Avant-gardism in 20th century painting: representatives, examples

The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by a number of large-scale events: the economy and the political map of the world, science and many other things were changing. Art did not remain aloof: avant-gardism in painting, cinema and literature transformed the very concept of creativity and society's view of it. New ideas have become a real revolution, which continues to exert its influence on the world even now.

What is the vanguard?

In the early twentieth century, several experimental currents appeared with new ideas in the field of art. Their common name was the word "avant-garde", literally translated from French, meaning "advanced detachment." The new concept was opposed to academicism and continued the traditions of modernity. Representatives of avant-garde in painting believed that the absolute is the very process of creativity, and not the final product. Man turned into an object of art. Avant-gardism in 20th century painting can be divided into several main genres: futurism, surrealism, abstract art, pop art, dadaism and op-art. Distinctive features of that time are the separation of form and spiritual meaning, unrestrained freedom of expression in combination with a scientific, analytical approach to the process.

Emergence and development

The new direction has become a product of the absurdity created by the discrepancy between real art and the spiritual meaning that is put into it. Artistic values, reduced to speculative - that's what distinguishes avant-gardism in painting. Artists conducted scandalous actions and created meaningless at first glance installations, emphasizing the main ideas of the current. Until the recession, the phenomenon retained its inner void, which casts a spectator a challenge - will it be able to separate the truth from imaginary values? In modern art avant-garde now and then tries to return to the old traditions, somewhat changing the meaning of the original concept.

Different representatives

Typical avant-garde sculptor Duchamp announced his product an ordinary toilet, placed on the pedestal. Andy Warhol created compositions from cans. In such actions, the avant-gardism in painting and sculpture differs from modernism - the essence of the first lies in authoritarianism and deception, neglect of school and difficulties, using the simplest ways for ridiculing the less educated critics and not very cultured public.

Fauvist group

One of the most striking directions that presented avant-gardism in painting was Fauvism. A group of followers opposed the Impressionists and the desire to achieve naturalistic likelihood. Typical for the Fauvists is the use of catchy compositions, the denial of the traditional perspective. Artists challenged bourgeois tastes and salon art, creating decorative subjects. Representatives include such masters as Raoul Dufy and Marche. The latter in his works went from Fauvism to Realism - in the canvas "Notre Dame Cathedral" he managed to accurately convey the shade of the Seine's water, the architectural outlines of the cathedral and the humidity of the air, softening its outlines. The artists Vlamin, Freese and Marriage refused to relate to reality, Andre Derain used primitivistic plots. Distorted, mystical images were created by Georges Rouault. Despite many unifying features, the Fauvists did not exist for too long as an association and soon broke up.

Henri Matisse

The Frenchman, forever included in the history of art, became one of the most significant masters who presented avant-gardism in painting. Matisse's paintings express his basic creative idea of the release of color and energy on the canvases. He believed that painting in many respects resembles music represented by only seven notes, and tried to convey in his personal experiences from what he saw.

In the early twentieth century Matisse was carried away by the sculpture of Africa, decorative Arabic art and Japanese woodcuts, which also manifested itself in his work. The paintings of the master are distinguished by intensive shades: deep blue, emerald, rich yellow. The most famous works include paintings:

• "Dance", created under the impression of the Russian seasons of Diaghilev in Paris and Greek vase painting.
• "Music" with the image of singing and playing on different instruments figures.
• "Red fish" with tremendous power of colors and original planar construction of the picture with a rejection of perspective and depth.
• "Snail", one of the last works, created from pieces of paper, previously painted in the right colors.

Abstractionist Kandinsky

The brightest of all Russian avant-garde painting is represented by this artist. Kandinsky traveled extensively and drew inspiration both in the Russian Middle Ages and in French art. His landscapes are based on color discord and the game of tones and lines, which eventually completely replaced his work with real images. Some of his paintings are inspired by characteristic Russian motifs - for example, "Ladies in the crinolines" or "Variegated life". In the period after the revolution, the artist created a graphic series "Small Worlds", in which his tendency to use the aesthetics of Suprematism in combination with bright decorative was manifested. In 1922, Kandinsky was invited to teach at the Bauhaus. Over the years, the artist has experimented with techniques more than once and achieved impressive results in abstractionism: his exhibitions were held throughout Europe, and theoretical works were successful all over the world, explaining in detail the ideas that avant-gardism carries in painting. Examples of works from that period include "Composition 8" and "Point and Line on a Plane".