partial to Klein’s work because of its lack of meaning or symbolism. I love that the pieces are there to simply see and feel, not to contemplate and fret over. Additionally, I respect the expert composition his pierces feature, seeming effortless in nature.
For this spread, we focused on women’s suffrage in the years 1905-1915. I wanted to contrast the typical feminine depiction of the Art Nouveau style of the time with the brazen determination of the Suffragettes. I had a couple of struggles with this layout–I forced myself to redo it three times. I knew that i wanted to depict a strong woman, but I kept running into barriers of how to illustrate it in a way that would do the cause justice, especially with the factor of the airy art nouveau colour scheme and whiplash curves. Finally I settled on the design attached here with some brainstorming help from classmates. I chose to have the suffragette large and featured across both pages, and vertically to make the figure stand out even more in her size. The blue background and text is symbolic of art nouveau as well as to introduce an aspect of stereotypical masculinity that the suffragettes were fighting against. I wanted this aspect to contrast with the idea of feminism and the character on the ride hand side. For my title, I used Arnold Boecklin Std Regular, a font that was typically used in decorative art nouveau posters. I would give myself an 8/10, simply because the text could have been done better, especially the area in the last paragraph where it bleeds onto the green of the bush.
This quote by Robert Deluanay serves as an excellent precursor to his relationship to his art form. Hearing this way in which he speaks about his art–the mere idea of a “luminous language”–can thrill a viewer without having had a look at his creations. Even further, Deluanay does not dissapoint any expectations upon first viewings.
Self Portrait, Oil on Canvas. This painting is an excellent example of his cube-like strokes and use of blank canvas space.
Deluanay started out his career influenced by “Neo-Impressionism,” a subsection of art that includes pointillism and division-ism. His defining characteristics of his style is his unique “mosaic” type interpretations, often leaving areas of canvas blank while using squares to depict his subjects. Later in his career the mosaic style grew into a complex relationship between abstract ideas and geometric interpretations. Later in his career, Deluanay was accredited with pioneering his own versions of color theory.
Rhythm, 1912 – Robert Delaunay, displaying his work with color theory and geometric relationships.
He was born in 1885 in a well off family but ended up being turned over to his aunt and uncle. He was raised near Bourges for the rest of his life. As many modern artists were, he was heavily inspired by Cezanne and Vasily Kandinsky.
Eiffel Tower, 1909 – 1914 – Robert Delaunay
His works that were the most recognized were his series that were commonly displayed in galleries and salons across France. He was familiar with Galerie Barbazanges, of Paris, and the Salon d’Automne. One can infer from his prolific showings that he was well recieved within the art world, regardless if the public was able to fully appreciate the intensity behind his work. He was supported by many important figures in the art community, those who built him up through personal relationships and through business opportunities. Without a doubt he was supported and respected by his contemporaries, and with good reason.
The City of Paris, 1912Man With a Tulip, 1906 A beautiful example of Delaunay’s Neo-Impressionist work, using his signature long square-like strokes and color combinations.
Suprematism, the Russian design movement of the 1920’s, was founded by Kazmir Malevich in response to zaum, or transrational poetry of the day. Many critics describe the Suprematist movement as “highly austere and serious,” but there is a strong element of abstract absurdity that is found as a running theme throughout the genre. The not-so-humble name directly states Malevich’s stance on the movement; it was supreme, and would conquer all other genres of art from past to future.
But what is it actually? The common audience might look at Suprematism, as well as Constructionism, and say “What’s the purpose of this? It’s just a bunch of shapes and lines and blocky text that doesn’t really make any sense.”
This is true, but it does hide a deeper meaning. Although Russian Suprematism may resemble a rudimentary Atari video game, the artists aimed to comment on the real world (AKA the Russian revolution and political environment under Lenin) by “removing the real world entirely and leaving the viewer to contemplate what kind of picture of the world is offered.” (theartstory.org)
The three visual characteristics of the Suprematist movement were red, white, and black. This was to represent the Nationalists during the Russian revolution (white) and the Bolsheviks, in red. Composition remained open to interpretation. Pieces of the movement can be read virtually any way. Geometric pieces can be seen as floating in space, a birds eye view (pieces that fit more so into this view were later characterized as “Arial Suprematism), or alternatively, from the inside looking out. Energy and tension were also very important components in this movement, and the artists favorite shapes were pure geometric forms. Malevich was in a similar mind to the Grecian philosopher Plato, who believed that geometric shapes were the purest form of beauty.
“Sensitivity is the only thing that matters and it is expressed by absolute forms: the rectangle, the triangle, the circle, the cross.”
