Realism and Impressionism in the book Art forms

Ch21. Using only examples from the text compare and contrast the concepts of Realism and Impressionism.

In art, the concepts of realism and impressionism seem to be related although they have distinctive differences. Impressionism is a concept developed by the artists of the 19th century that was used as a style of art where their main focus was on a capturing of moments that seemed to pass quickly. The artists who were involved in advancing impressionism focused on trying to create an impression of movement in paintings through the use of loose brush strokes, blotches of color and sketchy lines that blended together and created an impression of movement.

Realism as its name suggests aims at ensuring that art is used to represent the contemporary life in a way that creates images as true and objective. Realism as a style of art involves the use of real and objective images to represent the life of common people and not the financial and socially privileges as impressionism does. Artists who focus on realism as an artistic style of representing the real world focus on making the image as real as possible just as in a photograph. Artists who subscribe to realism have a focus on things that relate with the common people such as farm workers, livestock, middle class, crops and farm workers.

The concept or realism has been used as a reference point for the beginning of modern art. A realism concept focuses on the belief that everyday life and activities in the modern day should form the basis for themes of modern art. In terms of philosophy, realism has succeeded in embracing progressive aims of modern art, coming up with new truths by reexamining and overturning of widely used systems that characterized ancient art. An impressionism concept contrary to the realism has been used as a reference point for ancient art. Impressionism was used to capture moments and paintings were made to depict motion.

Realism art is different from the concept of impressionism art as it does not focus on the romantics of the world where artists view the world through a ‘colored where artist they attempt to capture the world. The artist who followed the concept of realism was inspired by the shift in the focus of art and was focusing on representing the world through the lens of the common people. Realism artists did not focus on romanticizing art as the impressionists did.

Ch22. Using only examples from the text describe the artistic goals and development of Cubism

Cubism was pioneered by Pablo Picasso in the year 1907 to the year 1917 where Picasso started the Cubism movement with specific artistic goals and development objectives. Cubism movement was started as a style of revolutionizing art after he thought that it was supposed to evolve to meet the demands of a changing society. Cubism movement involved challenging the convention dimensions of art that seemed to ensure art was in the form of realistic forms and replacing it with cubism. The main aim of Picasso was to come up with a new method through which artists could see the world in the context of modernism and he achieving his objective through Cubism.

Picasso had advanced Cubism by the year 1930 when he tried to link it with surrealist ideas. The union between Cubism and Surrealist helped Picasso achieve one of his biggest political paintings that had a lot of influence across the artistic and political world globally, the Guernica painting. Picasso’s painting Guernica had a lot of political impact globally and it was the main focus for the Cahiers d’ Art’s special issue in New York and it was read by many emerging artists.

Through the Guernica painting, Picasso was able to advance the objectives of Cubism. This painting was clear and stunning and sought to be unique from the contemporary paintings. Through this painting, Picasso was able to represent the raw power of communicating the horrors that he enhanced through the surrealistic, biomorphic creatures, the painting was in grey and white as the artist sough to create an immediate impact. The Guernica painting was big as the artist wanted the painting to be for the public consumption as it was to be displayed in Paris and it was able to convey its intended public and political message to the world. He desire by Picasso to challenge the existing and traditional forms of art.

Picasso succeeded in developing Cubism into an acceptable form of art over the years. The artist was engaged in creating Cubism paintings for around then years where he achieved tremendous achievements is pursuit to change the public perception of art. Cubism evolved from Analytical Cubism (1907-1912) followed by Synthetic Cubism between (1913-1917). Analytical Cubism involved the utilization of muted color palette, blacks and grays through which he could communicate unemotional subjects.

Ch23. After watching the entire BBC documentary Picasso’s Guernica ‘The Power of Art’ discuss how Picasso used art as a way of documenting his feelings towards his Spanish heritage and the destruction of the small Basque town of Guernica. Does the film represent what is happening in the world today? Explain thoroughly (Page Ref: 421 Political Expressions and the video Picasso’s Guernica ‘The Power of Art’)

One of the masterpiece paintings of the 20th century was the Guernica painting done by Picasso at the wake of the Spanish civil war. Through this painting, art was used as an effective tool in used by the artist to make a political statement as a reaction to the Nazi bombings on the town of Guernica as the Spanish Civil War. The Guernica painting represented the effects of the civil war and the suffering through which individuals especially innocent civilians who were caught between the war. The painting by Picasso gained of great monumental significance as many people came to associate the painting as a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of the Spanish civil war, a symbol of ant-war and a representative of the need for peace in Spain and across the globe. Once the artist had completed the painting, it went on a brief tour across the globe giving it fame and significance and importantly attracting the attention of the world to the Spanish Civil War.

Many people consider the Guernica painting a combination of epic and pastoral styles. The quality of the painting carries more meaning as it is a display of quality similar to a photographic record. The painting was huge to allow many people to view the painting that was done is blue, black and white colors. The painting has since been preserved in a museum known as Reina Spanish in the Spanish capital Madrid.

Many people have interpreted the message carried by Guernica differently and tend to contradict depending on the person interpreting it. In the paintings, Picasso uses bulls as part of the art to symbolize different aspects of his art. Due to the dynamic of the art expressed by Picasso in his various paintings, it can be challenging to correctly interpret his paintings with little difficult.

The film clearly depicts what is happening in the current world situation where civilians find themselves at the center of struggles for political power. The documentary by BBC on Guernica is a clear representation of the role that art can play in the current world and help to initiate action against various issues that affect many countries.

Ch24. Demonstrate the influence of feminism thought on the postwar art. Use only examples from the text to support your essay.

Feminism is refers to the different movements that are political, social, ideological with the sole goal of defining, establishing and achieving economic, political, individual and social equality and equity among the sexes, male and female. The second world war ended and the United States emerged as a politically and economically stable country with its economy growing steadily with the artist population in the country rapidly multiplying as more people relocated from European countries to the country. During this post war period, New York City continued to emerge as the center of art as it competed with the former center of art, Paris. The post war period in the United States refers to the time following the end of the Second World War and it covers the years between 1945 and 1970.

Feminism was the platform that played a leading role to giving women artists’ public recognition as previously most women artists were invisible. Feminism was a movement that was challenging the existing patriarchal society that favored men at the expense of women. At the end of the Second World War, feminism started gaining momentum and more women artists gaining recognition for their work. Art during and before the Second World War was men dominated and it was characterized with art that praised men with features such as womanizing, hard drinking and acts of abstract expressionism. The post war art influenced by art sought to create alternatives and change the established art market that seemed to neglect women artists.

Feminism had a great influence on post war art as most of the feminist arts focused on creating a dialogue between their audience and their art to enhance the inclusion of women perspective in art. Feminist artists viewed art as more than just an object for beauty but it could be used as a platform that could be used to incite viewers to create a dialogue over social issues. Feminist artists aimed at ensuring that they could use art to push the women agenda across the political and social landscape with the aim of questioning the gender equality issue and probably initiating global action towards achieving equality.