Crash Course Art History: Modern Art

Introduction

• The Comedian by Maurizio Cattelan (2019)
  • Artwork: Banana duct-taped to a wall
  • Meaning: "The banana is supposed to be a banana"
  • Public reaction: Surprise and criticism over its $150,000 price

Definition of Modern Art

• Modern art is not current, but a historical movement
• Modernism: Late 19th to early 20th century
  • Artists reject traditional styles and subjects
  • Art reflects the chaos and changes in the world

Contextual Background

• Early 20th-century societal changes
  • Technological advancements (railroads, phone lines)
  • Urbanization and decline of religion's role
  • Emergence of psychology
  • Decolonization movements
• World Wars' influence on the art

Abstraction

• Shift from representational art to abstraction
  • Focus on inner thoughts and emotions
  • Use of lines, shapes, and colors
• Early European abstract artists: Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian
• Hilma af Klint: Early abstractionist

Influence of Non-European Cultures

• Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” (1907)
  • Influence of African art and masks
  • Example of primitivism: European artists drawing from non-European art
• Criticism of Primitivism
  • 1984 MoMA exhibit controversy
  • Lack of context for non-European works

Decentering Europe in Art History

• Challenge traditional Eurocentric art history
• Joaquín Torres-García's "Inverted America" (1943)
  • Illustration of selective perspective in map-making and art history

Global Modernism

• Art as a global network of influences
• Example artists:
  • Wifredo Lam: Combined Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, and European influences
  • Velino Shije Herrera: Zia Pueblo artist blending cultural symbolism

Modernism in Postcolonial Contexts

• Gaganendranath Tagore in India
  • Developed unique modernism using cubism
  • Captured essence of local life

Conclusion

• Modernism is diverse and global
• Reflects moments in history when the world interconnected
• Artistic influence knows no borders

Next Episode

• Public art: Monuments, memorials, and memory

Note: This episode was filmed at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and is part of the Crash Course series.