Suprematist design was of course the inspiration for Constructivism. To a similar, Atari-sentimenting viewer, it is almost impossible to distinguish the difference between the two. To keep it short and sweet, Constructivists believed that materials commanded the form. Suprematism worked towards losing form completely and moving towards “true abstraction.”
Despite their differences, these two movements have been some of the most influential in history and to the world of graphic design in particular. The simplicity of the suprematist movement combined with it’s somehow maintained abstract message describes perfectly the movement of graphic design in modern day. Constructivism took these main principles and applied them relentlessly to their posters. They took the barren nature of Suprematism and used it to communicate effectivley to a general public that might not understand a complex artistic interpretation of an important message, like those discussed in both movements.
The conditions that this movement was born out of was undeniably shitty, but the inspirational creative wake that it left behind was undeniably great.
Lecture Summary:
This week we focused on the first world war, and everything that came with it. The wars are something that I’ve come across quite often in my education, but I was really happy to look at Russian culture and communication styles, because I feel that in any history course it is always a large group that is skimmed over. The Russian revolution brought a whole different type of art style on to the scene, and unfortunately wasn’t spread to other countries for quite some time. I am such a HUUGE fan of the tri-color schemes and the simple geometric representations, although it’s something that I struggle to execute in my own design work. I’ll definitely have to do some further research, most likely using the website this last picture is from. Interestingly enough, he used those photos and redesigned them in a more 3-D, modern approach, which I find incredible. I’d love to recreate any of the World War propaganda posters with a modern twist, and I actually think it would make a really interesting project within this program.
Daimler-Benz (who became a Nazi later–closer to the 1930’s) and his company invented the first petrol powered car; 35-HP Mercedes. Unfortunately Daimler died shortly before the perfection of the vehicle, but was present in the beginning projects and was directly involved in the prototypes that lead up to it.
The BPM is regarded as the first production car. In lamens terms for those of us who don’t know anything about cars, is a vehicle designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine like we have today. Gone were the days of horse-drawn carriages and stepping in questionable mud puddles on the cobblestone streets: you now had the option to drive. Compared to other vehicles, the 35-HP was lightweight, and had a low centre of gravity, making it safer than previous engine powered models of the time. Mercedes.com, when speaking about the revolutionary quality of the 35-HP, states: “It signals the end for the carriages used in automobile manufacturing. The development of this pioneering design, which is considered to the first modern automobile,
Prior to the 35-HP, however, Mercedes came up with an engine powered “omnibus.” To the general public nowadays, it looks a lot like an incomplete 35-HP. It appears as if the front was completely ripped off and unfinished, but hey, if it gets you where you need to go, who cares? It somewhat resembles an industrialized version of Cinderella’s carriage (displayed below. I have a point.)
The reason I make that comparison is not null. This actually does serve a purpose: you can really see between the two how heavily influenced the first engine powered vehicles were by horse drawn carriages. This progression is also where the term “horsepower” comes from.
Although the 35-HP was a highly innovative and world changing invention, it is easy to see the progression as to how it arrived in society. This also was the stepping stone for the Ford Model T, one of the most consumer friendly cars in history, and one that made more of an impact on transportation due to its extreme availability. It goes without denial that the 35-HP set the standard and foundation for motorized vehicles going forward into the 20th century.
To address the Nazi thing: Mercedes Benz’s was known for employing civilian labor, prisoners of war, and concentration camp internees during war times in his factories. Mercedes approximate 65 000 employees consisted largely of this demographic. After the war, they did admit to Nazi affiliations.
Lecture Summary: Survey 7
This weeks lecture covered the time span of 1905 to 1915, and discussed in depth the profound effect that modernism, expressionism, Japanism, and other artistic influences had on architecture and social discussions. We touched on “The Armory Show,” a modern art show in New York that displayed huge names in several different genres of art. I found it fascinating how intense the public’s reaction to it was. It always confuses me that work that we know now as iconic and monumental was so often hated in the original time of it’s debut. We see this all throughout history, and it makes me question what will be the standing legacy of our time? Will it be the things that we as artists support, or the things that the public reject? What are the movements of today that will end up defining a society, and will they coincide with this phenomenon or is the view of the public changing?
Women’s suffrage in Canada was a long fought battle that yielded little results for many years. Suffragettes of the time had many issues to tackle, the first of which was the need to become “people” (a problem that wouldn’t be addressed until the later date of 1929). Full citizenship was granted to men in the mid-19th century, but explicitly excluded female voters. Like I said, women had many a battle to tackle, but they decided to start with the issue of voting, to give them a platform to influence social reform. By the end of the 19th century it was clear that there were several layers of social reform that needed to occur internationally pertaining to female treatment and their position in society.
