Contextual studies 8

Disciplines 1:Expansion: 

Josef Albers, Tectonic Group, 1925

Look up constructivism

Limitations of the materials

Henri Matisse, Red Studio, 1911

Matisse does not disguise the colour/materials. Painting becomes the subject matter.

"Henri Matisse in ‘Notes of a Painter’ (1908) in Art in Theory, p72/l.21-34

Suppose I have to paint an interior: I have before me a cupboard; it gives me a sensation of vivid red, and I put down a red which satisfies me. A relation is established between this and the white of the canvas. Let me put a green near the red, and make the floor yellow; and again there will be relationships between the green or yellow and the white of the canvas…I am forced to interpret nature and submit it to the spirit of the picture".

Nocturne = about the paint

Composition = about the colour

Braveusi = bringing everything down to form and line

Albers = Stripping down of none essential, to the basic (no frills/lamps)

Aluminium = Airbrushed

Constantin Brancusi, Portrait of Mlle Pogany, 1912

Brancusi, Mlle Pogany, 1912/13,14

Brancusi, Mlle Pogany,  1913/14

Josef Albers,

Skyscraper on Transparent Yellow,

1929, sandblasted glass and paint 

Josef Albers,

Study for lettering,

1926

Josef Albers,

Set of 4 standing tables, c1927 

Josef Albers, Tea cup, 1926

Inpersonal, smooth, manufactured

Thonet, No14 chair, c.1850

Marcel Breuer, B33, 

Tubular Steel Chair, 1927

Walter Gropius, 

Bauhaus building, 

Dessau, 1925

Mies Van Der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion, 

1929

Moholy- Nagy

What is Moholy-Nagy’s model of the artist?

The new vision – book by Moholy Nagy = the first person to do and be successful in so many materials.

Moholy-Nagy, Cubist Townscape, 

1920-21, Watercolour on paper

Moholy-Nagy, Large 

Railway Painting,1920-1

Moholy-Nagy, E Picture, 

1921, oil on canvas

Moholy-Nagy, AM7, 1926

Moholy-Nagy,

Space-Modulator Experiment,

Aluminium 5, 1931-5

Moholy-Nagy,

Construction AL6, 1933-4

Moholy-Nagy, Photogram, 1923

Moholy-Nagy, Photogram, 

1922-6

Moholy-Nagy, Telephone Pictures at 

Der Sturm Exhibition, 1922

Moholy-Nagy, 

Telephone Picture, 

EM21, 1922

Moholy-Nagy, 

Construction with Cross, 

1922

Moholy-Nagy, 

The Great Aluminium Picture, 

(AL11), 1926

Moholy-Nagy, Hotel Terrace, 1928 

Moholy-Nagy, Berlin, 1926

Moholy-Nagy, 

Photogram Wine Glass, 

1926

Moholy-Nagy, Collage R, 

1920

Moholy-Nagy, 

Photogram, 

1922-3

Moholy-Nagy,

 Leda and the Swan, 

1925

Moholy-Nagy, Nickel 

Sculpture, 1921

Moholy-Nagy, 

Wood Sculpture, 1921

  

Moholy-Nagy, Light Space Modulator, 

1922-30

Moholy-Nagy, 

Kinetic Sculpture, 1930

Moholy-Nagy, Envelope, 

Bauhaus, 1924

Moholy-Nagy, Poster 

for auto tyres,

Germany, 1926

Moholy-Nagy, Dynamics 

of the Metropolis, 1921-22

Moholy-Nagy, Typo-Collage, 1922

Moholy-Nagy, Prototype light, 

Dessau, 1924-6

Moholy-Nagy, Prototype light, 

1924-6

Moholy-Nagy,  Stage Set for 

Tales of Hoffmann, 1929

Moholy-Nagy, Parker Pen, 1944-6

Kurt Schwitters, 1887-1948

Kurt Schwitters, Merz 308, 1921

Kurt Schwitters, M2 334,1921

Kurt Schwitters, Merzbild, 1924,

relief with cross and sphere

Kurt Schwitters, Construction

for Noble Ladies, 1919

Kurt Schwitters, Merzbau, 

Hanover, 1924-33

Kurt Schwitters,

Composed Picture Poem

Kurt Schwitters,

Poem 25 (elementary)

Kurt Schwitters, Merz 11 Typoreklama, 

1924 and logo for Pelican Inks

Arangements of mixed media (assemblage)
Lots of things in one picture = collage
In his own home he made what he called a cathedral of art, always adding to his collection.
Mertz = Art should be without purpose, not functional, no fixed idea, to start the process and not know the outcomes.

Marcel Duchamp,1887-1968 

Inspired Bauhaus with minimal graphic work . . . He wanted to break down the barriers between art and functionality . . . . Anti rational
Duchamp = Providing ideas, presenting things that are not art to make people question.

Marcel Duchamp,

Bicycle Wheel, 1913

Marcel Duchamp,

Fountain, 1917

Marcel Duchamp, 

BottleRack, 1914

Marcel Duchamp, 

L.H.O.O.Q., 1919

In french = Those initials 
sound like "She has a hot arse"

Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1964

Barbara Kruger, Installation, Cologne, 1987

DaDa movement – Celebrating strangeness and fun, challenging the viewer in an active way.

Subversive = Intellectual and individual rather than visuals

• Mattise = Specific discipline/ the specialness of that discipline  

• Moholy-Nagy = Individual, separate disciplines, each specific

• Kurchfitters = Merged disaplins to form a new creative event

• Duchamp = Attacks art itself = can't be classified as it's ready made

Reading for 3/12:

Le Corbusier, ‘Five Points Towards a New Architecture (1926) in Ulrich Conrads (ed.). Programmes & Manifestos on 20th Century Architecture, (Cambridge, Mass. MIT, 1970) p99-100

 Luigi Russolo, extract from ‘The Art of Noises’ (1913) in Umbro Apollonia (ed.), Futurist Manifestos,  (London, Thames& Hudson, 1973) p.64/5