Kat Armstrong-French

Define an Issue in Art

The more frightening the world becomes the more art becomes abstract quoted by Abstract Expressionist artist, Wassily Kandinsky is clearly stating how the surroundings of artists had a strong impact on them personally and their artworks. Until the end of 19 th century, essentially all paintings were representational as artists restricted themselves to the traditional values of art, by either reproducing an illusion of visible reality, 1or stories, within their artworks. Artists then began to rebel against what the rest of the world distinguished as acceptable art. Rather then imitating physical objects, artists began to create abstract and deconstructed works, which reflected the deconstruction of society. There was an emphasis of visual form, colour and line to create a composition which was usually disconnected to any physical visual reference. The Abstract movement led artists into a different and evoking world, where they were able to escape reality and express from their deep subconscious and feelings into an art form. The idea of the surroundings and world around the artists reflecting into their style is also evident in cubist artist, Pablo Picasso and surrealist artist, Salvador Dali. Their artwork depicts chaotic compositions full of expressive emotion. While elements of a dream like, imaginative world present a safe haven from the brutalities of the real world. Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) who stated the issue, is considered to be one of the most important and influential artists from the abstract expressionist movement. In the earlier 20th century as the world descended into the emptiness from World War 1, Kandinsky searched for something beneath the surface, beyond the world of form seen by the eye into a realm of experience felt in the human soul. 2 During the 1913's he created intensely coloured abstract compositions, where their were subtle distorted traces of war cannon puffs of smoke. The strong and expressive works shows translation of profound human emotions. After World War I (1914-191) he took on more of a simplified geometric form in his works, with strong sharp lines and clear patterns. He explored this nonrepresentational or pure abstraction as a means of expressing inner feelings and spiritual expression, as they made no reference to the natural world. Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) also shows how strong of an affect an artists surroundings can have on their artwork. From a very young age Picasso demonstrated an enormous amount of artistic talent. He had the ability to execute an image with tremendous realism, similar to the great masters of the renaissance; Raphael, Da vinci and Michelangelo. However he then decided to explore deeper inner emotions, and present them in an expressive and abstracted form, rather then depicting subject matters of a concrete value. Picasso was forever developing his style and searching for something new. His work is often categorized into periods known as, the Blue Period (19011904), the Rose Period (19051907), the African-influenced Period (19081909), Analytic Cubism (19091912), and Synthetic Cubism (19121919). Throughout these periods there was significant changes in his artworks, which reflected the times and what was happening around him. During Picasso's Blue Period he created pictorial worlds entirely in shades of blue. The overwhelming mood of sadness and deep melancholy symbolized through the blue tones reflected a trip that he took to Spain, while also being in memory of Picasso's friend, Casagemas who had committed suicide. He depicted those on the fringe of society 3 by
1 John Middleham, 2008

2 3

Elizabeth Debold with Carol Ann Raphael,2001 Elke Linda Buchholz,2006

creating reflections on life, also ones that mirrored his personal situation. World War II also influenced a change in Picasso's style with an increase of symbols of violence and destruction. Picasso's memorable painting, Guernica, which was created in 1937 depicts a response to the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. The black and white colour scheme of the mural emphasizes the bleak atmosphere of a country during war time. At first glance the abstract composition gives the sense of being chaotic, however it is purposeful in signifying how the world was making less sense during this time, as Picasso stated The world today doesn't make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do? 4The strong use of overlapping and the distorted figures suggest the brutalities from the war. He didn't paint the war in a realistic manner, but instead expressed the trauma of what was happening through the deconstructed elements of his images. The surrealist movement originating In the 1920's was in reaction to the irrationality and destruction of World War 1. Artists questioned the nature of reality, and began to explore dreams and sub-conscious thought. The leader of the movement, Andre Breton, asked painters to stop looking for their subject matter in the outside world and seek content inwardly5. One of the most influential surrealists, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) created works which took the viewer into a dream like atmosphere, escaping the hard realities of what was happening in the real world. He chose to depict what he wanted to see and what was in his imagination, rather then the destructive hurt and pain. In one of his most well known works, The Persistence of Memory (1931) he depicts a quite realistic appearing landscape with three separate watches in the foreground which are slowly melting. The surreal aspect of the melting watches signifies the irrelevance or wasting of time. While the warmth of the ochre and turquoise tones in the composition contrast against the cold reality. Dali's arrangement of the random objects in the composition, which would not usually fit together in realistic circumstances emphasizes his interest with abstraction and distortion of reality. Overall the issue defined by Kadinsky's statement, The more frightening the world becomes...the more art becomes abstract has a significant amount of truth to it. Artists moved from pure representational depictions to abstract and surrealism styles of producing art, as they're surroundings were full of pain and helplessness from hard and disheartening times. Artists started to became more concerned with what was happening inside the soul rather then in reality. Even though there was different techniques between surrealist and abstract art they both aimed towards escaping reality, surrealists dug into their sub-conscious and created a new dream like atmosphere, while abstract artists presented deep emotions and visual metaphors in a deconstructed manner. Artists sought to produce a new atmosphere, one where they could escape and also help the viewer to step in to a new world, The need to reach inside ourselves and manipulate our unconscious feelings is universal. We all do it to some degree, although most of the time we are blind to what we are doing. 6 .

4 Brainyquote.com - Picasso

Sarane Alexandrian, 2009

6 Harley Hahn, 2011