Friday, July 23, 2010

Why Do Suckerfish Die

What is the most important of the twentieth century?










What is the most important of the twentieth century?
Carmen, Lima

Dear Carmen, good question. There are some art historians they do not like to answer such questions because art is not a science. There are many variables to consider in deciding which is the most important in a defined time. I can tell you a play and another historian can tell you other work. But since you asked me, I will gladly I will answer, in my opinion.

In the twentieth century there were several works that have impressed the art world. I am going to mention chronologically. Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, 1907. Is from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. With this painting Picasso broke 600 years of use of perspective, which began in the Renaissance, making this work flat, two-dimensional instead of making three-dimensional, as it was from the fifteenth century. Another important thing in this picture is that Picasso finished with realistic representation. The 3 faces of the women on the left are based on the time Iberian wrists and 2 on the right are based on African dolls Picasso saw in the Trocadero Museum in Paris (known today as the Museum of Man.) When Matisse saw this work before he left the audience said, "This box is spitting fire," because nobody had ever painted before so everything was new. This work is also important because it initiates the development of cubism and early abstract art. Although the work has little aesthetic is a very important work because it broke roads to other art movements.

Source (urinary) 1917, a work of Marcel Duchamp, was a urinal placed side appeared to be a source of a garden. This work is what Duchamp called a "ready-made" (prefabricated) and was an object that Duchamp bought and did nothing and presented it as his work. Duchamp was the first artist to do that. Duchamp's work broke with the tradition that the artist is he who does the work and created the anti-art that anyone can be an artist. Power was brought to an art exhibition and was rejected because it was originally a urinal, was controversial and inappropriate for the patterns of society. Now is one of the major works of the twentieth century. To be good, sometimes one has to open new paths. His work also served as the beginning of art movements, Dada, surrealism and conceptual art. The original source book signed by him was lost and now there are only some replicas commissioned by Duchamp in various museums.

Guernica, 1937 Pablo Picasso, measures 349x776 cm. It is found in the Reina Sofia in Madrid. This work was painted as a claim to the bombing of Guernica by the Germans and Italians, during the English civil war. This book is so big in size that the observer has to be walking from one side to another, from far and near for the work, to appreciate it because not really a picture, because it is framed, is a mural. It was painted in black and white to give more emphasis to the colors, black represents death, Satan, sin, sorrow, pain, and the white represents peace, innocence and purity. It was painted in black and white because the images that Picasso saw in the newspaper and he wanted to represent something like the newspaper. With those colors also increases the drama. Guernica is one of the few works by Picasso with narrative. This work represents the violence, death, brutality, suffering and distress for the death of innocent civilians in the hands of the Germans. Although it was painted in a realistic way you get to move and shake. In addition, Picasso used a lot of symbolism in this work. Within the horse is a skull and the head of a bull are also a number of harlequins and crying in symbolic form. The soldier is not dead, is dying in front of us, has an open mouth, tightly closed fist on the sword and has an open hand, refuses to die. In order to symbolism is the maximum. The work is the integration of internal and external because the left is a stable, to symbolize the birthplace of Jesus Christ, while the right is the exterior. The eye-shaped lamp symbolizes the eye of God sees all and, moreover, there is a triangle symbolizing the Trinity. Guernica is now considered a monumental status as a reminder of the tragedy of war and a symbol against the war. A German asked Picasso once, did you paint it? No, he said, you painted it. To show you how deep was Picasso. I could talk much more about this work, but I want to make the very long answer.

Carmen In summary, the three works, the only dramatic emotion is Guernica. The only one that gets expensive for peace, for humanity's Guernica. Art is something beautiful with aesthetics, art can give a message to the world, art can be a protest, art is a powerful communication tool and Picasso does all that with Guernica. So I can say that for me, Guernica is the most important of the twentieth century.

Carmen Thanks for your question. Augusto

Chimpan

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