Max Ernst was born in Germany in 1891. His father enjoyed painting (as a hobby) but Ernst’s interest in art did not begin until he went to Bonn University in 1909 to study psychology and philosophy. He began painting in 1910.
When World War I broke out, Ernst was forced to serve in the army. He was not pleased to do so and thought of his time in the army as an annoying interruption of his passion: art. He was able to do some painting, though, and showed work in 1916 in Berlin, Germany.
After the war, Ernst became friends with some Dadaists and joined the movement. He created Fruit of a Long Experience from junk, just as you did if you created your own recycled art last week. In 1922 he moved to Paris to be nearer to other Dada artists.
Ernst turned to Surrealism as many other Dadaists did (including Salvador Dali). Most interesting about Ernst’s Surrealist paintings was the bird he used to symbolize himself. Rather than painting himself into his paintings, as many artists did including Sandro Botticelli, Ernst painted a bird. The bird was called Loplop and can be found in a number of Ernst’s paintings: Loplop Introduces Loplop, Surrealism and Painting.
During World War II, Ernst was twice sent to a concentration camp. The first time he was freed. The second time he had to escape. Peggy Guggenheim (Goo-gen-high-m), a lover and collector of art who set up museums all over the world, helped Ernst to safely reach the U.S. He and Peggy Guggenheim married but the relationship didn’t last long.
In New York, Ernst helped to bring about Abstract Expressionism (the art movement that included Jackson Pollock).
Ernst moved back to France in 1953 where he lived until his death in 1976.
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No post on Monday. I'm going to Massachusetts to visit my family! Enjoy your weekend and be sure to check back on Tuesday.
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Showing posts with label Dada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dada. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali strove to shock people, not only through his art, but with his actions and his words as well. He was a Surrealist in all aspects of his life, so much so that the other members of the Surrealist movement eventually tried to separate themselves from Dali.
Born in Catalonia, Spain in 1904, Salvador Dali showed artistic talent early. His father was very strict but his mother was much gentler and encouraged him to explore his interest in art. In 1916 he began drawing classes. Then, in 1922, Dali went to Madrid to study at the Academia de San Fernando.
While at school, Dali painted in the Cubist style and experimented briefly with Dada. It was also during this time that he developed the first of his many strange styles of dress: He grew his hair long and wore sideburns and he dressed in suit coats, stockings, and short pants that stopped at the knee. After nearly four years of school, his ego had grown so large that he decided he was too good for any of the professors to judge him. When he expressed this feeling, he was kicked out of the academy.
After he left the Academia de San Fernando, Dali began to experiment will Surrealism. He also grew a thin mustache that curved up at either end. Both the mustache and the surrealist style would last the rest of Dali’s life.
I cannot show you paintings here (due to copyright law) but I will direct you to some of Dali’s most famous paintings. First, look at The Persistence of Memory. The melting clocks portray the idea that time is not always steady. That weird shape in the middle of the painting is a face. It was based on a rock formation off the shore of Catalonia, Spain.
Next, look at Swans Reflecting Elephants. It is the reflections that make this painting so fantastic.
Dali included reflections in other paintings as well, including Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Focus hard and you’ll see a hand holding a blooming egg (the flower is a narcissus) and, beside it, a man leaning toward the water. The story of Narcissus tells of a man who was so in love with himself that he drown trying to embrace his own reflection. The gods then created a flower in his memory and named it after him. This paintings is Dali’s interpretation of that story.
Dali not only painted, but created sculpture, worked on films (including one for Disney), made jewelry, experimented with photography, and helped design the Dali Theater and Museum in Figueres, Spain.
In 1989, Salvador Dali died. Some believe that, on his deathbed, he was forced to sign blank canvases. As the rumor goes, paintings were later created on the canvases and passed off as Dali’s work.
There are lots of crazy stories about Dali. Sometime I'll write a post just about his wackiness but for now his art is more important.
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Born in Catalonia, Spain in 1904, Salvador Dali showed artistic talent early. His father was very strict but his mother was much gentler and encouraged him to explore his interest in art. In 1916 he began drawing classes. Then, in 1922, Dali went to Madrid to study at the Academia de San Fernando.
While at school, Dali painted in the Cubist style and experimented briefly with Dada. It was also during this time that he developed the first of his many strange styles of dress: He grew his hair long and wore sideburns and he dressed in suit coats, stockings, and short pants that stopped at the knee. After nearly four years of school, his ego had grown so large that he decided he was too good for any of the professors to judge him. When he expressed this feeling, he was kicked out of the academy.
After he left the Academia de San Fernando, Dali began to experiment will Surrealism. He also grew a thin mustache that curved up at either end. Both the mustache and the surrealist style would last the rest of Dali’s life.
