History of Modern Art, Volume 1

Elizabeth C. Mansfield  is Vice President for Scholarly Programs at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.  She  has taught art history at New York University and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee . A scholar of modern European art and art historiography, her publications include books and articles on topics ranging from the origins of modernism to Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon to the contemporary performance and body art of Orlan. Her 2007 book Too Beautiful to Picture: Zeus, Myth, and Mimesis was awarded the College Art Association’s Charles Rufus Morey book prize.    The late H.H. Arnason was a distinguished art historian, educator, and museum administrator who for many years was Vice President for Art Administration of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York. He began his professional life in academia, teaching at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and the University of Hawaii. From 1947 to 1961, Arnason was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota.

• In this Section: Brief Table of ContentsFull Table of ContentsBRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1: The Origins of Modern ArtChapter 2: The Search for Truth: Early Photography, Realism, and ImpressionismChapter 3: Post-ImpressionismChapter 4: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and the Beginnings of ExpressionismChapter 5: The New Century: Experiments in Color and FormChapter 6: Expressionism in Germany and AustriaChapter 7: CubismChapter 8: Early Modern ArchitectureChapter 9: European Art after CubismChapter 10: Picturing the Wasteland: Western Europe during World War IChapter 11: Art in France after World War IChapter 12: Clarity, Certainty, and Order: De Stijl and the Pursuit of Geometric AbstractionChapter 13: Bauhaus and the Teaching of ModernismChapter 14: SurrealismChapter 15: American Art Before World War IIChapter 16: Abstract Expressionism and the New American SculptureChapter 17: Postwar European ArtChapter 18: Nouveau Réalisme and FluxusChapter 19: Taking Chances with Popular CultureChapter 20: Playing by the Rules: Sixties AbstractionChapter 21: Modernism in Architecture at Mid-CenturyChapter 22: Conceptual and Activist ArtChapter 23: Post-Minimalism, Earth Art, and New ImagistsChapter 24: PostmodernismChapter 25: Painting through HistoryChapter 26: New Perspectives on Art and AudienceChapter 27: Contemporary Art and GlobalizationFULL TABLE OF CONTENTS: Chapter 1: The Origins of Modern Art Making Art and Artists: The Role of the Critic The Modern Artist What Does It Mean to Be an Artist?: From Academic Emulation toward Romantic Originality Making Sense of a Turbulent World: The Legacy of Neoclassicism and Romanticism Chapter 2: The Search for Truth: Early Photography, Realism, and Impressionism New Ways of Seeing: Photography and its Influence Only the Truth: Realism Seizing the Moment: Impressionism and the Avant-GardeFrom Realism to Impressionism Nineteenth-Century Art in the United States Chapter 3: Post-Impressionism The Poetic Science of Color: Seurat and the Neo-ImpressionistForm and Nature: Paul Cézanne The Triumph of Imagination: Symbolism An Art Reborn: Rodin and Sculpture at the Fin de SièclePrimitivism and the Avant-Garde: Gauguin and Van GoghA New Generation of Prophets: The Nabis Montmartre: At Home with the Avant-Garde Chapter 4: Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, and the Beginnings of Expressionism “A Return to Simplicity”: The Arts and Crafts Movement and Experimental Architecture Experiments in Synthesis: Modernism beside the Hearth With Beauty at the Reins of Industry: Aestheticism and Art Nouveau Natural Forms for the Machine Age: The Art Nouveau Aesthetic Painting and Graphic Art Toward Expressionism: Late Nineteenth-Century Avant-Garde Painting beyond France Chapter 5: The New Century: Experiments in Color and Form Fauvism“Purity of Means” in Practice: Henri Matisse’s Early Career “Wild Beasts” Tamed: Derain, Vlaminck, and Dufy Religious Art for a Modern Age: Georges Rouault The Belle Époque on Film: The Lumière Brothers and Lartigue Modernism on a Grand Scale: Matisse’s Art after Fauvism Forms of the Essential: Constantin Brancusi Chapter 6: