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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Modern art is a general term used for
most of the artistic production from the late 19th century until
approximately the 1970s. (Recent art production is more often called
Contemporary art or Postmodern art). Modern art refers to the then
new approach to art where it was no longer important to represent
a subject realistically — the invention of photography had
made this function of art obsolete. Instead, artists started experimenting
with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature, materials
and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction.
Among the movements which flowered in
the first decade of the 20th century were Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism
World War I brought an end to this phase, but indicated the beginning
of a number of anti-art movements, such as Dada and the work of
Marcel Duchamp, and of Surrealism. Also, artist groups like de Stijl
and Bauhaus were seminal in the development of new ideas about the
interrelation of the arts, architecture, design and art education.
Modern art was introduced to the United
States with the Armory Show in 1913, and through European artists
who moved to the U.S. during World War I. It was only after World
War II, though, that the U.S. became the focal point of new artistic
movements. The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of Abstract Expressionism,
Pop art, Op art and Minimal art; in the late 1960s and the 1970s,
Land art, Performance art, Conceptual art and Photorealism emerged.
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