Free Custom «Modern Art Prints» Essay Paper

1.   Introduction

Since the days of the caveman, humans have reverted to Art in various forms and types to express their thoughts and emotions. Although time has stamped the human art in a distinct way along with the innovation in technology, yet multiple forms of art expression like paintings, sculpturing, architecture, drawing, sketching all have helped human beings a long way in bring before the world what the humans observe from their senses and feel in their heart and mind.      

2.  Modern Art Movement    

It may be argued with evidence that 'Art' belonging to which era can be labeled as 'Modern'.  The first major revolutionary shift in the art form undoubtedly was in the era of Renaissances from 14^th to 16^th century.  Yet generally Modern Art is taken into consideration to leap over a time period from 1860 to 1970. The prime reason for this demarcation was the over enthusiasm of experimentation. To simply leave what all and how was being done before in pursuit of new concepts, styling and technology. Abstraction or abstract art as we call be broadly was introduced and rapidly promoted in the modern art era. The variation in art form in the modern days was fueled by technology and liberty from institutions as in the days of the renaissance era. Thus for some the art work that evolved in this time was for the sake of art itself, and for some it was dimensionless or focus less.

The well known craftsmen of modern art were painters like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, Henri Matisse, Toulouse Pablo Picasso and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon .(Modern Art). Multiple forms of art that developed during this time may be classified as follows:

2.1 Impressionism

The first step in modern art was the Impressionism art work. Its roots go back to Paris. Like most types of ingenuities it evolved as a result of friction with another formal and more rigid form of painting art. It all started from the work of Edouard manet in Dejeuner sur L'herbe in 1863 in the Salon des Refuses. A distinct feature of the painters of impressionism was there inclination to paint in open and acknowledging the way light source affects objective appearances. Instead of single objects or personalities the focus of impressionist artists was more towards painting landscapes and nature. Well come work in this discipline was acknowledged of Auguste Renoir in France and Alfred Sisley in England.

A leap ahead from impressionism was the fauvism with the use of strong and more expressive colors. It originated from the work of Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. However the best known work of fauvism was carried out by Henri Matisse, Andre Derain, Maurich de Vlaminch and Raoul Dufy. The main characteristics are aggressive brushing, extravagant coloring yet simplicity in primary objects and a sense of abstraction.  A famous quote of Gauguin that expresses the approach towards fauvism is as follows "How do you see these trees? They are yellow, So put in yellow, this shadow, rather blue, paint it with pure ultramarine; these red leaves? Put in vermilion..."

2.3 Expressionism

Expressionism has its roots leading to German work of the 20^th century. The primary theme surrounding it is to present the world in a subjective perspective, portraying extensive emotional effect, moods and ideas in a way that they tend to become more influential than reality of the creation itself. Some famous artists of said category are Matthias Grunewald and El Greco. 

2.4 Art Nouveau Movement

The nouveau art came into existence from French source, based on the theme that art should be extended painting on canvas alone to multiple base objects like architecture, furniture, jewelry, glasswork and illustrations. Said art was promoted by Czech artist Alphonse Muncha, Emille Galle and Louis Comfort. A great feature of said art was the rate at which it flourished thorugh out Europe prior to World War 1. However owing to its high cost it could not be converted to objects of Mass production.          

2.5 Art Deco Movement

Art Deco Movement may be considered as a localization effort to Art Nova to produce in bulk. It was more simplified yet diverse in the same way .i.e. it was carried out on furniture, jewelry, textile architecture, commercial print making etc. Rene Lalique a famous jeweler and glassmaker is a renouned figure of said art.

Cubism was different type of modern art compared to its predecessors. It was primarily introduced by Pablo Picasso. Said art was prominently developed in painting and sculpturing. Though well known in France and Spain, its roots also trace down to Africa. The prime concept of cubism is to reduce down the objects of interest to geometrical shapes like cube, sphere and circle and then blend them in a way to express the desired perspective. Cubism may also be considered a step closer to 'abstract art' itself.  Some famous painters of said art were Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp and Juan Gris.

Surrealism is primarily based on the concept to portay dreams, unconsciousness and psychological ideology behind an artwork. The father of said concept was Andre Breton. Salvador Dali, Giorgo de Chirico and Marc Chagall are the best known names of said art form. Surrealism also suggests that within the boundaries of the painters canvas, one can couple up objects in an abnormal way. i.e. not in the ordinary chronological order, rendered a diverse meaning to the art itself. Thus the idea stood out against the customs of artwork and structures.

2.8 Abstract Art

Abstract Art may be described as the creation of the free mind. A general perception of said art implies it to be custom and directionless. A Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky is considered the founder of said art. Few other welknown abstract artists were Piet Mondrian, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and Marc Chagall.

2.9 Pop Art Movement

Pop Art is also known as popular art; it came into existence in retaliation against the abstract art. The main theme and concept behind its initiation was to link art closer to normal human life. Thus working on common day to day objects that normaly remain unnoticed or are over looked in perception. Moreover its innovation was not restricted to the canvas bounds alone, rather it spectrum of medium was spread onto comic books, cd covers, book covers etc. Among few are circles it was known as retaliation to the elite favored abstract art. Few famous promoters of pop art are Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein and Georg segal etc. Pop art is pretty closely linked to American and British art culture in general.

2.10 Optical Art

Optical Art coming into existence in the seventies. It comprised of use of diverse geometrical shapes blended with wide spread colors to bring up aspects of illusion and understanding. However its artwork is marked around the concept of multiple impressions like vibrations, movement, hidden images and pattering etc. Few famous optical artists were Vasarely, Richard Anuszkiewiczand Jesus Soto. Said art spread up in liking from paint to fashion and even to some extend glass work.

3.  Conclusion

Art is a form of human expression and its evolution would continue till the existence of man and its abtitude to observe, imagine and express. No art form can be considered good or bad, as they all tend to represent shades of human physical life and mental perception.