Expressionism in Germany and Austria From Romanticism to Expressionism: Corinth and Modersohn-Becker Spanning the Divide between Romanticism and Expressionism: Die Brücke The Spiritual Dimension: Der Blaue Reiter Expressionist Sculpture Self-Examination: Expressionism in Austria Chapter 7: Cubism Immersed in Tradition: Picasso’s Early Career Beyond Fauvism: Braque’s Early Career “Two Mountain Climbers Roped Together”: Braque, Picasso, and the Development of Cubism Constructed Spaces: Cubist Sculpture An Adaptable Idiom: Developments in Cubist Painting in ParisOther Agendas: Orphism and Other Experimental Art in Chapter 8: Early Modern Architecture “Form Follows Function”: The Chicago School and the Origins of the Skyscraper Modernism in Harmony with Nature: Frank Lloyd Wright Temples for the Modern City: American Classicism 1900—15New Simplicity Versus Art Nouveau: Vienna Before World War ITradition and Innovation: The German Contribution to Modern Architecture Toward the International Style: The Netherlands and Belgium Chapter 9: European Art after Cubism Fantasy Through Abstraction: Chagall and the Metaphysical School “Running on Shrapnel”: Futurism in Italy “Our Vortex is Not Afraid”: Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism A World Ready for Change: The Avant-Garde in RussiaUtopian Visions: Russian Constructivism Chapter 10: Picturing the Wasteland: Western Europe during World War I The World Turned Upside Down: The Birth of Dada “Her Plumbing and Her Bridges”: Dada Comes to America “Art is Dead”: Dada in Germany Idealism and Disgust: The “New Objectivity” in Germany Chapter 11: Art in France after World War I Eloquent Figuration: Les MauditsDedication to Color: Matisse’s Later Career Celebrating the Good Life: Dufy’s Later Career Eclectic Mastery: Picasso’s Career after the War Sensuous Analysis: Braque’s Later Career Austerity and Elegance: Léger, Le Corbusier, and Ozenfant Chapter 12: Clarity, Certainty, and Order: De Stijl and the Pursuit of Geometric Abstraction The de Stijl Idea Mondrian: Seeking the Spiritual Through the Rational Van Doesburg, de Stijl, and Elementarism De Stijl Realized: Sculpture and Architecture Chapter 13: Bauhaus and the Teaching of Modernism Audacious Lightness: The Architecture of Gropius The Building as Entity: The Bauhaus The Vorkurs: Basis of the Bauhaus CurriculumDie Werkmeistern: Craft Masters at the BauhausFrom Bauhaus Dessau to Bauhaus U.S.A. Chapter 14: Surrealism Breton and the Background to Surrealism “Art is a Fruit”: Arp’s Later Career Hybrid Menageries: Ernst’s Surrealist Techniques “Night, Music, and Stars”: Miró and Organic—Abstract Surrealism Methodical Anarchy: André Masson Enigmatic Landscapes: Tanguy and Dalí Surrealism beyond France and Spain: Magritte, Delvaux, Bellmer, Matta, and LamWomen and Surrealism: Oppenheim, Cahun, Maar, Tanning, and Carrington Never Quite “One of Ours”: Picasso and Surrealism Pioneer of a New Iron Age: Julio González Surrealism’s Sculptural Language: Giacometti’s Early Career Surrealist Sculpture in Britain: Moore Bizarre Juxtapositions: Photography and Surrealism Chapter 15: American Art Before World War II American Artist as Cosmopolitan: Romaine Brooks The Truth about America: The Eight and Social CriticismA Rallying Place for Modernism: 291 Gallery and the Stieglitz Circle Coming to America: The Armory Show Sharpening the Focus on Color and Form: Synchromism and Precisionism The Harlem Renaissance Painting the American Scene: Regionalists and Social Realists Documents of an Era: American Photographers Between the Wars Social Protest and Personal Pain: Mexican Artists The Avant-Garde Advances: Toward American Abstract ArtSculpture in America Between the Wars Chapter 16: Abstract Expressionism and the New American Sculpture Mondrian in New York: The Tempo of the Metropolis Entering a New Arena: Modes of Abstract Expressionism The Picture as Event: Experiments in Gestural Painting Complex Simplicities: Color Field Painting Drawing in Steel: Constructed Sculpture Textures of the Surreal: Biomorphic Sculpture and AssemblageExpressive Vision: Developments in American Photography Chapter 17: Postwar European Art Re-evaluations and Violations: Figurative Art in France A Different Art: Abstraction in France Postwar Juxtapositions: Figuration