Art Movements
Surrealism
Surrealism as an art movement began in Europe around the time of World War I. According to sources, the French poet and founder of founder of surrealism Andre Breton, after visiting Mexico in 1938 claimed it to be "the surrealist country par excellence." Though established in Europe, Surrealism had an enormous influence in the art of Latin America. "This is where the mestizo culture, the legacy of European conquer over indigenous peoples, embodies contradiction, a central value of surrealism."[1] The spread of surrealism to Latin America is a result of European artists emigrating to the Americas. Two artists we talk about, Matta and Frida are often pegged as surrealist painters, though Frida denied that label throughout her life.Some of the defining characteristics of surrealism included an exploration into dreamlike qualities. The subconscious, as well as Freud's theories about the id, the ego, and the super ego were believed to be the doorways to the more authentic self. Surrealism was fascinated with imagery of perverse sexuality, decay, and violence. It aimed to push the boundaries on socially acceptable behavior in order to get to the artists truer, uncensored sense of self. This gave artists permission to express their most basic drives, hunger, sexuality, fear, dread, and so on, all the while putting emphasis on the mysterious, irrational, and mythological.
Written by Meelina Galope
Mexican Muralism
During the Revolution of Mexico there was a belief that the land should be in the hands of laborers, the very people who worked it. This demand for agrarian reform signaled a new age in Mexican society: issues concerning the popular masses, universal public education and health care, expanded civil liberties. The Mexican mural movement, or Mexican muralism, began as a government-funded form of public art. Mural painting starting in the 1920s, generally with social and political messages as part of efforts to reunify the country under the post Mexican Revolution government.
Famous muralist were, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The muralists differed in style and all believed that art was for the education and betterment of the people. Social and political messages were created on public buildings, starting a tradition which continues to this day in Mexico and has had impact in other parts of the Americas, including the United States where it served as inspiration for the Chicano art movement.
written by Sarai Hernandez
Expressionism
Most popular in Germany from 1905 to the early 1930s, expressionism was a response to anxiety about humanity's loss of spirituality and honesty. Brushstrokes as well as most painted works were exaggerated to show the extreme feeling and/or emotional state of the artist. Works during this time were distorted, jarring, yet very vivid in at least one aspect. One of the most famous works (although not by a Latin American artist) is that of The Scream by Edvard Munch.By Deanna Gee
American Modernism
American modernism was brought about by the widespread changes in culture and society in the age of modernity. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, the trend of philosophical thought arising started an artistic and cultural movement throughout the United States. American modernism can be seen as a form of rejection of Enlightenment thinking, with the goal to find a way to better represent reality in a newly industrialized world. Artists readily embraced the new era of modernism at the beginning of the 20th century, bringing about the first cubic landscapes, still-life and portraits, and bright colors in paintings. The movement was groundbreaking, with the Impressionist, Fauvist and Cubist paintings startling American viewers who had become used to more conventional art. The uneasiness was quickly overcome however, by the inspiration the artists were creating with their radical and new ideas.
The early 20th century became one to be remembered, with it now being a symbol of the time when artists explored different and unique techniques and expressiveness in their art. Art schools began to spring up around the nation, and many infamous artists got their beginning. The visual arts were changing, with several new themes and meanings being expressed in ways they never were before. Artists like Charles Burchfield, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove and Georgia O'Keefe became well known, with O'Keefe being thought of as 'the mother of American Modernism'. The artist group, The Eight, focused their work on the modern city and brought to light the diversity of different classes and citizens.
Modernism had now become known as "the movement that bridged the gap between the arts and a socially diverse audience in the U.S." The endless amount of new forms of artwork were being featured at museums and galleries around the nation, and brought about a feeling of awareness of the self-consciousness and awareness of the American people and the American Identity. American modernism created a movement of creativeness and inspired the American people to think outside of the box and to express themselves in a creative way.
Written by Megan Corcoran
