The shift towards the Modernist Period from the decadence of the Baroque happened as a result of the outrage and disapproval towards lavishness in creating works of art, a trend once dominant and fashionable amongst the wealthy circles. What emerged as a result of this isolation was a new artistic movement that focused more on inspiring awe and sublime rather than theatrical presentation of the iconography. The term Modernist period has been debated throughout the centuries by the scholars since this period holds accountable of the changes in government and the people’s way of thinking. In this genre of painting, the Modern period worshipped the Classical works made by the ancient Greek masters such as Phidias and Kallikrates. As a result of this, traces of Greek and Roman influences had been present on the artworks of the Modern period. Romantic Movement was also a part of the Modern period, a style of art that emerged in the early 19th century that popularized the concept of having a sublime iconography in painting is the true meaning of beautiful. For example, Eugene Delacroix painting titled, The Women in Algiers (ca. 1834) created using oil on canvas presents women as creatures in need of emotional company of their kin. The three women on the center and left side were of Caucasian descent while the one isolated from the rest and serving them was a Black African woman clad in her working tunic. The themes during this period were no longer restricted into something religious but rather focused on what the picture can do to illustrate the changes brought by the growing capitalist economies and the destruction of the traditional order. For once, the ordinary people had the opportunity to become subjects of artworks by artists. In this painting the colors were mostly a combination of warm and complimentary colors. Despite the fact that this painting came from the Romantic Movement, Delacroix still used the old techniques prevalent in the Baroque and Rococo such as the strong shadows and contrasts of pigments based on the position of the light. Furthermore, the artist also managed to successfully create an illusion of mass as exhibited by the bulky contours of the bodies highlighted by the shadows coming from the light source on the top left of the painting. The people in the painting are well-proportioned and their limbs are equal to their height and size of their bodies. However, unlike Baroque’s great attention to detail, this painting diminished the extra designs and focused more on how to illustrate the women while they were relaxing. In this respect, the Modernist period brought changes to the themes of the 19th century painting by removing them from the influence of the religious rigidity. It was during this era that artists began to explore various subjects that interest them. (Getlein 471-473).
Moving forward into the mid-20th century, the arts became unruly and little by little the iconography they present no longer resemble the reality but instead their creators reduced them into mere ordinary works that serve only as a copy or representation. Such was the art in the 20th century. Particularly, right after the Post-Impressionism, another avant-garde artistic movement emerged in Europe and spread to the United States this style will be known with its unruly, psychedelic colors, disproportionality, and extreme abstractness; this is known as Abstract Expressionism. At first the definition of abstract was something that cannot be easily discerned by the eyes since the meaning eludes the observer with the reduced lines and unfamiliar iconography; however, the main goal of this genre is to ruin and rebel from the traditional realistic arts into something that can be used as a tool for personal expression. These paintings such as Willem de Kooning’s Woman IV painted from 1952-1953 using oil on canvas fits the nature if the abstract expressionist art. Here, the surface of the painting is thoroughly neglected; what remained in its place was a messy surface filled with different colors of oil pigments scattered all around the canvas as if a naughty child tried to play them while the artist was painting. Yet, it was their goal to destroy the body in painting and represent them only as ordinary lines composed of black lines flat unnatural colors, and abstract images of women wearing nothing. Unlike the art of the Romantic Period which retained some of the vestige of humanity on their works, the Abstract Expressionist are not concerned whether the resulting image have a pleasing aesthetic but rather their understanding of paintings is a tool that can be used to communicate with the inner self; hence, expressionism no matter how vague the thought may be. The Modernism brought new perspectives of seeing wherein people of all ages can enjoy art without getting offended. (Getlein 503).
WORKS CITED
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art. 10th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. E-book.