and Abstraction in Italy and Spain “Forget It and Start Again”: The CoBrA Artists and Hundertwasser The Postwar Body: British Sculpture and Painting Marvels of Daily Life: European Photographers Chapter 18: Nouveau Réalisme and Fluxus “Sensibility in Material Form”: Klein Fluxus Chapter 19: Taking Chances with Popular Culture “This is Tomorrow”: Pop Art in Britain Signs of the Times: Pop Art in the United States Getting Closer to Life: Happenings and Environments “Just Look at the Surface”: The Imagery of Everyday Life Poetics of the “New Gomorrah”: West Coast Artists Personal Documentaries: The Snapshot Aesthetic in American Photography Chapter 20: Playing by the Rules: Sixties Abstraction Drawing the Veil: Post Painterly Abstraction At an Oblique Angle: Diebenkorn Forming the Unit: Hard-Edge Painting Seeing Things: Op Art New Media Mobilized: Motion and Light The Limits of Modernism: Minimalism Complex Unities: Photography and Minimalism Chapter 21: Modernism in Architecture at Mid-Century “The Quiet Unbroken Wave”: The Later Work of Wright and Le Corbusier Purity and Proportion: The International Style in America Internationalism Contextualized: Developments in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia Breaking the Mold: Experimental Housing Arenas for Innovation: Major Public Projects Chapter 22: Conceptual and Activist Art Art as Language Conceptual Art as Cultural Critique The Medium Is the Message: Early Video Art When Art Becomes Artist: Body Art Radical Alternatives: Feminist Art Erasing the Boundaries between Art and Life: Later Feminist Art Invisible to Visible: Art and Racial Politics Chapter 23: Post-Minimalism, Earth Art, and New Imagists Metaphors for Life: Process Art Big Outdoors: Earthworks and Land Art Public Statements: Monuments and Large-Scale Sculpture Body of Evidence: Figurative Art Animated Surfaces: Pattern and Decoration Figure and Ambiguity: New Image Art Chapter 24: Postmodernism Postmodernism in Architecture “Complexity and Contradiction”: The Reaction Against Modernism Sets In In Praise of “Messy Vitality”: Postmodernist Eclecticism Ironic Grandeur: Postmodern Architecture and History What Is a Building?: Constructivist and Deconstructivist Architecture Structure as Metaphor: Architectural Allegories Flexible Spaces: Architecture and Urbanism Postmodern Practices: Breaking Art History Chapter 25: Painting through History Primal Passions: Neo-Expressionism Searing Statements: Painting as Social Conscience In the Empire of Signs: Neo-Geo The Sum of Many Parts: Abstraction in the 1980s Taking Art to the Streets: Graffiti and Cartoon Artists Painting Art History Chapter 26: New Perspectives on Art and Audience Commodity Art Postmodern Arenas: Installation Art Strangely Familiar: British and American Sculpture Reprise and Reinterpretation: Art History as Art New Perspectives on Childhood and Identity The Art of Biography Meeting Points: New Approaches to Abstraction Chapter 27: Contemporary Art and Globalization Lines That Define Us: Locating and Crossing Borders Skin Deep: Identity and the Body Occupying the Art World Globalization and Arts Institutions

“This is a significant and usable text for all undergraduate students of art history, and a very good source book for graduate students. It is an excellent source book for students studying the late nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries.”- ­Caterina Pierre, Kingsborough Community College CUNY  “It demonstrates a strong commitment to writing a history of modern art that is inclusive of women and artists of color. It is clearly written and works toward thorough consideration of a topic rather than superficial analysis. The best text for a course on Modern Art.”- Cynthia Fowler, Emmanuel College  “Comprehensive, in-depth study of respective stylistic developments in history of modernism; high-quality photographic reproductions; fundamental investment in discussing objects through its own evidence; willingness of text and author(s) to adjust with the times.”-  Mysoon Rizk, University of Toledo  “I am pleased with the inclusion of more women and artists of color and with the context, technique and source boxes. As well, I am pleased with the increased quality of reproductions.”- Prudence Roberts, Portland Community College