Modern Art

- the loose term given to the succession of styles and movements in art and architecture
which dominated Western culture from 19th Century up until the 1960s.
- characterized by the artist's intent to portray a subject as it exists in the world,
according to his or her unique perspective and is typified by a rejection of accepted or
traditional styles and values.
- includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to
the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era.
- rejects the past as a model for the art of the present and is characterized by constant
innovation
Modernism
- Defined by some commentators as a socially progressive trend of thought that affirms
the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment with the
aid of practical experimentation, scientific knowledge, or technology.
- Encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence, from commerce to
philosophy, with the goal of finding that which was 'holding back' progress, and
replacing it with new ways of reaching the same end
- In general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of
art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, and activities
of daily life were becoming outdated in the new economic, social, and political
environment of an emerging fully industrialized world
- A philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from
wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries
- Rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected
religious belief
- A notable characteristic of which is self-consciousness, which often led to experiments
with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and
materials used in creating a painting, poem, building, etc
- Explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and makes use of the works of the past by the
employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision and parody



Modern Art means the point at which artists...
1) Felt free to trust their inner visions
2) Express those visions in their work
3) Use real life (social issues and images from modern life) as a source of subject matter
4) Experiment and innovate as often as possible
Modern artists...
- Rejected previous Renaissance-based traditions, in favor of new forms of artistic
experimentation
- Used new materials, new techniques of painting, and developed new theories about
how art should reflect the perceived world, and what their functions as artists should be
- Have strived to express their views of the world around them using visual mediums
Experimented with the expressive use of color, non-traditional materials, and new
techniques and mediums
- Prior to the 19th century, artists were most often commissioned to make artwork by
wealthy patrons, or institutions like the church. Much of this art depicted religious or
mythological scenes that told stories and were intended to instruct the viewer. During
the 19th century, many artists started to make art about people, places, or ideas that
interested them, and of which they had direct experience.
- Modern art embraces a wide variety of movements, theories, and attitudes whose
modernism resides particularly in a tendency to reject traditional, historical, or
academic forms and conventions in an effort to create an art more in keeping with
changed social, economic, and intellectual conditions.
Famous Modern Art Artists
Vincent Willem van Gogh
- He was a post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose worknotable for its rough
beauty, emotional honesty, and bold colorhad a far-reaching influence on 20th-
century art.



Oscar-Claude Monet
- He was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific
practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before
nature. The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression,
soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise).
Andy Warhol
- He was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known
as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity
culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s.

Georges Pierre-Seurat
- He was a French Post-Impressionist painter and draftsman and is noted for his
innovative use of drawing media and for devising the painting techniques known
as chromoluminarism and pointillism. His large-scale work, A Sunday Afternoon on the
Island of La Grande Jatte, altered the direction of modern art by initiating Neo-
impressionism.
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso
- He was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and
playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most
influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist
movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for
the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore.
Frida Kahlo
- She was a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits. Her work has been
celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition and by
feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.
Paul Cezanne
- He was a French panter, often called the Father of Modern Art, who strove to develop
an ideal synthesis of naturalistic representation, personal expression, and abstract
pictorial order.
Paul Gauguin
- He was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist who was not well appreciated until
after his death. He was later recognized for his experimental use of colors and synthetist
style that were distinguishably different from Impressionism.
Edouard Manet
- He was a French painter and was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern
life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. His early
masterworks, The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia are considered watershed
paintings that mark the genesis of modern art.
Edvard Munch
- He was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of
psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-
century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th
century.
MOVEMENTS AND STYLES IN MODERN ART (1870-1930)
IMPRESSIONISM (1870-1890)
- It is the name given to a colorful style of painting in France at the end of the 19th
century. The Impressionists searched for a more exact analysis of the effects of color
and light in nature.
- They sought to capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of
different weather conditions. They often worked outdoors and applied their paint in
small brightly colored strokes which meant sacrificing much of the outline and detail of
their subject.
- Impressionism abandoned the conventional idea that the shadow of an object was
made up from its color with some brown or black added. Instead, the Impressionists
enriched their colors with the idea that a shadow is broken up with dashes of its
complementary color.
POST IMPRESSIONISM (1885-1905)
- It was the collective title given to the works of a few independent artists at the end of
the 19th century, and was not a particulat style of painting.
- The Post Impressionists rebelled against the limitations of Impressionism to develop a
range of personal styles that influenced the development of art in the 20th century.
- The major artists associated with Post Impressionism were Paul Czanne, Paul
Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh and Georges Seurat.
FAUVISM (1905-1910)
- It was a joyful style of painting that delighted in using outrageously bold colors. It was
developed in France at the beginning of the 20th century by Henri Matisse and Andr
Derain.
- The artists who painted in this style were known as 'Les Fauves (the wild beasts), a title
that came from a sarcastic remark in a review by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles.
GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM (1905-1925)
- It is a style of art that is charged with an emotional or spiritual vision of the world. The
expressive paintings of Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch influenced the German
Expressionists.
- They also drew their inspiration from German Gothic and 'primitive art'. The
Expressionists were divided into two factions: Die Brcke and Der Blaue Reiter.
ABSTRACT ART (1907 ONWARDS)
- It is a generic term that describes two different methods of abstraction: 'semi
abstraction' and 'pure abstraction'.
- The word 'abstract' means to withdraw part of something in order to consider it
separately.
- In Abstract art that 'something' is one or more of the visual elements of a subject: its
line, shape, tone, pattern, texture, or form.
CUBISM (1907-1915)
- It was invented around 1907 in Paris by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. It was the
first abstract style of modern art.
- Cubist paintings ignore the traditions of perspective drawing and show you many views
of a subject at one time.
- The Cubists believed that the traditions of Western art had become exhausted and to
revitalize their work, they drew on the expressive energy of art from other cultures,
particularly African art.



