Video Review

Dada and Surrealism

The key concepts/ideas of the video are Kurt Schwitters in 1918 understands that there are endless options in collage.  The German artists after WWI saw nonsense everywhere.  Schwitters was the founder of a magazine called “Merz.”  He represents many objects in his artwork.  Hana Hoch was a part of the Dadaist movement.  She uses art to attack certain parts of society that disgust her.  Hoch created a photomontage called “Cut with the Kitchen Knife” which goes after the Weimar regime’s political figures.  She portrays the confusion and energy in her photomontage of the modern city.  George Grosz’s art was burned by the Nazis.  He painted “Pillars of Society” which was an attack on those he had done him wrong.  He also expressed that the end of WWI did not end the evil of government.  Salvador Dali was a surrealist painter.  He probes the human subconscious darkest areas.  He created a world that made little sense.  He portrayed many landscapes.  He settled himself in 1930 in Port Legal.  In his work titled “Sleep” he remembers the area’s rock creations.  In Dali’s works one of his favorite fetishes was crutches.  He included crutches in his piece “Sleep.”  In Man Ray’s “La Fortune” some of the pictures mechanisms are true to life.  He creates an unfamiliar arrangement using familiar objects.  He dedicated a series of works to the writer Isidore Ducasse.

I chose this video because I read and answered the discussion questions from the books reading on these two subjects.  After answering the discussion questions I wanted to know more about the topics so when I saw the videos I decided I wanted to watch them to get a better understanding of the material.

 

Expressionism

Edward Munch created “Ashes” which was a piece that depicted the challenging relationship between man and woman along with unknown of sexuality.  Munch’s creative images did not go along with the norms of content and style; he broke many rules when creating imagery.  His painting “Ashes” was originally named “After the Fall.”  The imagery depicts Adam and Eve.  The forms used are greatly simplified.  It is a representation of a modern Adam and Eve.  Munch’s exhibition that was in Berlin in 1892 was closed due it causing much anger.  Many times Munch was turn his work into lithography.  Munch’s views on sexual relationship were pessimistic.  He shared these views with Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher and August Strindberg, a Swedish dramatist.  In the work “Madonna” Munch portrayed once again his ambiguity towards women.  He referred to his works as the “Frieze of Life,” that depicted his cynical and constant view on life.  Franz Marc created “The Tiger” in 1912.  Animals were his big focus.  Marc was a part of a group called “The Blue Rider.”  The group was led by Kandinsky, a Russian painter whose paintings are now perceived as the creation of the movement of modern art.  During 1913-1915 Ernest Ludwig Kirchner painted many works that represented “tarts” in the streets of a busy city.  They look to be rushed and lead the viewer into a voyeur.  He was the founder of the “The Bridge” which was an artist’s association.  Max Bechmann whose style took a dramatic turn post WWI.  He began painting in a German impressionist’s style.  With the use of bright colors and gestures his figures are suggestive of puppets.  Anselm Kiefer was born at the end of WWII in 1945 Germany.  His works refer menacingly to the war.  He loves textures.  He mixes his paints with real pieces of wood.

I chose this video because I have an interest in expressionism and thought the video would be great to watch to get even more information on expressionism.

 

The videos relate to the reading because they give a visual to what the textbook is talking about.  It also gives many examples of works that portray the specific movement being talked about.  The videos also elaborate on the material which gives a better understanding.

 

I enjoyed watching the videos and learning even more about the surrealism, dada, and expressionism movements.  I love history and I feel that art greatly ties into history therefore I enjoyed the videos that aided to my interest in history.  They provided more information to take with me to the next chapters to understand the overall art concept.