GATE 111

          The 20th century art was created from the late art movements from modern art. It made its entrance on January 1, 1901 (as incorporated on this blog entry title: Gate 111) and exited, after a century (pretty obvious on the era's name), on December 31, 2000. Like the era of modern art, this era was also a gateway to a diversity of art movements. These were fauvism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, dadaism, and abstraction. As a result of continuous experiments in the field of art, more possibilities were offered to the people. Changes in art were moving forward and not backward. A diverse range of art styles and forms evolved. The artists of this era refused to stick to traditions and went out to explore by themselves.

         

"The Japanes Bridge", a fauvist painting
by William Sommer back in 1913.

Fauvism, from the french word "Fauve" meaning wild beast, was an art movement that exploded of bright colors and vibes. Artists practicing this movement painted still life, traditional nudes and landscapes. Cubism was the most influential movement of the 20th century and made use of analyzing, breaking up and reassembling objects. Typical cubist paintings show letters, musical instruments, bottles, pitchers, glasses, newspapers, still lifes and

"Guernica" by Pablo Picasso is the most powerful painting of this era. It was
created in response to the bombing of Guernica and showed

the human face & figure. Cubism was divided into analytic cubism (simplified and monochromatic colors) and synthetic cubism (non-objective objects were pasted onto the canvas/painting). Futurism is a restless form of art that emphasized speed, energy, dynamism, the power of machines; and was founded by Filippo Tommaso Masiretti. One of the artists of abstraction (in the US) is Georgia O' Keeffe and is most known for her paintings of enlarged flowers. Meanwhile, abstraction in Europe used a combination of geometric shapes, primary colors and black lines. It gave way to the formation of constructivism and "De Stijl". In constructivism, 3D works were constructed from industrial materials such as plastic, metal and glass --- similar to synthetic cubism. 

          The art movements that the 20th century gave us were all a fantastic contribution to the development of art. I, speaking for most of the present day artists out there, am very grateful for the 20th century artists and their unending dedication to finding out and sharing tot he world how far the edges of art can be pushed. The astonishing performance of these artists are very worthy of our respect and I hope that many more artists will follow their steps and ponder beyond the normal.

"Simultaneous Visions", a futurist art by Umberto Boccioni.