FUTURISM (1909-1914)
- It was a revolutionary Italian movement that celebrated modernity. The Futurist vision
was outlined in a series of manifestos that attacked the long tradition of Italian art in
favour of a new avant-garde.
- They glorified industrialization, technology, and transport along with the speed, noise
and energy of urban life. The Futurists adopted the visual vocabulary of Cubism to
express their ideas - but with a slight twist.
- In a Cubist painting the artist records selected details of a subject as he moves around it,
whereas in a Futurist painting the subject itself seems to move around the artist. The
effect of this is that Futurist paintings appear more dynamic than their Cubist
SUPREMATISM (1915-1925)
- It was developed in 1915 by the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich. It was a geometric style
of abstract painting derived from elements of Cubism and Futurism.
- Malevich rejected any use of representational images, believing that the non-
representational forms of pure abstraction had a greater spiritual power and an ability
to open the mind to the supremacy of pure feeling.
CONSTRUCTIVISM (1913-1930)
- Used the same geometric language as Suprematism but abandoned its mystical vision in
favour of their 'Socialism of vision' - a Utopian glimpse of a mechanized modernity
according to the ideals of the October Revolution.
- However, this was not an art that was easily understood by the proletariat and it was
eventually repressed and replaced by Socialist Realism. Tatlin, Rodchenko, El Lissitzky
and Naum Gabo were among the best artists associated with Constructivism.
DE STIJL (1917-1931)
- De Stijl was a Dutch 'style' of pure abstraction developed by Piet Mondrian, Theo Van
Doesburg and Bart van der Leck.
- Mondrian was the outstanding artist of the group. He was a deeply spiritual man who
was intent on developing a universal visual language that was free from any hint of the
nationalism that led to the Great War.



DADA (1916-1922)
- It was a form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political and cultural
establishment of the time which it held responsible for Europe's descent into World
War.
- Dadaism was an anti art stance as it was intent on destroying the artistic values of the
past. The aim of Dada was to create a climate in which art was alive to the moment and
not paralysed by the corrupted traditions of the established order.
- Dadas weapons in the war against the art establishment were confrontation and
provocation. They confronted the artistic establishment with the irrationality of their
collages and assemblages and provoked conservative complacency with outrageous
actions at their exhibitions and meetings.
SURREALISM (1924-1939)
- It was the positive response to Dada's negativity. Its aim was to liberate the artist's
imagination by tapping into the unconscious mind to discover a 'superior' reality - a 'sur-
reality'.
- To achieve this the Surrealists drew upon the images of dreams, the effects of
combining disassociated images, and the technique of 'pure psychic automatism', a
spontaneous form of drawing without the conscious control of the mind.
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM (1946-1956)
- was the first American art style to exert an influence on a global scale. It drew upon the
spiritual approach of Kandinsky, the 'automatism' of the Surrealists, and a range of
dramatic painting techniques.
- Abstract Expressionism was also known as Action Painting, a title which implied that
the physical act of painting was as important as the result itself.
POP ART (1954-1970)
- was the art movement that characterized a sense of optimism during the post war
consumer boom of the 1950's and 60's. It coincided with the globalization of pop music
and youth culture, personified by Elvis and The Beatles.
- Pop Art was brash, colorful, young, fun and hostile to the artistic establishment. It
included different styles of painting and sculpture from various countries, but what they
all had in common was an interest in popular culture.


