Early 20th-century Art Research Articles

N. N. Zeddeler and A. P. Somova-Zeddeler: the forgotten names of early 20th century Russian art. Japonism in Russian printmaking at the beginning of 20th century

The term japonism refers to a movement within 20th-century Russian art that has so far been insufficiently explored. In the meantime, its popularity at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries coincided with the extraordinary blossoming of Russian color printmaking. N. N. Zeddeler and A. P. Somova were among those artists, who, along such revered masters like A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva and V. D. Falileeva, made a substantial contribution to the development of this art style. To date, their work has not received close attention from researchers. Likewise, there is no literature that would provide a systematic analysis of their legacy, save for brief mentions in the periodic press of that period or publications dedicated to exhibitions of 1900-1910s, in which the artists took part. N. N. Zeddeler and A. P. Somova-Zeddeler were well-known in the Russian and European artistic circles at the beginning of the century. Having acquired their education in Munich and Paris, they produced an oeuvre that fit perfectly into the context of early 20th century art and added essential touches to the aesthetic vision of the world emerging at that time. However, the work of these masters was not met with the appreciation it deserved and was eventually forgotten. It is worth noting that the task of mapping out the full biography of both artists appears to be extremely challenging due to a variety of reasons: their departure from artistic practice after the outbreak of the First World War, fragmentary and meager archival material, a small number of works that have survived till our time, the tragic and difficult fate of N. N. Zeddeler and A. P. Somova-Zeddeler… Thus, the purpose of the article is to fill in one of the gaps in the Russian history of art of the 20th century. The author examines the engravings by N. N. Zeddeler and A. P. Somova-Zeddeler from the collection of the Pushkin Museum created between 1900 and 1910, which were previously not studied by researchers.

Viðtökur á verkum Þórarins B. Þorlákssonar

Þórarinn B. Þorláksson (1867–1924) has been credited with being the first Icelandic professional painter. His reception, both during his lifetime and posthumously, is therefore an interesting indication of the changes in the outlook and ideology surrounding the reception of Scandinavian fin­de­siécle art up to the present. He was honourably mentioned by his contemporaries and then was forgotten in the upheavals surrounding the adoption of modern styles, such as abstract art, in Ice­land around the Second World War. He re­gained attention in the sixties and has since then been revered as an important, though problematic, pioneer of Icelandic painting. This has in recent years been especially evident in the way he has been mentioned in the context of the revival of Nordic and Scandinavian late 19th and early 20th century art in Northern­Europe and America. The paper reviews and analyses the historical reception Þorláksson has received and the way his work has been inscribed into the narrative of Icelandic and Scandinavian Art History. This process is an attempt to understand and contextualise Þorláksson’s work in aesthetic terms, while at the same time function as a critical mirror of the trends and ideolo­gies surrounding the Nordic revival in recent years.

Gloucester and the Friendly Sea: An Early 20th-Century Art Educator’s Mural as a Pedagogical Hinge

In this article, I investigate the mural-making experience of Mabel Spofford, an early 20th-century art educator from Massachusetts. Spofford designed and created a mural titled Gloucester and the Friendly Sea while attending a Pennsylvania State University Summer Arts Institute course with Viktor Lowenfeld in 1947. By placing archival documents, such as the written mural plan, in relation to relevant historical, social, and cultural contexts, a story emerges about the personal and social motivations of Spofford as an art educator whose life was inextricably intertwined with place. The story I tell is of a woman who had a deep connection to the local and whose experience in the mural course served as a pivot point (Ellsworth, 2005) in her own becoming—one which brought her lifelong experiences of place into relation, allowing her to see the known anew.

Steeped in Modernism: The Teapot as Manifesto in Early 20th Century Art

The art manifesto, a written political, social, and artistic proclamation of an artistic movement, surged in popularity among avant‐garde art groups in the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the manifestos featured declarations for the synthesis of art and life as well as a call for social and political power for artists of both 'high' and 'low' art forms. Concurrently, new artistic interpretations of the humble teapot became suddenly ubiquitous. This inquiry explores how the teapot emerged as a dominant symbol for the goals of Modern Art movements, and includes an analysis of the teapot's socio‐political history, its ambiguous status between high and low art, and its role in the commercial sphere. By examining the teapots of Suprematism's Kazimir Malevich, Constructivism's Mariane Brandt,and Surrealism's Meret Oppenheim, this presentation will track ideas of functionality, the teapot as symbol, and aesthetics from 1923 to 1936. This small window in time offers an analysis of the extraordinary developments in teapots, and perhaps a glimpse of the paralleled momentum that occurred more generally in design, architecture, and the other arts in this time period.

