Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on Abstract Expressionism
Use of symbolism in everyday use
Essays about abstract expressionism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on Abstract Expressionism
Artists reimagine the human form in their artworks by using past experiences, intentions, ideas, materials, practises and applying them to the human form in an abstracted or changed reformation. World issues and interests also contribute to the recreation of the human form as they can give a traumatising or positive impression on the artist which would lead to new ideas for recreation. Art is an outlet for an artist to release his/her inner intentions and any other beliefs that cannot be seen by looking at his/her physical appearance, naturally these hidden beliefs, intentions, experiences can be easily moulded and distorted into and abstract and intricate piece of art.
Henry Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was the most influential English sculptor of his generation. Examples of his masterpieces include “The reclining figure” “King and Queen” and “large interior form” all organic artworks that depict and emphasise the human figure in a new
…show more content…
In comparison to Henry Moore, Rodin’s work is much more realistic in fact critics were quoted saying that the artwork was thought to be cast from a living model whereas Moore’s work is greatly abstracted. If you look at “The Thinker” by Rodin and “the reclining figure” by Moore you will see Rodin’s work has such explicit detail from facial features to hair grooves keeping in mind that this is a metal sculpture and Moore has no facial features or even a top half of a head. Rodin once said “To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.” this is evidence to Rodin’s favour of the human figure as it is, he was very fond of nature as many artists are. His creations focused on media not figure. Using refined natural materials like bronze and other metals he was able to reimagine the human figure in a different
Art has always been considered the effervescent universal tool of communication. Art does not require a concrete directive . One sculpture,drawing or written creative piece, can evoke a myriad of emotions and meaning . Artistic pieces can sometimes be considered the regurgitation of the artist's internal sanctum. In Richard Hooks graphic painting,Adoption of the Human Race, the effect of the imagery,symbols ,color and emotional content projects a profound unification of a spiritual edict.
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) was born on November 12th 1840 in Paris, France. Very few would dispute the statement that Rodin was the greatest genius in the world of sculpture in the late 19th century. There were very few artists who faced the criticism; slander and personal insults during their lifetimes as was given to Rodin likewise there are few artists who have known such personal glory during their carriers. Rodin's sculpture was so powerful and original that those in control of the art world did not understand him in his day. He was refused admittance into the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three times and was the brunt of many articles criticizing his works. His talent and art was so powerful that despite all of the official disdain he received he was able to overcome these obstacles placed in his path and emerged on the international scene attracting collectors from around the world to his studio seeking his works. Rodin's youth was spent drawing and sculpting at an early age. He spent much of his time at the Louver where he met Antoine Louis Barye. After his three refusals of admission to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts the eighteen-year-old Rodin worked as a craftsman and jewelry maker as well as at other odd jobs. His beloved sister died in 1862, which shook Rodin greatly, and he entered the Fathers of the Saint-Sacrament. It was there that he created his second sculpture, a bust of father Piere-Julien Eynard, his first bust being that of his own father. After two years Rodin reali...
Like the skin is mostly smooth because the artist wanted the sculpture to mimic reality. Also the hair and the dress is similar in texture its wavy and folded, it mimics real hair and dress that is flowing in the wind. Light plays a part with the texture because where the sculpture is smooth more light reflect. The sculpture is very balance and symmetrical because it mimics a real person in many ways. I think that was the author mostly intended for viewers to think.
Creating a sculpture can last a lifetime if made well like this George Washington Carver sculpture he designed. Artist Christian Petersen put in outstanding work to create a piece of work that not only he enjoys, but others can see and enjoy as well. Every piece of art has a story and that is overlooked most of the time. People seem to look at the art work and that’s just about it. When starting a book do you just look at the cover and not actually read the book? No, because then you are creating a false illusion. The George Washington Carver Sculpture is more than just a silhouette of himself, it emphasizes the vision for the future of agriculture and his passion for science, students and farmers Carver had. I recommend everyone to go check out the outstanding work Christian Petersen put into creating the George Washington Carver sculpture.
The human form transcends throughout time persistently present in art. Dating all the way back to Paleolithic human beings our renderings of idealized forms have served many purposes. Though the Neolithic and Paleolithic purpose of these renderings is widely speculative the range of reason for these depictions ranges from idolization and worship to assertion of aristocratic and economic status even to simply serving as statements of self-expression. Amongst ruins and artifacts, sculptures of ancient cultures demonstrate the ways in which humans perceptions of what is aesthetically desirable have progressed. Two idealized sculptures the Woman from Willendorf and the Khafre statue with approximately 21,500 years separating their individual gestations this demonstrate the stylistic progression of idealized imagery through time.
...was created with an innovative production method for bronze sculptures. (Lee, p. 57) The advancements in technology could explain the massive differences in size, as well as the level of intricacy in regards to the motifs on both sculptures.
Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation of one’s self.
