Trends and Movements

 Thinking Activity: Trends and  Movements 

Hello Readers! This blog is as a response to the Thinking Activity assigned by Yesha ma'am on the Trends and Movement. In this blog I am going to discuss Surrealism, Dadaism and Expressionism in detail with the insight of the classroom activities.

Introduction:-

The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu Pandemic, World war I and world war II, nuclear weapons, nuclear power and space exploration, nationalism and decolonisation, the cold war and post-cold war conflicts, and technology advances. These reshaped the political and social structure of the globe. The 20th century may have seen more technological and scientific progress than all the dawn of civilization. Terms like nationalism, environmentalism, ideology, world war and nuclear war entered common usage.

Artistic Movement:

The 20th century saw a new era of visual artists who challenged the precedent art styles. Beauty and aesthetic gave way to abstraction, expression and symbolism. This metamorphosis formed numerous distinct and important art movements which presented a new type of aesthetic, some which overlap with or influenced the others. Artistic Movements of the 20th century are as below.

• Fauvism ( 1905-1908 )
• Expressionism ( 1905-1920 )
• Cubism ( 1907-1914 )
• Futurism ( 1909-1914 )
• Dadaism ( 1915-1924 )
• Surrealism ( 1924-1966 )
• Abstract Expressionism ( 1943-1965 )
• Pop Art (1950s - 70s )
• Minimalism ( 1960s - 70s )
• Postmodernism ( 1980s-current )

Surrealism:-

What is Surrealism?

Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself.

What is the Aim of the Surrealism Movement?

Its aim was, according to leader Andrew Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super reality", or surreality.  It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography and other media.

Characteristics of Surrealism:-

Surrealism has no unified style, but in painting, one can distinguish a range of possibilities falling between two extremes. At one pole, the viewer is confronted by a world that is completely defined and minutely depicted but that makes no rational sense: realistically painted images are removed from their normal contexts and reassembled within an ambitious, paradoxical, or shocking framework. It is exemplified in the works of such artists as Rane Magritte and Salvador Dali. At the other pole, variously called organic, emblematic, or absolute Surrealism, the viewer is confronted with abstract images, usually biomorphic, that are suggestive but indefinite. This approach is exemplified by artists such as Jean Arp, Max Ernst and Joan Miro.

 

Poet Guillaume Apollinaire first used the term "surrealist" in 1917 to describe Jean Cocteau's ballet parade, and the word appeared in his own play Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Andrew Breton, who later founded the surrealist movement, adopted the term for the Manifeste du Surrealisme (1924), and his definition is translated as "pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express... the real process of thought. It is the dictation of thought, free from any control by the reason and of any aesthetic or moral preoccupation." The word surreal become a part of everyday language in subsequent decades and entered the Merriam Webster dictionary in 1967. The dictionary defines it as "Marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream".

 

Here is my painting image about the Surreal activity which is drowned by me.

 

Surreal images contain identifiable elements from real life like, human figure, apple, clock etc, which are arranged in strange ways. In above image we can see the Eyes or drop eyes 👀💧, tree 🎋and lips 👄 which are arranged in strange ways.

Dadaistic Movement:-

What is Dadaism?

Dada or Dadaism was an artistic and literary movement from  the early of the 20th century. Dadaism developed in response to the horror of World War I.

The Dada Movement considered artists who rejected the logic, reason and aestheticism of modern capitalist society, instead expressing nonsense, irrationality and anti-bourgeois protest in their works. 

The Art of the movement spanned visual, literary and sound media, including collage, sound poetry, cut-up writing and sculpture. Dadaist artists expressed their discontent towards violence, war and nationalism, and maintained political affinities with radical left-wing and far-left politics. There is no consensus on the origin of the movement's name; a common story is that the German artist Richard Huelsenbeck slid a paper knife at random into a dictionary, where it landed on "dada", a colloquial French term for a hobby horse. Jean Arp wrote that Tristant Tzara invented the word at 6 p.m. on 6 february 1916, in the cafe de la Terrasse in Zurich. Others note that it suggests the first words of a child, evoking a childishness and absurdity that appealed to the group. Still others speculate that the word might have been chosen to evoke a similar meaning in any language, reflecting the movement's internationalism.

Key Figures in the movement:-

• Jean Arp
• Johannes Baader
• Hugo Ball
• Marcel Duchamp
• Max Ernst
• Elsa Von Freytag-Loringhoven 
• John Heartfield
• Man Ray
• Kurt Schwitters
• Beatrice wood

The Dadaist movement included public gathering, demonstrations, and publication of art or literary journals; passionate coverage of  art, politics and a variety of media. 

The roots of Dada lie in the pre-war avant-garde. The term anti-art, a precursor to Dada, was coined by Marcel Duchamp around 1913 to characterise work that challenged accepted definitions of art. Cubism and the development of college and abstract art would inform the movement's detachment from the constraints of reality and convention. 

Dadaism's main purpose was to challenge the social norms of society, and purposefully make art that would shock, confuse or outrage people. Dadaism's most profound humor, whimsy, artistic freedom, emotional reaction, irrationalism,  and spontaneity. Invaluable created a fun, educational infographic that details some of the elements of Dada literature, and it includes writing prompts to help master each.

Dada poetry is not one strict term, but rather any poetry produced as part of or in mimicry of the Dada Movement. These poems are usually made utilising random chance, such as pulling words out of a sack, tossing a random assortment of newspaper clippings into a table, etc.

Here is Dadaistic Poetry made by me.

This is a video of classroom activity based on Dadaism.

Expressionism :-

Expressionism is a modernist movement, mostly in poetry and painting. It originates in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.

Expressionist artists have sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality. Expressionism developed as an Avant garde style before the first world war. It remained popular during the Weimar Republic, particularly in Berlin. The style extended to a wide range of the arts, including expressionist architecture, painting, literature, theatre, dance, film and music. 

The term is sometimes suggestive of angst. In a historical sense, much older painters such as Matthias Grunewald and El Greco are sometimes termed expressionist, though the term is applied mainly to 20th century works. The Expressionist emphasis on individual and subjective perspective has been characterised as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such as Naturalism and Impressionism. 

Here is my painting on Expressinism. Which is based on Depression Art.

Here is a picture of class activity based on Expressionism.

Thus, we can say that these three Movements Surrealism, Dadaism and Expressionism are very important Movements in the Artistic movement of the 20th  century. In this blog I try to explain in detail about this movement. so I hope everyone can understand. And I also enjoyed and learnt more from this classroom activity which is given by Yesha ma'am. Thank you ma'am for giving this activity.

Thank you for reading and visiting....

Words :- 12,90

Images :- 9

Video :- 2