“Suffragists were not a homogeneous group; nor did they focus only on suffrage. Campaigns also called for improved public health, equality in employment and education, social assistance and condemnation of violence.”
~ thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, Womens Suffrage in Canada
Suffrage in Western Canada began in the 1880s. Victoria, BC, served as a social hub for the suffragette movement. Protesting would occur often; women were not ashamed to voice their opinions. They were nothing short of desperate to. Due to the lack of definition of women as peoples, women faced discrimination in every avenue they were allowed into. Crimes against women were seldom followed through with, and violence against a women in the home was not made illegal until 1983 by the Canadian government. The issue of abuse was one of the primary driving factors for Suffragettes in America and Canada alike. To be blunt, women were tired of being beaten, raped, and abused, and wanted to do something about it as quickly and as effectively as possible.
“Since the earliest years of the province’s history it had been widely believed that women’s roles in society should be limited to the domestic sphere. Women did work outside of the home, often out of economic necessity, but many faced low wages, poor working conditions and even violence. In addition to discrimination in education, women were considered by many to be less rational than men and of a different temperament – excuses often given to justify their exclusion from voting and public life.”
~ www.leg.bc.ca
The turn of the century experienced rage like Canada had never seen before. After a House of Commons ruling in 1885 that defined voting as only available to white male citizen Canadian minorities pushed even further to be heard.
The Suffrage Campaign
Young University students were the first among this group to lead the newly fuelled protests going into the 1900’s, and walked behind the support of Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the largest women’s groups in Canada, as well as one of the largest advocates for the suffrage movement. Additionally, figures in Central Canada spear-headed their own movements, like journalist Nellie McLung. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes McLung as “The Prairie movement’s dominant figure.” Her literature helped perpetuate support for the suffrage movement by shunning anti-feminists. McLung also participated in a Satirical mock-parliament piece (alongside A.V. Thomas, F.J. Dixon, Amelia Burritt, Dr. Mary Crawford) in which they debated whether to give men the vote. Women separately found support in the farming, labour, and social gospel movements.
Nellie McLungThe Women of the Satirical piece: “Political Equality League Presents Petition, 1915,” that debated over the right of men in the voting sphere.
Success! Kind Of!
January 16th, 1916, Manitoba is the first province to grant women the right to vote. Although viewed as a monumental success, it was still 16 years after the suffragette movement began. Saskatchewan followed suit and passed the women’s vote in 1916 under a liberal government. As for our lovely British Columbia, the Canadian encyclopedia states that “British Columbia was the only jurisdiction in Canada to put women’s suffrage to a referendum of male voters, during the provincial election of 1916. Bolstered by the favourable results (43,619 to 18,604 ballots), the new Liberal government approved women’s suffrage on 5 April 1917.”
A 1917 poster advocating for suffrage in the East, comparing the levels of successful areas of North America.Women protesting in the Maritimes after women in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and BC are given the right to vote.
1917 finally saw Ontario catch up to the West, and on May 24th of 1918 women were allowed to vote in federal elections. HOWEVER, all was not won. The law still restricted indigenous, Asian, younger than 21, and women without citizenship from voting. Quebec Women had to wait until the absurd date of April 25th, 1940 to finally partake in elections. Those excluded in the federal bill of women’s voting rights waited much longer than their white Canadian counterparts. It was not until the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by John Humphries) introduced in 1948 that people of “foreign” heritages could vote. Lastly, indigenous women were still banned from voting until only 58 years ago in 1960.
Lecture Summary
This week we covered “Dreams and Designers,” and we covered the years 1895 to 1905. We spoke about Women’s suffrage, obviously, as well as the aftermath of the Victorian Era and the progression of the Art Nouveau movement. I personally was enthralled with the idea of art the pre-cursors to modern art. The movement of symbolism and the beginning of the “emotional artist” is something that resonates with me. Architecture is not something that I particularly take care to notice, but the period of art nouveau particularly caught my eye. The one domed red glass ceiling especially made me take interest!
On the heels of the industrial revolution, the amount of product and merchandise was at a monumental height. All over the world, people were producing consumer goods. India was prolific for it’s printed luxury fabric and rugs, while Japan was fresh on the scene with Ukio-e prints and obsession-inspiring accessories. Today, we have museums to exhibit interesting worldly items like these.
Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria, decided that the rest of London should be able to experience the phenomenon that was worldly culture. It was the first World’s Fair of 1851, titled “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations” that gave cause to the construction of one of the most extraordinary buildings of the Victorian era.