Donald Judd was an American artist central in the development of a movement beginning in 1963 labeled Minimalism, a term and concept, he profusely detested and rejected. His contribution to the progress of art as a whole through challenging European artistic conventions was immense, as a result he revolutionised practices and attitudes surrounding art making and the exhibition of art. After his abandonment of painting in the 1960’s, he progressed to working three-dimensionally producing simple, often repeated forms, with an intrinsic focus on the use of space. In his eyes, he was reducing painting and sculpture to its basic elements through the use of simple forms, industrial materials, solid colour on flat surfaces, and natural light. However he refused for his work to be classed as sculpture, insisting on the term ‘specific objects’, highlighting its distance from previous notions of art-making in sculpture. These were "specific" due to their carefully orchestrated shape, scale, proportions, and materiality. And they were "objects" because rather than being sculpted, they were fabricated by the artist.
Sculptures are used to portray specific idealizations of the artists about one subject, whether the object is a person, animal, or anything else. Sculptures are a form of art thus also a form of expression that is seen from the artists style or the composure of the sculpture. The sculpture of George Lynn Cross and the sculpture of Carl Albert both show what the artist would like the audience to focus on depending on the various attributes and characteristics of the sculpture. Art has a broad meaning, in all if not most cases art is defined by the ability of the work to appeal to one’s senses thus demanding analysis and countless perspectives. Sculptures are two or three dimensional artforms made by artists to provide a visual perspective.
The aesthetic form may be “tentatively define[d] as the result of the transformation of a given content (actual or historical, personal or social fact) into a self-contained whole,”. Art, when created in accordance to the aesthetic form, is the channeling of an experience into a subjective format, i.e. a novel, a painting, a piece of music, or any of the many different art forms. The reality of an event is translated into the chosen medium, and in this sublimation of the event, it is modified in accordance to the “demands of the art form” and the subjective perspective of the individual. The re-presentation of this event serves to “invoke the need for hope- a need rooted in the new consciousness embodied in the work of art”. When an event or object becomes the subject of a piece of art, it is necessarily changed according to the restrictions of the art form, artist, and veiwer. This change creates a new reality in where the event may take on a new meaning, thus challenging the original content of the event. This meaning is further influenced by subjectivity of the
Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker was created in 1880 with an original size of about 70 cm high. When it was created, Rodin used to call it The Poet and it was designed to be put on The Gates of Hell, another of Rodin’s work. This sculpture is an enlarged replica created in 1903 located on the Fine Arts Museum of Montreal, and the original sculpture is located on Paris in the museum of Rodin. It was created with patinated plaster for bronze casting.
Cultural and political changes such as the spread of Marxism, the rise of psychoanalytical ideas, and the growth of media in the face of technological advancement prompted many artists to reassess notions of art (Farthing). Rejecting the idea that art must realistically depict the word, many artists started to explore abstract ideas such as symbolism and focused more on the representation of emotions or personal subjects they had direct experience or interest in (MoMA). Modernist sculpture cannot be identified by one defining characteristic, rather it encompasses different art movements and represents a pivotal moment for sculptors to investigate different materials, methods of construction and formal elements of sculpture such as form, space and mass. Constantin Brancusi played a major role in developing modernist sculpture, after rejecting Rodin’s naturalism. Brancusi tried to capture the essence of the subject by distilling them down to their most refined and simplified forms. For example, he used a section of the body to represent its entirety, often focusing on the head as he felt that was the most expressive component of a human being. He also emphasized a commitment to the material’s natural properties, using a direct carving
In an article that takes a look at the modernism of Rodin’s work, it is stated that, “Some saw the Age of Bronze as merely one more academic nude, and his subsequent exploration of the expressivity of the human form has been dismissed as little more than pandering to melodrama and sentiment… literature on the sculptor caricatured nineteenth-century sculpture as a wasteland in which Rodin was the solitary oasis, and he was often held up as the only sculptor of any interest comparable to the rapid advances of modern painting” (Getsy 132). Rodin’s work was not interesting simply because he was the only “interesting” sculptor; Rodin’s work was interesting because he had modernized and turned to a new direction. When Rodin created The Age of Bronze in 1876, many critized him for “cheating” by casting his sculpture from a live model; however, after more research and Rodin himself providing evidence of his model, it was clear that this sculpture was in fact not cast from a live model. In order to achieve this level of modernism Rodin had to cast aside all the traditional styles and ideas that had been used in sculpting. This is shown in the article when the author states that Rodin, “Employed and adapted a sophisticated and subtle formal language of the sculptural body.
“England in the early 1930s were interested in abstract art at a time when this was considered the ultimate in artistic extremism. In his own work from 1931 onward, Moore moved tentatively away from the human figure to experiment with abstract shapes and also to combine abstract shapes with references to the figure.” - Alan Bowness
Having realized art as a structured cultural phenomenon, and having emptied its direct and apparent meaning, it is possible to identify all its possible significations. Interestingly enough, I find that art reveals many diametrically opposed significations: expression and oppression, bias and acceptance, individual and society, creativity and confinement, and freedom and convention, among others. Art signifies the de-politicization of our culture, for even the most political of pieces cease to cause a stir among the masses.