I cannot show you paintings here (due to copyright law) but I will direct you to some of Dali’s most famous paintings. First, look at The Persistence of Memory. The melting clocks portray the idea that time is not always steady. That weird shape in the middle of the painting is a face. It was based on a rock formation off the shore of Catalonia, Spain.
Next, look at Swans Reflecting Elephants. It is the reflections that make this painting so fantastic.
Dali included reflections in other paintings as well, including Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Focus hard and you’ll see a hand holding a blooming egg (the flower is a narcissus) and, beside it, a man leaning toward the water. The story of Narcissus tells of a man who was so in love with himself that he drown trying to embrace his own reflection. The gods then created a flower in his memory and named it after him. This paintings is Dali’s interpretation of that story.
Dali not only painted, but created sculpture, worked on films (including one for Disney), made jewelry, experimented with photography, and helped design the Dali Theater and Museum in Figueres, Spain.
In 1989, Salvador Dali died. Some believe that, on his deathbed, he was forced to sign blank canvases. As the rumor goes, paintings were later created on the canvases and passed off as Dali’s work.
There are lots of crazy stories about Dali. Sometime I'll write a post just about his wackiness but for now his art is more important.
Return to main page.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Recycled Art, Dada Style
Look! I made a piggy! I know my pig isn’t really “beautiful.” But I did create something new out of an empty soda bottle and some toilet paper rolls. I’m not going to give you directions to make your own recycled pig. The point of this activity is to use your imagination to create something beautiful (or not so beautiful) out of trash. I will show you some pictures of the process, though:
Now that you’ve been subjected to my attempt, check out this cool roadrunner made completely out of trash.
And have a great weekend!
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Now that you’ve been subjected to my attempt, check out this cool roadrunner made completely out of trash.And have a great weekend!
Return to main page.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Dadaism
You’ve seen a Dadaist work of art, though when you saw it someone was probably poking fun at the silly bicycle wheel posing as art (Bicycle Wheel, by Marcel Duchamp). The joke’s on us, though. The Dadaists meant to turn our world upside, to make it seem crazy and absurd. They meant for us to rethink the items that surround us so that we might rethink our world.
Dadaism began in Zurich, Switzerland and spread to France, Germany, Spain, and the U.S. The movement began around 1916 and continued until about 1920.
The artists known as Dadaists thought that World War I was a terrible thing. They thought it was ridiculous for people all over the world to spend years killing each other. Because the war shaped the world in which these artists lived, this distaste for WWI became a distaste for the state of the world.
The Dadaists protested through their art the war and the current culture. Raoul Hausmann’s The Mechanical Head shows a man who cannot think for himself but accepts everything he is told. He has a wooden head with tight lips and eyes that show no expression. The mechanical man will never argue or share an opinion of his own. Look for yourself:
According to the Dadaists, once the culture had been stripped down it could be rebuilt. So the Dadaists made chaos out of the WWI culture by, for instance, calling a urinal a fountain and putting it on display (shown below, by Marcel Duchamp). The Dadaists took common objects and created art with those objects, thus bringing out the often ignored beauty of the everyday world. Marcel Duchamp also poked fun at the masters by “reworking” the Mona Lisa.
Dadaism paved the way for other art movements such as Surrealism which I’ll post about next week. The movements that follow Dadaism were charged with the responsibility of rebuilding what the Dadaists had stripped away.
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Dadaism began in Zurich, Switzerland and spread to France, Germany, Spain, and the U.S. The movement began around 1916 and continued until about 1920.The artists known as Dadaists thought that World War I was a terrible thing. They thought it was ridiculous for people all over the world to spend years killing each other. Because the war shaped the world in which these artists lived, this distaste for WWI became a distaste for the state of the world.
The Dadaists protested through their art the war and the current culture. Raoul Hausmann’s The Mechanical Head shows a man who cannot think for himself but accepts everything he is told. He has a wooden head with tight lips and eyes that show no expression. The mechanical man will never argue or share an opinion of his own. Look for yourself:
According to the Dadaists, once the culture had been stripped down it could be rebuilt. So the Dadaists made chaos out of the WWI culture by, for instance, calling a urinal a fountain and putting it on display (shown below, by Marcel Duchamp). The Dadaists took common objects and created art with those objects, thus bringing out the often ignored beauty of the everyday world. Marcel Duchamp also poked fun at the masters by “reworking” the Mona Lisa.Dadaism paved the way for other art movements such as Surrealism which I’ll post about next week. The movements that follow Dadaism were charged with the responsibility of rebuilding what the Dadaists had stripped away.Return to main page.
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