Mike Allen

Professor Wadsworth
Early 20th Century Art
31 March 2016

Art Midterm Essays #2

At the beginning of the 20th century the art world began to change, it became
stranger and more abstract as the constraints of realism began to lift themselves from
non-filmic artistic mediums. It was a time where art evolved and changed and opened
new paths through which artists could express themselves artistically in ways that were
unbound by the world as it is. There is no end to what artists could now achieve
creatively in this new artistic world.
1. The Demoiselles Davignon (1907) by Pablo Picasso and Houses at LEstaque
(1908) by Georges Braque, are two paintings that launched the monumentally important
movement that is cubism. The way that these two paintings play with planes in their
composition is a strong example of very early cubism. The Demoiselles Davignon is a
picture of a group of prostitutes, several of which appear to be wearing traditional African
masks. Houses at LEstaque is really quite self explanatory from the title; it is a painting
of houses in the town of LEstaque. These two paintings also differ in form as well as
content, with Picassos The Demoiselles Davignon favoring warmer earthier pinks and
browns, and Braques Houses at LEstaque being full of leafy greens that make up much
of the painting. These two paintings display a blueprint of what would come to be
defined as cubism in the coming years. They both contained a multiple contrasting

planes that showed the subject from a variety of angles and viewpoints as opposed to the
traditional single viewpoint that was common in most two dimensional art. Houses at
LEstaque in particular laid the groundwork for cubism in the fact that it was actually
primarily constructed out of cubes and strong linear composition. Out of the two I prefer
The Demoiselles Davignon, partially due to my own subjective taste in art that shows an
inclination towards most art where the subject is a living thing, and partially due to the
unnerving quality of the masklike faces of the prostitutes. I also find the warm pinks of
the painting to be more visually compelling than the greens in Houses at LEstaque.
Another aspect of The Demoiselles Davignon that I find preferable to Braques work
These elements cause me to have a stronger visceral reaction to The Demoiselles
Davignon when placed in direct competition with Braques very aesthetically impressive
Houses at LEstaque.
3. Salvador Dalis The Persistence of Memory is a powerful look into the crazy
and incredible world of Magical Surrealism. Whereas Joan Miros Womans Head
appears to be an example of biomorphism in surrealism, and is incredibly striking due to
it. The content of biomorphic surrealism is more based on nature and the surreal aspects
of the natural world in which we live, whereas the works of magical surrealism like
Dalis Persistence of Memory is based off the spaces of our subconscious from where our
dreams pour out onto the easel and create art in its purest form. This is the exploration of
the surrealist dream space in forms both natural and sublime. Of the two I prefer the
melting clocks of Dalis Persistence of Memory, although I will admit Miros Womans
Head provokes strong feelings in me of a nature that I cannot explain. For this viewer

Dalis work is interesting in the way it portrays the dreamscape as a real place, more so
than the biomorphed aspects of Miros work.
4. Marcel Duchamps sculpture Fountain (1917) is such a unique piece of art that
it is a challenge to compare it to most other art, but here I will try. When seen side by
side with Alexander Archipenkos Seated Woman then it becomes immediately clear what
an iconoclast Marcel Duchamp was and continues to be. While the sleek gray Seated
Woman is impressive in its own right, one only has to glance at the abstract form to
recognize the artistry on display here, Duchamps Fountain is so much more concrete. It
is in this base, unfiltered, raw expression of flippant disregard for traditionalist definitions
of art and sculpture that Duchamp expresses a sense of irony that is akin to perhaps a
satirical cartoonist more so than an esteemed art exhibitor. Duchamp must be insane they
must have thought, those who first looked upon the simple and unrefined Fountain; an
early example of Duchamps ready mades, sculptures that were pre-bought and then
displayed as art. For it was simply a urinal, something to be urinated upon, and here it
was proudly presented against expensive pieces of refined and classical art. Fountain is
more than just what it is, it is what it is saying. Looking at Seated Woman shows an
impressive grasp of abstract expression, an interesting play with form and posture from
the subject, but it makes Fountain appear to be so much more concrete, and in my mind
more impressive.
The twentieth century was a tumultuous time for the wide world of artistry. It was
like the Wild West, the early frontier of modern art. Anything was possible, and
adventurous pioneers like Braque and Picasso journeyed ahead like Lewis and Clark to
blaze trails for their peers to follow. These visionaries implanted their own unique styles

and techniques into the art scene, and innovators like Marcel Duchamp were
unapologetically creating art works that actively flipped the perceptions of what art could
and should be. They were inventors, innovators, and craftsman of the highest caliber, and
will be immortalized in the annals of art history forever more.