The Crystal Palace was designed to house the World Expo, starting construction in 1850. It was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, a resident greenhouse builder.The building was an odd combination of iron and glass. Brittanica .com states the staggering dimensions of the building, citing;
” It consisted of an intricate network of slender iron rods sustaining walls of clear glass. The main body of the building was 1,848 feet (563 metres) long and 408 feet (124 metres) wide; the height of the central transept was 108 feet (33 metres). The construction occupied some 18 acres (7 hectares) on the ground, while its total floor area was about 990,000 square feet (92,000 square metres, or about 23 acres [9 hectares]). On the ground floor and galleries there were more than 8 miles (13 km) of display tables.”
A full view of the Crystal Palace after being moved to Sydenham.
To give you an idea, the Palace of Versailles covers a total area of 63,154 m2, while the Crystal Palace covers a whopping 92000. The glass was chosen to due Paxton’s background with greenhouses, and the lifting of the glass tax a few years prior allowed the 300 000 large sheets (fabricated in the largest size ever made) to be obtained easily and at a much lower cost. The total cost of the building was approximately 2 million euros, which in today’s cost would
Blueprints for the Front arch of the Crystal Palace.
The building process was as follows (as per http://www.vam.ac.uk):
Work started in August 1850. First, the whole site was enclosed with hoardings
Trenches were dug
Then the concrete foundation was laid
Underground iron pipes formed the base for the columns
By the end of October workmen were raising 200 columns a week
At the same time, girders were added to support the galleries and roof
The most difficult part of the job was hoisting the main ribs for the transept roof
All 16 were fixed in one week
The height of the roof was designed to leave the trees undisturbed
The roof for the main part of the building was added
Glazing wagons ran in grooves in the gutters
In one week 80 men put in over 18,000 panes of glass
The boards from the hoardings were used to make the floor
The interior was painted red, yellow and blue
The Great Exhibition opened in the Crystal Palace on 1 May 1851.”
An arial drawing of the Crystal Palace by Charles Burton
After years of glorious shows and exhibitions, the Crystal palace was brought down by a number of forces. November 30th, 1936, 85 years after the vision of the World Exposition came to life, The Crystal Palace was destroyed by a fire. The majority of the Palace was completely ruined, and shortly after all that remained was again ruined by war explosives (1941). All the money and hard work proved obsolete: the cost of reconstruction was deemed unrealistic during wartimes and it was never rebuilt.
The Michael Lee Chin Crystal – The Royal Ontario Museum
A modern day equivalent of this architectural, gem-like masterpiece could be hard to find. The Louvre is a similar structure, but was done similar to the time of the Crystal Palace. Canada holds a unique gem in the world of museum architecture; and I mean that quite literally.
The traditional building next to the new Crystal addition, added and completed in 2007.
The Royal Ontario Museum is home to the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, an architectural and visual marvel. Inspired by it’s namesakes natural gem collection, the Crystal Palace and the M.L.C Crystal share many similar qualities in that respect.
The Royal Ontario Museum speaks on it’s new addition (added in 2007), highlighting what a feat it was to create. On their website, they state:
“Considered to be one of the most challenging construction projects in North America for its engineering complexity and innovative methods, the Lee-Chin Crystal is composed of five interlocking, self-supporting prismatic structures that co-exist but are not attached to the original ROM building, except for the bridges that link them…
The original concept art of the Crystal, done on a napkin.
The exterior is 25% glass and 75% extruded-brushed, aluminum-cladding strips in a warm silver colour. The steel beams, each unique in its design and manufacture and ranging from 1 to 25 metres in length, were lifted one by one to their specific angle, creating complicated angle joints, sloped walls, and gallery ceilings. Approximately 3,500 tons of steel and 38 tons of bolts were used to create the skeleton, and roughly 9,000 cubic metres of concrete were poured.”
The biggest difference between the two, besides the obvious juxtaposing forms, would be the materials. The Crystal palace was composed almost entirely of glass and iron, while the M.L.C. Crystal features aluminum and steel.
A full view of the Crystal.
However, the success that the Crystal Palace experienced was not shared by the M.L.C. Crystal. People hate this thing. “Revisiting Canada’s Most Hated Building,” “The Crystal Not Necessarily an Attraction,” and my personal favourite, “Toronto Still Not sure if it Likes the Crystal Or Not,” were just a few of the titles that came up with a quick google search. The Crystal Palace was a massive success; people viewed it as a marvel of it’s time and as a beautiful addition to London. The MLC Crystal, although modern and innovative and just as much of an architectural marvel is widely disliked. Some even want it taken down completely. The $30 million addition might not be worth it in the eyes of the public after all, perhaps they would have preferred the Victorian Crystal Palace instead of their own.
