art history

Illustration from The Results of the First Five-Year Plan . Varvara Stepanova. 1932 C.E. Photomontage. After the First World War, artists in Germany and the Soviet Union began to experiment with photomontage, the process of making a composite image by juxtaposing or mounting two or more photographs in order to give the illusion of a single image. A photomontage can include photographs, text, words and even newspaper clippings.  Russia had for centuries been an absolute monarchy ruled by a tsar, but between 1905 and 1922 the country underwent tremendous change, the result of two wars (World War I, 1914-18 and Civil War, 1917-22) and a series of uprisings that culminated in the October Revolution of 1917.  The young communist state was celebrated by many artists and intellectuals who saw an opportunity to end the corruption and extreme poverty that defined Russia for so long. The Russian avant-garde had experimented with new forms of art for decades and in the...

Improvisation 28 (second version) . Vassily Kandinsky. 1912 C.E. Oil on canvas. Name of a musical composition; he is composing in form.  Rooted to stories of the bible/history Associating painting with music; painting was signify something non concrete See music, hear color, synesthesia; crossing of the senses; wanted us to hear something; Influenced by many composers/musicians; atonal; chaotic, cacophony; brilliant color, hazy atmosphere, black diagonal lines that crisscross with each other Resembles war, drawn years before first World War; Russian pieces focus on this; verge of abstraction; artist believed that if things were drawn as they are, it would ruin our interpretation of them Close off our emotional ability to response to the true color/form of a piece; heavenly jerusalem; heavily influenced by religious imagery; resembles pieces related to Christian stories; representation of an apocalypse; great flood Cannons are being fired; atmospheric effect; smoke o...