Musical Functionalism: The Musical Thoughts of Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith by Magnar Breivik (review)

Functionalism: Thoughts of Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith. By Magnar Breivik. (Interplay: Music in Interdisciplinary Dialogue, no. 8.) Hillsdale, NY: Pen- dragon Press, 2011. [xviii, 417 p. ISBN 9781576471708. $42.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index.At first glance, it may seem that Schoenberg and Paul would make an odd couple for a shared study. They represented widely divergent schools of thought within twentieth-century music in terms of their compositional techniques and theoretical writings. Schoenberg today enjoys a lasting legacy through contin- ued work of serialist composers, while Hindemith's legacy is mainly historical. Magnar Breivik skillfully links these two composers within school of functionalism in study presented in this volume. For first time in English, Breivik builds on work he presented in article Arnold Schonberg og Paul Hinde- mith: Individualister pa funksjonalistisk grunn (Svensk tidskrift for musikforskning 78 [1996]: 11-24), and his dissertation, Musikalsk funksjonalisme: En studie i Schonbergs og Paul Hindemiths musikktenkning (Ph.D. diss., Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet, 1998). Though Breivik's application of mu- sical functionalism to Schoenberg and together is novel, his study is not first to treat two composers: an- other important study is found in David Neumeyer and Giselher Schubert's article, Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith ( Journal of Schoenberg Institute 13, no. 1 [June 1990]: 3-46), which Breivik cites in his discussion of relationship between two.Breivik begins first part of his study, Musical Functionalism: Perspectives in Early 20th-Century Art (pp. 1-72) by intro- ducing reader to the concept of func- tionalism (p. 1), through examination of architectural trends in German- speaking world in first decades of twentieth century. In introduction and throughout book, Breivik links function to form, in music as well as architecture.Breivik identifies another central aspect of functionalism in choice and use of material: Any artistic material is defined by certain possibilities and limitations, a fact that has led to speculations that materials may have an inherent 'will' unique to each substance, with which an artist's will has to co-operate (p. 12). According to Breivik, artists of all sorts must work within limi- tations of their chosen materials. He asserts that Schoenberg and both un- derstood boundaries of their chosen materials (p. 22). Other important aspects of functionalist thought, according to Breivik, are that art works are created by craftsmen and not mass-produced (p. 23), functionalism eschews ornamentation (pp. 32-41), and that Neue Sachlichkeit movement stressed objectivism in design (pp. 58-65).Breivik discusses functionalism as a back- drop for his study in The Concept of Musi- cal Functionalism, beginning on page 65. His opening paragraphs tie art to function, and stress that while goal is to produce art serving a function, functionalism is not synonymous with style. On page 66, Breivik attributes phrase musical functional- ism to Carl Dahlhaus (see Musikalischer Funktionalismus, in Schonberg und Andere: Gesammelte Aufsatze zur neuen Musik [Mainz: Schott, 1978], 63). Breivik ties functionalism with older concept of functional music, which covered a musico- sociological category that included music created for certain purposes, whether eco- nomic or civic and also served as a less negatively loaded synonym for Gebrauchs- musik (p. 68). Breivik closes first part of book with his three-part definition of functionalism, which outlines structure for rest of study:1. Functional treatment of chosen material2. Functional design3. Focus on work's intended func- tion (p. …

Japanese Aesthetic Influences on Early 20th-Century Art Education: Arthur Wesley Dow and Ernest Fenollosa

Abstract Incorporating primary archival materials, this essay considers the influence of Arthur Wesley Dow on art education in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. I also highlight the impact of Dow’s teacher and mentor, Ernest Fenollosa. I posit here that their relationship resulted in the introduction and influence of Japanese aesthetics, which in turn shaped Dow’s views about the elements and principles of art and design. My essay chronicles how some of Dows’ aesthetic understandings were shaped and then disseminated into U.S. art education, art history, and training for artists from the late 1800s through the first half of the 1900s.

‘A land history of men’: The intersection of geomorphology, culture and heritage in Cornwall, southwest England

Relationships between landscape-scale geomorphology and aspects of the human environment (including heritage and material cultures) are best examined in landscapes with a strong geomorphological imprint of past climatic and environmental changes, and where human activity has been present for a long period of time. In Cornwall, southwest England, a strong geomorphological signature is imparted by weathering of granite bedrock under cold Quaternary climates, and a strong cultural and heritage imprint is manifested in material and nonmaterial ways through archaeology, art, literature and folklore, and is illustrated in this paper through examples of Bodmin Moor (north Cornwall) and West Penwith (west Cornwall). Landscapes of Bodmin Moor include wide valleys with underfit rivers and upland summits with prominent tors, resulting from granite weathering and slope processes during the Tertiary and Quaternary. Pollen records show how human activity has changed on the moor over time, with a peak of settlement during the Bronze Age, and expansion of grazing into the Iron Age. Daphne du Maurier's novels, set on or adjacent to Bodmin Moor, emphasize the moor's relationship to unstable and intense human emotions and crises. In West Penwith, which is geomorphological similar to Bodmin Moor, geomorphology–culture relations are demonstrated in different ways but through a similar sense of place and regional identity. The St Ives School of early 20th Century art, including the local artist Peter Lanyon and the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, draws inspiration from the local land and seascapes. The oral traditions and folklore of Zennor emphasize the importance of witchcraft and superstition that are in part founded on the wildness of upland summits and stormy coastline. Across West Penwith, tin mining and the mining trade exerted a strong impact on regional socioeconomic and cultural development from the Bronze Age until the end of the 19th Century, seen through settlement patterns, scientific innovation and Nonconformism. Today these geomorphology–culture relations are memorialized in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.