OP ART (1964-1970)
- is short for 'optical art'. It was an abstract style that emerged in the 1960's based on the
illusionistic effects of line, shape, pattern and color.
- Although Op Art images are static they generate the illusion of movement with
perceptual tricks that create an unstable picture surface. The effects of this can be so
strong that you have to look away for fear of losing your balance or hurting your eyes.
Needless to say that the fairground fun aspect of Op Art was very popular with the
public and was quickly commercialized by the design and fashion industries.
MINIMALISM (1960-1975)
- was not only a reaction against the emotionally charged techniques of Abstract
Expressionism but also a further refinement of pure abstraction. It was an attempt to
discover the essence of art by reducing the elements of a work to the basic
considerations of shape, surface and materials.
Filipino Arts During the Modern Era
Modern Art in the Philippines
- It has evolved into wide variety of expressions and medium turning the country into a
situation of creative upheavals.
- Modernists were influenced by the western art styles.
According to Emmanuel Torres, two characteristics can be perceived in an artwork of local
painters:
1. They expressed sensuousness through loud clash of colors and curving shapes. These are
seen in the works of Ocampo, Malang, Manansala, and Tabuena.
2. They avoid too open display of emotions. Painters favor the witty, and the refined rather
than the brutal or the monumental.
Filipino Artists in the Modern Era
Jose T. Joya
- Became the National Artist in Visual Arts, 2003
- Pioneered abstract expressionism in the Philippines.
- His canvases were characterized by "dynamic spontaneity" and "quick gestures" of
action painting.
Granadean Arabesque
- featured variously colored sand and impastos that were swiped on boldly or tossed onto the
surface in lumps.
Vicente Manansala
- Cubist aspect rests largely on the geometric faceting of forms and in the shifting and
overlapping of planes
- His canvases were described as masterpieces that brought the cultures of the barrio and
the city together.
- Manansala developed transparent cubism, wherein the "delicate tones, shapes, and
patterns of figure and environment are masterfully superimposed"
Give Us This Day our Daily Bread
- invested each human figure with inner fortitude, making each one a stoic figure of human
dignity
Napoleon Abueva
- Foremost modern sculptor today
- He produced towering abstract in metal , steel and wood.
- "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture"
Carlos Botong Francisco
- Foremost Filipino Muralist
- He contributed towards developing a Filipino imagery drawing inspiration from customs
and traditions of the people
- According to restorer Helmuth Josef Zotter, Francisco's art "is a prime example of linear
painting where lines and contours appear like cutouts."
Mauro Malang Santos
- Started his career as illustrator-cartoonist for Manila Chronicle
- He shows highly original approach to figurative paintings



Hernando R. Ocampo
- National Artist, Visual Arts, 1991
- As a neorealist, he aimed to de-emphasize a life-like representation with the natural
world. His art is described to be "abstract compositions of biological forms that seemed
to oscillate, quiver, inflame and multiply" like mutations.
Genesis
- he developed into the visual melody period in which he brought back tonalities into his'
abstract designs of organic shapes, creating a richer form of abstraction
Prudencio L. Lamarroza
- Hyperrealist and surrealistic landscape paintings
- He is different from the artist of his generation because of his intellectual detachment
amid all the-ill effects of technology on the world environment
Cesar Legaspi
- Remembered for his singular achievement of refining cubism in the Philippine context
- His distinctive style and daring themes contributed significantly to the advent and
eventual acceptance of modern art in the Philippines
Romeo Tabuena
- He is best known for his Watercolors, at times in a vertical format influenced by Chinese
Painting
- These near-monochromatic watercolor landscapes of nipa huts, farmers, and carabaos
are done in an exquisite style, with attenuated figures spread out in large tonal areas
suggesting early morning fog
Victorio C. Edades
- "Father of Modern Philippine Painting
- Painting distorted human figures in rough, bold impasto strokes, and standing tall and
singular in his advocacy


Fernando Amorsolo
- Fernando Amorsolo painted and sketched more than ten thousand pieces over his
lifetime using natural and backlighting techniques. His most known works are of the
dalagang Filipina, landscapes of his Philippino homeland, portraits and WWII war
scenes.
Arturo Luz
- Luz was much admired by his fellow painters, one of whom, Fernando Zobel de Ayala,
called him "a painter's painter" and noted that, when a Luz painting was offered for sale,
which was seldom because of the painstaking nature of the artist's work, the buyer was
often another painter.
- His works are characterized by simplicity of line and geometry of form.
Anita Magsaysay-Ho
- She is a Philippine painter, considered by many to be one of the most important and
gifted Philippine modernists. Magsaysay-Hos best known canvases, which often have
both realist and stylized aspects, celebrate the beauty of Philippine women engaged in
everyday tasks.