Lecture Summary:
This week’s lecture covered many things, but the one that stood out to me the most was the first world fair, better known as the Great Exposition. The Crystal Palace was created with the sole purpose of housing the World Fair, and I find it appalling that such a beautiful and intensive structure was taken down multiple times. Yes, I understand that it was a bomb threat, but still. Also, a worlds fair! How cool! The middle class world for the first time was able to see what living elsewhere was like, and I can only imagine the art that came out of Europe after this event. Imagine being in London, creating your traditional art, and then seeing all of this mind blowing shit all in one room. Crazy. I love lectures even more the more we progress through the years, because we get to see photos of people living their lives! It’s so much easier to grasp the information and empathize now that we have real images of people and what they were experiencing.
Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) was a French satirical caricaturist and painter, who harbored a confusing yet fascinating history. His godfather was a painter, who most likely persuaded Daumier to pursue the trade of arts. However, his mothers family hailed from an extremely primitive village and his father spent all of Daumier’s youth in an asylum after a claim to fame via his poetry , where he would pass away in Daumier’s teen years. His childhood was eclectic, to say the least. Daumier would later pursue his artistic career at the age of 18. He was the type of man to stick a pipe in his mouth to hide his lisp, one who had beady eyes and a large nose and stuck out like a sore thumb. This unconventional appearance worked itself into his art. His style was ugly in a way, and Daumier depicted figures who fit a similar description to himself.
His subject matter was often ugly in a way too; his art was filled with difficult, abstract topics that the every day upper class consumer would certainly want to confront. The harshness of his lithographic black-on-white made his topics seem even more abrasive.
Below Daumier depicts French King Louis Phillippe inGargantua, a highly controversial figure in the history of French rule. King Louis was responsible for the economic collapse of France of 1847. Daumier’s depiction of King Louis landed him behind bars from time to time, but never caused a blow to his popularity or work, as his opinion was favored by the middle and lower class. However it can be assumed that Daumier had a troubled relationship with the upper class of France (thebourgeois) as they made up the majority of King Louis’s support. Daumier earns himself the title as “one of the greatest satirical illustrators of French history” by confronting social and political conflicts with a brazen attitude; even detainment could not stop him from fighting for the desires of the middle class through his art.
“Gargantua” Lithograph
Above, Daumier depicts French King Louis Phillippe inGargantua, a highly controversial figure in the history of French rule. King Louis was responsible for the economic collapse of France of 1847. Daumier’s depiction of King Louis landed him behind bars from time to time, but never caused a blow to his popularity or work, as his opinion was favored by the middle and lower class. However it can be assumed that Daumier had a troubled relationship with the upper class of France (thebourgeois) as they made up the majority of King Louis’s support. Daumier earns himself the title as “one of the greatest satirical illustrators of French history” by confronting social and political conflicts with a brazen attitude and shameless artistic style; even detainment could not stop him from fighting for the desires of the middle class through his art.
Meeting of 35 Heads of Expression Oil on Canvas, Honore Daumier
Throughout the rest of Daumier’s work we see people as we have never seen them before, with such animated expression and character that they could fit the role of a modern day cartoon villain or oaf. Above, we see Daumier’s commitment to the satirical caricature mixed with his classical training as a painter. He stayed faithful in rendering textures and skin tones, as well as composition and theory. This piece, “Meeting Of Thirty Five Heads Of Expression,” is crowded, but seemingly maintains its composition by the curve of dark clothed limbs at the top of the canvas.
“Le Passe. Le Presente. L’avenir.” or, “The past. The Present. The Future.”
Overall, Daumier’s work stands out to me because of the transcendence of his concepts. “Gargantua,” for example, is a political piece focusing on a long gone European King of the 19th century, but could easily speak volumes to the communist revolution of Russia in 1917, nearly a hundred years later. Daumier seems to speak on troubles that plague the world over and over again. The struggle of the working artist, the unjust hierarchy of classes, the inconsistency of politics and its figures, and the hopeless plagues of war are all common themes in his work that still prevail in today’s struggling international environment. Daumier belongs to a special group of artists and political figures who are able to speak through time. In other words, even though he lived roughly 200 years ago, any viewer could enter a gallery of his works and immediately understand his message through any frame of reference. Perhaps that is why I find his work so strikingly significant.
“The Witnesses,” the sign above them reading “War Coucil.”
