Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky, August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American modernist artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his photography, and he was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. Ray is also noted for his work with photograms, which he called "rayographs" in reference to himself.[1] Life and career[edit] Background and early life[edit] During his career as an artist, Man Ray allowed few details of his early life or family background to be known to the public. Man Ray's father worked in a garment factory and ran a small tailoring business out of the family home. First artistic endeavors[edit] The Misunderstood (1938), collection of the Man Ray Estate Man Ray displayed artistic and mechanical abilities during childhood.
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marqués de Dalí de Pubol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), known as Salvador Dalí (/ˈdɑːli/;[1] Catalan: [səɫβəˈðo ðəˈɫi]), was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter and sculptor born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters.[2][3] His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. Dalí attributed his "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes"[4] to an "Arab lineage", claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. Biography[edit]
Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself and/or an idea/concept.[1] Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. Founding of the movement[edit] Surrealist Manifesto[edit] Expansion[edit]
Edvard Munch Edvard Munch (Norwegian: [ˈɛdvɑʈ muŋk] ( Life[edit] Childhood[edit] Edvard Munch was born in a rustic farmhouse in the village of Ådalsbruk in Løten, Norway, to Laura Catherine Bjølstad and Christian Munch, the son of a priest. The family moved to Christiania (now Oslo) in 1864 when Christian Munch was appointed medical officer at Akershus Fortress. Christian's positive behavior toward his children was overshadowed by his morbid pietism. Christian Munch's military pay was very low, and his attempts at developing a private side practice failed, keeping his family in perennial poverty.[2] They moved frequently from one sordid flat to another. Studies and influences[edit] Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm, 1895 In 1879, Munch enrolled in a technical college to study engineering, where he excelled in physics, chemistry, and math. After numerous experiments, Munch concluded that the Impressionist idiom did not allow sufficient expression. Paris[edit] Berlin[edit] Edvard Munch 1902 The Scream[edit]
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləm vɑn ˈɣɔx] ( );[note 1] 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work—notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color—had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness,[1][2] he died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).[3][note 2] Letters Vincent c. 1873 aged 19. This photograph was taken at the time when he was working at the branch of Goupil & Cie's gallery in The Hague.[5][6] Although many are undated, art historians have generally been able to put them in chronological order. Biography Early life Vincent c. 1866, approx. age 13 As a child, Vincent was serious, silent, and thoughtful. The house "Holme Court" in Isleworth, where Van Gogh stayed in 1876 [23][24] Van Gogh's religious zeal grew until he felt he had found his true vocation. Emerging artist
Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði]; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Spanish Catalan architect from Reus, who was the figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família. Much of Gaudí's work was marked by his big passions in life: architecture, nature, religion.[3] Gaudí studied every detail of his creations, integrating into his architecture a series of crafts in which he was skilled: ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís, made of waste ceramic pieces. After a few years, under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernista movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Biography[edit] Birth, childhood and studies[edit] Personal life[edit]
Alphonse Mucha Alfons Maria Mucha[1][2] (Czech: [ˈalfons ˈmuxa] ( ); 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), often known in English and French as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist,[3] known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs. Early years[edit] Alphonse Maria Mucha was born in the town of Ivančice, Moravia (the present Czech Republic). Mucha moved to Paris in 1887, and continued his studies at Académie Julian and Académie Colarossi. Poster design by Mucha for Cycles Perfecta (1902) Marriage[edit] Mucha married Maruška (Marie/Maria) Chytilová on 10 June 1906, in Prague. Le Pater[edit] The Slav Epic[edit] A study of a man sitting 1891 Mucha spent many years working on what he considered his life's fine art masterpiece, The Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej), a series of twenty huge paintings depicting the history of the Czech and the Slavic people in general, bestowed to the city of Prague in 1928. Death[edit]
Gustav Klimt Life and work[edit] Early life and education[edit] Gustav Klimt was born in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary, the second of seven children—three boys and four girls. Klimt lived in poverty while attending the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbeschule), where he studied architectural painting until 1883. In 1888 Klimt received the Golden Order of Merit from Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria for his contributions to murals painted in the Burgtheater in Vienna. During this period Klimt fathered at least fourteen children.[5] Vienna secession years[edit] In 1894, Klimt was commissioned to create three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. All three paintings were destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945.[9][10] In 1902, Klimt finished the Beethoven Frieze for the Fourteenth Vienna Secessionist exhibition, which was intended to be a celebration of the composer and featured a monumental polychrome sculpture by Max Klinger.
Expressionism Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.[1][2] Expressionist artists sought to express meaning[3] or emotional experience rather than physical reality.[3][4] Origin of the term[edit] In 1905, a group of four German artists, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, formed Die Brücke (the Bridge) in the city of Dresden. This was arguably the founding organization for the German Expressionist movement, though they did not use the word itself. A few years later, in 1911, a like-minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich. "View of Toledo" by El Greco, 1595/1610 has been indicated to have a particularly striking resemblance to 20th-century expressionism. Expressionist-Visual artists[edit] In other arts[edit] Dance[edit]