Drawing Lines with Light in Holographic Space

This paper explores the dynamic and expressive possibilities of holographic art through a comparison of art history and technical media such as photography, film and holographic technologies. Examples of modern art and creative expression of time and motions are examined using the early 20th century art movement, Cubism, where subjects are portrayed to be seen simultaneously from different angles. Folding space is represented as subject matter as it can depict space from multiple points of time. The paper also investigates the way holographic art has explored time and space. The lenticular lens-based media reveal a more subjective poetic art in the form of the lyrical images and messages as spectators pass through time, or walk along with the piece of work through an interactive process. It is argued that photographic practice is another example of artistic representation in the form of aesthetic medium of time movement and as such shares a common ground with other dynamic expression that require time based interaction.

IKLAN MASA KOLONIAL 1930 - 1942 TINJAUAN SOSIOHISTORIS

Dutch colonial culture that come to enrich the culture of Indonesia, it joined the growing culture of modern Indonesia, it can be observed through the lifestyles of people and uptake of aesthetic value. Graphic design style developed in the colonial Indies Dutch East Indies and had peaks in the artistic developments of the 1930s. The design style developed by Dutch graphic designer is a blend of modern design style that flourished in Europe early 20th-century art with a product of local culture. The combination has created a style of indie that became a source of inspiration for creativity designer graphic design of the future. Advertising colonial period in Indonesia, developed along with the progress of knowledge, especially in the fields of economy and industry, idiom - idioms unsure that are tailored to its target audience. In the context of social phenomena and the idea of ??modern advertising in Indonesia now, of course, inseparable from the history of the Dutch East Indies colonialism itself.Keyword: Advertising colonial period, westernization, a zeitgeist

From Ambiguity in Chinese Painting to Rorschach's Inkblots

Rorschach defines his method as a testing instrument based on the perception of ink blots, on the basis of which the subject finds meaning out of an associative integration of preexistent engrams (mnemonic images) with recent sense complexes. The more ambiguous the visual stimulus is, the more it requires an integrative effort to be decoded, therefore increasing the subject's mental activity and allowing his/her personality resources to be perceived more clearly. The subjects' responses to the stimuli of blots produced in this way would explain how the “mental equipment” organizes and processes stimuli on the basis of the construction of perception processes influenced by early registers in the archives of memory. The blots trigger these constructions, whose “thresholds” account for the potential readiness to tap on thoughts and emotions in processes of adapting to real life. Rorschach might have reached to his own knowledge on the process of construction that underlies the visual image. Most probably inspired by Chinese painting tradition – which exerted great influence on early 20th-century art movements, and relied on image overlapping, vacuum dynamics, shading, light and dark and ambiguity techniques – he constructed “accidental blots” as ideal stimuli to the “guided projection.” Thus, from the Chinese painting Rorschach would have also taken the role played by the spectator, who stimulated by an essentially ambiguous image (act of perception) is supposed to “complete” it in his mind (act of projection). In creating his method, then, Rorschach favored certain types of stimuli, integrating at the same time both his scientific and artistic sides.

The Trouble with Painting, the Image (less) Text

This article argues that painting and its theory founds and subtends the discipline and practices of the history of art. It proposes this epistemological situation as a problem for visual culture. The article begins by locating the centrality of painting as intellection in the person and work of Leonardo da Vinci and in the writing on him by Paul Valéry and Walter Benjamin. An investigation of the inheritance of Leonardo da Vinci in the 17th century follows, in order to historicize his exemplarity both in early 20th-century art theory and in the dissipating aura associated with painting. The emergence of the ‘art book’ in the 17th century in Italy and France, particularly the first edition of Leonardo’s Treatise on Painting, is seen as significant in the transformation of the image and its power to represent through the materiality and characteristics of the book. This transformation, the basis of ‘the trouble with painting’, occurred amongst an elite group of connoisseurs, prelates, and aristocrats. Using images and subject matter drawn from early ‘art books’, the article revises the theories of representation in painting found in Michel Foucault and Louis Marin, among others, in order to understand more clearly what has been at stake in the espousal of the visual and the verbal in the genealogy of the literature on art.