History of CUBISM &
SURREALISM
A gallery of images from these Painters
Cubism is a highly
influential visual arts style of the 20th century, was created principally by
the Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, and Georges Braque in
Paris. The cubist style rejected the
traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling and chiaroscuro
as well as the notion of art as an
_imitation of nature. Cubists portray subject matter using geometric forms,
cubes and cones.
Surrealism was growing
principally out of the earlier Dada movement, flourished in Europe between
World War I and II. Surrealism provided
a major alternative to the contemporary, highly formalistic Cubist
Movement. Some major Spanish Surreal
Painters were Salvador Dalm and Joan Mirs.
SALVADOR DALM
Salvador Dalm was born in 1904 and he lived until
1989. the Catalonian town of Figueras,
near Barcelona,. Dalm was born on May
11, 1904. His family encouraged his early interest in art; a room in the family
home was the young artist's first studio
He was the one of the greatest Surreal artists of all time. He used bizarre dream imagery to create
unforgettable and unmistakable landscapes of his inner world. His most famous work is The Persistence of
Memory. The interesting thing about Dalm_s work is that in his paintings, there
is so much more to it than what meets the eye.
If you stare hard enough, you can find many different things in his
paintings! Aside from being a painter, Salvador Dalm was a sometime writer,
sculptor and experimental film-maker. Dalm died in Figueras on January 23,
1989. You can find more information about Salvador Dalm at http://www.highwayone.com/dali/daliweb.htmlor
http://www.dali.fineartgallerie.com/Check
it Out!
JOAN MIRS
As immensely prolific and versatile artist, he created a
distinctive and witty style. He blended
Surrealism and Abstraction to create his own style of art. He was one the modern Spanish painters who
remained in Spain. He spend a good time
of his life in Paris, but lived mainly in and around his native Barcelona. Later on in life he lived on the island of
Majorca. A member of the proudly independent Catalan culture, Mirs always
sought his own path to artistic expression. There is no attempt to create the
illusion of depth; his simplified, linear figures float in an ethereal,
boundless space. Never interested in representing real places and objects, Mirs
painted from a land of dreams, a land in which fanciful, sporadic associations
determine the distribution of things. You can find out more interesting
information about Joan Mirs on the following websites: http://www.artloft.com/joanmiro.htmor
http://www.yahoo.com/arts/art_history/artists/mir_Joan_1893_1983/index.html
. Check it Out!
PABLO PICASSO
One of the most prolific artists in history was Pablo
Picasso. He spent most of his life in
France, but his in his works, he used imagery from his native country. Extra Info:
(The bullfight was his favorite subject!). His most famous painting Guernica (1937m Centro Cultural de la
Reina Sofia, Madrid)- was inspired by his revulsion at the bombing of the
Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.
As Cubism evolved, Picasso remained the dynamo at its center. Diego
Rivera described meeting him in 1913: "Will and energy blazed from his
round black eyes. His black, glossy hair was cut short like the hair of a
circus strong man...My friends and I were absorbed for hours, looking at his
paintings." The advent of war, however, dispersed the avant-garde circle.
Left in a void, Picasso exchanged Cubism for a kind of neo-classical
Surrealism, a language of personal symbols drawn from mythology; foremost among
these symbols was the minotaur. Half man, half beast, emblem of erotic
violence, and an obvious link to the bull in Spanish culture, this figure
points to the destructive potential of Picasso's machismo -- a theme that
reverberates in his paintings of visually dissected women. Here are some helpful links to have better
knowledge of Pablo Picasso:
Museo Picasso Virtual, The
Online Picasso Project is a must-see: beautifully arranged and exhaustive, it
lets visitors partake of a huge selection of articles and a wide range of works
by the prolific artist. Search by year to see a line-up of works or read a
profusely illustrated timeline of his life.
http://www.tamu.edu/mocl/picasso/
The Official Picasso Web
Site, A virtual exhibition of portraits by Picasso with an introduction by
Claude Picasso. Be sure to check out "Pernod and Picasso," an amusing
slideshow commercial on the art of drink.
http://www.clubinternet.com/picasso/
MEXICAN PAINTERS OF THE 20TH
CENTURY
DIEGO RIVERA
He was one of the greatest artists in the 20th
century. Born in Guanajuato Mexico, in 1892 he moved to Mexico City with his
family. He studied in the San Carlos Academy and in the carving workshop of
artist Josi Guadalupe Posada, whose influence was decisive. in Paris, he received the influence of
post-modernism and cubism, the mediums in which he expressed himself with ease. Diego Rivera with the use of classicist,
simplified and colorful painting recovered the pre-Columbian past catching the
most significant moments in Mexican history: the earth, the farmer, the
laborer, the costumes and popular characters. Diego Rivera's legacy to modern Mexican
art was decisive in murals and canvas; he was a revolutionary painter
looking to take art to the big public, to streets and buildings, managing a
precise, direct, and realist style, full of social content. Diego Rivera died in 1957. Here are some helpful links to provide you
with more information about Diego Rivera.
The Diego Rivera Mural
Project San Francisco's murals of Diego Rivera.
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiqo
The most complete collection on Rivera
FRIDA KAHLO
Frida Kahlo is a Mexican
painter, born on July 6, 1907 and dead on July 13, 1954. Frida claimed to be born on 1910, the year
of the outbreak of the Mexican revolution, because she wanted her life began
together with the modern Mexico. Frida
had a deep sense of independence and rebellion against social and moral
ordinary habits, moved by passion and sensuality, proud of her
"Mexicanidad" and cultural tradition set against the reigning
Americanization: everything mixed with a peculiar sense of humor. Her life was marked by physical suffering,
started with the polio contracted at the age of five and worsen by her
life-dominating event occurred in 1925. A bus accident caused severe injuries
to her body owing to a pole that pierced her from the stomach to the pelvis.
The medicine of her time tortured her body with surgical operations (32
throughout her life), corsets of different kinds and mechanical
"stretching" systems.
Lots of her works were
painted laying in the bed. Because of these physical conditions Frida was never
able to have any children and this was a great sorrow for her. She had a great love, Diego Rivera (she
married twice with this man and dedicated to him a passionate diary) but also a
lot of lovers, men and women, such as Leon Trotsky and Andri Breton's wife. You
can look up more information about Frida Kahlo on the following links.
http://www.miramax.com/frida/- the official website of the movie FRIDA,
starring Selma Hayek.
http://www.nmwa.org/search/-the nation museum of the women of the arts. Has a page about Frida.